Folks,
Yesterday I finished my fourth “shingle sculpture.” It’s on my bro-in-law’s garage. It took five days total. The garage isn’t finshed yet but thought I’d post some pics.
Cheers! Roger
“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.” ~ Henny Youngman
The Paslode cordless siding and fencing nailer drives fasteners reliably without the hassle of hoses or compressors.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
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My bro-in-law is into his Harley RoadKing. Here's apicture of his bike (the black one) and his friend's new chopper.
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
very nice ... as usual.
I remember you talking about maybe starting your own biz ... I'd say this should be the focus.
Do you have enough time in these to tell what you'd charge if you subbed similar out?
Jeff
Buck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Thanks Jeff!
I'd really like to do some more of those and would like to do it as a business if I can. I'm starting to get a sense for how much time it takes based on the size and complexity of the piece. The eagle is 11' wide x 5' feet high. I'd be interested in getting some opinions on what would be reasonable to charge. At $30/hour it would be $1200. At $50/hour it would be about $2000. At $75/hour it would be $3000. Given the art factor do you think that $75/hour would be unreasonable? BTW, my mechanic and plumber both charge more than $75/hour... ;-) "When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
without having any knowledge of what a plain shingled wall/house runs ...
I really have nothing to base it on. But ... off the top of my head ....
$2,500 to $3K sounds about right?
The others I've seen of you work are smaller ....
do the smaller ones take less time? Or do smaller details make it a float?
when I sub tile ... lotsa people can't understand that small rooms with nice details will run just about the same ... if not more ... than a big open room.
Time is money.
Would you just do the inlays ... or would you at that point rather get the whole house siding job?
Howza 'bout we get these patterns down pat ... cut them in the garage ... number them ... and sell them over the 'net as "kits"?
now we're talking big money .... volume, volume, volume ....
JeffBuck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Jeff, you are right on. It all depends on the complexity vs size. The easiest was the sailboat because it was geometric. Just a lot of straight cuts. But a lot of people have liked it a lot. I don't really want to do a whole house as a shingle contract (although I can shingle a house pretty quick). I'd like to start my shingle art thing and I'd like to do some interesting topics."When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
In the right areas you could easily get 3k for work like that. Very nice.
If you do contract jobs, don't forget to include accessability (aka height) into you worksheets!
Thanks for sharing the photos.
EricEvery once in a while, something goes right!
I read about the process of creating this shingle art in a previous post. It seems to me you should be able to create these designs and provide the shingles pre-cut and numbered for use on sidewall jobs where the work is being accomplished by someone not necessarily experienced in the craft. On-site, they could be integrated based on instructions and a numbered template. I don't think $75/hr. is too much for your time, but I think the market might balk at it. If you could build the volume, you could do the design / oversight work and have less-skilled laborers do the cutting, piecing, numbering, etc. Offer a number of pre-designed patterns for a relatively low cost; offer custom work for a premium. I think it could work.
Thanks, mediarich,
I was thinking about coming up with some simple designs and offering them as kits as you and Jeff suggest. I couldn't do that for something as large and complicated as the eagle but I'm sure that most people have some small space that they'd like to fill with something cute. And, as you say, do custom for a premium."When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
If these shingles came in a kit, I'd buy a set!
While at $75/hour you may not get the entire job, but you certainly will get the most important part of it. Let them use their own carpenters with the premade shingle panels cover the fields while you do the detail work. You can still point to the art and say "I did that", while they will be saying "Did you see what he did!"
Very nice! The house was also very nice. I would be interested to see how the windows work on the interior.
Man however it is that you make those great creations, I sure hope you make a bundle off of it. Awesome man awesom.
Thanks Toolsguy,
My bro-in-law installed the heat and AC in our house in exchange for the eagle. So my line is that he gave us heat and AC and I gave him the bird!"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
Awesome work Roger. I had to call my wife into the room to see the pics and she was equally impressed. Thanks for posting them.
Mike.
Thanks, Mike! My bro-in-law wants to have a competition to name the eagle. The winner gets a t-shirt from the local Harley place. So if you or anyone can come up with a good name let me know!
Roger"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
cardiac has a nice ring to it..........XL please
nice work,well done......regards
"Harley" - the obvious answer
"Gabe" - seeing that he's on a gable and all
"Wally" - seeing that he's on a wall and all
"Shakes" or "Woody Shakes"
"Talon Ted" - in honor of the artistKevin Halliburton
"The Greek comic poets, also, divided their plays into parts by introducing a choral song, ... they relived the actor's speeches by such intermissions." Vitruvious, (Book V)
Good ones, Wrecked. Harley is a good choice but we named our dog "Harley" after my bro-in-law's bike so it's already taken. But I'll pass your suggestions by him.
I'll even pass along "Cardiac"... ;-)"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
Don't dismiss "cardiac" so easily........that thing looks so real...
I can see the mailman or first time visitor walking by,lookin' up and
thinking they are gonna get "snatched".......
paramedics might name it "the cardiaceagle" before ya get a chance
to finish the contest.......better do it quick...lol
regards
He he...
Someone suggested putting a hook under the claws and hanging things as the joke of the week, like a baby doll, stuffed animal, picture of his ex-wife, etc.!
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
Man O man, love the bird and the house.
Where is the house? I mean which part of the country.
Tom,
I posted the picture of the house by mistake. I had posted it as a joke under "Construction Techniques" but didn't get much of a reaction there. I'll post a couple more pictures under a new thread here in the gallery.
BTW, the house is in Harvard, Mass."When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
Was it you, or somebody else that did the article write up in FHB? Very impressive work either way!
Thanks, Tim! No it wasn't me who had an article in FHB. But I did write an article and submitted it to them. However, it was too soon after the other article appeared (even tho I use a different technique). I posted the article I wrote in the Gallery sometime this past winter if you can find it.
Cheers!"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman
someone else mentioned what I was thinking ...
not having any shingle experience ...
could you make the "inserts" to be installed much like those "shingle panels" I see advertised?
For me though ... I'd much rather see if I could do enough hands-on to make a god of it ... mass(or min.) production would probably take all the fun outta it ....
I'd bet there's enough shingling going on in your area to give it a shot.
Seems upscale home shows would be a good bet too ....
I can see the display now ... bunch of pics ... a coupla "live models" ...
all the time you're there ... making one happen in front of the crowd!
seems this would be possible to add to an existing also ....
Get the van gassed up .... yer gonna be busy driving all around your area ...
ok .. big sales idea ... draw up a couple samples ... with local team logo's ... and mail them out to the team headquarters .... some big money ball player's gonna bite!
Now ... get the press releases out ... BAM! ... yer in business ...
Jeff
Buck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Great suggestions, Jeff! The local lumber yard has a bulletin board where you can post pics of your work. The trade show with demo is also a great idea. You're right, it would be more fun to do "one offs" than get into production mode but maybe having some pre-made kits would be a good way to get some visibility. Someone else suggested that I put together a brochure and stalk (well, she didn't really say "stalk") the builders who work on the big houses in the affluent towns. She also suggested giving some to local interior decorators.
Roger"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." ~ Henny Youngman