Cost of materials for a saddle

[Denise]

In reading around the net, it is not uncommon to find people expecting to buy saddles for $350 to $500. The comment that really got to me was "If I get one for $1000.00, it better be custom fitted to my horse!" So that got me curious as to what kind of range of prices is there for materials for a saddle.

I looked around the net and you can get a tree for as little as $70.00. Even Ralides cost $85.00 and up. Production wood/rawhide was at $200.00 to $225.00, but that was an almost 2 year old price list. Hand made trees can go for $550.00 and up.

What about the leather? Hardware? Other costs?

Or maybe the question might be more easily answered if I just asked "What do you figure is the cost of materials in the saddles you build?"

[gary]

The costs here in the UK are higher as we either have to import quite a lot of the hardware and tree as there's not much choice or buy from specialist shops where prices are higher, for the same reason. Tax, postage, insurance and so on can really put the bill up.

I made my first stock saddle about 12 years ago, for my own horse, and the leather alone cost in the region of £250, plain wooden stirrups were about £50 a pair, and I managed to buy two worn-out saddles for £50 the pair for the Blevins buckles, rigging rings, conchos and some other odds and ends. Woven wool shearling was then about £10 a metre. I was lucky with the tree as I found a shop that was closing an the owner had a couple of trees that he had brought to the UK years before and had never used - one of them was a perfect fit and only cost me £15.

Then about 3 weeks (part-time) of work (which in the UK is currently about £5 per hour at minimum wage).

After I had been using it about a month, someone saw it and asked if I'd make them one - they expected to pay about £200. When I said that was impossible, they offered me £100 for the one I was using as it was 'second-hand'

I have been looking at costs recently and it would cost, in the UK in pounds sterling approximately what it would cost in the US in dollars (and it's about $1.65 to the pound at the moment).

There are quite a few cheap imports available here for under £100 so custom made stock saddles are a rarity.

Just my tuppence-worth.

Gary

[TTcustom]

I have yet to complete a saddle but I am headed that way. Collecting the bits and pieces. I am estimating that there will be about $1000 in materials with me buying everything retail. This doesn't include a labour estimate. I don't even think about it in economics terms because for me it will be about proving to myself I could make one and the pride and art in doing it.

Good question I am afraid to see what the answer will be. Just now i thought of other costs for me that are associated with building.

Edited December 23, 2009 by TTcustom

[bruce johnson]

Denise,

I figure in round numbers I have about $650 with monels and mohair cinch plus the cost of the tree and silver.

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Denise, I won't even start a saddle unless I get $1,000 up front. That is with an allowance of $250 for a tree. If they want a better tree than Bowdens, the price goes up commensorate with the tree they pick. I usually use 2 full sides of Wickett and Craig Skirting leather ($300), a jumbo sheep skin ($75), Hardware and stirrups ($150), ($25) for latigo leather, misc. items like glue, stain, stitching thread, oil, tacs, and screws,rivets, ect.($100), conchos $100), And of course as they add on goodies like extra silver and so on the price escalates. My base saddles are now $2400. That leaves $1400 for labor, and if I charged a real wage for the time spent actually working on makeing the saddle, the price would be much higher, but; the market here just won't bear that.

Bondo Bob

[kseidel]

Denise,

About 1.5 years ago I re-calculated the actual cost that I have in building the average saddles that I make. I am on the high end of the price scale and therefore am using premium materials and supplies, and the cost is not important to me, only the quality. My actual cost was just over $1800! That does not include any silver or labor.... just leather, tree, woolskin, hardware, cement, nails, screws, stirrups, latigo, cinchas, oil, finish,.... everything that it takes to make each saddle finished and ready to ride.

I also calculated the least expensive that a saddle could be made thinking that I might offer a "production" model, and the least that I could figure was $750. That was using a Bowden tree, average woolskins, import hardware, and only 2 sides of lesser grade Hermann Oak skirting. With labor included, I decided that it was not proffitable to pursue.

Keith

[Steve Brewer]

Denise, it costs around 1200 for materials to build a saddle ,Thats making a ring rigged saddle.Add another side of skirting for a Flate plate or skirt rigged saddle and it goes up to 1400.

Steve

[Denise]

I know you guys are using good quality leather on your saddles, and most use 2 - 3 sides. If you were purchasing leather in North America (not necessarily from North America) what is the range of prices available? From what I read here the good stuff is $150 - $200 per side. If someone was looking for the lowest priced skirting, how much would that cost them? (Not including the lawyer's costs for the lawsuit filed when it tore during its first ride...)

[Johanna]

Denise,

I don't know how many $$$$ are in the parts of a saddle, but the average (working) leatherworker has about 15 grand in tools in the shop. It would be interesting to know how much in tools the average saddlemaker has in the shop, wouldn't it?

Johanna

[barra]

I just did an inventory for the removalists and came up with 30 grand in tools, machines, hardware, leather etc and that was being conservative as compiling it was doing my head in.

Barra