If You Did Leather Work As A Primary Job?

[wind power]

Hi Folks, I know the answer to this question is going to be different for different folks, but I want to ask the group, how much would you have to make each year if you were to leave your job and plunge into this full time? Thanks!

[Cyberthrasher]

Well, I'm in a single income household with myself as the bread winner. So, I'd have to make close to what my day job pays now. I could probably get by with $36K if I made some adjustments.

[wind power]

Thanks Cyber, It appears the biggest hurdle Im facing is health Insurance

[BOB BRENNER]

What one needs to make to do leather work full time will depend upon each persons unique situation. That being said, here is some data you can use as a reference point.

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE UNITED STATES $ 51,404.00

PAYROLL TAXES ( SOCIAL SECURITY ETC) $ 7,711.00

BENEFITS (HEALTH INSURANCE, ETC) $ 6,168.00

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT $ 5 ,140.00

TOTAL INCOME NEEDED $ 70,423.00

This equates to $35.00 per hour for labor alone. This does not include overhead.

A national average for labor and overhead would be around $47.00 per hour

The health insurance figure/percentage is probably low given what is happening currently. Not enough data available at this time. My guess is that one should plan on from 15% to 20% in the future.

[Tex Shooter]

It depends largely on your situation! Where do you live, in a urban setting or rural setting? What kind of life style do you aspire to? do you own your own home? How well do you like to do leather work? What is the tax situation where you live (Income, sales, inventory)? Will you be working under a local license situation and under local manufacturing rules? Do you live by your self or have a family to support? Do you have health problems to consider? Do you have room in you living conditions for a work area? And etc.and etc.! There is just no one answer that fits all. Hmmm, where have I heard that before! -- Tex

[stamphandj]

I worked as a stamphand for different saddleries and leather shops around the southern part of the US. I got paid okay but never killed any real fat coons. I usually got paid by the piece. I also did a lot of freelancing.

Tooling a saddle paid 12 hours regardless of design in most shops. So if I tooled a basket weave I could knock that out in 4 to 6 hours, but if someone needed something like a pin oak that could take upwards of 20 hours. Hopefully you would get less intracate work most of the time. Hourly rate then was 15 to 30 DPH depending..I was always contract worker never a real employ. I never recieved any benifits. Being a veteran I always had the VA for health issues so no bennies was no biggie.

I got out of the leather business completely for 25 years or so and now I am wanting to dabble around a bit, and maybe have a little leather shoppe. We'll see how it goes but I don't expect to see any big money. If I can knock out some nice pieces that people love then I would count that as a good deal.

I also believe that if you do the best you can and if your quality is there, you'll get paid what your worth. There are some fantasically talanted people in the leather business now.

Marketing is important.

Edited January 30, 2014 by stamphandj

[NVLeatherWorx]

Yup, you have to take all of those questions from Tex Shooter into consideration but @stamphandj brings up a point that also helps me. I am also a veteran and have my Veteran's Healthcare which does what it needs to do along with the fact of being retired after 24 years of service which gets me into pretty much any Hospital around for much less than any private sector insurance policy would. With that being said, I could pretty much make the plunge into it full time with an outlook towards $36,000 to $40,000 per year. That is not an overly high income for a one-person shop so if you decided you would end up needing more, you would need to generate the interest, bring in help to meet the demand, and of course shoot for even more because you also have the expenses of an employee.

The bottom line is that unless you are charging an outrageous price for your goods, you will pretty much be on the lower level of revenue as a one-person operation. And you would not be making much profit on that wage scale either because you have all of your business and personal expenses that take it all away. I have seen some examples of work that have a very hefty price tag yet the quality is not worthy of what is listed. That is what happens when you HAVE to make a certain wage but haven't yet mastered some of the technique to justify that NEED.

Not what you wanted to hear but don't know what else to tell you.