How to build an alterations price list that holds up
By Loomton · Updated
Most alterations shops lose money in the same place: the job that was quoted at the counter in a hurry. A written price list, used the same way every time, protects your margin and makes the counter faster.
List the jobs you actually do
Go through a month of tickets and write down every kind of job. Most shops find that a short list covers nearly everything: hems, waists, sleeves, tapering, zippers and buttons, plus a few specialty jobs such as wedding dresses and leather.
- Hems: plain pants, cuffed pants, jeans with the original hem, skirts, dresses with lining
- Waist: take in or let out, with or without a center back seam
- Sleeves: shorten from the cuff, shorten from the shoulder, jacket sleeves with working buttons
- Taper: pants legs, shirt sides, jacket body
- Repairs: zippers, buttons, patches, seams
Price by the hardest version, not the easiest
A hem on dress pants and a hem on lined, beaded evening wear are not the same job. Give each list line a base price for the simple version and a clear step up for lining, delicate fabric, or extra pieces such as a vent or a cuff.
Time a few jobs of each kind. Price from the time it really takes, plus the cost of your thread, zippers and interfacing, and the share of rent each hour has to carry.
Quote the same way at the counter
- Pin and mark with the customer there, then read the price from the list, not from memory.
- Write each item on the ticket with its own price, so the customer sees what they are paying for.
- Add a rush charge only if it is on the list, and say it before you write the ticket.
- Take a deposit on large jobs such as bridal work, and write it on the ticket.
Review it twice a year
Look at which jobs you do most and which take longer than you priced. Raise the lines that are losing money, and print the new list for the counter.
