"Wood" You Be Able To Make This Cheaper?

Sure...Why not? I often get requests from people who see projects or products from other vendors and ask if I can make it cheaper. It is a loaded question, at best.

While materials and labor could be cheaper, emphasis on could, the time it takes to reverse engineer products or improve designs is a wildly underappreciated cost.

I recently had a client reach out to me with a project idea for a yard game they had seen online. Doing some research they found that the cost of that game was well above where they saw the value and reached out to me to see if I would be able to make it, at what cost, and could I personalize the game with some custom laser engraving logos.

My immediate response was yes, but that turned into a maybe pretty quickly. At first glance it appeared to be pretty straight forward and close enough to my current cornhole production process that it wouldnt take too long to produce....until I actually did a deep dive. The game wasn't technically trademarked but still gave me pause to recreate. The original design took about 3 years to perfect according to their, albeit rudimentary, website, a fact that got me wondering if I was missing something from the design aspect.

I decided to do a proof-of-concept model at 1/3 scale just to see if I was going to run into issues. Again, nothing seemed to come up as I finished the design. It wasn't until I ramped up the first model and used it as intended that glaring issues began to rise. Sturdiness and sizing aspects were crucial for a long-lasting design. With some further product testing I was able to come up with a version of the game that was different enough for me to feel okay that I didn't steal a design from someone, but close enough that it served the same purpose the client needed.

The problem was that it wasn't going to be cheaper if I charged my normal rates for design and testing that I generally charge for new or custom projects. Materials, building labor, and laser customization costs would come well-under the cost of the alternative, but adding in the 32 hours of designing, building, and testing the project put the total cost beyond the original price.

The client and I compromised on compensation for the design process and they were well-pleased with the changes that were made to the design and game. The payout came 2 weeks later when, having used the game at a few tailgating opportunities, I had 2 more orders come in for customized tops and builds.