< FOUNDRY FEES
FOUNDRY QUOTATIONS & ESTIMATES
Obtaining an estimate or firm quotation (sometimes also called a BID), from a founder is a relatively straightforward task, provided sufficient information is made available to the founder for them to make an accurate calculation of costs.
By far the most common problem encountered by founders when preparing costings is a lack of clarity in the descriptions by artists of their designs. Telephoning a founder and expecting them to provide an instant and accurate quote on an unseen artwork is not usually a particularly realistic way to proceed. A possible exception can be made for those artworks that fall neatly into a category of known quantities – portrait busts, heads and so on - though even here, verbal descriptions can be open to wide interpretation and therefore potential misunderstanding.
Much of an art founder’s work load does not fall into convenient descriptions and the factors taken into account when calculating casting fees can be complex and variable. Often the price calculated by the founder is adjustable one way or another according to surprisingly minor or subtle details being known. Therefore accurately describing a job via the telephone to someone who has never seen the sculpture before can be very difficult and may lead to difficulties when the pattern is eventually delivered to the foundry.
Casual telephone calls to a foundry can be useful for introductions and may even be appropriate for obtaining a rough costing. To obtain an accurate, firm quotation though, it is usually considered essential to provide further details and reliable visual information. Unless visiting the foundry in person, it is best to write in the first instance, enclosing photographs and/or accurate drawings, which clearly indicate the forms, surface details and dimensions or relative scale of the proposed job. If appropriate, a written enquiry can be followed up by a visit to the foundry in person – either bringing the actual piece of work itself (if small enough), or else good photographs, and ideally a scale maquette.
When used, a MAQUETTE (see MASTER PATTERNS) should be constructed carefully to indicate the form and detail expected on the finished master pattern; it is important here to select an appropriate modelling material for the maquette’s construction. If the maquette is also intended for use as a working model for the construction of a scaled master pattern, it is essential that the maquette be made to an appropriate scale and level of accuracy. Where possible, a scale should be chosen for the maquette which allows for an easy calculation of the full scale version, for example 1:5 or 1:10 rather than 1:7.5 for example.
If only a limited amount of information is available on a proposed casting project, the founder will normally only be willing to supply an approximate BUDGET ESTIMATE. How close any budget estimate will be to a firm and binding quotation will primarily depend upon the detail and accuracy presented in an outline proposal. A founder’s written response to an outline proposal will normally be marked specifically as an “Estimate” or “Budget Costing”, and may also include an additional phrase along the lines of; “Subject to Confirmation”, or “Subject to Sight/Approval of Pattern”. This form of wording simply asserts the founder’s right to revise an estimated costing after viewing the artist’s finalised design work.
Firm quotations can sometimes be calculated from supplied photographs (or less satisfactorily, drawings), without the founder having physically viewed a master pattern – provided comprehensive information is included in the submission. One important detail, not always evident from a photographic image of a master pattern, is an accurate dimensional description of the work. In such circumstances, the inclusion in any photograph of an appropriate scale indicator, such as a 12 inch [300mm] rule, person of average height, or some other proportional object positioned adjacent to the work, is often helpful to the founder.
A scale indication can only ever supplement written dimensions, these measurements should fully describe the height, width and depth of the proposed work, with supplemental details included for any other relevant features of note. For convenience and common accuracy, workshop dimensions in the UK, Europe, Australia and in selected US industries are now generally notated in METRIC millimetres; for example a measurement of 49 3 /16th inch (1m 25cm) should ideally be notated as 1250mm. Find out what format your chosen foundry prefers and religiously stick to the one system, whatever you do, don’t ever use both IMPERIAL and metric measurements to notate dimensions, stick to either metric centimetres or prefrably metric millimetres, but again, don’t mix both.
Most founders will usually allow for a slightly inaccurate measurement of a proposed casting, provided this does fall outside of a 2-3% margin of error. Measurements submitted to a foundry should never deliberately misrepresent a work with a view to minimising the casting fee. In such cases the founder may rightfully impose a surcharge, or else refuse the job outright (much the same applies to measurements and weights supplied for packing, shipping and other estimations).
A suggested CHECKLIST for requesting foundry quotations is included at the end of this section.
FOUNDRY QUOTATIONS – WHAT’S INCLUDED >
|
