Carpet Sculpture Training Weblog

By Russell Webb

In 2005 we had the good fortune of signing a $105,000.00 contract, and yes, we were dancing on tables that night! Fortunately we had the resources to fulfill the order on schedule, otherwise we would have declined to bid on the project.

This project was going to require a large work space for production. We currently occupy a light industrial space of only 1500 sq ft, which is usually just fine for our needs. But it was woefully inadequate for this beast of a project. Our solution: we reached out to a subcontractor with the necessary space, who we have trained, and quickly made an agreement to make this project fly.

This was one of those corporate client jobs that demanded excellent customer service and a tight deadline.They required 25 large scale rugs - size 25′ diameter. Each rug had a few words (text inlay) and a large oval design element. Simple stuff really. It was just so damn BIG!

Here’s Cathy with a $52,500 deposit check. The deposit easily covered all of the materials and most of the overhead costs. This is a key factor when bidding on projects. We always demand the 50% deposit, and 50% upon completion - this win / win agreement makes everyone equally committed.

In the end, the whole project was successfully completed on schedule. The cost of goods, overhead expenses, and subcontractor fees amounted to approx $60k. We realized a tidy profit of 40k.

This is an example of a material heavy project. We purchased a lot of carpet for this order. Usually in this trade it is more labor heavy, because the labor is where the bulk of our costs are. We’ve had other projects in the high digits where the ratio looked more like 15% material 25% overhead 30% labor 30% profit. These ratios vary with each project sometimes swinging into the 40-50% profit margins.

There are other opportunities out there just like we describe here. These projects can be found in large scale homes via designers, decorators and architects. They can be found in corporate environments i.e., hotels, trade shows, corporate lobbies, and umpteen types of special events.