I have a customer who wants me to mount his 10 African trophies. I would appreciate it if anyone could give me some average prices on what to charge him for these shoulder mounts. This is a list of the animals I need prices on:
Kudu, Oryx, Red Heartebeast, Blue Wildebeast, Springbok, Impala, Blessbok, Black Wildebeast, Waterbuck, & finally a Warthog.
Thank you!
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Dont ask strangers to quote for your work, only you can do that. If you can mount those animals at a professional level you should be able to price them easily.
a few questions first and you just may have your answer. As Pete stated you can't very well run your business from other people's quotes, so do a little practical research on your own!
I don't mean to be a snob...but... DO SOME HOMEWORK, you will learn how to stand on your own and be much better off for it!!
You are obviously operating as a taxidermist now. Have you checked tanning prices and form prices for the species in question and do you know what your overhead is? That's square 1,2 and 3.
From there use your knowledge of similar sized animals to determine what YOUR mounting times will be, keep in mind that these are new species and will require some extra time to research, mount and finish. If you are the kind of taxidermist that just "slaps a skin on a form" then you won't spend much time on these things. If, on the other hand, you are a "high quality" oriented individual these things will consume a considerable amount of your time and you should be compensated for it.
Time and again it has been covered here that you (or anyone else)should NOT base their prices on someone else's. Browsing the prices of EXPERIENCED African taxidermists can however point to animals which present special difficulties ...BUT...ONLY AS A GUIDELINE!
I mount "alot" of African and I can tell you flat out that to do a nice job on a Kudu for example it takes twice as long as on an elk; and so it goes down the list.
your customer is probably going to freak out when you hand them to him , if you only charge $400. or less for a deer mount.
Kudu $1200.
Gemsbok $950.
Heartabeest $900.
Blesbok $850.
Impala $800.
Springbok $650.
Wildebeests $950.
Waterbuck $1100.
Warthog $900.
These are standard wall mounts with no extras.
Good luck