Firing service billing: how to fire for outside customers without the paper chase

For many studios a firing service is the easiest income the kiln can produce. Someone drops off finished pieces, you put them in the next firing, and at the end there is an amount that comes in without a class, without a membership and without an extra hour of work. On paper it is a good business. In practice, whether you can bill the firing service cleanly comes down to small things: a box on the shelf with a sticky note, a price agreed verbally, a customer who asks after four weeks whether her bowls are done.

This guide walks through the firing service from start to finish: which decisions you make up front, which prices are common in practice, and what a workflow looks like that leaves nothing open at the end of the month.

Why outside customers differ from members

With members you have a frame. The monthly fee covers part of the kiln costs, you know the person, and firing costs land on a statement that goes out every month anyway. With a firing service all of that is missing:

• No membership. No fee helps carry the kiln’s base costs. The firing price has to cover the costs on its own.
• No account, no history. Often someone comes once a year. You need a name, a contact and the pieces, nothing more, but reliably.
• One-off payment. There is no monthly statement the amount can slip into. Payment happens at drop-off or at pickup, and you have to record both.
• Unknown ware. You do not know which clay was used, whether the piece is dry or whether there is an air pocket in the base. The risk to the firing and to the neighbouring pieces sits with you.

These four differences lead to the decisions a firing service needs up front.

Decision 1: the pricing basis

Most studios bill the firing service by weight, per firing and per firing type. That is the same mechanism as for members, just with its own rate. If you have not settled your base model yet, the guide to firing costs covers the six common models.

Three additions prove especially useful for a firing service:

• A minimum price per piece. A single pendant weighs 60 grams and still costs you intake, loading, unloading and handover. In practice minimum prices sit between roughly 1.50 and 16 euros, depending on how much handling the studio prices in.
• Rounding up to the next full kilo. Simplifies the maths at the counter and evens out the space question for light pieces a little.
• Kiln rental as an alternative. Anyone who regularly brings larger quantities, say a school or an artist before an exhibition, gets the whole kiln at a fixed price. Around 50 to 190 euros per firing is common, depending on kiln size and temperature.

Decision 2: the external rate

Outside customers pay more than members almost everywhere, and that is not a surcharge on principle. Without a monthly fee the firing price carries the kiln’s depreciation alone, plus more handling per piece and the higher risk of unknown ware.

In practice the external rate is often one and a half times the member rate. A studio charging members 9 euros per kilo takes about 15 euros from outside customers. Tiered studios continue the tiers for outsiders too, roughly 10 euros per kilo for the bisque firing up to 18 euros for the high glaze firing. Studios that also glaze, a glazing service, charge a separate rate for it, in practice around 18 euros per kilo.

The exact level matters less than the separation: a dedicated rate for outside customers, visible on the price list, so nobody has to negotiate at the counter.

Decision 3: when payment happens

Three variants are common, and each has a clear case:

• Payment up front at drop-off. You weigh at intake, state the price, take the money. The cleanest route for walk-ins, because nothing is left open afterwards. Prerequisite: you can state the price at intake.
• Payment at pickup. Common when it is only clear after the firing what came out, or when breakage should be accounted for. The catch: whoever does not collect does not pay either.
• Monthly invoice. For regulars who bring work often. Only works if you reliably note every drop-off.

The recommendation from practice: state and record the price at intake, take payment at intake or pickup, but never “some time later”.

Decision 4: the risk

A piece that explodes in the kiln damages its neighbours and sometimes the shelf. With members you know the clay and the way they work, with outsiders you do not. That is why experienced studios settle this in advance:

• Known clays only. Many studios only fire clay whose firing temperature is documented, or ask for the manufacturer and firing range.
• A deposit for risky pieces. A refundable amount, in practice about 15 euros, for very thick-walled or large work.
• Damage fee schedule. Fixed rates for damage to shelves or kiln, so there is no discussion when it happens. In practice the range runs from around 20 euros for a shelf into three figures for kiln damage.
• No guarantee on the result. Glaze faults, cracks and warping are properties of the piece, not of the firing. That belongs on the price list in one sentence.

None of this has to sound strict. It is enough that it is written down once and shown at intake.

Firing service billing: the workflow in five steps

With the four decisions the model stands. Now it is about everyday life, and that is where it is decided whether the firing service brings money or costs nerves.

1. Intake. Name, contact, number of pieces, requested firing type. Weigh, state the price, record it. Ideally with a photo of the pieces, so it is clear later what was handed in.
2. Waiting for the next firing. The pieces sit on the shelf, the order is marked. This is where the notes go missing in many studios.
3. Loading. The order goes into a specific firing. From now on you know when the pieces will be ready.
4. Firing and ready notice. After the firing the customer gets a message. Whoever is not told will call, and precisely when you are standing at the kiln.
5. Pickup and payment. Hand over the pieces, take the money or mark it as paid, close the order.

Something can get lost at every one of these steps: the box without a name, the price both remember differently, the order overlooked for two firings, the customer who never collects. The workflow therefore has to leave a trace at every step, on paper, in a spreadsheet or in a tool.

A worked example

A customer brings three bowls weighing 2.3 kilos in total for the glaze firing. Your external rate is 15 euros per kilo, you round up to the next full kilo and you have a minimum price of 3 euros per piece.

• 2.3 kilos become 3 kilos, at 15 euros per kilo that is 45 euros.
• The minimum price does not apply, because 45 euros is well above three times 3 euros.
• On her next visit she brings a single pendant weighing 60 grams. Arithmetically that would be 0.90 euros, the minimum price turns it into 3 euros.

You can state both amounts at intake. That is exactly the difference from a bill that only takes shape in your head after the firing.

If you want to play through your own rates: the firing-cost calculator shows cost per firing, per kilo and per piece in three steps.

Rules that have proven themselves

• Post a separate price list for outside customers. A dedicated section with rates, minimum price, payment timing and pickup deadline.
• Set a pickup deadline. Four to eight weeks is common. After that the studio may dispose of the pieces or charge storage. Sounds harsh, saves shelf space.
• Weigh at intake, not after the firing. The weight barely changes through the firing, but the price is clear immediately.
• Link order and firing. Every box belongs to an order, every order to a firing. Whoever keeps that up never searches for a box again.
• Glazing service as its own line item. If you glaze, that is labour and material, not firing. Show it separately.

What the tool has to do

A firing service can be run with a folder and a scale. Beyond a certain volume a tool pays off, and the requirements are manageable: create guests without an account and find them again next time, weigh pieces at intake and see the price for the chosen firing type immediately, load the order into a specific firing, notify after the firing, record pickup and payment. And the price has to be fixed after the firing, so nobody recalculates afterwards.

That is exactly how the firing service in WheelOwl is built: external rates per firing type, separate from member plans, a cost estimate right at intake, orders that run separately from members and open studio, and a price that is not touched again after the firing. What that looks like day to day is on the firing service page.

Anyone who fires for outside customers earns money the kiln produces anyway. The only condition is that nothing gets lost at any of the five steps.