Cost

We have clients who come to us with a budget of several hundred to several thousand dollars.  To make a commissioned sculpture these are unrealistic cost structures.  It may be possible to buy something off-the-shelf for these amounts but a unique sculpture involving all the above steps is time consuming and very much skill based. 

There are other costs involved – the design phase incurs a fee of 10-15 % of the commission fee.

The scaling up involves a lot of work by the sculptor and /or the fabricator.  Bronze casting alone is costly – something like a bust will be of the order of $3,000 - $6,000.

Usually payments are made in stages as the work progresses as there are a lot of upfront costs that the sculptor has to make before completion and they are usually not in a position to do this.

Why involve a manager?

It is possible to work directly with a sculptor.  As a client you are negotiating new territory. The sculptor does not always have the business skill or interest to negotiate the practical aspects of making sculpture, or managing the contractual aspect of the process.  This will be more challenging with larger budgets. The manager can act as mediator should this be necessary –whilst not common, there are times when both parties may wish to work through a third person.

With an experienced manager the potential pitfalls can be negotiated so that everyone feels secure and comes out a winner.  The manager will be experienced in dealing with any problems that arise as well as manage agreements and facilitate payments.  

AT TBSC we have over the last 15 years experience negotiated commissions with budgets ranging from $5000 to $135,000.