Housing/building market....

My prefabs are sold between 200 $L - 1000 $L.

Prices are based on the market (and usually a little lower) and the fact that some websites use an irritating way of putting expensive items on top of the sales list, forcing people to price up items.

I usually build (very) low prim to mid-prim (12-150 prims), but use a lot of custom texturing, to recreate the details low prim housing usually suffers from. This means retexturing can be problematic as I do use shared walls. But it reduces prim count dramatically.

My houses have security/privacy systems as a standard, so a (small) part of the price is for these systems.
I also deliver complete textures sets & some accessories with all the houses. (When bought in the shop, or on request.) All custom textures in these are set mod/copy/no transfer.

I sell mod/copy/no transfer. This allows people to modify the houses and rerez when something goes wrong. This is sometimes used by landlords to buy one, and rez several copies, which is fine by me.

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I sometimes hear the argument that the quality of a build is based on the amount of prims used. "Lo prim builds can never be high quality". I think this is based on a lot of builders using standard texture collections, either by choice or necessity, which forces them to use prims to create detail. Also pricing is based on prim count it seems. In my opinion the quality (and price) of a build should not be decided by prim count alone. But by the quality of prim building, (custom) texturing and (scripted) 'extras'.
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I do not do custom jobs, as i hate working in the service of others, and deadlines. I have RL for that.

I don't charge anything. In fact, given that I usually end up uploading textures and stuff, I usually pay to do custom builds for people

My prefabs are modular and cost between L$50 - 100 per module. A basic, upgradable modular home kit is L$225.

Details here: /invalid_link.html

I sell 3 or 4 prefabs, prices range from 200L to 350L. Prokofy bought a beach house. Apparently that price wasn't "too low" when he was the buyer...

I've been window shopping (based partly on this thread) - and I do wish prefab sellers would tell us how big their houses are. I have no idea whether some of these are for a 512 or what

Walk in models are the best but it's hard to buy from a box with a pretty picture, without even a notecard.

I sell my prefabs for L$1, but those are just throw-aways really.

The most I've ever spent on a prefab is $700, and that's about right for me. It may stay in my inventory for a few months unused, and I don't feel like I've wasted my money. (I also consider whether they're Mod/Copy before I buy. No Mod/No Copy, no sale.)

If everyone was charging $1000+, I would build my own, or work with a custom builder. If I'm going to fork over what amounts to months of SL allowance on a build, I'd want it exactly to my tastes.

I have a model comparison chart on my site, which shows the suggested parcel sizes for the models. I will be adding this information to the inworld notecards soon.

You're hired!

you have your own free builder!

Hmm. I've met many people who say the opposite, that they only buy transferable items -- especially houses. Obviously if a builder wants to earn compensation for their time they can't sell with both Copy and Transfer enabled, or they'll go out of business very quickly.

I know this isn't quite on-topic, but what's the most common way to sell homes? Mod/No Copy/Trans or Mod/Copy/No Trans?

A bit of the Thread... maybe??

I am new in SL.. ok some new.. i am now for first time learning to build (in a small scale)... I have a prefab nice little house already... happy with it - but wrong colour)) Hya Casanova????

And now I am ready to ask for special changes in another new house I seek....mod version its called (?).. and of course as I shall ”live in it” I want to make it my home.. as irl...

That are same as changes... I try to u-stand all technical things about doing it . selling it - earn money out from doing a house.. But it I that shall live in it so.. If i want it in other wood textures,,, rock... windows.. why shall that be so diff... Can be a new business to....versions..

I am the market - the byer.. Why not work together. ? IF I want changes in my irl life I pay for it.. must be same in SL?

Next house I by must be fully mod version.. with backup... not ness trans.. but al other... OR must I build it all by myself??

Am I wrong in my thinking about this???

I only do custom builds. My policies and prices are on par with Juros. Starting price is 10k and can go up from there. I am a very flexible builder and will work to your satisfaction. My custom builds are one of a kind, and so you won't see it all over SL.
If you think about it...if someone makes a prefab and sells 10 of them for 1000...they have made just as much with less work as I do. Hrmm....maybe I outta go into the prefab business.

I think you're absolutey right. You are the buyer. You are the market. And these builders should respond to you, the buyer, and you the market. That is what a free economy is.

I think you'll find that some of these people are living in the Middle Ages though, another era, the era of guilds, in closed societies, with heavy controls by elites.

They believe if they've made something, and they've conceived a design, it should never, ever be modified, because they are higher and better than you. They are an Uber Architect, a higher form of life, and your notions of glass, when they say it should be bars, or your notion of wood, when they say it should be brick, have no place in their universe.

They also don't want you to resell their creation without their long arm reaching out to crush you.

Of course, designers have the right not to have people copy their product. That is normal and sensible and legal and right -- and well protected in SL.

But the idea that something can't be modified is the kind of controlled, artistans' world that belongs to the past.

It's people trying to achieve in Second Life what they cannot achieve in First Life, namely, control, sometimes bordering on the fascistic, of other human beings.

There are a number of ways to respond to this problem in SL:

1. Complain on the forums, in the hopes that some of the no-modder fascists will get a conscience
2. Offer alternatives, i.e. offer to pay extra to the no-modders in the hopes that their greed and desire to collect your money might get them to accept a mod or two.
3. Don't buy from them -- that's the swiftest way to show your feeling about their no-modding.
4. Buy only from those who allow modding -- they're the ones to support in this game because they understand that you can't get the fascistic control you couldn't get in RL just by coming to SL, and that SL has to be about more creativity and flexibility, not less.

Does modding objects open up the door to a flood of lookalikes and copies done under the guise of modding?

Sure it does. And everyone knows the difference, and in a free society, you can tolerate a spectrum of product. I know that the poor Nigerian immigrant on 42nd St. stooped on the cold pavement selling something with the badly-spelled and badly-stamped word GUCII is not sellin a Gucci bag, he's selling a knock-off made by a Chinese worker or immigrant that he is reselling to make a living. And if I want to spend just $10 instead of $100, I will buy his GUCII bag. If I want the real thing, I'll walk a little farther east and go to Saks Fifth Avenue where I can find the real thing, which, of course, is often made by exploited Chinese lor African abour, too, but so sanitized as to provenance as to be unviewable : )

Blanc, I set all of my prefabs to: copy/mod/no trans. This was after conversations with customers about what they would like to be able to do with thier homes. This setting allows them to mod it without fear of messing up, because they can just replace the trashed part with a new one.

I am currently looking into allow transfer, but it will come at the expense of either mod or copy. I tend to lean toward copy, but I'm not 100% sure yet. Why does it come at such an expense? Well, it's the only way to somewhat protect my business.

I don't buy prefab homes with the thought of selling them or giving them away to anyone else, so Transfer doesn't concern me. I would much rather have it Copiable, so that I can add on using sections of the prefab, or start over with a fresh one when I royally FUBAR something, because chances are I will tweak with it once too often. (Ever accidentally turned your entire house Clear, or shot it over into the next sim due to some lag? Always fun.)

My preference is for Mod/Copy/No Transfer. I won't be giving it to anyone else, and this affords me the opportunity to change the house as much as I want without fear of losing it.

Thanks for your suggestions. I took some time this morning to change the permissions on all my stuff to Mod/Copy/No Trans.

Most of us know about this, but I thought it would be prudent to mention.

Edit: changed link to correctly point to the top of the thread.

mod/copy/no transfer seems the best option for a house.

That way you can change colours and textures, get copies if you mess up, but not give it away with its copying capacity, meaning that the creator doesn't get paid.

Shack, I guess I think of that "prim copier" thing as being a kind of urban legend. I don't really believe in it. I can't help thinking that even if there *is* such a thing, that getting it to work might be as hard as making the thing in the first place.

I've never seen it work in-world, and never seen it have any impact. So I have a Show-Me Missouri attitude about it, sorry.

Furthermore, even before there was such a monster, some people put no mod on. Beats the hell out of me. I find it repressive.

It's neither urban legend nor is it difficult to use. Even without the use of a prim copier script, you can actually copy prims just by looking at properties. It's not helpful for copying textures, but it gives a perfect facsimile of prims.

just thought I'd pick at the previous rant... I don't agree at all that people think prim count alters quality in any quantifiable way. Let's face it... we all have an oppinion on how something should look. It's usually a combination of images, prims and our particular hack to get it to look appealing.

There are just some things that can't be faked with a "texture" image. For the most part, "texture" is unachievable by simply drawing on a flat or curved surface. Prims are needed to physically mold space and our render engine rewards us by giving us that sense of space due to to the idea of "matter" taking up that space.

Similarly, a series of white prims, no matter how they are designed, are limited by the surface they posess. Images are great at adding a certain "depth."

The truth of the matter is, we aren't creating meshes vertex by vertex so anything we actually put together is going to be a glom of several sacrifices and aproximations strung together to create a finished piece.

Having said that, my rates reflect the base value that I set after a lengthly discussion with the client about his/her expectations, ideas, impressions, etc and the labor value I project based on my execution. Most clients dream up something in the 2,000 to 5,000 range. the structure's prim count nor footprint is not a factor and I can see a "mall" or other larger-than-nececary structure being the same price because of the fact that they tend to entail large empty space and/or repeating portions.

I do not do prefabs as of yet.
~Lefty.

I agree with your comments on prims vs. textures. I will not sacrifice the 'look' to save a few prims. If something can be replaced, convincingly, by a texture, then sure I'll use it - but prims provide a much more tangible, 3 dimensional feel. I've been experimenting with creative ways of using a single prim to do the job of 2 and have some pretty good results. I've also taken a page from other excellent texturers out there and have focused more on custom textures to give the build a nice, quality look to it.

Planet Mars, Juro Kothari and many of the older players still seem to ask a modest price for their wonderful work...tops maybe $1200....new players like Ingrid Ingersoll and Barnesworth Anubis are extremely inexpensive, way too, IMHO...in the $200 range...the House of Shae has marvelous, Grecian themed builds...roughly in the $1k range...After Dark prefabs by Kim Anubis has a price tag similarly around $1k at the top end.

The newish kid on the block, Hoffman designs, has, among others, a 'prefab castle'- like structure, actually more like a burgher's home, that goes for $2500...and since I collect houses in the game, I bought it...the texturing is marvelous, rather like a Baron Grayson texture, although not style...and all a clumsy person like me has to do if she messes up slapping the parts together is shout 'housealign' and it's perfectly placed. Hoffman also will deliver a house for a $300 fee...perhaps not a requirement for anyone past 2 weeks of age in sl..but maybe desired for someone who hasn't figured out how to get out of the welcome area yet....

Lastly is Bill Stirling...who does extremely well done houses...by commission...and I don't know what his rates are. If he ever deigns to do prefabs, I'm sure he'll be in the upper price range.

Bill's shop DOES have prefabs now...and prices top end again..roughly 1k...

I agree with you Margot, I think that Ingrid and Barnes are asking far too little for thier work. What they offer is worth 3-5x as much, easily. Not that I'm asking for more competition, but from the product quality I see, that's the price I would expect to see.

Here is an oportunity to claim to be humble and that its "not about the money"

Simple fact is I was just ignorant of pricing when I started, and now I'm just too lazy to change it...

I make 'nuff to buy some new hair and cloths from time to time, so bleh, thats all i really need

Plus it's *priceless (-200L)* to see a Barnesworth Anubis Pre-Fab[ulous] Valencia House re-textured with pink zebra stripes and a crooked door perched precariously on a steep mountain side 512 First Land, of course unfurinsihed because the house uses up all the prims. It brings a tear to my eye every time.