An opinion.

If you're paying more than $L3000 for a prefab house, you're paying too much.

Custom jobs go for less than that.

Just an FYI to the house-buying public.

That is all.

LF

I think paying anything for a GOOD quality house is fine. $3000 does not sound excessive for a quality place to live.

I agree, L$3000 sounds excessive for a prefab. On premium account, it would take six weeks to save up stipend to afford that. For L$3000 I would want a really ultra cool one of a kind place, not a prefab that everyone and their brother is going to have.

Maybe I dont know what a prefab is worth. I got a few prefabs I made, nothing really fancy, but I intend mine to be temporary homes anyway. I usually give them away, but I have sold a few at L$50. I allow modify and edit so people can tear them apart and see what it took to make. I expect people learn to build their own. Six weeks worth of stipend is a lot of time you could spend working on your building skills. Building it yourself is free.

"I'm not a builder" Okay, I hear that a lot and thats fine. But for L$3000, make sure your getting a really kick ass place.

3000 for a custom job is not a lot, especially for a big project. But you are right, a prefab house would have to be an amazing house to be worth 3000. I can imagine one though.

In fact, if you go to the Gnubie store or to any telehub, you'll find free or L$1 starter prefab houses. Not necessarily the best ones possible, but many of the so-called custom houses are not nearly as good.

Beyond that, anyone interested in having a house of their own could just as well buy one of many "100+ house floorplan" books at a bookstore, and start learning how to build their own,
something exactly to their own tastes.

Those free or 1$L houses can be a lot of fun if you don't want to have to go to the trouble of designing a whole place. They're a good place to start playing with textures and add-ons. But if I were going to pay 3000 for a prefab it had better be the Taj Mahal with all the bells and whistles. I agree - I'd rather spend the money for a really special custom place. But then again I like changing things - I learned to build because I get bored with a house and want a new one ever so often. If I had to pay someone else to build it for me I'd be broke really fast.

woah LF! i disagree completely!

this is a matter hobbiest quality vs professional quality. anyone presenting this as professional service should be considering industry standards, operating costs, and where they fit into that. if the sl player community can't supprt that then it means that it is not ready for professional content.

compare people charging 250 L$ for an outfit that takes a day to make and requires a single prim box to market. compare that to a building that takes several days to build and texture and requires several hundred prims to market. also, prefab buildings often require detailed documentation and clever solutions to make them easy to use for consumers.

while accesory creators have the advantage of pricing low because they're consumers will be repeat customers, prefab builders do not have that luxury. that is further reason that high quality building prices should be marked up further to account for the lack of a mass market

I think it entirely depends on the house. I paid 5k for a Romanza - came with 60 pieces and you could make out of it what you wanted. Wonderful textures and I love it. I wouldn't pay that for an ordinary prefab house.

Alexa

Well, I don't know about any of this.

My houses are professional quality and take me a long time to make.

Yet my prices are not high. They are low.

I would think that people would charge higher prices if they are making a custom, one-of-a-kind house for someone. Because that is a one-off deal, and only one person gets that house.

On the other hand, I have seen some lovely houses (a couple of Victorian ones a couple of people have made and advertised in SLExchange and in the forums) that cost an arm and a leg. But if people buy them? Well, then, that is what the market will bear.

coco

P.S. Jauani, I think prefab builders DO have the luxury of considering their customers repeat customers - it's just that they won't buy as many houses as they will clothes. People get tired of houses, though, too, you know.

if you believe this to be the case, my question is why are you giving you work away for less than it is worth?



agreed. that is my point though. a building is not a frequent purchase. in SL or in RL.

Not sure it's less than they are worth. Am sure it's low.

coco

are you saying your houses are priced what they are worth. and that they are not worth a lot?

i'm not sure i know what you are trying to say. on the one hand you are saying your houses are professional quality. on the other hand you seem to be saying your work is not worth a lot. they seem to be contradictory statements to me.

the market in SL tends to pay very little for creator time invested, no matter what category of creation. Even custom build work gets a pathetic hourly rate. Such is the state of a small, largely hobbyist marketplace. This may get even worse when RL corporations get involved and start investing money into SL creations as marketing.

As it stands right now, yes there are some who get away with charging a lot for a house or an outfit, but I doubt they're doing much in the way of volume with plenty of low priced competition... however SL is a really really inefficient market in terms of information, and so pricing discrepancies go along with that.

but even with all this said, I'm not planning on charging a lot for my own prefabs.

I'm raising my prices.

coco

Lordfly, I agree with you. My most expensive home is $2450 as of this writing.



But expensive structures do sell. What I think is happening is this:

People want houses immediately, on their own terms, and are unfamiliar with communicating ideas to an architect.

Or too polite to tell an architect that his beautiful creation doesn't quite match their vision.

Or too afraid of being forgotten for days or weeks.

Or simply unable to find a willing architect in the first place.


You and I are both purveyors of known quantities, up-front costs, and instant gratification. Those things have value.

- Desmond Shang

I'd pay 20K for a prefab house if it was really really cool.

However, I'd doubt I'd buy a 20K house from someone who's prices tend to lower after awhile. I'd like someone who's proven to keep their prices high.

Why is this?

First, because I'd rather buy a known quantity. I have zero desire to bicker with an architect about what I want, even if everyone thinks their great.

Second, if it was something I wanted I'd pay a high price for that. 80$ is nothing if it's important to me.

Third, if it's a high price other people are unlikely to buy it. What keeps someone from simply taking a custom job and then selling it as a prefab? Nothing, except greed. If this guy is selling his stuff for 20K then I know he's not going to be selling it for less.

However, yes, I'd like to see a reputation of high prices.