What factors affect the pricing of stained/leaded glass?

The sheer size of a project is an obvious one. A large skylight dome or atrium ceiling or set of large windows will cost considerably more than a suncatcher, for example. This goes without saying.

The primary factor affecting cost is the amount of labor involved. It’s not so much the material as most mistakenly believe, but the man-hours required.

What influences production time mainly is the intricacy and technical complexity of a design, as these simply demand more work by virtue of their nature.

Let’s take two window panels of the exact same size. One has a simpler minimalist design. The other has a much more elaborate design. The latter will obviously cost more as it will require more effort to build.

Labor is the CHIEF factor affecting price. Materials, much less so. However, there are some aspects of materials which do, so we will delineate these.

Warmer colors of glass such as reds, oranges and yellows tend to be slightly more expensive than others due to the fact that actual gold is quite often used in their manufacturing. The price difference is slight though.

A fallacy is that colored glass costs more than noncolored. This is not true.

Beveled glass is always a bit costlier as it requires the additional step of beveling (cutting at angles) to manufacture. Custom beveling such glass will cost a bit more than readily available beveled pieces.

If one wishes to incorporate special kiln-fired glass, such as pieces that have painting on glass or are fused glass, this costs additionally as it is also custom work.

But it’s the necessary labor (production hours and effort) involved that remains the main factor behind pricing.

Now given our exceptional quality and level of expertise, one would consider that our prices would be through the roof. But this isn’t the case at all. Yes, one is indeed getting unmatched quality of workmanship and exclusive, custom work. However, we at Progressive Art Stained Glass Studio tend to remain competitive in terms of price, believe it or not. But how so?

You see, the very element that ensures our quality ALSO ensures competitive prices. We handle and oversee the entire process, start to finish, in-house. We do not outsource. This maintains artistic integrity and quality of craftsmanship and also happens to keep our overhead down. It guarantees quality while allowing us to remain competitive in price.

Progressive Art Stained Glass Studio is the exclusively atelier for artist/designer Simon Simonian. In this medium, the materials are his paint brush and the work table is his canvas. So each creation is hands-on.

Also, for larger structural projects,we are not necessitated to pay for professional consultation with architects and contractors, as we already have these qualifications internally.