Last night myself and a contractor friend of mine got a bee in our bonnets about this topic. Lately we both have been running into people who want the quick and dirty price for hand made quality goods/services.

Example for myself. A girl wants me to make her a custom ball gown but expected only to pay $30 bucks for it (supplies included). When i told her she was looking at least at $100 for supplies alone, much less paying for my time she was livid. She could go to the mall and get a simular dress for $50. The problem is that dress won't fit her correctly and will fall apart soon as a breeze hits it.

Example for Barty: He had a contract for a project. He was forced to hire two guys who didn't know anything about the projects because they said they could do it for $10 an hour less than their normal guy. This saved the company money. Now they guys are doing shoddy work, or just plain wrong. They are taking 2x the time to do it. Their answer when asked, Don't you care about your work? was "Why should we care? It isn't like WE have to live in the house when we are done. It is just a job."

Example for my Rogue: He fell in love with this hand forged, hand sharped knife. Given his job he likes to have a good one in hand. He saved his money and got it. When he showed it to some friends of ours they freaked when they heard what he paid for it. Why should you pay good money for something hand crafted by an artisan? That blade is a useable, functioning piece of art. Why is that a bad thing to give an artisan work?

Given the different back grounds of the people here, I wanted to hear some of your thoughts and opinions on this topic.