How to Make a Concrete Lounge Chair

Hi David, and thank you for the question and the compliment. There are materials needed for the mold and for the GFRC itself. For the GFRC, our GFRC Mix Calculator can compute the exact cost to the penny, but as a rough guide GFRC tends to run about $2.50-$3.00 per square foot for 3/4" thick (and weighs about 9 lbs per sq ft.). The lounge chair is actually 1.25" thick, so you can do the math. 🙂 The materials for the mold are basically just plywood, melamine and laminate. The mold is a one-time expense and can be reused many times. It's pretty common to spend a few hundred dollars and a few days on a mold, and then be able to use it many times to produce a high end concrete creation.

I do not recommend this. Years ago I spoke to a distributor of an electric, under-tile heating system and asked him about it. He said that it would be dangerous because the commercial systems available are only intended for permanent, shielded installation, and that it would invalidate any warranty for the system. Installing it in furniture would not meet UL standards. Further, installing such an electric heater in a piece of furniture puts all liability on the manufacturer of the chair, something I would be very hesitant to consider, and something I would never recommend anyone doing.

As with any custom piece of furniture/art, pricing can be difficult, and relies on you to do competitive research and create a strong marketing statement for what you're selling. First, you need to account for all of your time and materials, and that is an absolute minimum price to break even. However, pricing is often done by seeing what else is on the market that is similar, and pricing as high as the market will bear. Look at high end modern outdoor furniture. Don't ever price low, like you would find at a home center or big box store. A very rough price range for a lounge chair might be $1000 to $3000, depending on the market, how good you are at creating that perceived value, etc. There is no one price. There is no magic formula. Look at designer handbags or shoes. Why are they expensive when you get functionally the same thing at KMart? Branding, quality, marketing and materials are why. Two things that share the same name and same function can be perceived to have very different values by the public. What one person wants another can't afford. Look at Ferrari vs Honda. Gucci vs Walmart.