Why a commission costs more than a model
A model from the collection is £45 because the research, the digital sculpt and the silicone mould behind it get used again and again. Every one I sell helps pay for the weeks it took to make the first.
A commission is those same weeks of work — the reference gathering, the measured drawings, the digital model, the master print, the mould, but done once, for one building, for you. Nothing is spread across anyone else’s order.
Commissions start from £800. Most land between £1,000 and £1,500 depending on size and detail. Larger or multi-part pieces go to around £2,500.
If that’s a surprise, it’s the mould that explains it.
One, or a hundred Models?
It helps to think of a commission as two costs rather than one.
The setup — research, measured drawings, the digital model, the master print and the silicone mould — is paid for once. On a single piece it’s most of the price.
The casting — concrete, curing, hand finishing, a laser-etched cork base and a box — is paid for each time. Once the mould exists, repeating the piece is more straightforward and cheaper.
That's the whole economics of this: the design and the mould are paid for once, and after that you're only paying for casting. It's why the fiftieth model costs a fraction of the first.
I can produce up to 100 units of a single design — for corporate gifts, event pieces, an anniversary, a launch, or a building your organisation actually occupies.
- One piece — setup plus a single cast. From £800.
- 2 to 10 — setup once, then each cast. The unit price drops immediately.
- 10 to 50 — setup spread properly thin.
- 50 to 100 — lowest per-unit price.
Tell me the quantity you're thinking about and I'll quote the setup and the per-unit cost separately, so you can see exactly what changes if the number moves.
How a commission runs
1. We talk. Tell me the building and what you have in mind. I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right person for it and what it’s likely to cost.
2. I quote properly. A fixed price and a slot in the studio schedule, not a range. 50% reserves the slot; the balance is due before dispatch.
3. Drawings and digital model. I work from your references and my own measured drawings until the proportions are right. Two rounds of adjustments are included at this stage, while changes are still cheap.
4. Master, mould, cast. The master is printed and finished by hand, a silicone mould is taken from it, and then the concrete goes in. Silicone and concrete both cure slowly and neither can be hurried — which is most of why this takes the time it does.
5. Base, box, and on its way. A laser-etched cork base with the building’s name on it, a custom box, and a tracked parcel.
Booking to dispatch is usually eight to eten weeks. The making is three to four of those — the rest is the queue and the drawings.
Is this right for you?
It’s probably right if:
- There’s one building that matters to you, or to someone you’re buying for
- You’d rather have an agreed scope and an honest timeline than a vague promise
- You can wait a couple of months for something made slowly
It’s probably not if:
- You need a gift this month
- You were hoping for something closer to collection prices
- You’d rather keep exploring options than settle on one
And if it isn’t right, that’s genuinely fine. Most people who land on this page are better served somewhere else, and I’d rather say so than take a deposit.
Put your building in the Brutalist Suggestion Box. It’s where I take requests, and a good number of the models on the site started as somebody else’s suggestion. If enough people want the same building it tends to get made — and then it’s £45 rather than £1,600, and you’re not the only one who ends up with one.
Or check whether it already exists. There are over 150 pieces, and many buildings come as a model, a print, a relief and a wood cut. Try searching the building or the city.