I have had several older ladies tell me that they would love to buy kits already cut out!
Or they would pay me to cut them out for them...

My question is this, would a buy say a "yellow brick road" or "Turning Twenty" quilt if it were cut out already? What other patterns would work?

Would you wash the fabric first?

How much is that work worth in a kit?

I have never contemplated cutting out an entire quilt and then selling, unless it was one of my own UFO's.

I would love to have the fabric already cut but would want to pick out the fabric myself maybe you could charge by how many pieces are in the kit?

We've done a few pre-cut kits in the past.

The main issue is that unless you can mass-cut them in advance, i.e. make multiple copies, they take so much labor that they become too expensive to produce compared to what you can charge for them.

If you can make the math work, I think they'd be popular. We're thinking of doing them again occasionally.

Good luck!

I can see it not being profitable in a store to precut.

But offering it as an on-demand service for a fee seems to have less risk.

As a shop, you aren't going to get stuck with cut up kits that don't sell.

As an individual (or shop), someone else selected and bought the fabric so just charge an amount for the labor cutting the pieces.

How long would it take you to cut a YBR lap size quilt?
30 minutes? More? Less?
And just like a LA-er, you've got a menu.
Pre-wash and iron? They wash, you iron?
And charge accordingly.

I've always been fascinated by the listings on eBay.
There are a few sellers that have been doing fussy cuts for quilts block - selling for years.
Quite the cottage industry.

Like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-12-Kalei...item19c9008c80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-block-PRE...item3a6a84dd4e

How do you think that breaks down between material and labor?

I used to buy JoAnn fabrics pre-cut quilt kits on eBay for my sister, who can't handle cutting very easily. Haven't done that lately because their later pre-cut kits don't suit her style. These were all fairly complicated quilts, however, involving many different block patterns. I would not buy a pre-cut kit for Turning Twenty or other very simple style.

I would buy a pre-cut Turning Twenty, I hate to cut!

I even have a Go! and still hate to cut BUT the cutting fee could not be more than $20 for me. My budget is too close. JMHO

How much is your time worth? I like MTS's idea of having a service menu. I would think that $30 to cut out the new fabric that they bring you is fair - if you can do it in an hour or under. Anything more complicated than a YBR or TT would have to be more.

ETA: Looked again at your OP. If you are picking fabrics and cutting it could be fabric + cutting + labor which might be $50+. Would they be able to pay that? Now we're getting into why some kits are so high.

Customer picks the pattern and buys the fabric - you cut.
Include cost of organizing & labeling pieces, bags/containers for pieces if you supply them.

i have seen people advertise this service at lqs

Do you need to make money or are you just doing it for friends?

For an elderly friend, I'd just charge for supplies.