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What would you charge?

sdnj

New Member
Job:

Rear windshield of a Ford Explorer. Total vinyl area approx 51"x14".

Three lines of text, 2 white, 1 red, 3.5" tall letters.

Plus two blue decals in the shape of a house in the bottom left and right corners.

Installed.

Is 120 too much? Is 75 too little?

Thank you for your opinions.
 

thesignguy1986

New Member
WOW....I need to move to where you guys are. Something like that around where I'm at would go for $75 installed and laminated! I'm not talking about the guy next door in the garage that's all cash either I'm talking about the couple shops that have been doing this for awhile now. I wish we could get your pricing then I'd be making real money
 

sdnj

New Member
Wow really?

Here is a picture of the job (edited to keep customer info private). Do you guys still stand by your estimates? I have done other work for the customer and he has reminded me that he is 'loyal customer' - not sure how to factor that in to job. See picture.

SAMPLE.jpg
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Other than Bullsh!tting with the customer, the job looks like it will take you about 3/4's hour from start to finish. Cost of materials tripled and an hours worth of your labor. Your $120 would be just about right. We'd be higher, but your number is certainly doable and profitable.



I hope you realize that putting that much die-cut vinyl on a rear window is illegal in most states. You should be using perf vinyl with laminate to be safe, then that will shoot your price way up, instantly.
 

Stanton

New Member
...he has reminded me that he is 'loyal customer' - not sure how to factor that in to job.

A "loyal" customer recommends you to others.
He is a repeat customer who wants to keep some of your money
for himself.

Tell him you appreciate his business and hand him some of your cards
to give out for you.

Discount requires volume purchase of same or very similar work.
The savings come from not having to repeat your design and setup work.
And your customer only gets a small share of your cost savings.
Discount should never cost you a dime.


Obviously, I have no idea what competition you are up against.
I'm not telling you how to run your business.
 

fresh

New Member
Wow really?

Here is a picture of the job (edited to keep customer info private). Do you guys still stand by your estimates? I have done other work for the customer and he has reminded me that he is 'loyal customer' - not sure how to factor that in to job. See picture.

View attachment 94969

I would quote $180, but probably do it for $140 since its REALLY slow right now.
 

sdnj

New Member
Thank you all for your responses and opinions. I agree with the thinking that a 'loyal' customer shouldn't want to cut me down on price so much. I will let you know what I end up doing the job for.
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
the only customers that remind me of how great they are are the ones I wish i could get rid of, without fail, every time they spend a maximum of $300 a year with us.
 

TyrantDesigner

Art! Hot and fresh.
$200 seems fair, depends on your time. I would have this out the door in about 20 minutes with a 10-20 minute install so even with design time it's maybe an hour to hour and a half job (depending on customer wanting to b.s.) This is a job I would tell the customer about $150 and make talk the dude into making those simple arrow house things in the corners red to make the design a little more cohesive. But then again, if I'm on a nice day i might do it for $110-150. (but that is also because my overhead is low, my time is minimal and the job is super easy plus I don't have errors and if I do, that cost is covered with the 20 some odd other jobs I do without error)

Just because I seem to always have to type this out ... are you covering your costs? (just in case you don't know how to calculate your actual cost its ... [materials + shop overhead *like utilities, taxes and equipement* + man hour cost] x margin [for errors or add. time or whatever]) if you cover your costs, whatever that comes out the rest is profit and you need to find out what your market dictates for cost vs your expected profits. Asking what you should charge is going to get you no where if your market demands $200 to stay fair (to yourself) and competitive but still cover your cost and everyone says $100 or vice versa where your market $100 is reasonable for the tiny job but people who have different costs and different markets are saying $200. Know your local market, charge accordingly to where you want your profits to be with your area ... you can find just about anything cheaper ... customer service and quality of production are 10 times more valuable than price an customers who know you offer it will pay more than dealing with the cheapest vinyl jockey out there because 'eh, good enough'.
 

sdnj

New Member
$200 seems fair, depends on your time. I would have this out the door in about 20 minutes with a 10-20 minute install so even with design time it's maybe an hour to hour and a half job (depending on customer wanting to b.s.) This is a job I would tell the customer about $150 and make talk the dude into making those simple arrow house things in the corners red to make the design a little more cohesive. But then again, if I'm on a nice day i might do it for $110-150. (but that is also because my overhead is low, my time is minimal and the job is super easy plus I don't have errors and if I do, that cost is covered with the 20 some odd other jobs I do without error)

Just because I seem to always have to type this out ... are you covering your costs? (just in case you don't know how to calculate your actual cost its ... [materials + shop overhead *like utilities, taxes and equipement* + man hour cost] x margin [for errors or add. time or whatever]) if you cover your costs, whatever that comes out the rest is profit and you need to find out what your market dictates for cost vs your expected profits. Asking what you should charge is going to get you no where if your market demands $200 to stay fair (to yourself) and competitive but still cover your cost and everyone says $100 or vice versa where your market $100 is reasonable for the tiny job but people who have different costs and different markets are saying $200. Know your local market, charge accordingly to where you want your profits to be with your area ... you can find just about anything cheaper ... customer service and quality of production are 10 times more valuable than price an customers who know you offer it will pay more than dealing with the cheapest vinyl jockey out there because 'eh, good enough'.

Thank you for the informative reply. We settled on $100 - he'll be back though.
 
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