Estimate Problem

[mbarden]

Hi,
When I price a 30"x40" area under vinyl and painted signs using customer vehicle as the substrate I come up with a price of $44 for a single sign, or in this case a single truck door. When I use the RTA plugin and price a single color 30"x40" graphic I come up with a price of $45. What gives? It appears that it is more for a customer to apply their own graphics than it is for me to do it?
HELP
Thanks
Mike B

 

[RJ California]

I have 3 catagories for vehicles in Estimate. 1) Vehicle doors, 2) Vehicle Panels over 6 sq. ft, 3) Vehicle Panels over 20 Sq ft.
In the substrates you have to adjust your cost and markup accordingly until your pricing makes sense.

I use Estimate but I'm not real fond of some of it's quirkiness. They had better have a good upgrade real soon (they've been promising a big upgrade to 2.0 for years!) or I'll take a serious look at some other programs, possibly Cyrious.

 

[Checkers]

Hiya Mike,
Perhaps you're applying a quantity discount to one and not the other?
What about artwork complexity and general difficulty level, are they the same for both?
And, are you using 100% coverage for the 30" x 40" signs and using the same size for the RTA custom logos and graphics?
I may be wrong, but maybe the program's back end calculations have different price breaks at different levels. However, this could also be a situation where "Bob from Earth" is correct in slamming all estimating programs. I remember using one of the "high end" programs where it would cost more for a 4' x 6' sign than a 5' x 6' sign with the same content. We finally figured out that the way the program determined price breaks or discounts was somewhat flawed. Once you got to a certain size, the next level of pricing would kick in making a larger sign less expensive than some smaller signs.

Checkers

 

[mbarden]

Quantity discounts applied to both. Although they should not come into play as my over all quatity is 1. Art work complexity and general difficulty level are set the same for both as well. I did not adjust the coverage slider to 100 percent as this would be a true apples to apples comparison. The end result still only yields anout a $5 differnce between the two. Just doesn't seem enough.
Thanks
Mike B

 

[RJ California]

If you have "Vehicle Doors" set up as a substrate I still think you need to adjust the "Cost" and "Markup" in the edit mode and adjust it untill the pricing starts to make sense. Even though your actual cost for the "vehicle" is actually zero you still have to give it value for your pricing to work.

At least that's my take -- I'm no expert.

Checkers is 100% right about the flawed nature of these estimating programs.

 

[Geary]

Have you contacted the EstiMate® guys, Jonathan or Phillip ....about this? I mostly use the "freestyle" form of pricing my stuff. Also, don't know if you're aware of it...but there's a good message board their website. Here's on of a few discussions about your subject I found with a quick search.... http://www.pricingmadeeasy.com/ubb/...le&PHPSESSID=16c29ddd6b319d37a9c7ad5e8997904c

 

[mbarden]

Thanks Fella's,
I gotta pm into phillip at Estimate.
Have a great Easter.
Mike B