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First Store Front Window Job - What would you have charged?

Fanaticus

New Member
I've been in the window tint business for about 6 years now and have been moving into the vinyl business over the last year or so, mostly just cutting and selling decals, a few yard signs.... but have looking more into doing store fronts and vehicle lettering and just completed our first store front job.

I got a lead that a Salon was looking for some lettering on their windows and went down and took some pics of the salon then went back and photoshopped a design onto the pics, then mailed them the idea with a quote on price.

A week went by and we got a call from the salon saying they want us to come do their windows, but want a few small changes to the design. So I went to the salon with my laptop and made the changes to the design, got the papers signed off and went back to the shop and got to work cutting....

Anyway, I have absolutely no clue what the average price is for this type of thing. They didn't flinch once about the price I quoted them.... before I tell you how much I quoted them.... can I ask what you would have charged?

Here's the completed project... followed by the dimensions.

salon.jpg
salon-2.jpg

The large side windows are 62" wide x 43" high.
The door is 37" wide.

The White vinyl on the side windows is 57" wide.
The 3 color logo on the door is 16" square.

The job included all the vinyl you see on those windows.

There's also a phone number on there that I blocked out for these pictures.

I used Oracal 651.

What would you have charged?
 
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Craig Sjoquist

New Member
At least $500 to $800 geez had to log in but it worked guess something changed on my part

anyway the premium section is better suited for this/

Welcome to a outstanding forum and people.
 

Poconopete

New Member
Did you cover all your overhead? Make your pay for the time including travel? End up with your predetermined profit?
No? Then sit down and start figuring what you need to charge.
Yes? Then go have a diet DR PEPPER and enjoy life for a while.
What anyone else will charge is irrelevant to your business plan.
 

Fanaticus

New Member
Did you cover all your overhead? Make your pay for the time including travel? End up with your predetermined profit?
No? Then sit down and start figuring what you need to charge.
Yes? Then go have a diet DR PEPPER and enjoy life for a while.
What anyone else will charge is irrelevant to your business plan.

For this job I did not, I was more interested in a quick sale and gaining experience.

What other people charge is relevant, imo, it's good to know what the Norm and whether or not you're above or below the norm and what could be done to fit into the Norm.

Why charge $20 an hour less than the next cheapest guy in town if you don't need to?

If I've got the wrong idea, I apologize.
 

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Fanaticus

New Member
Sorry, I ment for the pics of the trailer to be in this post.

Just curious what this might have brought? The pics are the photoshop mock-ups, but the final project turned out the same.

That was using avery a9 high performance film.

It was the first big project I did, for my brother-in-law. Practice.

--Whats the advantage of the premium forum?
 
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Craig Sjoquist

New Member
Pricing is for premium section.

But the way to figure has been well stated before look back on some threads.

Signcraft has a great guide and there are others also
 

MikePro

New Member
Pricing is for premium section.

But the way to figure has been well stated before look back on some threads.

Signcraft has a great guide and there are others also
+1

greetings, fellow cheeselander.
p.s. i'da gotten rid of those hardware store-bought address numbers.
 

Fanaticus

New Member
+1

greetings, fellow cheeselander.
p.s. i'da gotten rid of those hardware store-bought address numbers.

Yep, I'm looking around the forum much more now than I did before joining and see I should probably join the premium section for these types of things.

-- The salon did not want them removed, as they rent the space and there are several "suites" that are numbered. We did remove an old ugly knobby suction cup thingy from the door though.

-- Enjoying the COLD?
 

jiarby

New Member
651 is gonna look bad in 2 years... it will shrink leaving a glue halo around the letters and then dry out and crack like a dried lake bed.

If you quoted a price to a nail salon and they didn't blink then you had to have WAAY under priced it!

I'll guess you did it for $225 or under.
 

Fanaticus

New Member
651 is gonna look bad in 2 years... it will shrink leaving a glue halo around the letters and then dry out and crack like a dried lake bed.

If you quoted a price to a nail salon and they didn't blink then you had to have WAAY under priced it!

I'll guess you did it for $225 or under.

$400, with a replacement guarantee. So, chances are we'll be replacing it.
 

klemgraphics

New Member
$400, with a replacement guarantee. So, chances are we'll be replacing it.
I can guarantee you will be replacing it, using cheap materials that will fail is not a good way to start off your reputation. The only thing 651 will touch here is coro or a racecar, never on anything permanent, especially outdoors.

Use good vinyl that will last but never give a replacement guarantee unless you want them calling you after someone peels part of it off, they will always say "it just fell off", yea right.:banghead:

Not trying to bust your chops just advise for the future.
 

Malkin

New Member
The Premium side of the forum is more private, therefore information that might be sensitive is more likely to be shared.
Also the subscription $$ goes to support the site, making it very worthwhile.
 

jiarby

New Member
Save yourself some trouble and keep a 50yd roll of 751 or 851 in stock. White & Black.

Odds are that THEY will be out of business before the vinyl dries up. (Or maybe you if you keep charging half price)

You gotta charge so much that the nail salon wants to say "too much!"... then you can come down. If they snapped it up without a peep you left money on the table.

Nail salons are cheaper than realtors... (Chinese food buffets too!)
 

Poconopete

New Member
For this job I did not, I was more interested in a quick sale and gaining experience.

What other people charge is relevant, imo, it's good to know what the Norm and whether or not you're above or below the norm and what could be done to fit into the Norm.

Why charge $20 an hour less than the next cheapest guy in town if you don't need to?

If I've got the wrong idea, I apologize.
Maybe in the same area as you but what I charge here in the woods of PA and what someone in Frisco charges will be completely different and irrelevant unless you plan to commute to work.
:Welcome:
 

MikePro

New Member
-- Enjoying the COLD?
HELL NO! just spent a 12hr-day outdoors doing vinyl lettering on aluminum awnings... i had to use a heat gun to even make my masking tape stick! (which SUCKS when its so windy out!)

Also, yesterday i had to put up a 12' paper pattern for stud-mounted sintra letters... 3 TIMES the wind took it off the wall before I got a drill to it! Ended up driving back to the shop to mount my shredded pattern to cardboard and just screwed it to the wall to make it work! Boss was happy I got the job done, but wasn't thrilled it took allday for a 2-3hr project.

thank god all my outdoor projects are done for the week... supposed to get WORSE outside over the next few days.
 
J

john1

Guest
Without knowing all the exact sizes i guestimated $400-$450 so looks like you did decent then. Not saying i know anything but going off the rough sizes it seems good. Thank you for not doing this for $200 though. Too many people do that type of thing.

I have done 651 on windows and have never had one problem. I guess it really depends on your area maybe but no complaints here. Hell when i first started 5.5 years ago i used 4 year vinyl cause i didn't know any better and i had a customer last fall stop by and her graphic on the back window looked mint condition.
 

iSign

New Member
$400 seems ok to me too... not great... but ok... as long as the drive was short... I'd be at $150 just for the door though... even a block away with supplied vector art... but then, once I'm there.. another $150 each to slap $20 worth of cut vinyl on glass? sure... why not... 3 years ago, maybe $550... but $400- $450 is very profitable even with 2 mil material (in my opinion)
 
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