Gemini Plaque Pricing

[Jo Hill]

I have a customer who needs some plaques done for a new building. The customer is the county government board of supervisors. Gemini quoted me $7000.00 for the products. I know the general rule of thumb is cost X3 but does quoting my customer $21,000 sound ludicrous?

The customer did accept my X3 bid.

 

[Gino]

According to your update, evidently..... not.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

They accepted so what's the deal?

I dont even waste time anymore with the local government bids around here. I lost out on a Firestation last week because our typical lowballer bid their letters, manufactured and installed, BELOW Geminis cost. He can make his own letters so he bids way below everyone else. I normally dont respond to those requests but I took the bait this time.

Be happy you got the bid and enjoy the work. I like doing 3x cost on Gemini

 

[visual800]

Great job! As far as municipalities and govt they want cheapest they can get and they can have it

 

[Johnny Best]

Are you eeligible with Gemini to get the 40% discount?

 

[Billct2]

Wow, good for you. I usually mark up on a sliding scale that also has risk calculated into it.

 

[Andy D]

I know the general rule of thumb is cost X3 .

I bid plaques and cast letters all the time, my markup isn't anywhere near 3X.
Gemini suggests a 40% margin ( $XXX divided by .60) & most people go a little above or below that, meaning; $7,000 = $11,667 +/-
As others have said, if you don't order them all the time, the risk of re-dos is higher, so if you got 3X, good for you.

 

[unclebun]

Gemini's pricing, as mentioned above, includes a 40% margin. This is supposed to keep the playing field level for anyone selling their products. Above that, you should charge separately for making your sales call, designing the item, processing the job through your shop, and installing and billing for it. All of this is easily understood from reading their catalog.

You did get a catalog subscription so you're always up to date on what they are charging and offering, didn't you?

 

[Billct2]

On a separate note...when dealing with jobs like this my CYA warning is at Defcon 1. Especially when it's a job with multiple bureaucrats involved. Make sure every person who is supposed to sign off does and that there are prominent warning about the client being responsible for any spelling errors. And that warning is reaffirmed in several emails.

 

[Stallion Signs]

Are you eeligible with Gemini to get the 40% discount?

do you mind expanding on this?

 

[bannertime]

do you mind expanding on this?

Probably asking if they are a registered dealer with Gemini to get the 40% "discount" from the catalog price. Meaning if Gemini quoted him $7k, the catalog price should be ~$11.6k. Or let's say he wasn't registered and Gemini quoted him catalog price, a dealer's price would be ~$4k.

Either way, getting $21k for the job is pretty lucky. They likely didn't have anyone else quote.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Was it a bid on flat cut letters or something? I couldn't imagine beating gemini on cast letters in house, but their flat cut pricing skyrockets after 1/4". If you make friends with a guy with a waterjet, you could get some of these, but a cnc in house is the way to go.

flat. But the dude bids low on EVERYTHING. Kind of a old salty dude so sometimes I get his customers when they are done dealing with him.. But prices everything so cheap..even though among the 10 other sign shops in town, he has been in it the longest and has some of the best work... just not up to date on prices.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We do a ton of Gemini plaques, we usually mark them up by the suggested 40%, then add the shipping cost. On a separate line item we charge for any design or installation work.

 

[Jo Hill]

Probably asking if they are a registered dealer with Gemini to get the 40% "discount" from the catalog price. Meaning if Gemini quoted him $7k, the catalog price should be ~$11.6k. Or let's say he wasn't registered and Gemini quoted him catalog price, a dealer's price would be ~$4k.

Either way, getting $21k for the job is pretty lucky. They likely didn't have anyone else quote.

I called Gemini and asked if I am qualified for some kind of discount or if there is a tier system and the lady told me that only sign shops can buy directly from them.

but uh.. I don’t spend too much time in the Gemini catalog to be honest.. when I customer needs something I send it off to be quoted without looking in the catalog. I wasn’t aware that the prices shown in the catalog were marked up 40 percent. So the price in the catalog with the 40 percent mark up can be safe for the customer to see if that’s the margin I want to go with?

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I called Gemini and asked if I am qualified for some kind of discount or if there is a tier system and the lady told me that only sign shops can buy directly from them.

but uh.. I don’t spend too much time in the Gemini catalog to be honest.. when I customer needs something I send it off to be quoted without looking in the catalog. I wasn’t aware that the prices shown in the catalog were marked up 40 percent. So the price in the catalog with the 40 percent mark up can be safe for the customer to see if that’s the margin I want to go with?

yes. but you have to add for shipping and patterns and your time.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I called Gemini and asked if I am qualified for some kind of discount or if there is a tier system and the lady told me that only sign shops can buy directly from them.

but uh.. I don’t spend too much time in the Gemini catalog to be honest.. when I customer needs something I send it off to be quoted without looking in the catalog. I wasn’t aware that the prices shown in the catalog were marked up 40 percent. So the price in the catalog with the 40 percent mark up can be safe for the customer to see if that’s the margin I want to go with?

yes. but you have to add for shipping and patterns and your time.

 

[bannertime]

So the price in the catalog with the 40 percent mark up can be safe for the customer to see if that’s the margin I want to go with?

Generally yes. It's also a 40% Margin and not mark up. It's calculated differently; as a 40% margin is actually an 80% mark up. A 40% mark up is less than 30% margin.

Reason I say generally is due to how well you can explain additional cost to your customer. If they are just ordering 18in formed plastic letters in black with studs out of a non-premium font, then catalog price is perfectly fine. If you're doing some custom work, we treat it as a custom quote job and may use the catalog as a "base" price.