Question Going rate on color change wrap

[crny1]

Good evening,
I do not do vehicle graphics and only ever attempted it about 5 years ago as a test so I am pretty clueless when it comes to pricing. I personally own a 2018 GMC Sierra Denali 3500 (dually) and have been tinkering with getting it wrapped for a color change. I got a quote and too me it seems a bit much. They quoted it with Cheetah wrap material. What would the going rate be for a vehicle of this size? Again I am not doing it, I know what cheetah wrap material goes for but curious about the labor for what a ballpark price would be.
Thanks

 

[ikarasu]

Between 2 and 4k for a full color change.... Probably in the 3.5 range. Never used cheetah wrap before, so maybe a bit cheaper if the material is cheaper ..

Most of the cost in wraps is labor. Color changes cost a lot more because you have to do a ton of removal to do it properly.

 

[rydods]

I never go cheaper on cheaper material but that's just me. Cheaper material will usually take quite a bit longer to install than premium cast material and the likelihood of a potential failure down the road and fix/re-do can be high if not installed properly in some spots on the vehicle. I'd rather charge more to be honest, to steer my customer toward a material that installs much easier and I know will last longer.
Also, For a cheaper material, you can bet you'll need extra help.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

To do that vehicle right, we wouldn't touch it for less than $6500. If you wanted a "paint-like" wrap (all visible areas covered: door jambs, hood well, behind cab, etc.) it would be $8000 or so.

 

[MikePatterson]

6 to 10K here. But we take the vehicles apart and on pickups we even set the bed back. Like said above, if you wanted to do jams we would be closer to 10K. I usually tell clients they should have bought the color they wanted. We rarely get the job and that is fine because its a PITA and we are not working for McDonald's wages.

 

[ikarasu]

Time to raise.my prices...jk!

But it's amazing the difference based on location. We quote 3.5-4k and we're always too high compared to the other dedicated wrapping places so we barely get wraps.
There's 2-3 shops around that would do it for 3-3.5k... and a dozen small, out of the garage places that'd be in the 3k range.

 

[Billct2]

We get guys asking about color change wraps for commercial vehicles expecting it to be cheaper than a paint job. I had one client that was stuck and I looked into doing it, found ads for places doing color change for $2100. How the he;l they can make any money I don't know. One client had his peterbilt tractors wrapped for $1800 and brought them to us for lettering. Hr got what he paid for, and even he could see it.

 

[Scotchbrite]

This is why we've stayed out of the wrap business. Too many undercutters out there and we end up just wasting time quoting projects so we just tell people we don't do them. Plus our insurance carrier would love to charge us more if we did do them. Every year we have to go thru lots of discussion to convince them we don't do wraps.

 

[netsol]

Scotchbrite
i have never understood WHY your insurance carrier would raise your rates,, based on doing wraps?
what is it you tell them you do now?

what is the potential additional risk for doing wraps?

 

[Scotchbrite]

We have to have a big explanation about how we put lettering on vehicles, but we aren't covering them entirely like a wrap. We've never asked why they care so much, but we figure it's because there are more claims on wrap projects. Like I'm thinking damage to the paint from an errant razor.

 

[TSC1985]

We have to have a big explanation about how we put lettering on vehicles, but we aren't covering them entirely like a wrap. We've never asked why they care so much, but we figure it's because there are more claims on wrap projects. Like I'm thinking damage to the paint from an errant razor.

You gotta do some more digging on coverages. We drastically lowered both our WC and liability costs when we finally found a carrier that wouldn't loop us into the electrical sign group as we mostly do printing and vehicles. Hell that even included doubling our garage keepers coverage.

 

[Patentagosse]

We get guys asking about color change wraps for commercial vehicles expecting it to be cheaper than a paint job. I had one client that was stuck and I looked into doing it, found ads for places doing color change for $2100. How the he;l they can make any money I don't know. One client had his peterbilt tractors wrapped for $1800 and brought them to us for lettering. Hr got what he paid for, and even he could see it.

I do semis for living... at my place you get side graphics and name on doors for 1800$. I wouldn't do full wrap for less than 3x that amount.

 

[crny1]

Thank you for the insight everyone! I didnt ask them for a 100% color change (door jambs and behind the cab) and they were cheaper than what anyone here has mentioned. This may be due to workmanship and I guess I would need to see some of their work up close before committing. I have no experience with Cheetah wrap and know its price. Which leads me to believe it is a very short term wrap material. Again, thank you for the insight into this.

 

[Tracy Davis]

Would not use cheetah personally… 3m and avery much easier to use.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Thank you for the insight everyone! I didnt ask them for a 100% color change (door jambs and behind the cab) and they were cheaper than what anyone here has mentioned. This may be due to workmanship and I guess I would need to see some of their work up close before committing. I have no experience with Cheetah wrap and know its price. Which leads me to believe it is a very short term wrap material. Again, thank you for the insight into this.

I wouldn't cheap out on a color change... If you do it at all.

 

[TopFliteGraphics]

One arm plus one leg...Seriously we would be about $3500-4000 as well. takes LOT of time to properly wrap any vehicle.

 

[ChaseO]

Thank you for the insight everyone! I didnt ask them for a 100% color change (door jambs and behind the cab) and they were cheaper than what anyone here has mentioned. This may be due to workmanship and I guess I would need to see some of their work up close before committing. I have no experience with Cheetah wrap and know its price. Which leads me to believe it is a very short term wrap material. Again, thank you for the insight into this.

Your first post said their quote was too much and now you say it is cheaper than what anyone here mentioned? The only thing I'm curious about is why you are trying to cheap out on a Denali truck in the first place? Spend the big money now to have it done right, or save your money for when you can.

 

[ikarasu]

Some people don't realize how much wraps are.

Like I said, most of ours are in the 3-4k range, with smaller non full colors being in the 2. People still balk at it and walk away.

One guy compared it to a Maco paint job. Said he can get a pain t job done for under $1000, so wraps are crazy expensive.

That's why I hate color changes. You either get super cheap people who want it for free... Or people spending thousands who expect 100% perfection and nitpick.

We just had someone bring in a new BMW to get their trim and bumper wrapped to gloss and carbon fiber. We pointed out a few things...

Said the bumper part they want wrapped is a plastic we've never had good success with, even high tac tends to lift off it after a day.

Told them the roof rack mount they want wrapped has so much curvature and small spaces... It's going to look bad and need to have splices.

The front grill that has like 50 shark fins will need to be done in multiple pieces as well... Impossible to be done in one.

Well... They understood and walked away from the job, then came back a week later saying they want to risk it and they understand the issues and if it fails, they'll just pull it off.

So when they come pick it up the next day... They tell us they love it... Then when we walked away they started examining every little detail. There's not even a sliver of black showing through the black carbon fiber... And they cried about it. I'm talking paper thin... On a spot where the bumper can't be taken apart.

Of course everything else we warned them about they complained too, said it's not at all what they expected....

Morale of the story is stay out of doing color changes and detail work, it can look perfect and the customer will still have a ton of deficiencies.

 

[balstestrat]

Some people don't realize how much wraps are.

Like I said, most of ours are in the 3-4k range, with smaller non full colors being in the 2. People still balk at it and walk away.

One guy compared it to a Maco paint job. Said he can get a pain t job done for under $1000, so wraps are crazy expensive.

That's why I hate color changes. You either get super cheap people who want it for free... Or people spending thousands who expect 100% perfection and nitpick.

We just had someone bring in a new BMW to get their trim and bumper wrapped to gloss and carbon fiber. We pointed out a few things...

Said the bumper part they want wrapped is a plastic we've never had good success with, even high tac tends to lift off it after a day.

Told them the roof rack mount they want wrapped has so much curvature and small spaces... It's going to look bad and need to have splices.

The front grill that has like 50 shark fins will need to be done in multiple pieces as well... Impossible to be done in one.

Well... They understood and walked away from the job, then came back a week later saying they want to risk it and they understand the issues and if it fails, they'll just pull it off.

So when they come pick it up the next day... They tell us they love it... Then when we walked away they started examining every little detail. There's not even a sliver of black showing through the black carbon fiber... And they cried about it. I'm talking paper thin... On a spot where the bumper can't be taken apart.

Of course everything else we warned them about they complained too, said it's not at all what they expected....

Morale of the story is stay out of doing color changes and detail work, it can look perfect and the customer will still have a ton of deficiencies.

I'm just pointing out the obvious but good thing you clearly gave them the disclaimer in before and showed it in their face after...
Sarcasm... but I hope you did.

 

[Scotchbrite]

You gotta do some more digging on coverages. We drastically lowered both our WC and liability costs when we finally found a carrier that wouldn't loop us into the electrical sign group as we mostly do printing and vehicles. Hell that even included doubling our garage keepers coverage.

We are an electrical shop too. Plus 2 cranes and 2 bucket trucks. We get solicitors wanting to quote our general liability all the time until they figure out what all we have then they want to just quote the automobile coverage. There aren't a ton of options.