Hows my time?

[jpsamuel06]

Hey all. I've been in the sign business for about 3 years now, and in the last year I have pretty much taken control over vehicle and trailer wraps in our shop. We average 2-3 a month. I feel my quality and completion time is great for my experience, but sometimes according to my co-workers, it isn't "fast enough".

We just completed a job for a local daycare where we wrapped 4 mini-vans. A Chrysler, 2 dodges and a chevy. All had the same artwork and the vans were all the same size within 5-6" in length. All vans were different colors, and were complete color change. 3/4 had painted bumpers, trim and door handles which were all wrapped also.

Not including clean/prep time and not including the view-thru, I averaged 18-20 hours of labor per van (just me). The van in the pictures attached was originally dark blue.

Please provide me with some feedback, positive or negative! I came from a world of body work so patience for wrapping almost comes natural, but now that the vinyl industry is my career choice, I would really like some input on how long this should take a skilled wrapper with years of experience. Is 20 hours of labor pretty good for someone with my experience doing these by myself? I know I will only get quicker, but at this point, quality is what I'm shooting for.

Wrap was printed on 3M on a Mutoh 54", Oracal 290 lam.

Thank you for your input!

 

[Clem]

That's fine

Man, for that kind of job by yourself I would say that's fine, especially with your experience level.
Like you say, focus on finish and over time you'll speed up for sure; customers (most) are more concerned with a good finish than the difference of a day or so in installation time.

- James

 

[TXFB.INS]

Man, for that kind of job by yourself I would say that's fine, especially with your experience level.
Like you say, focus on finish and over time you'll speed up for sure; customers (most) are more concerned with a good finish than the difference of a day or so in installation time.

- James

+1 a quality job will always out way the completion time.

with that said you have to stay competitive on pricing and as you get more experience so will the speed.

 

[Gino]

Very nice work.

As for the time frame, ya gotta do what it takes to get the job done right. If they are upset with you, have them do one and show you how to improve yourself.

 

[HDvinyl]

but sometimes according to my co-workers, it isn't "fast enough".

I doubt they say that about the designer of this wrap. Horrible.

Nice install though.

 

[Fine Line Darrel]

Just curious.....did you track your total time? From the time it rolled through the door......cleaning prep, remove door handles, remove grille, install complete, install and trim window perf., post heating, edge sealing......the complete project?

Install job looks great.

Fine Line Darrel

 

[CanuckSigns]

While this is way better than I could ever hope to do, I gotta ask, is that the accepted way to wrap the door handles? the paint showing through around the handle sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

as for the time, it sounds fine, there are some people on this board that would wrap that in 3-4 hours by themselves, but they have been doing it for years, keep at it, you will get faster.

 

[Firefox]

Just curious, but do you usually use OraCal Lam over 3M vinyl? Doesn't that voids warranties...

 

[HulkSmash]

Hey all. I've been in the sign business for about 3 years now, and in the last year I have pretty much taken control over vehicle and trailer wraps in our shop. We average 2-3 a month. I feel my quality and completion time is great for my experience, but sometimes according to my co-workers, it isn't "fast enough".

We just completed a job for a local daycare where we wrapped 4 mini-vans. A Chrysler, 2 dodges and a chevy. All had the same artwork and the vans were all the same size within 5-6" in length. All vans were different colors, and were complete color change. 3/4 had painted bumpers, trim and door handles which were all wrapped also.

Not including clean/prep time and not including the view-thru, I averaged 18-20 hours of labor per van (just me). The van in the pictures attached was originally dark blue.

Please provide me with some feedback, positive or negative! I came from a world of body work so patience for wrapping almost comes natural, but now that the vinyl industry is my career choice, I would really like some input on how long this should take a skilled wrapper with years of experience. Is 20 hours of labor pretty good for someone with my experience doing these by myself? I know I will only get quicker, but at this point, quality is what I'm shooting for.

Wrap was printed on 3M on a Mutoh 54", Oracal 290 lam.

Thank you for your input!

First of all. Excellent quality on the install. Very impressive for someone without a lot of experience.
As for the time 18-20 hr is a very long time. For our shop that's a 6-7 hr install.
If your shop owner is charging for the customer for extensive install time it isn't a huge problem.

But in a high production shop those install times would be a problem and huge bottleneck.

You're on the right track. Keep at it, and you will get faster with each install. Good job.

Also be careful mixing vinyl and lam name brands. It voids all warranties.

 

[threeputt]

While this is way better than I could ever hope to do, I gotta ask, is that the accepted way to wrap the door handles? the paint showing through around the handle sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

as for the time, it sounds fine, there are some people on this board that would wrap that in 3-4 hours by themselves, but they have been doing it for years, keep at it, you will get faster.

Three to four hours? I'd like to see that! Complete color change? With those bumpers and side moldings? Hmmmmm.....

 

[qmr55]

Three to four hours? I'd like to see that! Complete color change? With those bumpers and side moldings? Hmmmmm.....

Only person I know who could possible do it that quick is Chris at Pro Wraps. He's kinda fast.

 

[HulkSmash]

Three to four hours? I'd like to see that! Complete color change? With those bumpers and side moldings? Hmmmmm.....

That's actually a really easy set of bumpers. I can do that entire vehicle in 5-6 hrs flat. including perf.

 

[jpsamuel06]

Thanks for all the feedback. I know I'm not the quickest, but improving daily. I wish we did more wraps. For a while, we would only get one every couple months, and then 2 or 3 would come in. Anything from water tankers to smart cars to 24' trailers.

Our company does wraps/graphics, signs (interior and exterior) and everything in between. We only have a crew of 3 and I specialize in wraps/graphics. I am often pulled off a wrap to help with another job for half a day, give or take. I seem to work a lot quicker if I can stay on a wrap from the time I punch in till the time I go home, but sometimes that's not an option. If business keeps growing, more employees will be hired (I'm not the business owner so I don't make that call).

Now to answer some of your questions,

Fine Line Darrel: I did not track the time. There was a little help from another co-worker occasionally. He would come out and help clean for 15 or 20 minutes, and did some of the view thru in the areas I was done wrapping.

watsons signs: I'm not sure if this is the "accepted" way to wrap handles, but these are honestly the first door handles I've wrapped. Every other vehicle I've done has had un-painted (textured plastic) handles.

Firefox: I'm just the installer. I have no say on what type of vinyl and/or lam is used. But to answer your question, yes it does void the warranty.

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

Makes me want to cray seeing a seem so dang close to the edge of the door (in handle photo)

As for your 24 hour install (in, prep, install, out) for 1 person...compared to how much they should be making per wrap...should not be a problem.
you say 3-4 a month...that's not a high volume shop.
Those high volume shop guys in here that talk about running cars in and out as if they were a drive through...typically have multiple installers and preppers working on them at a time.

As for wrap installers...beggars can't be choosers. Quality is hard to come by. Quality and speed...even harder.

 

[worthy1]

I am amazed at some of the speeds people do these in.....

I know advertising wraps go on a lot quicker due to not having bleed to wrap each panel separately so you effectively wrap a whole side in one piece and trim in between the doors.

For true paint replacement wrapping using 3M 1080, Avery Supreme etc I would expect far greater time taken to do it right. Just removing every piece needed to wrap properly and then clean all the road grime, sap etc off the car, not to mention each edge that is to be wrapped is a good days work to do right. Then wrapping each panel separately with 10ml edge wraps, corners with no wrinkles such as where the A-pillar meets the fenders, roof corners etc. All finished with post heating, reassembling the car, proper clean etc

I am guessing some shops are lucky enough to have a team of guys to pump them out that quick...

 

[HulkSmash]

I am amazed at some of the speeds people do these in.....

I know advertising wraps go on a lot quicker due to not having bleed to wrap each panel separately so you effectively wrap a whole side in one piece and trim in between the doors.

For true paint replacement wrapping using 3M 1080, Avery Supreme etc I would expect far greater time taken to do it right. Just removing every piece needed to wrap properly and then clean all the road grime, sap etc off the car, not to mention each edge that is to be wrapped is a good days work to do right. Then wrapping each panel separately with 10ml edge wraps, corners with no wrinkles such as where the A-pillar meets the fenders, roof corners etc. All finished with post heating, reassembling the car, proper clean etc

I am guessing some shops are lucky enough to have a team of guys to pump them out that quick...

Most experience wrap installers can clean, prep, and install that type of wrap in an 8 hr day with ease.

 

[GAC05]

I'd be in at 3 or 4 hours
for the front bumper and maybe part of the rear one


wayne k
guam usa

 

[Mosh]

For one guy that time looks good...hire some idiots...eerrr employees. And soon you will turn into a boss instead of a sign guy. I went from me to 11 employees then back to just me, never happier with just me. I don't want to be a boss, I want to be a sign guy, keep doing what you are doing (26 years into it myself)