Pricing Confusion

[Kchapin]

I want to get some input about pricing.
I was asked by a friend of a friend to quote graphics for her store front windows.
There are 4 windows 42" x 69" that she wants a floral border, frame type thing. It will be printed & cut.
The front door glass is 21" wide & will have a 20" x 18" printed & cut graphic & the store hours in cut vinyl.
There will also be a small amount of simple lettering on 2 windows in cut vinyl.
I figured about 6 hours to design, print, weed, app paper & install
I quoted her $1100 for the job.
She came back & said "Wow! That much. I was thinking $500-$600. Another shop told me they charge $15/sq foot so it would be $650."
I asked her if that was installed & she said yes!
Am I way off or is that other place either really cheap or is that price maybe not including install?!

Thanks!!

 

[James Burke]

Rule #1: As a business owner (which I assume you are), always avoid friend of a friend situations. Always.



JB

 

[Kchapin]

Yeah I'm slowly figuring that out! Usually it's not too bad but this one has been the worst!
She asked me if I could negotiate my price basically to the $650 because she likes my work...she already told me that 2 other shops couldn't do what she wanted...I'm guessing one of those is the one that quoted her $650!

 

[Fred Weiss]

Based on the total measurement you supplied, I calculate about 82 to 83 square feet to cover. At $15 a square foot that's $1,230.00 to $1,245.00. If a competitor is quoting $650.00 and a rate of $15.00 a square foot, then they are only figuring on about 43 square feet ... so I guess they are taking the actual dimensions of the graphics needed instead of the total area. Or, perhaps they are not doing the borders.

I think your quote of $1,100.00 is reasonable depending on the coverage you are planning on..

 

[HDvinyl]

Friends of friends lie, just like any cheap customer.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Your price seems pretty much on the money to me, saying that there are lots of shops who would do the job for $500, not that it's right, but there is a shop near me that would do it for that.

You said they are not happy with the other shops design work, so use that to your advantage, design is the one thi g that sets most shops apart, and it has a huge value.

 

[player]

Go back with $990, 50% down, balance due on completion.

You never mentioned the quality of vinyl...

 

[Gino]

If your pricing is what you need to get, stick to your guns. This isn't an auction, unless you want it to be.

We've gotten some really good money for doing window treatments and sometimes we do just alright, but the decision is always up to me, if I wanna drop the price for some reason. We're doing a small pylon sign, some dimensional letters, a front electric sign face replacement and while I was there measuring, she asked how much to letter her front window with her logo (digital print) and hours. I looked at it and said, we'll just throw it in for $125. and she said, that seems high. So, I said, ya know what, you're getting so much else done, call it $75 and we're good. She said...... alright, that sounds much better. If I can't make up $50 somewhere on a $7,600 job, that's just on me.

 

[visual800]

OP your pricing is right in line, stay true. and why cant the other shops do it AFTER they quoted it?

I wouldnt budge on that price

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Wow, I need to move my business to another state. $15/sq for window graphics, we are lucky to win a bid at $10/sq.

Most of the smaller, hungry shops are doing them for $5-6/sq around here. So we set ourselves apart by add-ons and other services the smaller shops don't do.

 

[Kwiksigns]

people around here would do that for $5-600. less than 60 sqft if you calculate a 1 ft border. at $15, it would be around $800.

I just lost a bid because I was too high on my install rate. They were asking $2 per sqft. Which, in some cases, would be OK. BUT, it was a good 1200 sqft. No Problem. 300 sqft of it, was "3m air release graphics"... whatever... That means it will install fast enough... The rest of it... were frosted vinyl installs... same size windows, cut into 9 sections. They had to be wet installed. Thinking that is going to take the same amount of time as an air release calendared or cast vinyl is crazy. And in DC... we get $3 minimum in DC plus no less than $300 to leave the shop...

People are always going to try to "get the price lower". Doesnt matter if it is your friend, or her friend, or my friend, or your wife's best friends daughters friend.

You really don't know what they are doing is also what I am trying to say. I would do it for $500... If i could print it all in less than 10 sq.ft. and it is less than 15 minutes away. Which is doable... But you don't even know how intricate my border is, how wide it is or if i am doing that vinyl on the door.

 

[Billct2]

"She asked me if I could negotiate my price basically to the $650 because she likes my work...she already told me that 2 other shops couldn't do what she wanted..." So the other two shops aren't quoting what you are. Do not drop your price. You will regret it. She sounds difficult.

 

[reQ]

For listed things, i would be at around $600-700 installed (but all depends how much art work involved & how far away to travel)

 

[rossmosh]

Before quoting, ask for a budget. Saves these sorts of headaches in the future. Since you're in the situation here's what we typically do

1. Give them a discount if I can rationalize it. My pricing assumes headaches and nonsense. No headaches or nonsense, maybe we can give them a break.

2. Cut services/offerings. Want to spend $700? Okay, well that means not this or this and we're going to use this material instead of the one I planned. Some people just give it away, but more often than not there is a valid reason why their pricing is different than mine. I do hold standards and typically will turn down a job if it's low quality garbage that will just come back to bite me.

 

[bannertime]

We're typically on the low side of pricing. Our customer base has changed over the past 20 years, so we have much smaller business customers now. We've adjusted to make money dealing with startups and cheap customers. That being said, we'd still be at least the $1k mark.

 

[PRS Bryan]

"Can you reduce your price to the price of shops that are doing work I don't like? I want your quality but at bargain basement prices."

"That is understandable, I want BMW quality and design for the price of a KIA. Unfortunately neither of us are going to get it."


I never reduce my quoted price, nor do I ever use cheaper materials that are going to bite me in the *** down the road.

I am fortunate that I am not scrambling for work, I have built a customer base that appreciates quality of design and product.

I have let many people go to other shops because my price was not the lowest and I don't miss them any.

Let them be a pain in in another shops ***. I have plenty of problems with my customers that don't nickel-dime me.

 

[Kchapin]

Thanks everyone for their input!!
I came to the same realization as a lot of yall did that the other shop that supposedly quoted her $650 couldn't do the job the way she wanted so if she wanted my work she would pay! I came down to $850 because I looked at how I could lay everything out on my vinyl to print & save space & figured I had enough wiggle room there. When I told her the new price she jumped on it before I had a chance to realize the text had even sent! So I probably could have stuck to my guns at $1100 but at the end of the day it'll still be a good paying job!

Thanks again for everyone's help & advice!!

 

[Rebel Graphics]

she was dying to get that text from u, that's 20ish% off right off the bat

 

[Kchapin]

she was dying to get that text from u, that's 20ish% off right off the bat

Oh believe me, I know she was!! Either way it'll still be a good paying job so I can't really complain too much!

 

[Bly]

The last two quotes I did for friends of friends I even did layouts which they liked.
Never heard from them again.
I did see my layout being driven around town one day though.
It looked great!