Pricing for digital printing

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

Greetings from Iowa,

I have a question regarding digital printing, we purchased a sign business fron another, we lost everything in a major flood in eastern Iowa last summer, we ended up with 16 feet of water in my shop...which left large metal paper wieghts...and over 400 city blocks under water...

insurance covered nothing due us not having any flood insurance, we started over o our own dime, so every penny counts!

since then we have utilized another shop for our digital printing, wonderful people and great quality, we want to invest in our own printer, but the rule of thumb is if you cant use it everyday, you need to reconsider the purchase. the pricing always seems all over the board. I wondering how they may be pricing the material out to my shop, is it by square foot, or linear foot, if anyone has any input it would be gratly appreciated.

curious what others pay, or charge other shops.

keep in mind im in Iowa, the closest town is 250k population, im the only shop in a 2o mile radious.

thank you all!

 

[Mosh]

Here in Nebraska $12 SF laminated is a starting point. We go by the signcraft price guide for the most part.

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

Great, thank you

Im assuming the is the cost you charge another shop for the printing?

if so, what is the differance between normal p.s.v. and say perf vinyl for the windows, is the only differance the cost of the material?

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Mosh, wholesale? uninstalled? did you hit the 1 key accidentally?

Sorry about the flood. Been there!

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

yeah, I have been through a fire of my home and a flood of my business, ill take a fire anyday... with a fire everythings done...period, with a flood things seem to be salvagable, when there not...

3 sign shops were takin out by the flood, along with 72 other businesses and over 2300 homes. Fema said it was the 2nd or 3rd worst natural disaster below katrina.

i love this business, we re-opened in the smaler town where we live, next closest shop is over 20 miles away, and the community here has really supported us, as we have them...cant complain!

In regards to the costs applied, Im just curious of cost of raw printing to me, we will install and design.

i like most people on here have really embraced the idea of doing wraps....sound familiar?

we are looking to work on some projects wit my exsisting cutomers, do some less expensive jobs to help get the work on the road, then if it goes well and more business comes in, then we will look to purchase the equipment ourselves, i have learned to be very fiskaly careful, considering we started up on a small portio of our savings and have sank all we made into the business. i have learned to pinch a penny tight enough to make abe lincoln scream! lol

 

[gabagoo]

The thing is if you outsource your printing then chances are you will never have something every day because there are other ways of making signs..ie cut vinyl. If you purchase a printer slowly over time you will eventualy start printing more and more signs that you would have done with cut vinyl or screen printing. I can honestly say since purchasing a printer that I now have more money in the bank as I don't have to constantly purchase coloured vinyls and premask, and digital media is cheaper than vinyl cut material ( including white). I am not saying I do not cut vinyl anymore, just that if I dont have to then it makes more sense to print. Also banners are a lot easier to make when you dont have to cut / weed / mask vinyl.

 

[Checkers]

the pricing always seems all over the board

What pricing works for me in PA may not work for you. Every shop is unique, with different overhead, material and labor costs, advertising expenses, insurance, profit margins and more. Therefore the difference in price.

Do your homework and develop a business plan. From there you can establish your prices and profit margins.

Checkers

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

Hers an example, i requested qty 0f 3

11" x 17 " print, normal psv, no lam cost was 16.00 each... Does this seem expensive?

 

[Mosh]

We would be $46.80 with laminate.

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

Is that for all 3? If so, what about no lam?

 

[Farmboy]

Invest in some pricing software. Good software will at least help you find a starting point.
I like EstiMate

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

I tried estimate during the free period, found it very cumbersome to set up perameters, it showed i should sell a 1 color coro sign for 36 dollars....made no sence, tried to contact thier cs and the would never answer and when they did they just replied the same as the hwlp section stated.

I believe it is very helpful and saw the benefit, i just didnt ut all the time to format.

But, my big issue is figuring out if what im paying is to high for the digital printing?

 

[Gino]

I think Farm has a great idea. Try getting a hold of some estimating software and see if you can get it to work on your computer and start plugging some prices in.

I would think if you could muster up some more comparisons it might help. All kinds of things come into play when buying vs. selling digital.

It sounds like you want us to answer how your supplier is pricing to you when there is no way we can know their needs. I would suggest that if you're happy with their quality and service.... you can't have super pricing. Something will always suffer when not doing things correctly. So if you are happy with two out of three things, then go to the horse's mouth and ask them how they are pricing.

Actually, I take that back about getting software. Just go to your local supplier for raw media and ask how much the media costs. Then ask how much the ink costs. After that, ask how much inventory you need to keep on hand so you can buy anything you want at any given time. Oh yeah, then figure in your overhead, insurance and utilities and put a little something on top there for profit. Add in the fact that 3 little 11" x 17" prints is not gonna keep that guy's doors open and he might be charging you a shop minimum.

You also might wanna consider what learning curve this other guy needed and how much he has invested in profiling and other things to keep your subbed work in that great quality range you spoke about.

Ya see ONLINE, more goes into it than meets the eye. Simply asking how your supplier prices his prints to you is the same as one of your customers asking you how much the Cor-X and vinyl costs you..... and why you charge them more than what it costs you.

 

[thmooch]

http://www.thesignexpert.com/TheSignExpert.com/Sign_Business_Free_Sign_Price_Calculators.html

check out some of the merchant members here for subbing out your full color.

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

Thanks gino, i try not to be picky about things, but you are right, i really had no urge to leave there services.

Thier great people and have good quality printing. Not to mention they were flood effected like i was, we need to support eachother. I just want to do much more digital business, and have considered investing in my own equipment.

Ive always lived by the oppinion, it costs what it costs, and takes as long as it takes.....quality is key!

I just have nothing to compare it to, i dont think they would take advantage of me, i asked them how they price things out for n example of standard psv with no lam, an they gave me sort of a generic answer, which i somewhat expected.

They just stated aprox 7 dollars a square foot with no lam. Which seemed fair, if its not i would like to know, i douubt there are any other iowa sign shops on here, if there is i would like your oppinion.

 

[scarface]

Hers an example, i requested qty 0f 3

11" x 17 " print, normal psv, no lam cost was 16.00 each... Does this seem expensive?

I'd be at $34 using pricing software (graphixcalc) and $49.50 using Signcraft

Printed on 3651 cal

This is for all 3

I use the $66 hour section (green) for my $60/hr shop rate since it's the closest. I also round up on the psf prices to make things easier to remember.

 

[ONLINE SIGN GUY]

Interesting, can i ask where you are located, city, state, general populatiom and how many local competitors?

 

[Malkin]

I would be @ about $15.50 each for 11" x 17" no lam.
Minimum order $25, although I'm thinking of bumping it to $40
We offer a discount if sold wholesale to another local sign shop.

 

[scarface]

Interesting, can i ask where you are located, city, state, general populatiom and how many local competitors?

I'm in MD on the east coast

There is about 5 local shops that i know of within 10ish miles.

I honestly don't worry much what everyone else is charging. I do however like to know so i can change things up a tad if I'm WAY off.

A good suggestion would be to set a minimum so you don't lose out on small orders, mine is currently $25 and for the most part I'm following it good.

 

[Farmboy]

"I just want to do much more digital business, and have considered investing in my own equipment."
Sign Guy...don't fall into the hopes of "If I buy it, they will come." Wait until you have more work then your current supplier can keep up with. Then consider making the move.