Pricing question on customer supplied substrate

[sinclairgraphics1]

So we printed and mounted 17 4'x8' adhesive prints to a customers supplied PVC. My question is, do we charge just for the material we used or the labor to mount it as well? Normally I provide the boards and everything so just trying to see if the labor would be relevant here.

 

[bob]

So we printed and mounted 17 4'x8' adhesive prints to a customers supplied PVC. My question is, do we charge just for the material we used or the labor to mount it as well? Normally I provide the boards and everything so just trying to see if the labor would be relevant here.

Figure what you would charge for the complete job then deduct the cost of the substrate that you would have provided. The only difference is whether you buy the board or the client buys the board. Everything else remains the same.

 

[sinclairgraphics1]

Figure what you would charge for the complete job then deduct the cost of the substrate that you would have provided. The only difference is whether you buy the board or the client buys the board. Everything else remains the same.

Yeah, kind of what I was thinking. Usually I don't charge labor for mounting boards but since there were a good amount of them it took us a couple days.

 

[thewvsignguy]

If customer supplies the substrate then we charge by the hour to install.

 

[Andy D]

So we printed and mounted 17 4'x8' adhesive prints to a customers supplied PVC. My question is, do we charge just for the material we used or the labor to mount it as well? Normally I provide the boards and everything so just trying to see if the labor would be relevant here.

Without a doubt you need to charge for your time for mounting & you also need to mark up your prints more, because you're taking on the risk of
a bad mount and having to reprint one or more of the 4'x8' prints.

95% of the time I won't use a customer's substrate, there's way too many factors that can cause you to lose money
on the deal.

 

[J Hill Designs]

real question: why would you NOT charge for the labor to mount?

 

[Jester1167]

Next question is why it took 2 days to mount 17 4'x8' prints. Two guys should be able to do that in around 4 hours.

Save the backing paper for slip sheets to protect the prints.

 

[sinclairgraphics1]

real question: why would you NOT charge for the labor to mount?

If you charged for the mounting, why wouldn't you charge for grommeting, hemming, trimming a sign, etc? For something like this, to me the cost per square foot should be built to include the cost of labor per sheet. That's how I did it for this job and this particular client. Otherwise you're looking at 10 times what the cost of the sign should be and with lots of competition around, it's easy for them to make a phone call at any sign shop and get dirt cheap flatbed prints all day long.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

If I printed 25 4'x8' panels and did nothing except package the vinyl and mail it off. So no mounting of any sort. There would still be labor included in the cost.

 

[sinclairgraphics1]

Next question is why it took 2 days to mount 17 4'x8' prints. Two guys should be able to do that in around 4 hours.

Save the backing paper for slip sheets to protect the prints.

The actual mounting, yes only took a few hours. The whole job took 2 days. Printing, trimming, then mounting. Exactly what we did was use the slip sheets to protect each board. Worked great.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

If you charged for the mounting, why wouldn't you charge for grommeting, hemming, trimming a sign, etc? For something like this, to me the cost per square foot should be built to include the cost of labor per sheet. That's how I did it for this job and this particular client. Otherwise you're looking at 10 times what the cost of the sign should be and with lots of competition around, it's easy for them to make a phone call at any sign shop and get dirt cheap flatbed prints all day long.

So if your cost per square foot has labor built in then you are already charging for labor. You don't need a line item to signify labor. You just need it accounted for in your cost. If the cost per sq/ft has that then you are good.

 

[sinclairgraphics1]

So if your cost per square foot has labor built in then you are already charging for labor. You don't need a line item to signify labor. You just need it accounted for in your cost. If the cost per sq/ft has that then you are good.

I went off the SignCraft sign pricing guide for this one based on my hourly rate. Since this was a new client, I wanted to treat them well since they had been using a huge printing company that was really overcharging them.

 

[SightLine]

We also would charge more for the print and install in this situation since we are not going to make any profit on the substrate. Same as we do on contract installs.... I've had quite a few places over the years on contract installs tell me "if we were installing this here are our shop we would do it for $200 less" than what I quoted them. After which I tell them but yes, and you are making more than $200 profit on the production end that I'm not going to get to make...

 

[CanuckSigns]

In my shop I would charge normal retail minus MY COST on the board. This amount would already include a cost for mounting so no need to add that. If the boards need any thing done to them such as cleaning, dent repair etc, that would be billed by the hour at shop rate (I wouldn't charge for a quick wipe down)


You mentioned you were worried that if you charged too much they would find someone with a flatbed to do them cheaper. I don't think k someone with a flatbed is going to run customer supplied material, there are too many variables with flatbed printing, if the substrate isn't 1000% clean the print looks like garbage

 

[bob]

We also would charge more for the print and install in this situation since we are not going to make any profit on the substrate...

Interesting philosophy. Why not charge even more to compensate for the profit you're not going to make on the plethora of banners he didn't buy or perhaps the collection of large fine art prints he failed to order or anything else he's not buying? Think about it, as difficult for you as that might be; you're charging someone for something you're NOT selling him. What a stroke of marketing genius.

 

[rossmosh]

I actually agree for charging more with customer provided materials. It's not because of the loss of profit but the risk involved in handling any sheet good. If you scratch, dent, bend, break, or tarnish the 4x8 sheet in any way, you're on the hook to replace it. When you provide the substrate, you mark up the materials which should cover you in case you need to replace the piece. When the customer provides it, then you're SOL.

My policy depends on the customer and the material. Often I charge enough extra to cover a sheet in case something happens. With some customers, I simply charge my normal rate and tell them to buy an extra piece or two.

 

[ams]

I'd add a little bit for mounting like $10 each