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Question Pricing wallcovering

unclebun

Active Member
I am trying to do pricing on a wallcovering job. It will be a dividing wall in a shop building. The wall is painted sheetrock, flat except for lightswitches and such. There are two 12x12 garage door openings in it (which don't have to be covered). The wall is 90' long. At the ends it's 16' tall, and at the center it's 18' tall. I'll either print on permanent adhesive wallcovering (probably Avery 6 mil) or Enviroscape or Dreamscape wallpaper or similar. No lamination. Using an Epson S70670. It's going to take three 50yd rolls whichever material I use. Total square footage of printed material is 1668.

The design is to make it look like an old weathered barn, with barn wood planks going up and down and opened doors where the garage doors are and barn shutters on a picture window of an upstairs office that looks over the work area below. I will not be drawing the design myself, they would be hiring a digital artist to create it.

Figuring the use of a scissor lift, I am at $18,020. Does that sound like enough? If it's wallpaper, the material is a little less expensive, but I'll have to hire some paper hangers. If it's adhesive, we can install it ourselves.

Back 15 years ago we did a bunch of wallpaper murals of old retro photos and some other things for restaurants, etc. in our area. Back then we got $8/sq. ft. for printing wallpaper and hiring a paper hanger to put them up. But none of that required a lift to install or as large an area. Most of those were 6'x10' or 8'x16'. And things were a lot cheaper back then, especially labor rates.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
If you can get 18k doing that, I'd take it all day long. A scissor is only 4-500/month. I'd assume there'd be plenty of people that'd jump on that for 5-8/sq ft all in?
 

rjssigns

Active Member
If you can get 18k doing that, I'd take it all day long. A scissor is only 4-500/month. I'd assume there'd be plenty of people that'd jump on that for 5-8/sq ft all in?
This ^^^^

For me: $5 per square to print/strip/prep. $3 per square install. Freelance installer I use averages just under 600 sq. ft. per 8 hours on semi trailers. Scissor rental included in pricing.
 

unclebun

Active Member
So if I go back to the same price I charged 15 years ago, $8/sq ft, I would be at $13,344.

There are no freelance installers here for vinyl. It means leaving the shop and stopping all other work for 4-5 days, plus the 2-3 days it will take on the printer.

After checking around, it appears there are no freelance wallpaper installers any more. They apparently all work for the big box stores or painters now. Maybe wallpaper is out of fashion or something?
 

rjssigns

Active Member
So if I go back to the same price I charged 15 years ago, $8/sq ft, I would be at $13,344.

There are no freelance installers here for vinyl. It means leaving the shop and stopping all other work for 4-5 days, plus the 2-3 days it will take on the printer.

After checking around, it appears there are no freelance wallpaper installers any more. They apparently all work for the big box stores or painters now. Maybe wallpaper is out of fashion or something?
Considering the lack of skilled labor everywhere your price may be on point. But trying to get a bead on pricing is completely dependent on locale. What makes a good profit for me most likely be in the red for a shop in California.

Personally, I'd run it up the flagpole and see what happens. Your client may be thrilled to get it done for the price. If they quibble just say you'll go through the numbers again.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
It means leaving the shop and stopping all other work for 4-5 days, plus the 2-3 days it will take on the printer.
That's the problem with installs and big jobs when you are a small shop. Even when the money is good, it rarely ever seems to be worth it.
 

ColorCrest

All around shop helper.
The design is to make it look like an old weathered barn, with barn wood planks going up and down and opened doors where the garage doors are and barn shutters on a picture window of an upstairs office that looks over the work area below.
I just want to mention this would very likely be a project for faux mural painters or scenic artists in my area, which is within the TMZ of Hollywood. The wall is practically the size of the scenic paint shop at Warner Bros. I'm very sure it would use a team of two plus their apprentice no more than 3 days to finish, providing the wall is actually ready. They would likely add the illusion of appropriate lighting to the design. Final costs would be far, and I mean really far, less than print and paste.

I also want to mention that one seriously consider how a digital file using a rather small printer might tile a wood pattern to be convincing and acceptable on such a large area.
 

unclebun

Active Member
I certainly understand how painting it would give a better result. But there is nobody in our area who does that.

At any rate, I told him it would be $13,500 and he decided not to do anything because it's too much. Not really sure why he wasn't anticipating the price. He runs offshore racing boats and we've wrapped his boats before. Seems like he could look at the price for wrapping the boat and do the math himself.
 
If I work the numbers, I am at: (approx.)

Wholesale:
$6480.00 - Vinyl + Lam
$4000.00 - 2 installers and a lift
$10480.00

Retail:
$6480.00 - Vinyl + Lam
$4000.00 - 2 installers and a lift
$17466.00

I think you are right in the sweet spot. Sounds like a nice project...good luck.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
I certainly understand how painting it would give a better result. But there is nobody in our area who does that.

At any rate, I told him it would be $13,500 and he decided not to do anything because it's too much. Not really sure why he wasn't anticipating the price. He runs offshore racing boats and we've wrapped his boats before. Seems like he could look at the price for wrapping the boat and do the math himself.
That stinks. Those ones are real head scratchers. You know that they have a firm grasp on what stuff cost, it's not like some random homeowner wanting his garage walls done.
 
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