QUOTE HELP. I've never had a quote request like this.

[timjitsu]

Hey guys,

I just got a quote request for a cut vinyl decal that's 120" x 29". They artwork is fairly simply (Attached) but they're asking for pricing for 3 different quantities. A price for: 1, 50, 100. TBH I've never had someone ask for that many of decals that big before so I'm kind of stumped as to how to price this. I was hoping to get some input from you guys. Thanks

ARTWORK:

 

[myront]

Rectangle cut or kiss cut? I'd outsource it.

 

[Johnny Best]

Figure out the cost of your vinyl plus shop hourly rate on how long it would take for you to cut and weed.

 

[timjitsu]

Rectangle cut or kiss cut? I'd outsource it.

It's not printed. It's plain cut vinyl and covered with transfer tape then chopped.

 

[Signed Out]

Print/cut. Will be much quicker to produce then trying to lay the red stripe in. Don't outsource, keep in house and price like johnny said, just make sure you add in markup on material and account for your waste.

 

[Gino]

Must you put the red stripe be in there before application tape, or can they lay that in separately ?? That's a big game changer. Also, I have no idea why they would need one, if they have a fleet. I'd price out 50 and 100 and just make a ridiculous price for onsies.

 

[timjitsu]

Must you put the red stripe be in there before application tape, or can they lay that in separately ?? That's a big game changer. Also, I have no idea why they would need one, if they have a fleet. I'd price out 50 and 100 and just make a ridiculous price for onsies.

I think they want a price for singles for the record. Say if they decide to go with me they know in the future that if they need one for an emergency they have something to go off of. That's my guess. Yeah I figured I'd charge 10-20% more if they get the Black/Red.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

is it Westrux International? if so you need to use the proper orange red color or they will not be happy.

 

[timjitsu]

is it Westrux International? if so you need to use the proper orange red color or they will not be happy.

They didn't include any PMS colors. Just an image as an example. I'll ask them about the orange though, thanks for mentioning that. I mean you're in AZ, Every region has different managers and some are pickier than others. This one might not care all that much about color matching.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Yeah, I just know from dealing with International Trucking they are adamant about their color.

I would definitely price this which highlights the amount you want them to buy... so I'd show a bigger discount to buy 100 vs 50 etc, but I would still price that 100 at market rate. As Billing will not always be fun with them if it is like our past experiences.

 

[myront]

They didn't include any PMS colors. Just an image as an example. I'll ask them about the orange though, thanks for mentioning that. I mean you're in AZ, Every region has different managers and some are pickier than others. This one might not care all that much about color matching.

I'd make them sign a disclosure to not hold you accountable if the color issue does come up.
Another thing to consider, unless corporate has a specific acceptable rta vinyl you'll have to print them to get a pantone.

 

[unclebun]

We do multicolor cut vinyl decals like that routinely. There are tricks to making it quick and easy to put in a word or stripe of a different color quickly, accurately, and repeatably.

The price for one should be easy. It would be priced the same way you would price it if that's all they came and asked for.

To get the quantity price, you'll want to figure how long you'd be working on cutting, weeding, assembling, applying application tape, and cutting to do them in quantities that fit in your workspace, and multiply it out. Then also figure materials for the same and double that. Fact is, on a 29"x120" decal there won't be a whole lot of difference between the 50 price and the 100 price. The breaks will occur at 1, 2, 5, 10, and 15. At that point you're up to a whole 50 yd roll of 30" black vinyl. Unless there's a discount from your supplier for buying 5 50 yd rolls at a time, there won't likely be any economy of scale after that.

At least by asking for different quantity pricing the customer understands that they can't try to get you to give the 100 price when they only want 2.

 

[bannertime]

I'd make them sign a disclosure to not hold you accountable if the color issue does come up.
Another thing to consider, unless corporate has a specific acceptable rta vinyl you'll have to print them to get a pantone.

Best bet it to provide a sample with the quote. Have them sign off on it.

 

[shoresigns]

What's the difficulty in quoting a large quantity? Estimate how much setup time, how much labour per unit, how much material is required, and that's it.

 

[fresh]

I'd ask them if it could scale down an inch. 29" wide would suck because you need a 48" roll instead of a 30"er. The cost for 1 is probably not that big of a deal, but for 100 i'd think it would be significant enough.

 

[unclebun]

No need for 48" vinyl. We can cut more than 29" on 30" vinyl with our Graphtec. 29" is perfect for maximizing the vinyl. You're only going to cut one at a time anyway at 10' long. (unless you have really long weeding tables--ours are 16') You can reset the roll if there is any skew between decals.

 

[signman315]

So another tip here...perhaps a little irrelevant to the OP but hey....

Production on 1 is a lot different than 100 obviously...so if I was doing just one I'd cut or print/cut and be done. But when doing big quantities take the time to put weed lines into the file and it will save a ton of time. If this was my project I would use cut vinyl for the black and cut the stripes in bulk, or if I had to hit a Pantone just print/lam/cut the stripes and use cut vinyl for the black. In your black cut vinyl file add small, easy to weed, marks to indicate the placement of the colored stripe, transfer the stripes in clear and hand lay them into place before taping the whole thing (of course remove the black placement marks before taping). Leave the clear transfer tape right on the stripe and it will be fine as long as it doesn't overlay any of the black. This is a really good/fast profitable job to do in house. Two experienced guys could knock this out in an 8 hour day, maybe less, I didn't do the math. Add a spool to the end of your weeding table to hold your transfer tape and do a table's length at a time.

In terms of pricing I personally would price a quantity of (1) well above market value, quantity of (50) at or slightly below market value, and quantity of (100) below market value but how low depends on what YOUR shop within YOUR market with YOUR expenses are and what kind of profit you need to make in order to pocket a few bucks as well as reinvest a few back into the business, of course after paying all expenses on the job, including wages, admin, etc. Hope it helps, best of luck!

 

[ddarlak]

Figure out the cost of your vinyl plus shop hourly rate on how long it would take for you to cut and weed.

That's a start, then i try and figure what the going rate for this might be and raise my price accordingly, that's where shop profit comes from.

They didn't include any PMS colors. Just an image as an example. I'll ask them about the orange though, thanks for mentioning that. I mean you're in AZ, Every region has different managers and some are pickier than others. This one might not care all that much about color matching.

Oh my, "might not care about color matching" i take it you haven't been in this business long...

 

[Signed Out]

If you have the capability to print/cut, especially at this quantity, why wouldn't you? I would print on 60" material, 2 wide, to a take up. Laminate to a takeup. Contour cut with barcode to take up (with weeding lines). So far about 30 minutes hands on labor, weeding would take about 4 hours, setup work table so you can roll up weeded vinyl to another takeup reel. Tape decals with laminator, sheet cut and cut in half as you go (2 hrs). Done 1 guy less than a day, good money maker if you charge at or very close to market value (which you should) very easy to give stuff away too cheaply blindly pricing with time+material. Especially when you start shaving your production time.

 

[unclebun]

The fallacy in your calculations is "so far only 30 minutes hands on". That implies you don't charge for the time your printer is occupied running whole 50 yd rolls of vinyl.