StartUp Cost

[EbsWeb5150]

I know this is a pretty broad question.
What type sq. ft. building would you need for vehicle & sign graphics.
one big enough for a box truck to fit in also
• Roland VP-540
• A Decent Laminater (hot or cold) i don't know
• Colored Vinyl assortment
• Banner Material Assortment
any startup will be helpful

 

[speedmedia]

This is a loaded question for sure....

How much does it cost to build a house?

For good equipment and proper training i'd plan on spending at least $30,000 just to start. From there you need to install the talent whether it is you or an employee... I'm not even going there.

For a shop you could get away with as little as 1,500 square ft but depending on how you want to put everything together that would be very tight. Ideally if it where up to me and I could pick a shop size I would be probably about 3,500 - 4,500 sq ft.

Where in Michigan you located?

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Gino]

If you want to house your box truck or letter a box truck and have your work area and reception area separate, I would think anywhere from 2,500 on up would be ideal.

You want to be capable of closing off certain rooms so you don't have to heat or cool off unnecessary areas at various times of the year, unless cost is of no importance to you.

Ours is 8,800 sq ft and we can have several jobs going on at any given time. Right now we have a police car and a construction truck out in the truck bays, we're finishing up 5 electric sign cabinets with 3 more for another customer waiting and have numerous prints being done while routing two other signs and painting them with 15 4' x 8's getting painted to accept digital prints in addition to seeing customers all day long and they have no idea what's going on in the rest of the shop. Two weeks ago we did a couple hundred 3' x 4' single sided posters mounted on foam board and the customer just e-mailed me today to make a second batch of them by next Friday.

If you have the room to move around, you can take on a fair amount of work and have it all going at one time.

 

[EbsWeb5150]

thanks for the response

I live in the Brownstown Area of Michigan.
Did you sign guys have a lot contacts or customers before you started up your company? Or was it something that you did on the side.

 

[MichaelAlmand]

lol

 

[briankb]

I live in the Brownstown Area of Michigan.
Did you sign guys have a lot contacts or customers before you started up your company? Or was it something that you did on the side.

Do you have any experience in the sign business? If not what makes you want to start a sign company at this particular time?

 

[Checkers]

Start-up costs are only limited by your bank account and your imagination. The larger your bank account, the better off you are.

When I started my home based business, my equipment and material investment was about $17,000 before I even got my first client. And, I was being as fiscally conservative as you could be.

Planning and number crunching is the most important part of your business start up. So, here are some questions you need to consider...
What type of work do you want to do?
What type of equipment do you need?
What can you do without?
How much is it going to cost?
Can the market support these costs?
What is the competition like?
Can I compete with them?
How will I get the business?
What costs am I forgetting?
Do I have enough cash?
What can be financed?
Can I get financing?
And, trust me, there's a lot more to consider.

Anyway, I would suggest starting with a personal financial statement and a personal budget to figure how much money the business needs to generate to support your lifestyle.

Next, develop a business and financial plan that can support your personal budget and lifestyle.

Then, it the numbers work out, be prepared to invest anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 or more your first year – assuming you’re looking at a warehouse or retail location (BTW, a typical franchise start up cost starts at around $100,000).

If you don't have the cash to invest and can't afford to work without a paycheck for the first 6 months or more, you should consider start off slow, working on the side until you have enough consistent business to support your and the needs of the business.

Even if you start off home based as I did, your business probably will need to gross about 2 to 4 times what you expect to make as a salary. So, if you want to make about $30,000 a year before taxes, you will need to do about $60,000 to $120,000 a year in sales to make any money.

Checkers

 

[Pat Whatley]

Ebs, don't take this the wrong way, I understand you're trying to learn....but do you have ANY experience at all in the sign industry? I only ask because you don't seem to even have enough knowledge of the business to even ask intelligent newbie questions.

Understand that at least once a week someone joins the site with the belief that "signs are easy money" and proceeds to try and gather enough industry information to go back and undercut their competition. Usually this is done by using inferior materials, improper techniques, and just blatant foolishness. It's not always intentional, they just don't know any better. All it accomplishes is lowering the standards and pricing locally making it harder for anyone to make a living (not get rich, just make a living).

Before you sink $30,000 in printing equipment you really need to make sure this is the industry for you. If you're starting from scratch, with no customers and no experience you had better have at least two years operating cost and living expenses set aside (as well as your start up costs) You're in an economy where larger, more established, and better shops are competing for what used to be considered scraps. A start up sign shop right now is going to have a hard time competing with people who know what they're doing.

But, if you've got your ducks in a row and you're still interested the Welcome Aboard.

 

[PGSigns]

Pick what it is you want to do in the sign industry and start making a list of everything you think you will need as far as tools, materials, equipment and so forth. Then break it out something like below and just add to the list every time you think of an item. Big or small they need to get added to the list. If not the small items will kill you if you are not prepared for them. Then you can start to assign cost to each of those. Before you know it you have a huge list of stuff and an idea of what it will take for this part.
1) equipment, printer, plotter, laminator
2) Stuff to run the equipment, computers, software
3) stuff to run the office, computer, software, printer, supplies
4) the shop, tables, cutmats, gromet press, saws, hand tools
5) materials, vinyl, laminate, appliation tape
Now take a look at everything you have on the list and assign an area to it and how much room it needs to have. Now make a list of everything else you need to be able to get in the building (trucks, cars, paint booth, assembly areas) and assign square footage needed Now add that to the first number. Multiply by 1.5 and this gives you some room to grow and for what you forgot. Now that you have square footage that is needed and idea of the offices and shop space you will need you can look in your area for the cost of buildings in that size. While you are looking at buildings you can get an idea of how much build out will be needed to make the building uasble for you business. Hopes this helps on developing a plan.
Jimmy

 

[neato]

don't tell anyone, but you can actually start a sign business for $50...

Here's what you need...

 

[Jester1167]

If you don't have the client base, you might consider doing design, cut vinyl and installation in house and out sourcing your digital printing until you have the demand for it.

The printing side has the highest cost in investment of money and knowlege. The cheapest printer, laminator, dryer combo is going to cost you in the neighborhood of $25 and the learning curve will cost you another $5 to $10 in wasted material and time.

 

[SignManiac]

don't tell anyone, but you can actually start a sign business for $50...

Here's what you need...

Neato is correct. That's how I got started.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

started like Neato ... then after a few I realized school was the answer.
of course after not eating I realized hustling to get work was even better combined with talent, knowledge,and a strong desire to be best I can

 

[neato]

Just to clarify, I didn't start out hand lettering. But I hope to end up that way.

 

[ddarlak]

stop, save your money, your not ready...

no matter what anyone tells you here, your just not ready............

save your money, becasue your just going to piss it away.

 

[Cadmn]

Signman & Neato Both forgot an important need Talent/ability.
a can of One shot is useless in the hands of a two year old. Just Sayin

 

[Cadmn]

stop, save your money, your not ready...

no matter what anyone tells you here, your just not ready............

save your money, becasue your just going to piss it away.

 

[Cross Signs]

Hey Neato:
That's exactly how I started. I think it actually cost $20.00

(don't tell anyone, but you can actually start a sign business for $50...

Here's what you need...)

 

[neato]

Signman & Neato Both forgot an important need Talent/ability.
a can of One shot is useless in the hands of a two year old. Just Sayin

But wouldn't it be better to find out if you have the talent and ability by spending $50 vs $50,000? Or you can ad $25 to that and get the Mastering Layout book.


A paintbrush and a digital printer are only tools. It's the hands that use them that make the difference. Look at all the garbage wrap designs out there that were printed on machines requiring a second mortgage, yet check out this guys portfolio using nothing but paint and brushes:

www.newbohemiasigns.com

 

[royster13]

Neato my long time sign maker friend used to call his little box of 1 Shot and Brushes, etc. his "Money Box"....Anytime he was short of money he would hit the road and do hand lettering on a variety of things for instant "cash"....