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Vinyl Removalon Many Vehicles

AKProbeGT

New Member
I have a customer looking for a quote on relettering about 70 53' trailers. Each trailer has 2-4 decals ranging from 2'x3' to 4'x6'. They need the old decals removed and new installed. I did pick at one decal and it seems to be unlaminated IJ-180 or something similar. The decals look to have been screenprinted. All they decals I saw did seem to be in pretty good shape with no visible cracking so I think they will come off pretty easy. Any suggestions on how to handle a quote for removing this many decals? I've never quoted removal on so many vehicles. I'm afraid that if I'm off by even 15 minutes per trailer that will add up to be a lot of extra time. Do I just tell them it will be based on actual time and give them my best estimate or do I give them an estimate with an allowance of up a certain % extra or is there another better way of quoting this?
 

GaSouthpaw

Profane and profane accessories.
I'd give them an estimated time/price for doing them and tell them it will be billed by actual time- then keep careful track of how long it takes. You definitely don't want to screw yourself.
Or, you could give them an estimate and tell them you could revise/finalize pricing after doing maybe 10 of them- that way you'd (theoretically) have a better idea of how long it takes (average out the time).

Honestly, you have no way to know what that trailer is going to look like underneath those decals or what it might take to prep them for new decals. What if, yes- they all come off easily, but there's paint damage or something underneath them? Or the new decals are smaller and don't hide the color shift that is bound to have happened (it's amazing what customers will try to blame on you)?
And if you haven't seen all of them to make the determination that the removal will be easy, I think you're playing a dangerous game with your time and money.

My .02.
 

d fleming

Premium Subscriber
Goes by the hour. One may go quick and the next might take a long time. Then. as GASouthpaw has said, what about the ghosting and possible paint damage?
 

petepaz

New Member
definitely figure an hourly rate for a job that size. like already mentioned and i have experienced it my self, one truck could go smooth and be done in an hour but another could have had more weathering and chip off in little pieces for 3 hours. the fact that it's silk screened and not laminated could mean it will rip or break apart easily making the removal more time consuming. do you have a vinyl zapper or a wall paper steamer? for a job that big you might want to have one or both of those pieces of equipment.
also make sure the customer is aware of any damage that can occur during removal of the vinyl, paint chipping or scratches don't want to end up having to pay for damages beyond your control.i have removed large decals off of trucks, pulled off big sections of vinyl and before you know it the paint is coming with it.
 

Pippin Decals

New Member
Per hour or job , i do both......Figure what time it may take with may take with problems, IF the rest dont have ghosting etc or if there is paint damage etc then there is no worries,you at least covered your A$% up front..
Or You can break it down to where if the decal caused ghosting then have a price for fixing the ghost issue per trailer, if the paint is ruined have a price for that and so on. use a little heat to maybe help get it of as well. It works wonders for me all the time.
 

printhog

New Member
Bid the project for hourly rate plus incidentals at a set markup for Chemicals, tools, rentals etc.

Tell your client you'll track each trailer's time and supply a per trailer accounting as you go and at billing.

Use a smartphone app like toggl www.toggl.com to track the work on site.

We use toggl and it's very easy, and clients love the detailed reports. I've learned that we often under estimated many processes for myself and staff. Particularly lost time from phone calls, questions, and dreaded client art changes.

We use it for all our removal work and our biggest client was amazed that removal can take so long. They assumed it peels off in seconds, even after being on the gas pumps for 20 years. But having a moment by moment timer record in a PDF is darn hard to disagree with.

It's worth the $49 a year cost.

Beyond simple to use.

its only a freaking sign!
 
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