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What to charge for vehicle wrapping?
As I’m thinking of forking out for a solvent printer, still not knowing which is the best one to get. EG: Eco-solvent or True solvent.
Thing is Id like to get into the profitable area of vehicle wrapping.
What do you lads and ladess’s out there charge for vehicle wrapping?
Whats the best printer to get for the money, would like it to be able to contour cut!From Mark
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13 Replies
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Im doing the exact same at the moment.
After a long search im going for the grenadier 54inch wide print and cut, solvent printer. Also 60-inch laminator.
The whole set-up if done to the book is about £25000First thing though, have you done much wrapping? I don’t mean this in a patronising way. I just mean many folk try it and get stung by the comebacks of wraps done wrong.
It can be costly.
Is there money to be made? Yes, I would say the money is good. But there is a reason why it’s good.Ive got to go out now.. Will try elaborate later mate.. 😉
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This is an area we are interested in exploring in the near future. Ideally we want to offer the full monte, design, print and application. It appears that the taxi industry is pretty much saturated but not a lot of applicators out there, certainly not in Scotland!
We wrapped a Smart car last year and charged around the £1200 mark, for design, print and application. Problem was that the print was working out at £34 psm on VWS with an overlaminate and our applicator was £350 and it took him a day, inlcuding cut vinyl where CMYK colours were not not suitable.
He informs me that he charges £450 for a taxi to apply.
My customer was quite happy to pay £1200 for this service and I know that taxis are charging £3400 for 1st year and a 1K less for the second year. Drivers get a grand per year. BUT if the vehicle is damaged the service provider (they who are selling the advert) are liable for replacing graphics AND paint often comes off when removing from taxis.
I will repeat this again… PAINT COMES OFF WHEN REMOVING FROM TAXIS.
Gulp, I thought. So they have to build in a respray cost of £450. This is because taxis are in so many accidents, panels are repaced/repaired and not baked after painting, so the paint is simply lying on top of old and hence easily removed.
But anyway, it would be interesting to discuss a pricing structure on this forum. Another thought I had was to create a network of wrappers, so that if we get jobs up and down the country then we could tender for jobs and ensure that we could meet the demands of a one-off in say… Surrey, when I am based in Glasgow?
Obviously we would have to ensure that members of a network would be qualified to wrap and I know Grafiwrap/Adwraps do this but I am unsure of how successful their network has been.
Anyway, I feel like I am rambling now… look forward to your thoughts on this and any further ideas on pricing.
Richie McCombe
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Hi Robert Lambie,
No I haven’t done any vehicle wrap, but after over 18 years in the business, having skills in all asspects, from inlaid perspex panels, by hand, to simple vinyl that any one can do, this wont be a problem. I’m considering going on a course with Grafityp, to see what the pit falls can be. I’m sure if other people can do it, so can I.
Thanks popcornpro,
Things you have said has made me even more interested in doing wrapping £1200 for a Smart car, that must of been some profit, not much area on a smart car.But would still like to hear from others on how the work out their prices
Thanks again
From Mark
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Please don’t take this, as being cheeky mate, not meant in anyway to be but 18 years in the game is kind of irrelevant. This is not sign making as such. Its vinyl application, vinyl application that has only been out a few years, so really it’s new for everyone. 😕
How do you apply your general vinyl sign work day to day?
e.g.
You have 1 metre x 2 metres of cast (thin & sticky) vinyl to apply to a sheet of painted aluminium. Do you apply wet or dry?You have 1 metre x 2 metres of cast (thin & sticky) vinyl to apply at an angle right across the recesses of a sprinter van in one piece.
Would you normally do it wet or dry?what make and range of vinyl do you use mostly for vinyl application and why?
There are many pitfalls in vehicle wraps.
Many of the vinyls that suppliers promise to be more than capable of wrapping. Only for them to pull back once applied.
Different types of wrap material have different drawbacks, but suppliers wont tell you this.
I think going on the course is a very good idea. Although what i have been shown at demos & heard of being shown is really only the basics/general idea.I guess it’s a bit like someone showing you how to build a 2-foot by 6-foot panatrim fascia. After a few times you think yeh i got the jist of this..
Then taking on an order for one 10 foot x 60 foot. Wouldn’t exactly work the same would it? 😆Im not trying to imply that anyone reading this should not try and get involved in wraps i just think we need to realise that because we can do vinyls doesn’t make us a wrapper.
Simon’s method of joining mark for instance is the best way (i would say) of getting the experience.
Learn about the real hiccups that can happen. Learn application techniques and only when you have the confidence go out and buy a machine.
There is nothing worse than trying to learn something while a large debt hangs over your head if you get it wrong. -
I think you’ve got to be an exceptional fitter to attempt wraps. Also, £1200 for a Smartcar is not the norm. That’s more of a berlingo/kangoo price. Oh, and you’ve got to be good at producing hi-res bitmap artwork too.
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I think after a while using vinyl you know the tolerances of the material, how far you can stretch it, what amount of shrinkage the vinyl can take etc etc, how to deal with “glue on glue” situations when a gust of wind blows just at the wrong time (we’ve all been there Iam sure). The easiest way to try wrapping is to use some plain wrap or cast vinyl on a wing of your own car or van see how you get on and remove it afterwards. You’ll soon know if you have an aptitude for it.
Also don’t under estimate how much vinyl even a small car takes, about 10m sq for a smart car alone and mistakes can be costly both in time and re-prints.
Sticky Mark
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There are some good points being bounced about here, gladly from the guys who have done it and made all the mistakes which enable them to put forward an educated opinion.
£1200 for a smart car, man somebody had there pants pulled down there but if you can get it then good on yer !
We looked into the taxi wrap business extensively and guess what, it’s the sign guys that make the least on the deal, guaranteed !!!! The cabbie makes the most with no risk whatsoever and then it depends on whether you’ve sourced the client yourself or been passed the work by an agency, who will then want to be making more than you, for nothing !! If you damage the cab whilst fitting, you pay. Removal of the wrap is worked into the price and on removal if the cab is damaged guess what, you pay. You have to have the artwork authorised by the local council and after all those headaches you have to hope that you’re actually going to get paid the remaining 50% of the job when the contract is up. The taxi wrapping game is very very dodgy ground and there are 2 or 3 big boys that have got it wrapped up. It’s like bus advertising, Viacom have that market cornered and unless you’re working on smokers for a small operator then you have no chance of breaking into it. They may toss you a print job and want to pay you nothing for it but that is about it.
Although we do print and wrap, in my experience there are easier ways of paying the wages and bills !!
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This is exactly why I would want to shy away from the taxi work. Too many pitfalls and not enough cash. I have worked with agencies in the past and found them to drag their heels on paying and nit picking about nothing to delay paying even further.
Hmmm, it does bother me about the damage aspect too, especially with so many quickfix paint jobs on old hackneys and even up to TXII’s.
There is likely to be legislation passing in the near future in smaller towns enforcing all public hire cabs to be able facilitate disabled access, meaning more hackneys or TX models, with drivers pushing local authorities to permit advertising on the vehicles, thus… this market may get enven bigger.
Something to consider.
Rich
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Signdevil
quote :£1200 for a smart car, man somebody had there pants pulled down there but if you can get it then good on yer !Well, if you break it down, there is not much to be made on it when outsourcing… and this is what most people are doing… on this job I simply managed from design.
Design: £250 including presentation and repeat visits to the customer.
Application: £350 by approved applicator
Materials @ £34 sqm: £340 (VWS + laminate)
Contravision: £75 (I think)
Leaving £145
Total: £1160.00
AND I was only £40 over the lowest quote and the design was awful!!!
But I thought I am not going in lower because if the customer was prepared to pay £40 less for the design he was shown, then more fool him!
Cheers,
Rich
P.S. Obviously, it would be better to do everything in house, cust costs, lower charges but higher profit margin!
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I priced a job for a customer I have dealt with for 20 years, only to be massively undercut by another local company. The wrap is for a long wheelbase, high roof Citroen Relay, 4 sides and roof, all laminated. The other company quoted 1400 GBP for the wrap.
This is a huge van and there is no way I am even going to try and compete with this. Something tells me that the customer isn’t going to get what what he is expecting!
The point of the matter is this… if you shell out a fortune on a printer with the intention of doing wraps, your ‘cheap and nasty’ competitor down the road could be thinking the same and you might be hard pushed to meet the costs of the equipment.
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Regarding the council etc. this should be the customer or whoever is approaching you to do the job for them. I see this as their role, not ours.
We have done some Glasgow cabs and although they are very strict on the way the layout is given. That is all we did as way of offering design etc.we charged for that upfront. If the customer didn’t get the job he lost the artwork deposit. If he got it, it was knocked of the final bill. Before doing a wrap I don’t think paying 25-50% of the cost upfront is too much to ask either.
We do lots of small town cabs adverts, again they have strict proof/artwork before getting the go ahead. We just give them a layout with a deposit and let them go and do the dirty work. They come back and say; yes it’s given the ok. So we do it.
I think your right about the cab-wrap firms having it sewen up though. Not only is it difficult to get your foot in the door, a hackney isn’t the easiest of vehicles to completely wrap. So you work damn hard for what you do get in the end.Regarding costs etc. I think we are way undercutting ourselves here if the prices being given so far are accurate. As James says, the local cowboy down the road is going to undercut you at every turn. He doesn’t care how bad it’s fitted or how long the customer gets from his work.
We seem to be falling into this trap of “the guy down the road” again with this NEW printing side of things. It’s happening every place with cut vinyl. We shouldn’t let it happen in such a specialist market. And lets face it, it us all of us that are bowing down to their standards to win an order. Understandable in some cases though, as we have to make money & pay the bills!e.g. we have a customer of 13 years maybe more. Nice genuine guy. Believes in good vehicle signage & has about 10-12 LWB sprinter vans.
He has been at us for some time for a full wrap quote. Not having our own printer & doing it blind we said about £3000 a van fitted based on 10 vehicles. He asked for it to be revised but we never got round to it
Months past and I saw one pass me on the motorway already done.. Few days later another.. In total he had 4 done.
He called in for some small signs recently to be made up and while in asked what we thought of the van outside. He’s genuine like I said and wasn’t afraid to say he got each van £500 cheaper than my quote & this was purely the reason he went elsewhere.. I walked out and smiled. I said if you only wanted the easy areas wrapped I would have dropped the quote. They had missed the roof, headboard, doors, corners wings etc. all flat areas and bonnet wrapped only.
I then said, you know the recessed areas are already pulling back, before he could answer I said and they have panels joined in the middle of panels? The image looks pretty pixalated up close too.. He said yes ive been talking to them about that and im not happy.
Cut the story short, we told him £2500 each van for the same as he has got. This time better fitted & better quality prints. He agreed and we will start the rest of the vans once we get our machine.
We won out in the end.. less printing and hardly any real wrapping and still making gret money.Something I intend on doing and have been doing over the last few weeks for a demo I will be doing shortly. is taking lots of pictures of dodgy fitted vinyls. Faded prints and lamination coming away from prints on vehicles. I will print each on A4 gloss paper and make up a ring binder with the images in it.
When a customer comes in and asks for a quote on a wrap I will show him the folder to flick through, at the same time explaining the outcome if the work is done wrong the wrong materials used etc etc etc. then give him the price we will do it for.
If I was paying £2000 I wouldn’t mind paying a few hundred quid to have it done right & with the right materials.If he goes elsewhere for a quote he should be educated enough that he asks the right questions and gets like for like. If I am under cut then im under cut. I would rather be under cut fairly than by a cowboy that couldn’t wrap a sweetie.
Like signdevil says, there are easier ways to make this kind of money so we have to make it worth our while. 😉
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Yes it’s important to try and educate the customer as to the quality of job that you are going to do and not just give them a price. We had the exact same thing with some transit minibuses. Lost out on the quote and saw them done later minus the doors, bonnet, rear corners and with a simpler design.
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The guy who got quoted 1400 quid by a competitor for wrapping a Citroen Relay brought the van down to me this morning to look at… Ooooh am I smiling now!!! 😛
The panels/recesses sides of the van are only around 10mm so the competitor used standard vinyl and laminate on the sides and cut around the recesses. One week later and the vinyl is lifting. The laminate is also lifting off the print in many places.
The recessed panels on the back doors are much deeper than the sides so the print on the back was not laminated but sprayed with lacquer. This seems to have been done with an aerosol. Guess what? The vinyl on the back doors has lifted right out off the recesses!
In the quote, the roof was included but wasn’t done either.
It is easily the worst application I’ve ever seen.
Oooooooh I feel great now!!!!! 😆
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