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yet another pricing query!
Another (local) signmaker has asked me to produce cut vinyl in a multitude of colours, most of which he has supplied.
I have had to put it onto the computer, design, prepare & cut. He will take it from there. It looks like being a good 2 hours work, plus 5 metres of my own vinyl.
What would you charge him? I’m thinking approximately £60, but don’t know if this is about right or not….. -
9 Replies
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Yes Id say about, maybe £75 i think.
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£60-70 depends if its likely to be an ongoing arrangement have you asked why he cant achieve this himself ie whats the catch
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Thanks guys. I went for £75, as it wound up being about 3 hours work in the end, and it was, after all, a rush job. He’s paid up no problem, anyway, so I guess he was happy enough.
Apparently he used to be a traditional signwriter, no longer paints. He has a cutter and stock, but says he hates doing the computer work etc, hence where I come in….
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Hi Lorraine.
I don’t know what your overheads are and, bearing in mind the short time you have been in your premises, perhaps your calculations won’t turn out to be one hundred per cent accurate anyway.
Of course it all depends on whether you are snowed under with better paying work but if not, from what I know of your set-up, I suspect that the £25.00 an hour you achieved on this job is probably liveable with, especially if your customer is pleased and ends up sending you a nice volume of work in the future.
None of us must forget that when doing trade work we must leave a bit of profit for the next man. If he can make a living selling your product for you then it could be a good arrangement for both parties.
Also bear in mind that if one of his clients should come direct to you at any time in the future you mustn’t undercut him. That will lead to bad feeling and possible loss of all his work.
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Lorraine,
where are you based. I’ve got a guy that does this to me regularly 🙄He’s a trad sign man too !
Cheers,
Cheryl 😀 -
Cheryl,
Lorraine is in Norwich.
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Thanks John,
I’m based just outside Coventry, so its not the same chap 🙄Cheers,
Cheryl 😕 -
I would be a bit wary of this.
A few years ago I was approached by a guy who wanted me to cut some vinyls for him. He told me he was into sales with a team of fitters, but he wasn’t really interested in producing signs himself – merely selling them.
He gave me a big list of jobs he wanted me to price up. Told me he used another local company but was unhappy with their workmanship.
I phoned the other company (I know the owner – we often trade vinyl if short of certain colours) to discover he had never heard of this fellow.
I called the guy back and told him there would be a conflict of interest if I cut vinyls for him.
A few months later I became aware of this fellows new "sign company". Turns out the whole thing had been a pricing exercise to discover my pricing structure.
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This guy is the same chap I was discussing on here a while ago, when he wanted to go into partnership with me, as he says he goes out and sources the work, prices it, then farms the cutting out….
I told him ‘no’ to a partnership-I am quite happy working alone, and certainly don’t need the hassle of watching my back with an unkown person involved in my business.
If he wants to keep sending me work that’s fine, although the things I have done have always been rush jobs-I don’t know if he’s just unorganised, or what!
Thanks John, you are quite right, £25/hour sits quite well with me, also I did bear in mind that this job was for 8 large (1.5m w) double-sided, 2-layer vinyl signs, so he must be making a good bit on them.
Phil-I wonder how many times this sort of thing happens to all of us in one way or another?
Cheers all
Lorraine
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