fitting charge for body shop

[Robert Lambie]

is it basic run of mill engineering grade reflective Rich?

Have they given you a value on "the kit" cost to them? if not you need to find out mate. or at least the exact make, series & colour code of vinyls.

[Richard Urquhart]

Rob fitted a few of these and one this afternoon
3m reflective mate all supplied

just labour to fit please

[Robert Lambie]

that’s the thing mate, fitting is one thing, but you MUST incorporate a percentage into the fitting to allow for damage. by that i mean…
the spec as you say is 3M reflective. if you crease or damage the panel. you either LOSS money on the application or you replace it.
stripping the smallest bit of reflective can be more laboring than fitting 3 of those vans.
the cost of buying in the vinyl could be same.
when its your own graphics its fine, nip back to workshop, rerun and so on. but not the same when your charging fitting only.

i know i am sounding like I’m chucking unnecessary obstacles into the mix, but it really does need to be accounted for. there for no mistakes, the job is even more profitable.

[Richard Urquhart]

Rob your correct forget that just say I would tell them they would need to re supply, as yet I have not messed one up ! should I have said that !

[John McNickle]

Rich, when you say reflective in and out of contours, is the big panel on the sde all reflective?? that would blind someone at night

other than that not the hardest job, stick a few hours on each (on site rate) is it just you on the job or a helper, are the vans clean, dry and indoors as you need them (still needing a rub with cleaner), allow for waiting about time as there always is…. i do work with a few body shops and they always cry poverty but the odd kit has the price on it and they arent cheap as Rob says..

they will charge you £40-50 per hour if you need them to work for you

surely it would be £90-100 per van + VAT on site, remembering if they try reflective and make a balls up of it its a costly blunder

[Richard Urquhart]

John its just one side I fitted the O/S it took me just on the hour after including cleaning. As I said I do a few of these but wanted to know what you charge. I think £50 is fair what’s your thoughts

[John McNickle]

oh thats easier, yeah £50 is a fair price if you get 6 at a time to make it worth being on site, if it was 1 at a time you would need the £90 for the running about

i thought it was reflective panels, i did a few AA vans for my local body shop, they wouldnt even attempt it, but still cried off about the bill and i didnt hit them hard, they are big reflective AAs the size of the van and theres only one go at it

you have to remember they are making money outta you too, and i bet the same if not more, i had a guy in mine that used to tell me what they had allowed for decals in the repair quote and then i saw the profit of my work to them

[Peter Normington]

Rich
if it’s a now and again repair job, I would charge similar to john. £90 per side.
But with big corporates the body shop will be told what to charge, and they have to buy the decals from the approved source.
I used to fit the old BT vans, they were done in 3m controltac, and reflective, the bodyshop were allowed a silly low figure of say 30 per side, but they ruined so many they ended up worse off.
It may be worth being up front and asking your guys, what has been allowed in the estimate?

Peter

[Richard Urquhart]

Peter your on the money !
I was talking today and they were saying there allowed 1 hour at their rate £25 -30 per hour and I was saying thats silly this is a specialist job ( why am I fitting them before John Harding pops in for a joke ) !!!!

I think they need to allow far more and I don’t really want to fit these when I can be earning £40-50 an hour in the workshop !
It just got me down as it was like that’s all its worth and I feel it should be down as a specialist charge, having had a repair centre that’s what we used to do, like if a screen needed replacing we didn’t do it you called the correct guy for the job and charged it on
Rich

[Robert Lambie]

something else to consider. allot of the time It’s "the insurance" that is paying for the job mate. not the customer/bodyshop. the insurance want it done 100% first time then they have a happy customer. the body shop is just screwing down on price to maximize their profit allowed from the cover. that’s NOT to say you shouldn’t be competitive, you should be. but you/we need to be realistic.

as i said, you need a percentage incorporated for waste of materials/kit.
you need to include your travel/petrol etc
then take a decent fitting rate.

if its local and repeat work ide say £50-60 is fine.
but the cruncher is "always" going to be the time "you" waste something. who pays, and how much?

be upfront with your customer. ask them for the vinyl spec.
recreate the artwork etc and keep it aside, just in case.

i have been caught out when one of our guys wasted a panel of print on similar type work.
they did not sell by the panel. we had to buy the whole vehicle kit because it had been printed. so colour differences in batches/tile matching etc
im not saying this is same thing, but really worth considering. we have been stung several times over the years. e.g.
our fitting charge was something like £200 per van, the damaged panel, ending in us buying a kit, cost us £400.

.

[Peter Normington]

I work for a major insurance company, and they own their own bodyshop.
on the odd occasion, (twice in 10 years) that I have screwed up they are more than happy to pay for another set of decals
I think you are putting unnecessary obstacles up front Rob,
we are professionals, that’s why we are asked to fit the decals in the first place, if you think there is a failure rate by fitting then yes, add it to your price. it actually should not be an issue, you can either fit or you cant?

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

nonsense peter… most if not all companies need to allow for error/waste of some sort. even you estimating a van, you don’t estimate the amount of vinyl used to the square inch do you?

easy example… Glazing companies. when i used to offer stained glass window designs etc i had a list of them on my books. ALL them allow for damage on a grand scale!

we did a contract that was to fit graphics to vans. 1400 vehicles. we charged the "installation" only… at £100 per vehicle and added £50 per vehicle "in case of waste".
if one part of the job got wasted we bought a full side. you work at that level banging the vans out the door at the rate they expect and of course there will be errors. but buy one side, fix one part of the job needed, and keep the rest of the side for spares and so on… a very profitable "fitting only" job.

every job we price allows for waste etc if its not used the waste/off cuts is used on other work. which leads to more profit and so on… there is no difference in fitting. certainly doesnt make me any less professional or capable. personally i think the folk going in too cheap are more unprofessional than any.

[Peter Normington]

whatever Rob.
I quote to fit the vinyl. I always specify that i will determine if I can fit them succesfully.
A lot of provided graphics are a disgrace to the industry, bad overcutting, tunneling, etc, and no fitting spec, so i tell the client beforhand if the graphics are good or bad. if they are bad, I specify fitting is at their risk, if I agree to fit its my risk, simples.
I did over 10k worth of fitting for sun alliance last year, so please dont tell me its nonsense.

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

peter you need to read back on who is rubbishing who’s comment mate. then to end your last reply in "don’t tell me its nonsense?" 🙄

this forum is here to help educate each other, share views and opinions etc. i am giving what i have learned through 20 years of vehicle installation from single vehicle installs, to fleets over over 1000 vehicles. i am not telling anyone they are wrong, i am giving advice i think worth considering.
the only person telling anyone their advice is wrong or not worth considering is you.

[Peter Normington]

Rob
I am giving advice from experience, I don’t see a comment rubbishing anyone? you said it was nonsense, thats fine I dont have a problem, Richard asked for pricing a fitting job, for a body shop, I also have many years experience of this. Richard also fits the job without a problem, so was not asking how much to add on in case of errors,
I dont include any extra in case I c0ck the job up, I give a price based on if I can do the job, and I will stand by that, i dont need to have a buffer if i can’t do it, I work for myself. which is a bit different than sending empoyees out to do it.
I charge what I think is the right money to do the job.
like I said, very rarely get it wrong, if I do, I dont pay for replacement graphics.
but I will not charge for fitting if I did it wrong, after agreeing to do it.

I dont quite see why you say my comments are nonsense?

[Robert Lambie]

Sitting poking at folks advice is not difficult, and you know what peter, this does not matter to me mate… I am busying working behind the scenes of the site at the moment and I have no desire to try and convince you of anything.

Rich, I hope my comments are of some use to you. Food for thought if nothing else mate.

[Richard Urquhart]

Thanks for ALL the advice think I have it about right at £50 as its a 2 min drive and they do give me a fair amount of work, thanks Rich 😀 😀 😀

[John Harding]

quote :

( why am I fitting them before John Harding pops in for a joke ) !!!!

"due to the current financial crisis surrounding a lot of football clubs at the moment Manchester United have had to release 15 members of their staff from the payroll.
……..The 5 referees and 10 linesmen are said to be devastated"

I’ll get my coat :peek: