How long does it take to remove a wrap?

[Lee Harris]

Yes, get somebody else to do it……………. 😀 😀 😉

Seriously, one way of working it out is do one as a ‘free of charge’ and base your cost’s on that.

Regards
Lee

[Andy Gorman]

I think you would need to do a thorough inspection of the vehicles in question. Whoever wrapped them originally may have removed handles, lights etc and these would have to be removed for you to strip the stuff off.

I agree, doing one as a freebie is the only way to know how much work is involved.

[Rodney Gold]

Work on 2 full days for 2 people. 1 day for removal , one day for clean up. Hopefully the vinyl strips in single pieces without delamming from the adhesive. If it doesn’t then add 1/2 to one full day on top of all this. EXPRESSLY write that you will NOT be held liable for paint damage of any kind on removal. We stripped a vehicle with a failed print (not ours) and whole chunks of paint came off as the wrap had been applied 2 days after a respray.
Heres an article on Vinyl stripping , I didnt read it (we use heat guns and low flash point solvents)
http://www.signindustry.com/vinyl/artic … Vinyl.php3
Now Im not sure if this is in contravention of Forum rules in posting , if so the link might be deleted

[Andy Gorman]

It’s a good point Rodney makes about paint damage. I removed some Kpmf VWS from a Mondeo with factory paint once and it took huge amounts of paint off. Doing the job outside on a red hot day might help, otherwise use plenty of heat.

[Peter Normington]

Unless you are going to get the job of applying new wraps, or are short of work I would stay clear. It can be a tedious and long job, The only way I would accept it is on an hourly basis, on real time taken. And with the rider that Rodney said, signed acceptance of no responsibility for damage.

I always look at it this way, I am reluctant to remove vinyl I have fitted, let alone someone elses. Reason is I can turn over £££s more per hour putting it on, and who would pay the same to take it off.
Peter

[Nigel Fraser]

I’m with Peter on this one ! Sounds like a potential nightmare to me – depends on what size the vans are too. If they were only Partner vans its a lot better than if they are lwb spinters 😕
If you can get an hourly rate agreed then I might consider it but otherwise I’d stay away from it !

Nigel

[Simon Clayton]

Me too… i can bet these vans will look like my plastic chopping board at home….

Simon

[Simon Kay]

Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t we sell part of the concept of a vehicle wrap as being this marvellously visual advertising medium that you can strip off and change when and if you want?

Or are you all in fact saying that ‘yes’ it’s possible but don’t bother ‘cos you’ll be pushing it up hill due to the damage to the vehicles

or 😀

because it just isn’t cost effective time wise?

Just curious – always wondered about this one.

Ta.

[Phil Halling]

Leave well alone if you can, but if you do have to strip them take note of all the above advice and also you may want to use a wallpaper steam stripper or better still can you get them in a low bake oven as heat really does help.

Phil

[Lee Harris]

Good point………. 🙂

[John Childs]

I agree with Peter except when he says “who would pay the same to take it off”. My answer to that is “all of them” if they want me to do it. We all know that it takes longer to remove vinyl than it does to apply it so the charge must reflect that fact. My experience is that once a customer knows what the cost is likely to be they backpedal rapidly and decide to do it themselves, and that is fine with me.

I wouldn’t do the first one for free either. If the customer insists on a fixed price then, after making as good an estimate as I could, I would give him a cost for the first van only. If he accepts that then, once completed, you will know exactly what is involved and can adjust your price up or down to arrive at a fair value for the other 21 and your customer is also free to accept or decline your services. That way you get paid for what you have done so far and everybody is then working from a postition of knowledge rather than guesswork and there are no nasty prices for either side.

I would also increase our hourly rate well above normal and use some of the extra to give my lads a bonus for doing what is a nasty horrible job, that I wouldn’t want to do personally, day after day on that volume of vans.

[Dave Bruce]

Thinking same as scozzie here. I thought the whole idea of a wrap allowed the vehicle to change identity easily without damage to the body work, sound like everyone here has had a different experience.

There must be plenty of companies out there removing wraps every day, and making good money at it, so I am a bit comfused that you are generally advising to stay away.

I have removed partial wraps before (on for up to 3 years) and had no problems, came off very quickly with plenty of heat. I have also redone a van that the local garage had stripped of lettering and it had more knife knicks in than you could imagine.

Cheers

dave

[Peter Normington]

in general the wrap will come off without to much fuss, especially if like phil says you can get the van into an oven first.
However if you did not fit the wrap, you may be up for someone elses mistakes. Even by getting a signed disclaimer, by accepting the job, you may still be held resposible for marks and paint problems etc.
either way it may prove hassle. You gotta ask yourself, “Why is the firm that fitted the wraps not taking them off?”
Peter

[Simon Clayton]

I think the thing with it, is if you have done the wrap, or it has been done properly by someone else you won’t get too many problems…

There are a lot of people out there that just use the cheapest material and only want to spent two hours wrapping a complete van….the other day i watch someone trim some vinyl on a van, he was using a Stanley knife with a blade that was rusty and giving it some welly to cut through the vinyl, when he had finished it looked OK but when whoever comes to take it off, there will be left with deep cut mark’s and the customer will do his nut about them, properly blaming the remover… Also it looked like cheapo vinyl so after 3-4 years it will be brittle and take for ever to get off.

When you watch the orcal wrapping video, you will see the guy take off side indicators, door handles, etc put the vinyl on and then reinstall them, not just cut round them.
Also i think the wraps were designed to be remove after shorter periods of time say six months to a year not 3-4 years (most companies would only keep a van 3 years and then sell it on, so wouldn’t want to pay a fortune for it to be removed properly)

Simon

[Simon Kay]

So hypothetically let me ask y’all this –

A customer comes in having seen van wraps around. Wants his 2 utes/pick ups wrapped, and mabe his personal car too. Why not after all maybe he gets a tax break!

Would you say:

a) Not a problem Sir – they do look fantastic don’t they. 😀
and not mention any problem

b) Yes they look great but when you want to remove them – don’t phone me!

c) They are brilliant. They’ll cost you $3000 each to put on and $4000 each to take off!

d) I believe there is another sign company down the road!

Isn’t it doing a dis-service to your customer to say anything other than c)?

But how many people would? They want the money for doing the job. They’re not particularly bothered about who is going to take it off. Or how ripped off that customer is going to feel when he’s got to fork out even more for it’s removal.

This whole scenario reminds me of Nuclear power. It’s safe it’s wonderfull, it’s clean, theres’s no problem with it…..oops 😳

Personally I think the world would be a far better place if everybody accepted responsibility for their own actions and thought about the repercussions of what they do and what they advise other people to do.

Now this really P’s me off ‘cos I really wanted to get into wrapping 🙁

[Andy Gorman]

What’s to get P’d off about. The intelligent thing to do when removing someone else’s work is to make sure you are protected against any problems caused by the original install. Be aware of the full amount of work and time needed to remove a wrap. That’s all anyone has said.

I’ll give you an example: I wrapped a Mondeo, full wrap including bumpers and roof. It was a fairly easy wrap as no handles had to be removed, only washer jets and indicators. About a year later it came back to be removed – 2 hours for 2 blokes. If the wrap had been by others it may well have taken the same time to remove but what if we’d found a load of cuts in the paintwork? Who would the customer blame? It needs to be considered.

[John Childs]

scozzie….

I have been known to do (d) before, and gave the client, a largish national company, my reasons. He took my advice, went somewhere else and now, three years on, is telling me that I was right and he wishes he had listened to me. I lost a good customer and it cost me a considerable amount of money, but the next time he has a livery change I will be in pole position to get him back.

The point is that morals and scruples are wonderful things to have but you need to be able to afford them. I consider myself fortunate in that respect.

[Shane Drew]

Just my 2c’s worth…

I sell the customer on the wrap, but when it comes to removal, I give them 2 options. They can remove it , or pay me $35 per hour per man.

If I did not originally do the wrap, I explain in writting on my quote, that I will take every care, but will accept no responsability if removal of the wrap uncovers damage to the surface.

I have never had a problem with this, and in most cases the clients opts to remove the wrap themselves, seeing a saving of $35 per hour for their trouble.

Only yesterday I removed vinyl from a bus, and it took 2 metres of paint with it. Because I had explained the risks involved with removing material off a job I did not originally do, the client was prepared and accepting of the damage. He didn’t like it, but because we had already discussed it, it didn’t come across that I was making excuses.

Cheers

[Simon Clayton]

If i had the fully heated and well lit unit, room to get a large transit van in with plenty of room all round it, and the laminator and printing equipment, i would have no problem doing them…

Simon

[Simon Kay]

BigG,johnchilds,Shane.

You are all right. 🙂 Thanks

You all talk from the perspective of someone who has already been there …done that.

I don’t and it just seems a little daunting. Just doing the wrap in the first place, and then the fact that you may well have serious problems after or when you unwrap a job. 😮

Excuse my slightly low soapbox schpiel (?) I got on a roll :lol1:

Thanks for the insights.

[David Rowland]

hm, oxy acetylene torch from the inside, nah. Good point BigG, need to consider the removal / scratches from staff etc., blame etc. Perhaps that would just be down to chance at the end of the day.

[Rodney Gold]

You dont quote to paint a house with the fact that at some time it has to be prepped and repainted in mind. I don’t think its an issue in terms of Wraps either. I think full wraps are a radical step to take with a vehicle and albeit are all the rage and good advertising can often devalue the vehicle significantly and can cost a huge amount to “make right”

I don’t believe they should be viewed as changeable or removeable and should be intended to last the life of the vehicle.
Most cos will change a busy delivery vehicle within 3 years and have depreiciated it in full over that , costs to make right should be included in the purchase price and thus in depreciation
The co , if doing their accounting correctly , would get the tax breaks on this too. It would just reduce the profit made on disposal and thus the tax paid on that.

Short term or changeable “wraps” could often better be served with less complex graphics or by using different systems. For example we fitted flex face frames to the sides and back doors of a fleet of delivery vehicles for a co that is the Principal for a whole host of fast food franchises
We partially wrapped the vehicles with the info they didnt want changed and every 6 months just reprint new Flex faces for the changeable stuff . The partial wrap uses premium stuff , easily removeable
The flex frames can be removed without damage to the vehicle and the changeable stuff isnt lammed and uses cheap materials – it only has to last 6 months!!! For the price of a full wrap , the co doesnt incur removal charges , gets at least 3 changes of nice fresh vibrant graphics – win win for everyone!!

I really think ppl that buy digital printers get far too “wrapped up” in wraps , I believe there are far more profitable areas to get into as its generally a very cut throat field , requires specialist fitters , a lot of puter programming , test prints , is time consuming etc etc
No matter what price you come in at , there is always someone who will undercut you with no concern about future consequences.
Apart from that , you can often get exactly the same effectivity as a full wrap with far more conservative graphics with easier application. A lot of the wraps I have seen and even done are way to busy and overwhelming or are just garish or in bad taste or are just a waste as a lot of the stuff can never be seen under normal driving conditions.

[Shane Drew]

quote Rodney Gold:

No matter what price you come in at , there is always someone who will undercut you with no concern about future consequences.

A lot of the wraps I have seen and even done are way to busy and overwhelming or are just garish or in bad taste or are just a waste as a lot of the stuff can never be seen under normal driving conditions.

I agree with that.

Flex face frames here in australia is way to expensive for most clients wanting one vehicle done. One supplier here has dropped it altogether. Obviously it is much cheaper in your markets.

I agree tho in principal. Wraps can work well, but it takes a lot of convincing that less is better some times.

Shane

[John Childs]

So, come on then Darren. Tell us.

Did you do the job and, if so, how did you get on with it?