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Looking for advice on sign type – foamex best thing to use?
Hi folks, looking for a wee bit advice.
in the attached back i have been asked to do something with the upper windows.
my thoughts are inserts cut to size, would foamex be the best thing to use? and perhaps that would give me the option to sub them out for printing unless i do some vinyl work on them.
thoughts and advice is appreciated , thank you 🙂
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13 Replies
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Hi David
I would apply vinyl to the inside if you can print reverse print on clear then back in white vinyl if you can’t there are a lot of trade printers that would be happy to help.
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or a nice flower pattern in etch vinyl ?
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Have you discussed anything with the customer? Have you got some idea of their budget?
What ever you decide to do really needs to tie in somehow with the rest of the shop front if possible so it doesn’t look completely out of place, did the customer have any idea what sort of thing they wanted & are they aware that covering those windows will reduce the amount of natural light getting into the shop. -
How about printed contravision, it will only reduce the light slightly.
We’ve been doing a lot of it on shops lately, the customer has always been really impressed and its a doddle to fit.
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they have asked that something be done to blank out those windows , hence the reason my thoughts are this.
budget ? i have to price the job as i see fit and if its too much for them so be it, im not doing a crappy job just to fit a slim budget sorry,
funeral directors next door has what looks like cut to size acrylic panels in same place.
the shop is being taken over so the name will change,
i think i will price for cut to size panels that i can do some nice vinyl work on.
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David, the reason I asked about budget is because you can spend a lot of time & effort to come up with something nice for the customer to inform you they only want to spend 50p :lol1: :lol1: Your not prepared to do a crappy job so effectively you have wasted your time trying to put together something that will help please the customer & help their business. Time that could have been spent better elsewhere.
It’s always a good idea to get an idea of the sort of money they are prepared to spend if you can, I normally ask them directly if they have a budget or an idea of cost, don’t always get an answer but it’s worth asking anyway.
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hi martin, cant that work against you though, ?
if sumone asked me my budget i would say tell them less than i actually had in mind.
in my opinion, if you tell someone the budget is for example £500 you can be rest assured the quote will come back very close to that mark.
show them something thats very good and it may be more expensive than they hoped, but go for it as opposed to settling for something cheaper.
just the way i look at it i guess.
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David, it can’t really work against you, if I know what your budget is then I know what I can do within that price range so yes if your budget is £500 then there is a good chance the quote will be close to that, doesn’t stop you also doing something a little more expensive & letting them see that so if they are prepared to spend a bit more than they have told you then you have it covered. Also doesn’t stop you offering them something cheaper if you feel that would better suit their needs.
It does however stop you spending time & effort designing a £500 job when they aren’t prepared to spend more than £50
Generally speaking showing someone something nice doesn’t make them buy it if it is more than they were expecting to pay & a lot of customers want cheap as possible.
If your not happy going down that road then another option would be to make up a portfolio of sample type jobs & prices for the customer to see.
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I can see where Martin is coming from, if they were to say their budget is £500 then you maybe go down the vinyl or foamex route. If the budget is high enough, then maybe go down the perspex panel route.
At least by asking, you know which one is going to be the best/most profitable for you
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most cost effective way is vinyl the inside and flood coat after with either colour or frost
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quote Tom Haley:I can see where Martin is coming from, if they were to say their budget is £500 then you maybe go down the vinyl or foamex route. If the budget is high enough, then maybe go down the perspex panel route.
At least by asking, you know which one is going to be the best/most profitable for you
No not really Tom lol, I always work on what’s best for the customer not what makes me the most profit which is why I said you could quote them for something cheaper than their budget if that was what would be best for them.
I’m only working part time now & generally for the same customers I have had for a long time, don’t get a lot of new customers now but when I was working full time & picking up lots of new work I always tried to look at the long term rather than just the one job I was asked about. Repeat business is so important in most industries so I was always looking for new customers to become repeat buyers.
Time is money & David has been offered a few different options which will all vary in price, is he going to spend time working something out for every option & give them a whole range of different priced options (which will probably over whelm them) for them to just say can you just put some cheap vinyl on the windows? Or is he going to decide which option he thinks would be best & just price for that? What happens if they say they don’t want to spend that much or worse they ask for a few days to think about it & a week latter you see someone else has done the job :lol1: :lol1:
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Its hardly a lot of work to price up a few different substrates and give them an idea of prices and what i think would be best.
and at the end of the day its a business, so it really is about the most profit.
i have decided to go with panels cut to size and fitted, going to use foamex as this appears to be the cheapest suitable substrate. Easier to work with as opposed to flood coating the windows.
Cheers for the replies guys ,appreciate it.
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As for working out something for every option? the amount of vinyl and over all look is going to be the same cost ?
the difference is whether to apply direct to glass, or which substrate to use? hardly a whole lot of work to figure out.
and if the customer decides on just wanting cheap vinyl they can have that, but thats not going to make much £ so obviously i want to do something better than cheap vinyl.??
And if someone else gets the job so be it, it is going to happen, cant do them all, but your surely likely to get more work sent your way if your standard of previous work is high?
don’t really want to be know as the guy to give a call if ye want something cheap and cheerful.
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