Price check on a printed vinyl 1050 x 640

[Chris Wool]

first sounds a bit heavy but inc vat or not, how much time on art work, material quality, print quality.

oh and how often will he bring you this type of work.

[Ian Pople]

Hi,

Vat included and they would want one or two every now and then.

Artwork supplied ready to print best quality print.

What is the average rate for per sq m of print charged ?

I’m very new to print prices as I am trying to get some customers on board before I buy a printer. I am buying in the print at the moment.

Thanks

Ian

[Richard Urquhart]

I would be around £38.00 plus vat

[Robert Walker]

Hi Ian,
I charge £35+vat per linear meter un-laminated with a min order of 1 meter

[Robert Lambie]

as a rule of thumb, i price £50+vat for a square metre print. that’s with artwork supplied. when bought in multiples, then yeh you can apply a bit of discount but also make sure your covering for any possible waste.

we have fast machines.
we use bulk ink systems.
we get good prices on my media…
regardless, what i save on purchasing means more profit for us.

yes, that might sound a bit arrogant and may loose business. but i believe there is much more to take into consideration price wise than just clicking a button and job done.
the flip side is if we have a customer actually wanting a job in multiples, then we can comfortably offer the discounts. something you get a feel for when speaking to the customer face to face.

the trouble is, he may well get it for £30 ian. thats not an uncommon figure. but why is he coming to you then? is he now wanting cheaper than £30 for giving you the business? where does it stop?
my bet is he has seen the price quoted or indeed been given that price, but wants "more" from you for the money. this is normally your time, advice on what he is getting. to maybe look at samples… ask about the types of vinyl or banner material available and so on… possibley a place he can pop into at last minute and so on… see "where my £50 quote" is going now?

if you are buying in your prints then i dont think your quotes fine.
have you bought in prints before? by that i mean you have samples of the quality the printer is giving you?
also, remember you can only produce high end quality prints if the customer is giving you high end quality artwork.
dont look at trade printers pushing £14 a square metre as your own bench mark. these are normally prices quoted by super wide type printers that have a low quality output setting. i remember years back doing this myself just before we got our first printer. i ordered several coca-cola adverts to be printed for a lightbox. when they arived the pixals on the prints were like stamps. i called to complain but little i could do, just part of my own learning curve. 😕

anyway… as i say, i try using £50 as my bench mark for square metre.

[Ian Pople]

Thanks all for the help.

Ian

[Denise Goodfellow]

Hi Ian

For 1 square metre we would charge £45, for a larger run we would come down to £35 a metre.

+ VAT

[Robert Lambie]

quote Robert Lambie:

if you are buying in your prints then i dont think your quotes fine.

sorry ian, that should have read "I DO" think your quotes fine.
at the end of the day, there is no point doing the donkey work, buying in prints, etc then handing it over for buttons.

will you be competitive? maybe not if his quote is for real, but still boils down to the same thing. if theres no money in the job for you, its better to walk away mate.

[David Hammond]

I need to up my prices… I charge £30 PSQM unlaminated, and £40 Laminated.

Another thing on my to-do list.

[Hugh Potter]

i’ve never had any probs getting £60 psm for laminated print, I buy in at around £30pm laminated,

un-lam’d i charge £45 and pay around £20.

larger runs i’ll maybe charge less, the above includes artwork (to a degree), doesn’t include fitting.

[David Rowland]

this is not in UKSG.. so cant answer

[David Hammond]

quote Dave Rowland:

this is not in UKSG.. so cant answer

It is… only UKSG can view the pricing discussion forum. Can’t they?

[Phill Fenton]

quote Dave Rowland:

this is not in UKSG.. so cant answer

You did – you said you can’t answer 😕

[Robert Lambie]

quote Phill Fenton:

quote Dave Rowland:

this is not in UKSG.. so cant answer

You did – you said you can’t answer 😕

:lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

david, your correct mate, pricing discussion is hidden. only uksg can view it mate.

[Gordon Forbes]

Rob is that 1m x 1m
I charge by the linear meter, as I only have the 760 machine I take the £50 x .700 or the size of the print plus a charge for waste.

[Robert Lambie]

Hi Gordon

Good to see you back on the boards mate, hope alls well with you.

Yes, your right, my price is based on a square metre.
it was a way/method i got stuck with when pricing trucks, wraps etc from years ago… i dont mean i price wraps at £50 by the square metre, i just mean calculating the amount of vinyl needed was easier as was working out my costs because i knew what i was paying "by the metre" from the suppliers.

your totally correct though, always allow for waste if not by full width of roll.

Something many forget, and its a constant gripe i have with our guys is WASTE when printing pretty much anything.

For instance. why now have to stock
74 inch wide digital banner material
54 inch wide digital banner material
30 inch wide digital banner material

this is to help lower waste.

standard was always 54 inch banner material as thats the width of the machine.
but we are often asked for 24 inch or 36 inch wide banners.
yes you can double up printing two at 24 inch, but doesnt always happen like that.
anyway, my point is, we often print long banners and have lots of narrow off cut we know fine we will never sell… so in turn, we must pass this loss onto the customer.

same applies for printing on media at the same width.
its often difficult to finish prints properly without cutting them away from the master roll. these off cuts can be used, i know, but often get dirty, miss-shaped and so on…

next comes "laminating"
ive just posted a price per square metre. so lets say we print that square metre and the customer comes in to pick it up.
"we cut it from the master roll" and now left with the WASTE.
However, this customer wants it laminated!
so we laminate it and then cut it off the master roll…
Now we are left with MORE WASTE. i.e. digital media AND lamination.

it gets worse….

lets say your customer only wants a metre long print but by the "full width"
great you think because theres no waste. but there still is!
lets say you print full width of your roll by 1 linear metre.
you cut it off the master roll and proceed to laminate. but you need your laminators prefeed around the rollers. you you could be losing 6 inches or more by width of machine. then same again at the rear because you always give a little more for trimming and finishing allowance.
so here we have a linear metre of vinyl lainated. ok, zero loss on the print as its full width.
but you could have lost about 12 inches in total by full width of roll for lamination finishing allowance. worse still… lets go back to if the print isnt the "full width of the roll" then laminating?

anyway. im babbling again… hope this makes sense. :lol1: :lol1:

[Neil Davey]

Agree with you Rob.
The same can be said for sheet substrates too.
If a customer wants a 7′ x 3′ sign they should pay for an 8′ x 4′.
I think most of us are a bespoke service and can never compete with cheap web based printers.
We should be charging around £60 a m2, it costs more than £30 to produce a print. We have to cover so many costs, it’s not just a case of clicking a button to print.
We should value our industry and try and drive costs up not down.

[David Hammond]

I actually spent my first day looking at substrate costs, my mark up.

I now have a minimum charge for materials so that I know `I am covering the cost of the board, and still making profit. OK maybe not as much on a larger job, but I will make that back selling the off cuts.

With my laminating I charge per linear meter, regardless of the width of the print. I only stock 1 size vinyl, and 1 size laminate, the waste is accounted for in the prices.

In fact where I have space to fit a second print on, I sell that as a discounted rate, as I would rather make a couple of quid than bin it.

[Robert Lambie]

quote Neil Davey:

We should value our industry and try and drive costs up not down.

exactly my feelings dave… sadly we are fighting a loosing battle for the masses.
however…
i do think there is very much "a void being formed" for quality sign makers.
so where most are trying to compete on price, i believe those customers wanting quality signage are finding it much harder to find their source. this is where we should be able to fill the gap. quality signage that costs that bit more…

at the end of the day, there are millions of folk shopping at LIDL, but equally as many shopping at the likes of M&S, Sainsbury etc…
the thing is, take M&S, their advertising, approach and promotion of their goods quality etc is how they "up sell". they push quality, healthy food and the like. this is where i beleive we should be educating our customers on how and why our products are better than the guy pricing 50% less than us along the road… this is where it becomes difficult because a great many will just see a "square metre of print as a square metre of print"… little thought given to the media used, its life, lamination properties, i.e. is it clear cheap vinyl or is it a high gloss lamination with UV filters etc same with inks, UV stability etc print resolution, how good is the design work and so on…

.

[Ian Pople]

Hi all,

Customer has got back to me he is paying £25 inc VAT for the print
not laminated is this a reasonable price or is he pulling a fast one?

Thanks

Ian

[Warren Beard]

Nothing wrong in reality if unlaminated, this would fall under my min order charge and would be about the same but that is printing from file supplied, unlaminated and customer collects. Run it with another job would only cost you a few quid.

this is what we are up against unfortunately, you need to up sell on the benefits of lamination etc and try to get the fitting as well where you can charge a bit more.

If it’s less then you want to do the work for then walk away, you can’t win them all and some people are not worth the effort over.

cheers

Warren

[Neil Davey]

I would tell your customer to go get it for £25.00, simple as!!
Why are they coming to you if they can get it for that to begin with?
Once you take out the cost of vinyl, Ink, your investment in a printer, overheads etc. surely you won’t end up with much in your pocket?

[Warren Beard]

correct me if I’m wrong but that works out at about £37.50 per square meter unlaminated vinyl. Trade customers are advertising direct to substrate print at £10 per square meter.

If we could all get that sort of price for unlaminated vinyl it would be good. I find it hard to compete for cheap stickers at £20 per square meter print and cut unlaminated, if I could get £37.50 I would be a happy bunny.

or am I missing something? (haven’t read the thread just saw size at top and price quoted? 🙄 )

[Ian Pople]

I’m looking at getting a printer and know nothing about print price.

I have to buy the print in at the moment so I am a bit stuck on prices.

Thanks all.

Ian

ps Neil check your emails.

[Martin Pearson]

Ian, what’s a reasonable Price???

We could discuss this for years and everyone would have their own idea of what is and what isn’t reasonable based on all sorts of different factors.

You have a business to run & need to set your own pricing based on what you need to make to cover your expenses and make what ever living you feel is right for yourself.

If they are buying from ebay then I have seen printed graphics selling for less so you could say it is expensive :lol1: Most of the time at those sort of prices the customer gets what they pay for. If you want to ensure your customer has a quality job printed with quality inks on a quality media then it is unlikely you are going to be able to compete with some sellers so don’t even bother.

Customers don’t generally understand what is involved & the differences in cost, they look at the bottom line which is the price for a bit of sticky back plastic with ink on it. Only real way is to try and educate them but normally takes time.

[Ian Pople]

I had a quick look at a print the customer had it had LG backing paper would this be just white normal vinyl?

Ian