pricing for light box signs

[Hugh Potter]

HI Olly,

I buy em in ready made, add 50% (minimum) and charge £25 an hour to fit (per person),

charge your added vinyl at the same price as you would for a vehicle, just take care when working out which vinyl needs to be block-out and which transluscent.

Hugh

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Not to sound like a tw@t but are you designing without a deposit and not even knowing what to charge?
Just trying to protect you.
Love….Jill

[David Hammond]

But then it’s sometimes difficult to price a job, without first knowing whats involved.

Bit like trying to get a builder to give a price on building a house, without first showing him the plans.

Great if you’re experienced enough to give prices off your head, but for me it’s not something I’d do, plus price it right doesn’t cover sign trays, light boxes etc.

[Phill Fenton]

But Jill’s right. Save yourself a lot of grief by getting a deposit before spending any time drawing up artwork. Quotes are free but artwork shouldn’t be.

(hot) (hot)

[David Hammond]

I agree fully, but I know 99.99% of my customers expect a price when I go to conduct a site survey, or shortly after.

They don’t know

a) how much they want to spend.
b) what type of sign they’d like

To the point where some customers think they can get an illuminated 10x4ft shop sign for £400 fitted.

I’ve quoted for illuminated signs, like they asked for, then 3 weeks later drive past to find someones fitted a composite sign tray, obviously vastly cheaper.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I offer instant quotes on something I know about, like a set of magnetic signs.
But some quotes require thorough research before a price can be given,
Right now I have a complex quote for a painted wall sign, it will probably take me several hours of research before I can send the client a proposal.
If a customer can’t understand that you can’t pull certain things straight out of your ass, they probably have no idea of the true value of the job and just want the cheapest thing going.
If you quote something, then get stuck halfway through realizing that the job is going to cost you money, it makes you look like an idiot when you come back to the customer and say "but I need $500 more".

[Denise Goodfellow]

When my customers want a price there and then I just say I can give you one but it will be an estimate, as its very hard to work out quickly, and i will over estimate to save my butt.

or I can work out a proper price which will take me 1/2 a day.

Normally they say they will wait, if they it there and then I think most are not serious.

[David Hammond]

As an example, I went to measure up a job yesterday.

They already had a sign but didn’t fill the full depth of the fascia board.

It looks easy, long and thin, it was quite deceptive.

When I came back to the office, i’d need 2 sheets of composite to go the full length, at full depth, with over half a sheet off cut.

The vinyl would need to be 1230mm to replicate the sign they had at this size, so again more cost.

Which I assume is the reason it was made shorter in the first place.

[Olly MacDonald]

sorry for late reply . and thanks again the advice is excellent . really good bunch on here very glad i joined . might make a buck outa this job after all

late reply is due to hospital stop after some twat made me fly over his car , apparently he was busy on the phone so couldn’t see me ha! anyway no broken bones , but bikes a little twisted. 😀

[David Hammond]

As a general rule 100% min on items bought in, like light boxes, trays. At least 500 on vinyl, to account for app tape, plotter time, etc. Then your design, labour and fitting.

If I am buying print in (very rare) I mark up about 30%. It depends on the job and perceived value…

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Hope you’re OK.