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Pricing Surveys – just a thought!?
One of the frequently repeated questions on the site is about pricing, too much too little etc. Also that underpricing damages the industry. I would like to price on the basis on what the market will stand rather than a cost plus price basis.
What I am suggesting is that most of us due to our spread across the country are non competing so how about using the site with its Polling questions to benchmark our pricing. Every week we benchmark a range of products, banners, pvc, dibond.
People have mentioned a US and an Australian Sign Price guide. I suppose this is along the same lines. except using solely for UKsignboard members, it will also have a knock on effect for membership, being an added benefit.
So using the pole above – how would you rate the benefit of this.
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22 Replies
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Here in the middlesbrough area Plain cut vinyl is £12-15 sq mtr and digital print about £30 sq mtr.
Im sure prices will differ from 1 area of the uk to another, what i have noticed is new start sign buisnesses charge less than £10 sq mtr for plain vinyl Text and £20-25 sq mtr for digital print but as has been stated over and over in these forums these guys will proberly fold within six months or so. -
i voted ‘some benfit’ as o’ll often charge as per what i think a job is either worth, or what i think the customer will pay !
Taraswolf……. £12-15 per metre, what width is that ? i go tween 300 and 500% mark up on vinyl (depending if i like the customer or not !) which usually makes it around the £6 per metre for 610mm,
should be fairly useful for basic pricing, tho in principle i am against fixing prices within an industry, some people can only afford a £120 basic name and number job on their van, i woudlt charge £300 when it A ,wouldnt be worth it, and B, the customer doesnt want, or cant, spend that money !
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quote Drag-On:or what i think the customer will pay !that quote to me sounds very unprofessional in my opinion, you should be telling them what the price will be 😕
nik
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Iv been doing some market research around m/bro just phoning up the main sign makers and they are the prices i have been getting, quotes were all per sq mtr not by width etc.
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i see, guess i’m about right then on the vinyl, i usually go by the metre run, if i went by the square metre i’d be up there,
nik, why unprofessional ? by ‘customers’, i was generalising a bit, i know what people will pay for race numbers / graphics, especially when like myself, they race on a tight or even non existent budget, spopnsorship is hard to come by, even more so if like most of the people i know, it’s just for fun rather than reward, so this is my way of getting my name on cars, therefore advertising for free, for the sake of suiting my prices (in some circumstances) to suit budgets, it doesnt mean i’ll to a £500 job for £100! i rarely spend more than a few hours on most jobs for the cars, and see a fair reward at the end of the day,
i could price at full wack, and then i’d see the work go to someone else, i dont see tha as unprofessional, i see it as earning something rather than nothing, makes sense in my book !
and yes, occasionally i will apply the same way of working to other jobs, but usually to people i know. at the end of the day, i’m aiming to do this full time as soon as possible, to be full time, i need work, daily, if i have to fill it up a litle with less well paying jobs then sorry, but so be it !
😮
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The problem with underpricing your work in the early days of your business is that you will find there is a resistance from your growing customer base to paying higher prices later.
It’s all well and good saying it’s better to do something at low cost than have no work to do, but in reality you will find you are better off using the time to seek out customers that are prepared to pay higher prices.
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I normally ask the customer what they are planning on paying for any signage and then design around that basis. I find that way you can decide what substrate etc you are going to use rather than trying to give 3 different prices for foam, dibond acrylic etc.
Although having said that if someone comes to me and says I want a sign with red letters all in caps on cheap plastic I will give a cheap price knowing it will only take 20 min or so to complete.
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to be honest I clicked on what I think would happen…
however a RRP might prove usefulThe other thing, I suspect London prices are going to be about 75% more then our Devon prices.
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don’t get me wrong, the majority of my work is priced as a good mark up on the vinyl plus about £20 an hour, itworks for me, the end results seem to be about right, as i get quicker at doing things i guess the hourly will go up to compensate !
when i do cheaper jobs i’m pricing to suit the customer, they get cheaper materials generally, i’ve plenty of older stock that owes me next to nothing so i make the same money, they just get a simple job, the cheap stuff is only for lettering, if they want stuff that’ll take time and thought then they pay for it !
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quote niknaxpc:quote Drag-On:or what i think the customer will pay !that quote to me sounds very unprofessional in my opinion, you should be telling them what the price will be 😕
nik
Nik, I sort of agree, but we cannot dictate, always remember that the customer has a choice. Tesco put a price on a product, but if its cheaper at morrisons then they will shop there.
Peter -
In theory it is a good idea, but I doubt that it would work in practice.
Prices and costs of materials vary by region, sometimes greatly.
I do use a national pricing guide, and try to follow it.
But I won’t sell my signs for less, even if Joe Blow up the road is undercutting me.
I have tried the “what is your price range?” tactic…it makes people suspicious here in PA!
Love….Jill -
Pricing is and always will be down to the individual/company.
The sign trade is getting more and more competetive as equipment plummets in price, One BIG mistake that newcomers make, is to assume that because fred the sign charges £X so can I, or I can do that for less.the only sound way to work out your prices is to taylor them to YOUR set up.
It would be foolish to do otherwise.
If you cannot compete with the competition, on price (and I’m talking like for like) then you have to find a way of doing so or do something else.
publishing price guides never has and never will work, 50% of the recipients of the info will pitch their price higher, and 50% will go lower, so you are back were you started.
Peter -
I still think a pricing survey would be an interesting topic. I’ve been in business as a signmaker for over nine years and I price my work according to my own set of requirements that are needed for my business to remain viable.
I would however be very interested to know what others are charging to see where I stand in the scheme of things. So the idea gets the thumbs up from me 😀
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there will always be those that are cheaper and who deliberately undercut, i have never yet gone out of my way to undercut someone, though if i know a price to be genuine i may come closer to it, out of principle i will not beat it, i may be new in signmaking, but i’m an old hand at trading with new and used american race car parts, i know how to haggle to my advantage, and usually spot a bullsheister,
i also think that some of you who are obviously more accomplished than fledgings like myself, might have forgotten, during all these huge business transactions, that some customers might only want to spend a hundred quid max, and aren’t interested in much more than having their name and number on the door, for a hundred quid they can have that, i make money at a sensible rate, and to waste hours trying to convince them otherwise is where i’d lose money and likely the customer,
don’t try and sell someone with £500 to spend on a car a rolls royce for £20k !
i’ve mentioned on other boards, and maybe here too, but i bought my plotter (no, not a cheapy one) cos sign co’s in general didnt help me when i needed lettering etc for the race car, they would either take forever to do a 20 minute job, not phone back, of want 10x what the job was in reality worth, thats the reason i’m here, because people don’t want to do the lower end work, maybe i’ll get the same way once i have a big enough customer base and regular larger jobs coming in, but for now, they’re my bread and butter, to tun my back on them would be silly !
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How about then as a survey, someone draws up requirements for a van.
Specify artwork, type of vinyl etc.
As for where to be done, for those that don’t have a workshop it could be assumed the customer would have suitable premises of their own available.Just have it in plain cut vinyl, no digi prints as I’m fairly safe in saying most on here have a plotter.
Then once specs are up, everyone can put in their own quote etc.
Make it easy, assume the van is brand new, nothing to remove etc.
Regards
Lee
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thats a pretty good idea, everyone should then post at a certain time, and no editing allowed !
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That sounds like a good idea to me also. Could we also put the general area we work in on our reply so we can all make up our own minds as to how we compare?
Lorraine -
I would be interested in a price guide.
Although I have been doing this job for quite a few years my experience is mainly in volume work, where unit costs are normally lower. Therefore, when looking at a design, my perception of its value is probably lower than most of you. The result is that although I have no desire to undercut anybody I suspect that I may inadvertantly do so on occasion.
If a guide educates me then I will make more money on the jobs I win and my competitors won’t be having to compete with a silly price from me on the jobs they win.
Surely that’s of benefit to everyone.
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Thanks for all the replies folks – clearly judging by the number of views on this subject it is one of interest. Some for and some against each are however valid and depends I guess on how you set your own prices.
There are two basic methods of pricing products and services: cost-plus and value-based pricing.Cost-plus pricing – This takes the cost of producing your product and adds an amount that you need to make a profit. It is generally more suited to businesses that deal with large volumes or which operate in markets dominated by competition on price. Hidden costs are easily forgotten, so your true profit per sale is often lower than you realise.
Value-based pricing
This focuses on the price you believe customers are willing to pay, based on the benefits your business offers them. I suggest that it where the majority of us need to be. To do that we need to know what the benchmark level for the industry is.I am not suggesting that we use uksignboards however to fix prices, that would be illegal under the competition law of 1998. However knowing where you stand with your prices – in the market place is an essential tool.
I will post a poll separately and test if it will work or not.
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I have one in Oz. I found it very beneficial. It stopped me selling too cheap and worrying about what the other guy charges “up the road”. It was also useful for quoting stuff that we don’t do a lot of, and even stuff that we buy in, like laser cut acrylic letters. I now have a digital printer, and charge around the A$100.00 per sq mtr. If the job is bigger then I can go lower. I always try to get a budget from the customer, and give them the best value for money. I wont sell a customer something that isn’t going to benefit them….. my pet hate is magnetic car door signs. I always try to talk the customer into proper graphics and vinyl.
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Hi there – appealing signs
Cheers
Chris
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Great i dea Chris …i find pricing jobs a totall nightmare and usually end up out of pocket somewhere along the line
Brian
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