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Pricing up a basic shop sign job.
Never really done a large scale job like this before (done mostly vans and small signs etc), but is it better to price up the cost of the sign (e.g. foamex plus vinyl plus margin) and then price up the installation cost seperately. Not sure whether it makes more sense this way, or better to factor the installation costs into each sign that I am installing.
Any help would be great.
Cheers, Phil
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7 Replies
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Phil, I always price the fitting as a separate part of the job as there are so many variables.
Height and access, distance from works, size, type of sign and fixing, the list goes on. so in my book, always an extra.Peter
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Another thing, what do people charge as an hourly rate for installations? For my IT support I charge anything upto £55 an hour
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We price fitting at £35 per man hour. Always, there are variables, unexpected problems – if you charge by the hour you’re covered
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as peter says, price them separate… run of the mill shop fittings arent hard, but some can give you serious headaches. taking down an existing sign can really open a can of worms for you if you discover a disaster below the sign.
here is a typical example of how it happened to me back in 2004
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … hutter+boxunless your going into a panatrim frame, ide keep away from foamex.
in fact, i do not use it for exterior work at all these days.
for your average shop its ether Dibond type composite board or aluminum. even then, 9/10 times its into a frame. -
he wants it doing cheap as they all do. One of the sites will be aluminium framed. I might even suggest to him that for the other site we supply and fit framing too (bearing in mind this site currently has a sign which is over 6 years old and is mounted to somthing resembling plasterboard!).
So best bet is to specify hourly rate in ESTIMATE (not quotation as I normally do) so it covers yourself in the eventuality of problems occuring. Guess I should mention to the client that it should take roughly ‘x’ amount of hours….. then drag it out!! hehe
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its easy for me to this i know… but ide suggest a few alternative prices for various different sign options. educate him the reasons why the more expensive options are there.
if he goes for the cheap as chips route. ide then try and "supply only" advising him on a local joiner to fit them. if he still wants you to fit it then fair enough… if the product fails/looks bad weeks down the line he doesn’t have any come back. -
When I was working I used to give the customer one price for signs supplied and fitted and all the other sign companys round this way did the same thing. I used to work them out separately because as Peter has said there are so many different factors to consider. A site survey was usually good enough to be able to give an accurate enough cost for fitting.
As for potential problems I did have a disclaimer on the estimate stating that the price was based on standard installation costs assuming that all onsite materials be in good condition and there were no unforeseen problems or hold-ups. I used to explain this to the customer verbally as well.
Phil the guy might want it doing cheaply but he will also want it done properly and expect it to last. Take the time to explain to him the problems with foamex and point out to him any particularly bad ones in your area so he can have a look for himself.
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