vehicle graphics: rjk construction

[Martin Pearson]

Nice Job Alan, if you do find anymore customers like this send some of them up here !!
I lettered a van for a landscape gardener a few months ago and the guy did nothing but complain about the cost, when he left here a guy knocked on his window at the end of the road (not more than 1/2 mile) and asked him to do some work. The money he made off that job alone paid for his livery but he still complained that I had charged him to much.
Sometimes you just can’t win.

[Kevin Flowers]

hi
completed a van last week for a customer who had delayed months in letting me write is van because of the cost. Next time he see me no moans just congrats on what a difference the sign writing made. He runs 2 valeting vans, a van had visited an industrial site (regular customers) and had never had any enquires about extra jobs, the first day the van went to the site sign written the office recieved 2 calls for full valets and one of them booked a fortnightly wash to top it. That paid for the sign writing and anymore jobs from the van advertising is a bonus.
People pay fortunes top yellow pages etc and only recieve advertising when someone is looking for that particular trade, sign writing a vehicle gives full time exposure and a good job hopefully suggests to people that they need something done. A builder to do a repair, a valeter to give the car a spring clean etc, it may seem like a endless task to educate people about the benefits of vehicle advertising etc but occasionally you do get thanked

Kevin 😎

[paddy]

How much should a van like that cost to do???

I am having problems with builders at the moment, they are quibbling about having four sides of their transit vans sign written in basic lettering for around the £160 mark (no Vat)

[Alan]

quote :

How much should a van like that cost to do???

As much as you can get. 😆

A quibbler would still quibble if you paid him, the only difference would be they’d say it’s not enough instead of too much.

At the end of the day you have to charge the amount you require to do the job and not what the customer would prefer to pay. And try not to rely on others to set your price, (that’s as bad as the customer setting it). The amount you charge must be based on the time it will take you to do the job and at your hourly rate. Others may require a higher rate to run their business, or perhaps a lower one. They may take a longer time to do a job or they may take less.

This particular job took me around 13 hours. Some may now say they could do it in half the time, but it’s possible that they can’t see all that’s involved from the photograph, or perhaps they’re a hell of a lot quicker than me.
It makes no difference; this was my job and my customer at my price, and that’s the only way any of us can work.

Try not to work cheap,
Alan

[Lorraine Buchan]

I definately agree, comparing the cost of a vinyl letter van to for example a yellow pages advert is a great way to seal the job.

I have a nice colourful advert the nice man at yellow pages had produced for me, a box ad 125mm x 65mm at a cost of £2729 for the year.

I like to pull this out when a customer moans about the cost and say “thats £2729 for a year” “here at CP Image we use 5-7 year vinyl which will last you a minimum of 5 years” “how long do you plan on having your van for?” “well over a period of 5 years your £300 vehicle livery is going to advertise for you 24/7 and will save you £13345 on the cost of this yellow pages advert over 5 years”

[John Childs]

Exactly right Lorraine.

I use the example of our local newspaper. I tell them that for the same price as a medium sized ad in there they can have their van done.

Then I point out that my graphics will last for as long as they keep the van whereas the newspaper will be wrapped around somebody’s chips tomorrow night.