vehicle signage: peter mekerall & co

[Kev Mayger]

Not being funny mate but i think your way out!!! You’ve got to think about the whole picture vinyl, application tape, general sundries & most importantly time. I would’ve charged at least double that.

[Adrian Howard]

far to cheap you will be working for nothing, time, materials, income tax, ni etc double plus++ otherwise you will be a busy boy earning nothing

adrian

[Michael Lafferty]

Thanks for your views mayger and Adrian

It was of the top of my head, then I did think it was a bit low.

the job was 4.5 hours for designing, cutting and fitting + 8m of vinyl.

This is a new direction for my business and I am learning everyday

Cheers
Michael

[Paul Goodwin]

Going on what you have said i would say at least £220 ish

thats with 7 yr vinyl mind you….. ( pay more for that 🙂 )

[autosign]

No wonder the garage want you to do their van!

[Andrew Boyle]

£220 sounds about right to me…..

try working out a chart with letters and corresponding prices….

count the letters and add for computer time and application you’ll be at the £200’ish figure…..

this way you’ll be consistent with your prices until you become more confident about giving accurate verbal quotations

[the mtrs of vinyl used doesn’t allow for weeding, pre-mask,premises and all the other stuff you had to buy]

hope this helps

Andrew 😀

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I know pounds are worth more than dollars,
but that sounds WAY too cheap.
I wouldn’t do that for less than $450.
Love….Jill

[Carrie Brown]

😮 £100 flipping eck, are you trying to earn a living or just earn some extra drink money!!

We would probably have charged about double that based on the same as Mort, using a 7yr vinyl. Thing is aswell, surely you want to be known for doing a professional job at a competitive price rather than the person who does graphics really cheap. Definitely need to sit down and work out your labour rate, vinyl charge per mtr, overheads etc etc … if you don’t really have any overheads at the moment don’t let that stop you working it out as if you have …. because you need to look forward and allow for the fact that one day you may want to expand etc etc.

Oh and don’t let anyone put you on the spot for prices …. just drum it into yourself to tell them to wait till you get back to the office and look at the costings and you will get back to them …. always the best way.

😀

I will get off the soap box now ….. sorry 😉

[Paul Goodwin]

quote :

Oh and don’t let anyone put you on the spot for prices …. just drum it into yourself to tell them to wait till you get back to the office and look at the costings and you will get back to them …. always the best way.

To damn right, i learnt that the hard way, looks more profesional as well.

Give them a Ish price if u have to but don’t ever put that in concrete.

Also type of vinyl u use make s a big differance as well

[Simon Clayton]

Yep.. I would say £220-£250, then again it was also a rush job…. that would add on a few more pounds making it more like £290.

Simon

[John Singh]

Way to cheap
You need to cover yourself as everyone here has said

Mind you you can still do a deal for your local garage who might throw more work your way

John 😀

[Robert Lambie]

i agree its too cheap, but to be honest ide say around £180+vat for just both sides with the same design. ide like to charge more but i dont think ide get more in these parts. thats glasgow area… 😉
i know its your first job, its taken you a bit of time to get it together etc but when up against companies with experience they could have the job done, cut and applied in a few hours. i know we could, so the £180 sounds not bad money… but thats not saying im right or that everyone is in the same boat. im rambling so ill stop 😮

as andrew has said, work out a price structure for letters logos etc,… and try keeping to it. its not always easy but worth it long run. 😉

[Dave Bruce]

Well, I am soory you guys down south, but we just don’t get that kind of money up here. #240 would get you a two colour on a long wheel base van (as a guide).

I would have quoted a bit less than Rob’s price, it is only single color and txt, no graphics.

Dave

[Peter Normington]

let’s not be too hard on michael it certainly was too cheap and a get me out of a hole type job always worth more,
I think we have all done it when we first started what he has to do is what others have said don’t get put in a corner always say I’ll work the prices out and give you a call .I suppose one thing you could say is looking at that we are not talking fortunes so when you give the price they don’t say anything in case they look like cheap whatsits :lol1:

Lynn (not Peter)

[Robert Lambie]

just thought ide add to this mate… your vehicle is better designer/looking etc than the old one… 😉

[Marekdlux]

I was just going to say the same thing Robert. Thanks for posting even if the price was too low. 😀
Live and learn is all we can do sometimes. Just tell him you meant 100 per side.
-Marek

[Andrew Boyle]

“Aye,

thought you were going to put a glass rack on the other side”

that’ll work… 🙄

[Carrie Brown]

Oh yes sorry ….. didn’t even comment on your graphics 😳

Job well done, looks better than the old one and now at least you know to up your prices a bit and get the money you deserve.

Hope we didn’t all sound too harsh, just don’t want you slaving away for nothing 😉

Marek, thats a good one …. meant £100 per side :lol1:

[Peter Normington]

yes sorry nice graphics know it wasn’t your choice but you did make some changes well done hope you haven’t been put off by all us money grabbers 😛

Lynn (not Peter)

[Marekdlux]

I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, the £ sign, is it shift + 4 on your keyboard? I am just wondering because in the states $ is shift + 4. 😀
Just one of those stupid questions I think of when I see it used.
-Marek

[Brian Hays]

It’s shift & 3 on ours. The dollar is shift & 4 same as yours.

[Peter Normington]

don’t know how this works on my keyboard 3 is £ 4 is dollar but also euro
don’t know how it makes the euro sign cause off its 4 on it’$ don’t know how to get the euro?? 🙄

[Marekdlux]

Thanks Brian. 😀
Now you got me thinking…my shift3 is the # sign…
nevermind, there are some things in life that I don’t need to know. I’ll check my aunts’ computer when I visit.
-Marek

[Andrew Boyle]

US

4 🙂

---

Attachments:

[John Harding]

Ctrl & Alt + 4 = €

😀

John

[Peter Normington]

andrew my keyboard does’t look like that my 4 on the top row has a dollar sign over it and the euro next to it my pound sign is above the 3

Lynn (not Peter)

[Andrew Boyle]

I think US, Aussie keyboards are different…….I can’t advise correctly as I’m on a Mac and not sure if there are any difference Mac / PC no right click here……also laptop

On the US keyboard I would imagine it’s option 4 or something

[Nicola McIntosh]

on the subject of keyboards!! 😀

check this out for your own safety!! 😀

I have been told that as an extra security measure against ‘key loggers’ etc, when entering credit card numbers or any secret passwords into websites, enter the secret data using xp’s ‘on screen keyboard’. Found in the Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Accessibility – menu

Nik 😉

[Robert Lambie]

thanks for for the tip nik 😉

[L J.]

Why has no one mentioned the back doors / panels on this van?
they are more important than the sides for info, although some customers hadn’t thought about that until prompted.
I think you have done a smart job, especially as it is your 1st van.
still like to know if you lettered the back or not for that price.
L J

[Peter Normington]

lj from the pic I think the back wasn’t done but like you say most important place there is always some one behind you

Lynn (not Peter)

[Michael Lafferty]

Hi,

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated.

LJ it was just the 2 sides. I did ask about other panels, but they were not interested.

I would agree with Dave, it is hard to even get Glasgow prices, especially in my area.

The problem I have is running a retail shop and printing t-shirts, I cost things differently. There is not as many things to take in to account.

I have a few more jobs to do and will break them down better.

Great site this !!
I have barely been here a week and I have learned lots already 😀

Thanks
Michael

[Peter Normington]

Michael may be a good way to do it is work out how much you pay per mtr. for vinyl app tape, time to weed if graphic is big less time small more time but get into your head a mtr fully finished is x amount that looks like 9 mtrs. so price is 9 meters @ whatever you decide per.mt price to be then you will never be boxed in again I’m sure you know what you charge for t shirts etc so just think in the same way, just don’t panic if your having a no think day like I do just say I will give you a call
now I’m babbling and off to bed

nite nite Lynn (not Peter)

[Vitor Brito]

Definitely the design was much better than the old one! Congrats!

About the price, well definitely we’re in diferent championships here we would be charging about 150 + Vat max. (7 years vinyl,simple design), more than that and people would spit on us in street. Fortunately people here won’t mind to pay a bit more just to get a nice design. 😀

About quoting, NEVER give a price without thinking properly how you gonna do it, remember 1 mm more and you could waste double of material (or at least stock it till you find another job that fits and that could be: never). Planing your jobs is very important. I did a simple excel file with few calculations for quoting, so far i’m very happy with it, and specially in beginning it was very helpful.

Another advice, remember don’t do too much cheap jobs just for “beer money”, one day if you need to charge a bit more people won’t see it that way it’s much easier to low prices than the opposite!.

[Andrew Boyle]

I think Britchenko is fantastic………this site makes you feel slightly paranoid [as a newcomer]…but Britchenko has his way & that’s it…………fantastic….

[Andrew Boyle]

NITE FRI NITE…………………

[Jill Marie Welsh]

By the way, your van did look better than the old van.
Try to think of pricing like this:
How much does that guy pay per YEAR for a YP ad?
Vehicle lettering is a much better investment.
Tell them “You will make more money from this van than I will!”
(my friend Pierre Tardif taught me that)
Love…..Jill

[John Singh]

Good selling tip Jill 😀

Thanks for that tip about the keyboards Nik 😀
I didn’t even know it was there

John 🙂

[Gary Davis]

Hi, sorry to ‘hi-jack’ post but a little confused on pricing now, few months back i posted a similar thread to this, i had quoted a job, but i came in higher than the prices people suggested on here.

job in question was: 2 colour 12 metres of vinyl, sides and back, with inlaid text and some needed to be tiled, i was advised a price of £160-£180????

the job shown above is using approx. 9m and is single colour, sides only yet people are advising around the £220 mark????

am i missing something?

thanks for any advice in advance.

[Robert Lambie]

what is the url for the post you made about pricing before mate?

[Gary Davis]

hi rob

https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … highlight=

picture isnt there if i remember i had probs loading it anyway, but in short it was on each side and back the following:

* 8 letters approx 250mm high with outline and drop shadow 2colour
* 8 letters approx 120mm high single colour
*large 2 colour graphic 1200mm high by about 900mm wide
*22 letters 100mm high

all slightly smaller on back, used approx 12metres
all 7yr vinyls

would appreciate your comments on this.

cheers

[Robert Lambie]

without a picture im pretty hopeless at this mate… thats without getting calculater and looking at a proce chart we work from to refer too..
i prefer a visual though because i can see areas that will be hard to fit etc and can account for fitting time etc

your post was posted in general sign topics so i guess thats why you couldnt upload image?

[Carrie Brown]

For me … van graphics that take up 9 meters of 7yr vinyl and a van that takes up 12 meters would not make a massive difference in price at all, whether two colour or single colour, it doesn’t work like that, we always work on usage and to be honest to us 3 meters of 7yr vinyl would not make your price much higher than this job. I would still charge around £180 – £200 max for either as I said in your older post.

However, without seeing your actual design its hard to give a more accurate figure. You were advised a price on the information you gave without anyone seeing the actual design work. Prices quoted would probably not have covered design work if you designed a new logo? As Rob said though without seeing a pic its hard for anyone to be accurate because we cannot see how intricate or awkward the graphics/fitting is and so you will be given a ball park figure based on 12mtrs usage of 7yr vinyl.

Perhaps if you have a pic or design we could all have another look?

😀

[Gary Davis]

unfortunately cant find the file in question! 🙄

however carries comments add up as your prices seem to be a little lower than others, some have said 250 for that van so guess its down to region plus minus £60 depending on region would be a reasonable assumption????

[bigsmoggy]

yes i think your price stratergy is spot on …………i have a few jobs very similar to that one which i will gladly pay you £100 for doing for me…..p.s if you play your cards right i might even give u a brucie bonus at xmas…….