-
What do you think is a fair price for wrapping a Beetle?
I’m not asking for anyone to give me an accurate price here but I am looking for a happy medium on pricing structure.
-
22 Replies
-
I think you would need to know colour change or printed to price or even guestimate.
Lynn
-
I presume we are talking print and wrap Karl, just to clarify things. as opposed to a colour change. and including artwork.
Factors that do make a difference.Peter
-
Sorry, I should have said it was printed using Grafiwrap using their laminate
Including artwork. -
And do we assume that it is a one off, rather than a fleet of hundreds.
-
One off initially. There is another but I’m disputing doing the thing with all the abuse I’ve had.
-
quote John Childs:And do we assume that it is a one off, rather than a fleet of hundreds.
I’d slash me wrists if it was a fleet mate. I’ve no hair or fingernails left as it is!
-
Not many votes but even at 13 it goes to show the variations between us is quite wide. At £1000 realistically there isn’t any room for profit.
-
quote Karl Williams:At £1000 realistically there isn’t any room for profit.
No?
I didn’t vote for £1,000, but I reckon your judgement is based on how long it took you, so let’s do the sums.
How many square metres of vinyl do you reckon Karl.
-
I haven’t voted as we don’t wrap here …… yet that is. However there is always a perceived value and I personally would have thought that it would be towards the top end of the scale.
Cheers
Gary
-
It’s taking me way longer than a pro John. But I’m still at the learning stage.
Material usage approx 25m at 1370 wide. Took a morning to print, then there’s drying time and the laminating. I’ve been told James Deacon could do this in a day but to him this is second nature. With 2 men I would have thought 2-3 days. Numpty me on me todd…….a very embarrassing week due to a couple of c0ck ups and having to reprint some parts. 😳
I will say though I’ve not spent the whole week there doing the job…I’ve had other things on as well. -
Yeah, ok Karl, I understand exactly what you are saying, but we can’t expect our customers to pay for our learning curve. They think that they are coming to an expert (well, that’s what we tell them anyway) and that we know what we are doing. The extra time we take because we are learning isn’t really their responsibility, but is the price we pay for learning a new skill. An investment if you like, which will hopefully reap dividends later on future jobs. Certainly, in your case here, as he has a second vehicle, I reckon you will do that in half the time this one took.
Anyway, Grafiwrap costs £7.22, and the laminate £7.17 per linear metre at 1370 wide. That’s a total of £14.39 per linear metre, so your vinyl costs were £359.00. Ink? I don’t know, but a guess at about a tenner. So, total material cost to you was £369.00.
Your manufacturing time. A guess again, but three hours at £30.00, so £90.00.
Get in a good experienced fitter to apply, which should cost about £160 for a day, but allow for £200.00 just in case they get greedy.
That brings you out at a total of £659.00. Charge your customer a grand and you are on for £341.00 profit. 34% gross ain’t bad in my book.
OK, you need to allow for your artworking time on the first vehicle, which is why I didn’t vote for £1,000, but you won’t get that expense on subsequent vehicles.
So, I think my vote of £1,250 was about right, allowing some for overheads, and depreciation on equipment. I’d knock a hundred quid off the second.
For those that voted £2,000 and upwards, welcome to Planet Earth. 😀
Seriously, I’d be very interested to know how you calculated your price. -
John, I don’t expect the client to pay for going overtime. That’s my call but as you said if I did do the second one then yes it would take a lot less time.
But even at a grand for the job it’s still not really worth it for the costs involved. The £1250 mark as you said really would make the job more viable. After all wrapping is supposed to a part of this game that’s supposed to make good money isn’t it? (Not) 😕 -
very quick guesstimate…
charge £50 per square metre of print and laminate (minimum)
approx 20m sq. £10001 man fitting at £60 per hr (minimum)
approx 12 hrs £720
(realistically you will need a fitters mate for half that time and will have to charge accordingly)so without the help and fitting on your todd, ide be looking for £1720+vat personally, ide be asking for £2000+vat for the beetle as its NOT and easy fit.
i maybe looked on as expensive, but trust me there will be some looking on my price as too cheap.ide also insist in fitting in my own place and the vehicle being left with me two days. even if i can fit it in one, 2 days minimum.
-
quote Karl Williams:After all wrapping is supposed to a part of this game that’s supposed to make good money isn’t it? (Not) 😕
Nah, not any more. There’s too many people at it. 🙁 We actually do very little wrap work because we keep getting undercut.
Rob, good luck to you if you can get away with those prices.
I’m trying to get to grips with pricing at the moment, and certainly at lower areas we would want £50 per metre, and often more. But in this instance, and using your figures, £1,000 for something that cost you £300 in materials and minimal labour? If that was achievable here I wouldn’t be messing about with anything else.
Likewise application. £720 for something that can be bought for £160 is something I couldn’t get any of our customers to fall for.
I accept that my figures may be on the low side because I have a bad habit of looking at pricing from a volume perspective, but even so…………..
-
This has answered my question. The vast difference in charging for this is too wide. Obviously we don’t know what size businesses the people who have voted run, and at the end of the day we’re here to get the job if the price is right. But in reality, there is no answer to what price is right due to difference in opinions or your overheads and your ability to do the job at speed. Looking at the voting though for me £1750 would be the price I’d charge to make it more than worthwhile.
-
Yeah Karl, but why worry. Stuff making anything, just go into the contract fitting business.
Chargeout at £720 and cost of £160 is a profit of £560 per man per day, or £2.800 per week.
Employ five fitters and that’s £14,000 per week for sitting on your @rse all day answering a few telephone calls.
That must be where I’ve been going wrong all these years. 😀
-
quote Robert Lambie:very quick guesstimate…
charge £50 per square metre of print and laminate (minimum)
approx 20m sq. £10001 man fitting at £60 per hr (minimum)
approx 12 hrs £720
(realistically you will need a fitters mate for half that time and will have to charge accordingly)so without the help and fitting on your todd, ide be looking for £1720+vat personally, ide be asking for £2000+vat for the beetle as its NOT and easy fit.
i maybe looked on as expensive, but trust me there will be some looking on my price as too cheap.ide also insist in fitting in my own place and the vehicle being left with me two days. even if i can fit it in one, 2 days minimum.
How many wraps a week do you do Rob?
Peter -
I have done two truck wraps this week… being wednesday just now.
(not big trucks though) cabs were cut vinyl, GRP boxes were wrapped. or as some may say, hung like wallpaper. can do two in under a days shift. charged them out at about £2500+vat eachunlike car and van wraps, This is good quick and easy money in my book…
as for car wraps like Karls beetle… I dont often do them peter, I do not even go there unless the money is correct from the phone enquirey, im not in this business to waste my time. -
just as an indication of the true cost of wraps, and that is what you need to compete with in the real world,
Range Rover sport, done in avery 900 mat black to a "paint finish" less than a grand by a well known company in London.If you can charge over 2k for a beetle, then with all due respect, it is the the equivalent of Everest double glazing, overpriced and no better than products half the price.
just my opinion
but we all choose the best and most efficient way to make a profit, based
on ability and resourcesPeter
-
I am competing in the real world peter…
as for your example… Matt Black wrapped Range Rover.
No Designing
No Printing
No Lamninating
and wrapping a cardboard box… not exaxtly a beetle shapped like a tutti-frutti is it?They are probably charging more per hour than i am! 😀
Anyway regardless to how well they are known or what they charge, doesnt mean i need to drop my prices to suit. As i said, if i am undercut then so be it, I will get on with other work that will make me quicker easier money.
My view is that wrapping has already been devalued by under pricing and very poor workmanship. -
quote Robert Lambie:My view is that wrapping has already been devalued by under pricing and very poor workmanship.
I agree entirely, but we’ve had this discussion before.
As I’ve always maintained, in any field, it’s the people who are in first that make the big bucks. Those that bought vinyl cutters in the early eighties could charge what they liked – until they got more and more competition. Ditto digital printing now that practically everyone has a printer.
It’s exactly the same with wrapping, and the only thing that is surprising to me is the speed with which the decline has occurred.
Now it’s not to "paint standard" because they’re only toolboxes on wheels, but I can get short Transits, which I consider a more difficult wrap than a Beetle, wrapped to an acceptable quality all day long at about £1,450 each by a contractor. So, if £2,000 were achievable, why would I want to get my hands dirty? Not to mention investment in equipment and the hassle of employing staff.
-
quote Robert Lambie:I am competing in the real world peter…
Rob I wasn’t saying you weren’t in the real world.
I was just pointing out what others are doing the job for,
and I agree entirely with what you and John are saying.
Peter
Log in to reply.
