What price should I be paying for vinyl printing

[Phill Fenton]

Yup

[Kevin Parker]

thanks, if I was to purchase a versacamm and print these myself, do you know the costs for materials, i.e ink and vinyl, excluding printer etc. thanks

[Phill Fenton]

Yup

[Chris Stansfield]

must of been a bank holiday yesterday i think 😕 😮

tbh, i think that price is a little over the top if you are buying in as trade.
you could find cheaper if you looked, but that depends on how much you are buying and how often.

[Robert Lambie]

dont know so much mate. it comes down to settings, resolution, media used, laminated or unlaminated. a one off job or a batch. was art there artwork supplied, how quick the work is required and so on etc etc

[Kevin Parker]

price is based on quantity of 5, full coverage, artwork supplied by me, 720 dpi resolution, 1 day turnaround, white backing supplied ……

[Robert Lambie]

if you walked in off the street without much notice to get this job done, ide say yes, the price is fair seeing as you got it next day.

however, rule of thumb for me is £50 per square metre for a full colour print unlamented. but, if you wanted me to drop everything to give you next day you would be expected to pay more.

[Kevin Parker]

ok, thanks for the help

[Karl Williams]

Hi Rob,
What media would that be on mate. I only ask because I get people in here most days asking for prices on print. Many of them say they are only paying around the 30 quid mark from a supplier in Nottingham.
When I ask what media this is on I get a blank look followed by "I aint got a clue!"
Personally I think these machines are becoming too easily obtainable for the cowboys who want to undermine legit firms who have invested heavily in their kit.
Remember back in the days when you would spend 12k on a GSP Sprint.Then the next minute along came the friction plotters for around 2k.
Bang – loads of so called sign makers who aint got a clue undercutting us.

Sorry to wave off the topic chaps but do you get me drift?
AAAhhh. I’m gonna put me dummy back in! 😀

[Martin Pearson]

You would definitely be able to find someone cheaper to print these for you if you looked about but they might not be of the same quality and as reliable as your current supplier. Just my opinion but Franchise outlets tend to be more expensive than a lot of others anyway.

As for buying a machine and printing yourself, I am surprised that you have only asked about the cost of vinyl and ink. You may know what a printer costs to buy but they are not like desktop printers in that you can buy one and just leave it sitting in the corner until you need it.
There are a lot of other expenses involved with owning a solvent or eco solvent printer that you probably haven’t thought about.

[Karl Williams]

Can’t agree more Martin. It’s like signing a contract and not reading the small print. Many aspects involved.

[Robert Lambie]

hi karl, it would be printed on oracal 5-7 year digital vinyl.

as you said, too many so called signmakers buying cheap plotters and opening up.

quote :

12k on a GSP Sprint

we bought the one before that, Gerber 4B (13inch cutter), with digitising monitor and tablet cost a whopping £25k many moons ago… No internet and advice, no clipart and fonts costing hundreds of pounds each. dont get me started! :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

anyway, ill get back on topic 😕 :lol1:

[Karl Williams]

I think we should put the costs in perspective.

Original Finance quote JV3 130spII. £530. per month.
Document fee £95.00. (one off)
Buying in stock to get started. £500.00.
Cost in temp downtime for working
out how the kit works inc. software.

Then you start running the machine.
Design time – Print time – Drying time – Fitting time.
Followed by the customer doesn’t pay on time then you have to finance the next job and the next.

Now if you ignore the above when the cheque comes in much later, you will be happy.

If you sit down and work out exact costs inc. phone calls ie, all the facts and figures, even at 50quid per metre you don’t make a massive mark-up
on the job unless it’s a decent run.

Problem is though not many will pay 40 to 50 per metre, but they will let you incure more costs.

[Martin Pearson]

Karl, I still think you have left some important stuff out like maintenance contracts, time taken for routine machine maintenance (daily, weekly & monthly). The fact that you need to print something to stop the heads drying out even if you don’t have a customer job to print.

I have desktop printers that sometimes sit for weeks without being used and I think some people assume that these printers are the same.

[Gavin MacMillan]

quote :

Problem is though not many will pay 40 to 50 per metre, but they will let you incure more costs

Only if you let em, if they wont the job done here they pay what’s quoted or are advised of a cheaper way to get the job done. Otherwise it’s not done – we certainly don’t to work to ‘incur costs’ we do it to make money

Confused… G

[Karl Williams]

Martin, I’m just putting the basics down mate. Aint got time to put down every cost involved but I think you get the jist of what I mean.

Incurring extra costs. Yes if the client makes a change to the image then yes they must pay the extra. What I mean is if something goes wrong whilst printing which it does sometimes this is extra cost to you.

The point I’m trying to make is when you are a virgin to printing, thinking you’ll open the box then plug and play this isn’t the case.
You put many hours into it to produce cracking work, charge what you know it’s worth then some idiot comes in and says"I think i’ll use the bloke down the road next time, he’s a lot cheaper than you!"

I think if your paying 30 – 40 per metre or less you’re getting a good deal.

[Martin Pearson]

Karl, I know you were but I was just trying to point out that there was a lot more to it than just the initial cost of the printer and the materials. It’s the ongoing costs that people don’t think about because they think these machines are just like a big desktop printer and can be treated the same.

As an owner of a machine you know thats not true. Can’t help you much with the guy up the road being cheaper except to say that you need to try and educate your customers that price isn’t everything. If their business and their business image is important to them then they should understand that they are going to have to pay a bit more for a higher quality job that is going to earn them more money.

Easy to say I know but not quite so easy to do when you have bills to pay and your not sure where the money is going to come from. I’m lucky because I am now in a position to say to people thats my price and if you want it done any cheaper then go elsewhere. I might not be brilliant at design but I am obviously better than some because not that many people do go elsewhere, after a bit of a moan they get the job done.

[Dave Harrison]

Best advice I can give is shop around !

Like everything in life the cheapest price isn’t always the best, try to build a relationship with a reliable supplier, the more work you put their way the better your bargaining power will be. Remember though It’s far better to pay a little more for a reliable service than saving a few quid to stressing out about prints not turning up on time ! !

[Karl Williams]

Yes Martin, I agree with you mate.
I look forward to the day when me lottery numbers come up!
When you explain to some the benefits of what they are getting I think they get the impression of a Yellow pages salesman giving them a load of bull.
Anyway, topics gone way off mark now.

Karl.

[autosign]

Most of the trade suppliers seem to be charging £25-30 sq/m on 7 year vinyl.

More for laminating, cast vinyl etc.

£36 seems ok as they are backing up with white aswell.

[Gavin MacMillan]

Ok, I see your point Karl. I feel though that a certain amount of this is taken into account in the £40-50 sq/m price. If it’s not then the price needs to go up. Mistakes happen, and should be budgeted for. I keep a log of everything printed and everything messed up (if while being applied or printed) and know roughly what percentage waste there is.

Time on the other hand is a pain, if someone agrees a quote but ends up messing with the design so much that you spend way more time than you planned it is frustrating, I kinda think this is swings and roundabouts though, as on other jobs the artwork is approved straight away with no hassle – it’s a pain in the ass but such is life!

G

[Peter Mindham]

Is this an open forum or for members only? I can’t remember.
Peter

[Karl Williams]

Why? Wassup Peter?

[Nick Minall]

quote Peter Mindham:

Is this an open forum or for members only? I can’t remember.
Peter

Just log out and see if you can still see it Peter

[Peter Mindham]

just thought that it was a lot of numbers on a forum if joe public was fishing for prices etc. Probably being paranoid again. :wave:

Peter

[Karl Williams]

No Peter. All legit mate! 😉

[Peter Normington]

I can see it when I log out,
but doubt if joe public will gain any advantage if any of the above is seen

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

yes this is a public forum, so open to all to see…
as peter says, wont harm anyone seeing this, may just enlighten them that we all need to make some money at the end of the day.
it also helps explain we aren’t making a massive profit margin anyway 🙄

[Karl Williams]

I don’t know Robert, apparently we’re all millionaires! 😕