advice on installing window graphics

[Atomikron]

I am new to the sign biz. An out of town company wants me to install about 460 square feet of window perf on some windows on a downtown building. They will be supplying the graphics, all I have to do is install them. The windows are on the first floor but there are some high transoms above as well, so I might need to rent some sort of lift.

Does anyone have any installation advice? Also, how should I quote a price for this?

Thanks. -Ron

 

[jiarby]

No offense Ron... but why do they want to hire an inexperienced noob with no equipment from out of town? Why not just grab some other random guy walking past their building?

 

[SurfaceSigns]

Hey Ron,

Congrats on getting into the sign business and welcome to Signs 101!

You need to sit down and go over all your install costs, such as time, materials, travel (if any), rental equipment (lift?), etc. You'll need to clean and prep the windows before installation, which has a cost in time and materials as well, so keep that in mind. If you do need to rent a lift, I would be adding on an up-charge on the rental as well. Make sure to get all the costs for the rental including delivery, etc. The overlooked costs can kill you. Depending on the size of panels you may want to consider a labourer as well.

This job should be done within 8 hours even as a noob. Really depends on how big the panels are, how many windows, and so on. Personally I'd probably be in the $1000 - $1500 range, if I didn't have to rent a lift.

Perf is actually a pretty easy product to install, far easier than regular vinyl if you ask me.

 

[G-Artist]

Take this with a grain of salt as I really don't install perf...just hang with a few guys who have so I might be blowing smoke and don't even know it.

From what I gather if the perf goes edge to edge on the windows then cleaning that is akin to detailing a car. Toothbrush city when it comes to cleaning where the glass meets the metal/rubber. That most likely will be the failure point if there is ever a failure.