Question "ballpark" price?

[netsol]

good client asked me if i could give a ballpark price on the cost of replacing the damaged letters (see photo)

not what i do, but i would like to steer them in the right direction. they are a new jersey company of course

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

you can buy new channel letters from places like b2. I think that job should be $1500-$2k all in if its just 3-4 letters

 

[netsol]

thank you!

 

[tulsagraphics]

Of course you'll want to check measurements and make sure your font matches up perfectly -- standard stuff. Lighting seems to be salvageable, but if not, make sure you source the same LEDs. My biggest concern would be making sure the new faces are the same white (or brightness) as the old ones. Acrylic? Polycarb? Thickness? You might even check the UL Listing # and do a reverse search to see who fabricated it. You might get lucky and be able to source it from the original trade supplier. I've done that a few times with Sign Fab.

And for "shoot from the hip" pricing, you can probably expect a resale price of around $20-25 per inch of letter height. (I haven't used that pricing model in a long time, so the numbers could be off)

 

[John Miller]

Never give a ballpark price, what's the sense. To get the job you'll need to give a real price anyway. If you don't have real experience with a project like that and can shoot from the hip, do a real price. You'll have an idea next time a project comes up.

 

[tulsagraphics]

Never give a ballpark price, what's the sense. To get the job you'll need to give a real price anyway. If you don't have real experience with a project like that and can shoot from the hip, do a real price. You'll have an idea next time a project comes up.

yep. this is why I got away from the price per inch model -- even though that works okay for a general sense of cost -- when doing it that way, you have to price higher to account for unknowns. Better to just put a pencil to it, no matter how much a client pesters you for a "quick quote" -- especially since freight could very well give YOU sticker shock.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I ball park jobs all the time, that way you and the other person can quickly figure out if your playing on the same field. You strike out if you waste time on every play getting exact numbers. It's called qualifying the lead.

 

[netsol]

I ball park jobs all the time, that way you and the other person can quickly figure out if your playing on the same field. You strike out if you waste time on every play getting exact numbers. It's called qualifying the lead.

the request was from a valued customer. their delivery truck did the damage.

Request from the CFO, their policy is, of course, to always get 3 quotes.

However, you can't ask the company whose sign your driver damaged, to spend time getting 3 quotes.

most likely, i was just providing a quote as a courtesy. TEXAS_SIGNMAKER did me a solid

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

haha, one of my clients is a large insurance company. i do "validation" where they send me photos of damaged signs and I validate whether the quote they received is within reason. Gives me some good insight into everyone's pricing. I charge $50... you can mail a check,