Pricing and template rescource

[Jackflush]

Dear 101,
Just curious were you all would be at costwise. 2 Bids please.
20 trucks 2 stickers each. roughly 4 foot by 1 foot installed by me. Arlon 6000 without Lam.
20 trucks 2 stickers each. 4 foot by 1 foot self installed by owner. Arlon 6000 without Lam.
There are logistics. The trucks arent all in one place. I can figure in the Lam if he wants it. So far he just gets the stickers on a calendared vinyl. Maybe a price with some intermediate calendared. Ive done his trailers with calendared 651. Big graphics on those trailers and I told him this stuff will not fare well in a year. He didnt care about it.

The picture is suppose to be a 579 pete. And I called the peterbilt in my area to try to get a hood template, and instead a salesman went out and produced the second attachment here. How do you go about finding exact hood dimensions when the vehicle isnt around?

 

[StarSign]

Off topic but the flags are not properly oriented however with the arrow they wouldn't look right

 

[equippaint]

You knew enough to know where these trucks can be found since you called them. Why don't you hop on your bike and ride down there and measure for yourself? Then you can get everything that you need. I'm surprised that you would actually ask someone at the dealer to waste their time on this and even more surprised that someone actually did.

 

[Jackflush]

Equippaint? You got to let it go. You think you know me? Seen it all before? What gives? You got somethin personal with me?

 

[equippaint]

Equippaint? You got to let it go. You think you know me? Seen it all before? What gives? You got somethin personal with me?

You asked a question with a very obvious solution. You have to extend yourself a bit and exert some effort.
We get truck drivers that show up at our yard then ask me to load their trailers because they dont know how to run whatever machine theyre picking up. They get a simple response, no. Don’t drive a lowboy if you dont know what youre doing. They magically figure it out every single time.

 

[HulkSmash]

ha...im sorry. Before i come out and give pricing, you gotta put your foot forward, and tell us what you want to charge him. You're asking people to do the work for you...as mentioned above. Go to work.

also you use laminate and cast vinyl. ON ANY THING THAT PERTAINS TO VEHICLES.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

I would charge $26.10 per laminated cast vinyl graphic, and $16.25 per truck plus drive time for each installation. So I guess that comes out to $1044.00 for the graphics, and $325.00 for the install (plus drive time).

There are plenty of shops in my market that would come in less, and it would be unlikely that I would get this job. If I did, I would sub it out and pocket around $500.00 for a couple hours of work.

 

[equippaint]

Id be closer to 100-125 per pair plus install. Either have to layer it with cut or print, take off, laminate, cut, weed and tape. If the trucks were sitting there, 5-10 mins tops to put them on, you can figure what you want to make with that.
Cant see both sides at the same time and with all the curves, id eyeball it, tape a side and stick it in 1 shot.

 

[Jackflush]

Yeah I was about 25 per side w out Lam so 50 per truck. He could do all the installs or if I do then would depend on how much time it would take. If he wants laminate I guess add 10? I dont know how well the water based paint on stuff holds up over time. But that takes some time. I think its recommended 3 coats. The lamina-tor?... I should think about getting in on one soon

I need to calm down. Life aint this hard

Thanks Equip.
Thanks KC I just was tryin to see if I was fair.

 

[equippaint]

I’m no different in person if it makes you feel better? You have to figure stuff out on your own in order to learn and make concepts stick. When someone constantly feeds you the answer, you dont retain it.
25 is too cheap. We pick up scraps for a national chain that uses or used rrdonnely and pays $12 a set for 2” dot numbers in massive quantity. If your buying power gets you that price, they should retail at double or more.
What you did was 4x the size and at a much smaller quantity. Im not saying this to bust your stones, it’s just something to keep in mind. Put a few dollars in your pocket now but keep grinding until you are able to say no or this is the price, it is what it is.
Edit: my wife's here, almost 20 years now and she has become nicer as she gets older.

 

[TimToad]

I would charge $26.10 per laminated cast vinyl graphic, and $16.25 per truck plus drive time for each installation. So I guess that comes out to $1044.00 for the graphics, and $325.00 for the install (plus drive time).

There are plenty of shops in my market that would come in less, and it would be unlikely that I would get this job. If I did, I would sub it out and pocket around $500.00 for a couple hours of work.

Knowing that only rookies and fly by nighters wouldn't laminate printed decals, folks in your area is charging less than $6.50 per square foot for a full color, digitally printed CAST wrap decal ( possibly diecut ) with laminate?

FFS, no wonder this industry is being eaten from within.

IT'S NOT ONLY THE SHEER PRICE OF THE DECAL OR VINYL THAT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED.

Everything we do has an intrinsic advertising value attached to it.

We rob ourselves, our progeny and our industry if we leave that much money on the table. What's a semi like that cost brand new? $125K or more? But we're going to throw $50 bucks worth of intermediate vinyl without laminate on it. Sheesh!

I'd be closer to equippaint's pricing on these.

 

[Jackflush]

Lots to consider. Very good feedback. Hmmm yeah Ive been doing intermediate vinyl door decals the cut/weed type. just 20 inch by 12 inch blue decals for his trucks for years. plus the hood numbers also in a pair. I priced it like this. 25 per door and 5 for hood. So it was 60 bucks per truck uninstalled. I told him if he did 10 trucks at a time 10 bucks gets knocked off. 35 if I install. He started to install lol.

Well I certainly will consider raising it up now. I mean I did do the work making him love the design. Im not sure any one here likes my work but he was pretty much into it. The whole goin down the highway with big EXPRESS blasted on the side. And his corvette will still get gased up if i bump the price. I have to source out the lamination. Its never been all that much of expense tho. Yeah maybe I will tell him like this. Unless you want these to look like garbage in one year you better get the premium. and if you cant afford to do it right then just make the sticker smaller or do only one side. Yeah I think I will start where Equip bid was. Then when he squirms Ill just start giving him options that arent too sexy. Hahahah.

Thanks for the reviews it really helps alot. And for you Equipaint. The dealer guy did that after he heard my voice mail. I was askin for a lead on a proper template. But yeah he knocked it out of the park even tho I still need a template because Im not able to just trust that there killer cad he gave me

regards to 101

 

[ikarasu]

You guys are all pretty cheap!

4sqft in material printed... Plus registration marks. Bleed, etc... Let's just say about 5swft per decal to print, laminate, cut, weed, premask. Even at $50 a decal.... That's about $10 a sqft.

I guess it's not too bad if using calandered material.... But we wouldn't even give that as an option.

Making a few bucks isn't worth early failures or crappy looking vinyl, and having the customer name your shop as where they got it from, giving you a bad reputation.

 

[netsol]

sorry TIM TOAD, we are not the cast of MAD MEN, and he wasn't asked to come up with an ad campaign. doesn't seem that advertising value enters into pricing a sticker, when they have handed him the specs for what they want. it is a commodity item, anyone can print.

the logistics of locating the trucks... now that i something else. no one is shutting down operations to line up 50 trucks to make that easy

 

[Gino]

So, with that mindset, if someone wants a VW beetle with a 1' × 4' decal put on their doors, regardless if laminated or not, vs. a Mercedes-Benz, the Benz guy gets it up the ol' poop chute, because his wheels cost more ?? What da f*ck kinda nonsense is that ??

You're dealing with a product, whatever it costs you, plus all your other items included in the process to keep your doors open is all that matters. Cripes with that other logic, if the customer comes in and is dressed nicely and the next guy comes in in jeans and a t-shirt...... I wonder who pays more ?? Oh yeah, ya go out in the parking lot and look at what they drove up in, huh ??

So, if a customer says they need a 4'×4' ACM sign, it will depend on what they're wearing, driving and what kinda business it is for ??

Sure is a wonderful way to run a business..... always checking and feeling people out. Sounds rather petty to me. Oh yeah, I forgot................​

 

[rossmosh]

You charge more for the Benz because of the liability. Let's just say something goes wrong and the paint is damaged. The fix is going to be much cheaper on a normal car than a luxury car.

It's standard and normal in most industries that the more expensive the item, the more expensive the labor. It's not always the case, but often the case.

 

[Gino]

You charge more for the Benz because of the liability. Let's just say something goes wrong and the paint is damaged. The fix is going to be much cheaper on a normal car than a luxury car.

It's standard and normal in most industries that the more expensive the item, the more expensive the labor. It's not always the case, but often the case.

? ​

 

[equippaint]

So, with that mindset, if someone wants a VW beetle with a 1' × 4' decal put on their doors, regardless if laminated or not, vs. a Mercedes-Benz, the Benz guy gets it up the ol' poop chute, because his wheels cost more ?? What da f*ck kinda nonsense is that ??

You're dealing with a product, whatever it costs you, plus all your other items included in the process to keep your doors open is all that matters. Cripes with that other logic, if the customer comes in and is dressed nicely and the next guy comes in in jeans and a t-shirt...... I wonder who pays more ?? Oh yeah, ya go out in the parking lot and look at what they drove up in, huh ??

So, if a customer says they need a 4'×4' ACM sign, it will depend on what they're wearing, driving and what kinda business it is for ??

Sure is a wonderful way to run a business..... always checking and feeling people out. Sounds rather petty to me. Oh yeah, I forgot................​

I have a sliding scale based on the pretentious factor which accounts for the high probability of the customer being a nitpicky you know what and wasting my time. It's a separate line item multiplier on the estimate labeled AH. If they're cheap on top of it all, they will ask what it stands for, get the answer and go somewhere else.

 

[equippaint]

You guys are all pretty cheap!

4sqft in material printed... Plus registration marks. Bleed, etc... Let's just say about 5swft per decal to print, laminate, cut, weed, premask. Even at $50 a decal.... That's about $10 a sqft.

I guess it's not too bad if using calandered material.... But we wouldn't even give that as an option.

Making a few bucks isn't worth early failures or crappy looking vinyl, and having the customer name your shop as where they got it from, giving you a bad reputation.

Its 4"-5" tall x 48" roughly? 2'x54" material about 8 sq is about $15/sqft with crops and all. He put 1' but you can clearly see in the pic that it is not 1' tall. $2k for 20' of material and 2 hours time? Id take it all day long.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Knowing that only rookies and fly by nighters wouldn't laminate printed decals, folks in your area is charging less than $6.50 per square foot for a full color, digitally printed CAST wrap decal ( possibly diecut ) with laminate?

FFS, no wonder this industry is being eaten from within.

IT'S NOT ONLY THE SHEER PRICE OF THE DECAL OR VINYL THAT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED.

Everything we do has an intrinsic advertising value attached to it.

We rob ourselves, our progeny and our industry if we leave that much money on the table. What's a semi like that cost brand new? $125K or more? But we're going to throw $50 bucks worth of intermediate vinyl without laminate on it. Sheesh!

I'd be closer to equippaint's pricing on these.

The advertising value, or the message value is the most important thing to the client. That not only includes graphic design, but choosing the most effective media to deliver the message.

My sample quote for the truck graphics was my price for the production and installation of the stickers alone, after the design and media decisions had already been made. I assumed the art was in a ready to use form.

If the client had used my design services, there would be additional charges.

Many clients are not fully aware of the options available to them, and part of my professional service is helping them make media decisions. I work closely with business owners and media specialists, and by keeping them informed I build trust. When I give prices on commodity goods like printed stickers, I have a pretty good idea of the going rate. I know that they will compare my prices to prices from other vendors serving the industry (and that the internet has made this much simpler). Building these professional relationships is essential for my business model, one that is based on trust.

I now have a base of loyal clients who continue to use my services because the are confident I am looking out for their best interests. This happy arrangement cuts down on sales time and allows me to be more productive.