what is the rule of thumb for wrap pricing

[trimitbyrich]

Just curious here. I realize that across the country the wrap pricing is a bit different. I was wondering what are the going rates in your areas. What are you able to get on the high end and what are you realistically getting also known as what the customer is really willing to pay. Thought this might be an interesting one.

 

[imagep]

Most shops around here get as much as they can.

 

[OCsteve]

Good question. When we price full wraps, we break it down to three components: design, materials and installation. Design can be the major wildcard. We may spend anywhere from 5 hours to 20 hours depending on how picky the customer is and what we have to start with. We generally triple the cost of materials making sure to take into account any waste. Installation is estimated on a per job basis. A flat sided trailer takes a fraction of the time it takes to wrap a Sprinter or an HHR. When all is said and done our wraps will price out between $10 and $15 per square foot plus design.
On a side note, since most of our wraps are expected to last a minimum of three years we remove any hardware that we can in order to get the vinyl behind the hardware. A year ago we had to farm out installation on an HHR and they trimmed the vinyl (no removal of hardware). We are seeing problems where this occurred. We now know why there install price was cheap.

 

[royster13]

Caution......THIS THREAD IS IN THE PUBLIC SECTION......

 

[jay*doc]

Call Mosh. Get Quote. Multiply by 2!

Just Kidding. Good Morning Signs101!

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

around.. here depends on WHO ... the designer, printer, installer and quality oh yea how many

going by your hourly rate, cost of production, and other factors all have changed in the last couple years ..meaning seen great wraps get ,..$6,000 per van, doing a 100
then I see now days half prices on wraps but what that means is another story

 

[heyskull]

I find the designing has to be taken into consideration for pricing a lot on wraps.
More so than normal graphics as there is so much time spent making it fit.
Also find out how much the customer has in there pocket as so many of them are dreamers!!! Believe me when I say I had a guy wanting a large van totaly wrapped and only had $200 to spend.
If you are set up just for wraps and that's all you do you can make a good price.
But maybe as like a lot of us we are trying to do all sorts to make ends meet!!
Get as much as you can!!!!

SC

 

[mark in tx]

When I started doing wraps a few years ago, it seemed like everyone was charging about $15.00 a square foot, plus artwork, plus install.
Then everyone thought they were going to get rich doing wraps because of certain suppliers promoting the hell out of wrapping, so they bought machines, laminators, and sent people to install classes.
So, next thing I see is wraps going for $10.00 a square foot, including art and install.
I see the wholesale print providers going from $7.00-8.00 plus shipping down to 3.25 a sq/ft with free shipping.
I see wraps on the street with no lamination, $400.00 for a cargo van.
I get customers trying to bargain down because "the other guy" is $100.00 cheaper on a quote. Never mind the customer has to drive 50 miles to save a 100 bucks.

So, what should you charge for a wrap?
Whatever you can get away with.

Personally, I won't touch a job unless there are multiple vehicles, and I get $12.00 per sq/ft, plus artwork.

My biggest selling points are that my wraps look good, and don't fall off the vehicle.
Most of my customers come to me after they tried the other, cheaper companies.

I really don't care about wraps anymore, I get a better profit margin on magnets.

 

[Prism1]

I have to agree with Mark. For years it was $15.00 a sq, $7.00 for prints wholesale. In the last year or 2, Suburbans are being quoted @ $1750.00, vans at $1995, Full Size Crew Cabs at $8.00 a sq.....It's Crazy. The ones without lam are just Knarly..faded, cracked...YIKES!! Get what you can get, and hold your own. We do the wraps we want to do, and get paid to do them. Luckily, it's only a percentage of a lot of other stuff we do.

 

[speedmedia]

The rule of thumb is to put out good work and get paid fairly for it. There are to many hacks that offer wraps at low prices or using cheap materials that is has driven the market in the can.

If we all just get back to making money vs. working for free we'll all be in a much better place.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Jim Doggett]

What is it worth?

Billboard adverising is cheap compared to other media ($3 - $4 / 1000 impressions .... the so-called CPM).

Even conservatively speaking, your client's vehicle will be seen daily by 2,000 or more people, even in a small municipality. (in Chicago, NY, Dallas and LA -- it's closer to 20,000 impressions, daily) But even just 2,000 impressions per day is $7 / day in advertising value, compared to the cheapest media. 250 work days per year, over a 3-year life = $5250 in advertising value, based on a real low CPM and ultra conservative reach projections.

Chances are, your market is better. 20, 30 maybe even 50 grand in ad value.

Anyone can wrap, but do they understand the medium? Can you maximize visibility --- and explain why you'll make your client more succesful than someone with a printer and a squeegee -- and why that's so important in today's economy. Every dime your client spends in advertising needs to be spent intelligently and effectively, and not simply with someone who can wrap their vehicle with an image.

Printing is a commodity; your brain isn't.

JMO,

Jim

 

[BargainSigns]

I've seen a competitor advertise locally $3.99 a square foot, installed, on vehicle wraps! This must be a last ditch effort for sales before he goes under.

 

[Bigdawg]

Holy Crap

That's just a lil too close to my neck of the woods Bargain...

I have to deal with the "buy one get one free" guy down the road...

 

[kev3232]

I love the guys that price wraps cheap and still use good material. Apparently, profit margins don't mean a thing to them!

 

[luggnut]

I love the guys that price wraps cheap and still use good material. Apparently, profit margins don't mean a thing to them!

i have wondered this too? maybe they like working for less than minimum wage, all the hours that go into design ,print, install ....

i agree there are better profits to be made on other things.

 

[Gino]

I don't believe many people that say they do this or that for $XX.00 of dollars.... period.

Besides, let'em do it for that price.... you can buy their machines next spring.

 

[Premier Wraps]

We always start out quoting $12-$15 (for design, print, install) but know after the "Can you do better then that" conversation we end up at $10+. The only time we go lower then that is if it's flat. I personally design very quick so I can design a basic wrap in about 2 hours. My background has been advertising, marketing and conventional printing so I understand it. Wraps that take a long time to design are going to be to busy anyway. Once we show a customer a proof it usually goes unchanged. I save a TON of time discussing the design with a customer before I make a new file. So going into it I know what they want. Time is money and when it comes to installing it's no different. We'll remove badges, but we're not going to remove mirrors and door handles for example. The customer knows there's going to be a seam on the pillar. When done right no one cares. As long as your cuts are straight and the wrap is installed cleanly there's no need to go as far as removing every piece on the vehicle. We always offer a fleet price too. But the first wrap is full price. We turn down a quite a bit of wraps because I'm not even going to try and whore ourselves out for $6 design, print & installed. Sometimes people don't understand that, sometimes they do. I tell potential customers to come to the shop. Look at our own wraps, our neighbors wraps. I even offer to supply them with our customers names and numbers if they'd like to see their wraps and talk to them about their experience with us. If they do all that and still don't understand what it means to "get what you pay for" then let them go get their $6 wrap.

 

[trimitbyrich]

Yes, we have been seeing that $10 per sq too. We of course start out tat 15 but usually feel like we have a gun to our head at 10. How do you guys put limits on the design side of it. That's what kills us every time. Our designs are very crisp and clear, some very colorful and eye catching. We seem to get customers that want to be designers and want to see what this will look like. Do you put a cap on it at a certain number of hours and if they go over it they will have to pay an hourly rate over it?

 

[Premier Wraps]

I always say design is free unless they have no idea what they want and I'm the one dreaming up the wrap. Then it's $480. (8hrs X $60ph). Once I tell them that, then they usually listen to what we're proposing to them. You gotta tell them, or let them know, in a polite way what works and that you're the expert when it comes to outdoor advertising. I like telling them about the plumbing trucks that everybodys seen before that has so much text on it you actually don't know what they do. And explain to them less is more. They always say they've seen that type of wrap and they understand. I explain bullet points are no no in outdoor advertising, but if they truly want them then they're going on the back or at the very bottom as an overlay. Never include points in the overall design of the wrap. That's usually where most of the corrections come from. This is where walking out to the customers car, explaining to them and talking to them about what they want and what we're going to do saves hours and hours when it comes to sitting down in front of the computer to start a design. I know in the past, and I'm sure there's other here too, that say designs get 2 rounds of corrections. I'd stick with that rule. But honestly it's a ton easier to get the basic design out of the way with a one-on-one chat in front of their vehicle. My main problem is I'm a horrible speller and can't read my own writing. So 9/10 times the corrections are me getting a phone number wrong. Or not putting the . in the .com. Something like that. All this, again, is just my .02¢