Need a little pricing help...

[reelguitars]

OK guys...I'll try to explain this as quickly and efficiently as I can.  I have a customer who wants a 4' x 4' sign made as such...1/4" plywood sealed and painted on both sides.  He then wants the sign done like the small mock up I did in 651 Oracal.  He is not negotiable on the substrate.  Then...he has another piece of a sign that has a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood on it.  I will have to sand off old painted letters, reseal, repaint, and then do the sign like the large mockup, also of Oracal 651.  Then, I will have to duplicate that sign for the other side on a new sheet of plywood.  I generally do smaller things, I want to charge fair, but I don't want this to be a giveaway.  All feedback is carefully read and certainly appreciated.  Thanks in advance for your help.  David...


ps...cut the top of the arrow off when I printed...

[ff958]

I would think about how long it is going to take to sand the old sign vs. just buying a new sheet. Can't really help on the price tho. I quoted a 4x6 4 color @ 425 installed and had one guy beat my price by 100.00.

[mars]

Ok I plugged it into my estimating program

I used 1/2" plywood cause I don't have a price set up for 1/4".  Price for quote purposes is $50 a sheet including markup.  I added 40 minutes for sanding and prep on old plywood substrate which wound up being a little cheaper than the $50 for another sheet of plywood would have been.  I came up with the following

4' x 4' using new plywood primed painted and sealed 3 colors of vinyl  2 sides  $188.54
4' x 8' sanded down and primed painted and sealed 3 colors of vinyl  1 side     $287.80
4' x 8' using new plywood primed painted and sealed 3 colors of vinyl 1 dside   $293.40

                                                                                                 total $769.75

Attached is a .txt file  of the hard numbers report

-mike

[midwaste]

I can guarantee you that it is going to be more economical for the customer, and more profitable for you to use a new piece of plywood for the sign, rather than sanding the old sign.  You should be able to get a good sheet of plywood, sanded both sides for around $20. 
It's going to take more than an hour to sand, clean, prime and paint the old piece.
If they insist on using the old piece, I would tell them $50/hr for labor, period.

[reelguitars]

Friends...thank you so much for the help.  I needed to get this estimate out this morning.  I feel like the guy will jump on it.  I hope so.  Wanna see a bad ride???  Check out the car my friend and his son built at my little web site...www.dcsignsandgraphics.com.  I cut paint masks for the graphics like on the side of the car.  Once again, I appreciate all your help.  DC