SurberSigns

Good afternoon everybody. Not sure what section this should belong to, but I have been cutting vinyl and printing shirts for about 6-7 years now. Up until 2019, I was cutting for personal purposes and for friends/family who needed smaller decals for their cars and what not. But this past year I decided to step it up a notch and go into business as a side hustle. On top of teaching elementary PE, I offer a wide variety of vinyl services. Vinyl lettering, vehicles signs, magnetic signs, yard signs, banners, custom printed t-shirts and hats and logo design. I have not stepped into car wraps YET, but was hoping to dive into that within the next few years. I am currently working out of my house with my 24" plotter, Epson sublimation printer and a 15x15 heat press. (Using a lower end USCutter plotter for the past 4-5 years)*It has made me excellent money this year on the side im not going to lie. Most of my jobs people will come and pick up, but I do go to my customers for the installs. And this is why I am here today....I recently picked up a new 6x12 V-nose cargo trailer to turn into my office/signs shop. I haven't done anything to it YET, but I did pick up new vinyl flooring for it and I have been mapping out how I want my desk and tables laid out inside. But for those with experience, is offering MOBILE sign services ideal? There are many shops in town here offering everything from common vinyl signs to vehicle wraps. But nobody is advertising MOBILE and that we will come to you and cut on the spot.*So today, I am trying to talk my self into keeping the trailer and just "going" for it and trying it out. But the other side of me has me thinking twice. And I tend to overthink way too much. But hearing other stories and experiences in the same business are extremely helpful. I planned on hauling everything in an enclosed trailer, only during installs where I can go and bring my cutter with me and also becoming a vendor at local events in town or possibly the local flea markets on the weekends. I have a pickup truck that I normally haul my ladders and signs in, but in some cases I will drive nearly two hours for a large job for another company so having a mobile office plus my cutter with me is a sign of relief.*I work out of my house probably 90% of the time right now. This past 2019 year, I have probably went out of town 4-5 times to cut vinyl on the spot and install. But if I do continue to go down this route, I will advertise and push more of the "we come to you" service.What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? I have about $2500 invested in the trailer so far. Good investment or should I invest the $2500 somehow else?*

This was my first legitimate year in business. I mainly did a lot of vehicle graphics, custom shirt and hat printing. Those were probably my top two biggest services. I created a couple websites for clients worth around $4000 or so, but my bread and butter come from vehicle graphics and apparel printing. I actually just started partnering with a local IT company who has a 64" printer, screen print and the whole 9 yards. They rarely do screen printing so they're letting me operate my business out of part of the shop... I work from home 90% of the time. Some installs I have to go to the customers shop or house but I dont mind. I guess the real question though, is did I jump the gun too quickly and purchase the trailer? Even though I purchased it already, they are pretty easy to sell here where Im at. So maybe I should have just focused on taking that $2500 and using some of it towards some advertising or possibly better tools or equipment. And now I don't down US cutter at all, but I have been using the US Cutter 24" model that was around $300 and I have a standard 15x15 heat press from Pro World, and an Epson sublimation printer, all 3 have made my yearly gross about $45,000 my first year in business. And this is a side job for me as well.

Good morning! I received a job to apply vinyl to the store front and walls inside a local boutique shop. Inside vinyl on white walls will be standard black 651. Outside logo on the window will be white. The shop owner needs her store hours on the door and the following here: Store logo in white on outside of window above the hours. My measurement is: 60"x22". Store hours should be around 18"x24". Dimensions for the walls inside: One word is 58"x12", 45"x9", 35"x8". Just standard words in a script font. Those are the sizes Its about a 20 minute drive to the shop. What would you guys charge so I have an idea what to charge? I was thinking around $450 installed?

Yes $635 Installed took me a couple hours

I actually quoted them $600... and they have been hesitant on getting back said they'll let me know Monday. Is that too much? Or should I stick around $450??

He would like to do 6x3 or 6x2 which UScutter has them from $9.99 for 10oz. But he said if he had to he would do 3ft wide banners... so i need to know what i should charge for either the 6 ft or 3 ft to where im still turning a little profit for my time.

Good evening guys. My father is a high school basketball coach and he found about 15 sponsors to put up a banner in the gymnasium and as well as the program for the season that is just starting. But I found out he only charged each sponsor $150 for a banner and a page in the program. Major down charge I believe... My dad came to me about making the banners instead of having someone else do them, but Im not sure what to charge now since he got low balled. If it was for my dad I wouldn't mind doing them for almost nothing but the money is coming from the school. I told him it would run roughly $80ish for each banner, which leaves him only $70 per sponsor for the basketball team. I can get the 6 ft white banners for about $10 on us cutter. I figure it wouldn't cost me more than $25 per banner (vinyl banner not digital printed). What do you guys think I should charge to where Im still making a few bucks for my time?

Good morning. Yesterday when I was cutting vinyl my job would not cut, I was getting a USB could not be recognized on my laptop. Its done this times in the past and I kind of fooled with it and it ended up working, after restarting the machine, canceling the pending print etc. But now its to the point where Iv tried everything and its not sending the job to my cutter... I called UScutter support and they pretty much told me they can't do anything for me... because Im using sign blazer elements still. Iv gotten comfortable with the program and never had a problem with it.. so they are useless help. What do you think the problem could be? I tried another USB cord and its doing the same thing... When the error message does not come on I thought it would work, I send the job to the cutter and nothing ends up happening. My printer icon on my laptop just says pending... I'm using a old windows laptop. Do you think the USB ports are just failing? Is it the USB cord? Or do I need to download a new program? UScutter told me it was probably my mother board going out too..

Do you think re installing the drivers on my laptop for sign blazer would do anything? I'm trying to find me another windows computer but i can't find anyone who can lend me one.

Is there a program that I can use that is supported by Mac?

I don't think it would be sign blazer. because right now is the second day the usb says it malfunctioned and cannot be recognized. i used another USB cord for a microphone its the same size and gives me the same error message. so its either my laptop usb port or the us cutter port. The usb that goes into the side of the cutter it looks like it sags a little i can hold it up some with my finger when its plugged in but its always been like that. I'm going to find a flash drive and plug it into the same port and see if its my laptop. update: i plugged a flash drive into the 001 port i normally use for the cutter usb. nothing happened. it didn't say it successfully came up or anything, i plugged it into the other one 003 i believe and it said this device is properly working. i just didn't see a folder that popped up so I can drag files to but it said it was working. on sign blazer i only have options for USB port 001 and 002 not 003. but either way when i plug the us cutter USB into the port that recognized the port with my flash drive it still says usb not recognized...

Good evening. Iv got a little bit of heat press under my belt and decided last week to purchase a 16x20 press from ProWorld. I'm aware that custom plastisol transfers are the way to go, as far as lasting and durability. Does anybody currently heat press and having success with it? Iv been cutting vinyl for the past 4-5 years but id like to take a step forward and start creating shirts. What kind of set up do you have? Everything is coming in the mail on Tuesday so Id like to get some feedback from you guys. Also, I'm leaning towards the Epson 1430, has anybody on here installed the CISS onto their printer?

A local business wants me to change out there vinyl with a new look. It's a two color 651 oracal, they want it installed and they are removing the old, apparently it is a clinge. I have to drive there which is about 20 minutes away. It's roughly 2 ft by 3 ft in area. What would you charge total?

What did you order from there?

But what do you do for small jobs? For example, when I get clients who say they need 5-10 shirts, I usually dish them off to another company. So that's why I purchased a heat press so I could take on the smaller jobs. Where I'm stuck right now is deciding on which printer to buy.... Epson WF 7610 Epson WF 7110 Epson 1430 Will they all give me the best quality prints? I have the transfer paper from pro world, but for smaller jobs what will give me the best results? If I'm not taking in orders every day, I'm not printing a lot. So can I work with standard Epson ink you pick up at the store VS CISS that you can get from Cobra Ink? Is the purpose of CISS from Cobra just for people who print constantly?

I meant it to say what not why lol. $175 seems high

I recently completed a job for a local business owner for his work van, car and pick up truck. He only needed me to cut the vinyl and he would install, three days later hes asking for a price for installation. Its basically just his logo, phone #, few additional words for the back glass and side windows of each vehicle. What kind of price should I give him to install? Not to mention he wants me to come to him to install.... and he seems cheap.

Yep it's two sided. He only wants the name which is diamond floors. He requested to take out the words flooring and cleaning below. So just two words on each side now

Never though about that honestly. But I noticed the current design he has on his store now are all one piece... Instead of separate letters, its all apart of one clear piece of sticker so its just one peal and bam. Other than the removing old vinyl, is $180 sound reasonable?

I myself find it easier to use Adobe Illustrator. Probably because I'm just use to it and has more options... What I do is take the jpg or png image, open it up into AI and use the live trace tool. I still use sign blazer, so the files must be saved as AI.8. After you use the live trace tool and you're finished cleaning it up, save it as AI.8 and it imports right into sign blazer.

The money is good I love it.. Sometimes when I have trouble with installs, I get frustrated but when I see nice pay days like Iv had here lately it gives me motivation to keep pushing.. Also, the same guy wants me to quote him to re do his name for the front shop, the sign above his store and the sign out by the road... what would you guys charge for this? He basically wants everything BIGGER, but without the diamonds so that the name can be bigger. Just his name on the road sign stretched out on both sides, his name as big as it can go on the front store window and same for the above sign... I got these measurements: The sign above the shop measures 7FT across by 18 inches high. The road sign is 47 inches across by 20 inches high... And he wants them installed and current vinyl stripped off. I was thinking about charging $175 for everything. Strip off current lettering and install included.... Is this too low or about right? http://i60.tinypic.com/2qs8d1w.jpg http://i59.tinypic.com/2mo8qph.jpg

He agreed with $300 installed.. sweet.

How about the other truck ^^ ?

Iv been installing lettering for a while but I usually just give them a number, but thinking lately I end up screwing my self.. I think he needs just the car and truck done today, so Im going to tell him $75-100 installed. Also, my last question is this.. Chevy truck needs the following lettering done: "Business Name" on both sides 12FT long x 11 inches Tall. (x2) "phone #" on both sides 120inches long x 6 inches tall (x2) Front hood business name 43 inches x 4 inches (x1) To just cut it, does $275 sound fair? Taped and all? I did the meaurements X $7/foot and it came out to $350.... but that sounds kind of high for just cutting it.

I ran Into an old friend who manages an RV shop and he asked me if I could do the side graphics for the RVs that come in his shop. They are basically 2-3 different colors. Huge striping and curved graphics on the side. He said they pay about $800-900 for both sides. And if I wanted to make extra money I could do them for the shop. My question is, how do you get the shapes or templates for something like this? I asked him about installing and he said they pretty much take care of that. So all I would have to do is get them cut and delivered.