Is there a market for vinyl removal only company?

[Dirty D 0]

I am kind of new to the industry(about 7 monthes). I have been doing contract work for a small company doing mostly vinyl graphic removals off of tractors and trailers. This company is starting to turn down removal jobs unless they are also applying new graphics after. Therefore, my workload has diminished tremendously. I was wondering, 1. Is there a market for a company doing removals only? 2. What all would I need to do legally(what kind of insurance?, do i need a business license etc.)? 3. How do I price the work? I'm guess you base the work on the estimated number of hours and multiply by a certain rate what is a good starting point, or a range to base the hourly rate. 4. What kind of paperwork would I need to establish for the jobs and any liability statements that should be included? 5. What is the best approach for securing new business? Another question, Do most graphics companies do thier own removals, or, is there are market for a removal company to contract work from the companies that are applying new graphics?

Hopefully, this subject matter is acceptable here. If so, please provide any advice/suggestions/input you could offer. If the material is out of place with this forum; I truly apologize. 

Any help or the suggestion starting point to find these answers would be greatly appreciated. 

Best Regards,                                        Dirty D - Atlanta, Ga.

[haumana 1,220]

I think only you would be able to determine if there's sufficient work out there for you. If work is being turned down by your company, and that's pretty much what your job is, then maybe ask your company if you can freelance on the outside to be a decal remover. I've never heard of a removal only company, but that doesn't mean it doesn't existing, or that there isn't a missing niche in this market

The rest of your questions are business related, and not specifically decal related, but here goes. You will probably need some kind of (tax) license, check with your local tax office to for any county and state taxes, and the IRS for the Federal level. I personally have a Hawaii State General Excise License, as required by law in my State, in order to conduct business (so my State can tax the snot out of anything I make). I did make sure to protect myself personally by making my business a Sole Proprietor LLC, and that's how my business is registered. You can totally forgo all of that if you really intend to just make money under the table (at your own risk). Applying for a Federal EIN is up to you, but if you have employees it's a must. If you apply or try to get things as a business (ie. cell service, etc.) some might require the EIN over any State paperwork - I know Verzion Wireless does.

Some business might require you to have insurance, and to list them and show proof of co-insuring if you plan to work on their property. I personally do not run into very often, but it does happen. Business insurance is just good practice if you plan on running it as a full-time business. I don't know what level you would need to CYA for decal removal.

Pricing your work will solely depend on what you think your time and effort is worth. Since you've provided this type of work thru your employer, find out how much they were charging and use that as a baseline, and go from there. You will need to take things into consideration, such as - removal only, removing and prepping the surface for another decal, do you polish out any faded area around what you just removed, etc. These are services that you alone have to decide what you're willing to do, and how much to do them for.

Your basic paperwork will be some kind of invoice. It doesn't have to be fancy, and you can even just buy one at your local office supply store. How much information you want to put on it is really up to you. I run the majority of my invoices thru Quicken, which I only needed to set it up once, and then I'm good to go. For some of my 'cash' customers, I have the office supply invoice book (let's just leave it at that).

Best approach for getting to customers is any method that you can drum up business. Any businesses that are just moving into a space that has old signage, etc. Social media, friends, Craigslist, whatever will work for you. I do my business strictly on word of mouth, but decals are not the only thing I do, nor do I do enough of it to sustain me.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

On a risk assessment basis you would definitely want to have boiler plate in place to protect you should you mess up someones paint. Even if you don't hurt it sometimes old vinyl will leave a ghost image where the adhesive was that will never go away and there are people out there who would blame the removal guy. If I have a removal for someone I am worried about, and to be honest I almost don't work for anyone that I have any kind of worry, I send them to a body shop to have the removal done.