SurberSigns

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About SurberSigns

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    https://surbersigns.com

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    Ocala FL

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  1. SurberSigns

    Is a mobile signs shop a good investment?

    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.
  2. 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?*
  3. SurberSigns

    What would you charge for this store?

    Yes $635 Installed took me a couple hours
  4. SurberSigns

    What would you charge for this store?

    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??
  5. 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?
  6. 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.
  7. 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?
  8. SurberSigns

    My MH cutter not recognizing USB

    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.
  9. SurberSigns

    My MH cutter not recognizing USB

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

    My MH cutter not recognizing USB

    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...
  11. 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..
  12. SurberSigns

    Anybody heat pressing with custom transfers?

    What did you order from there?
  13. SurberSigns

    Anybody heat pressing with custom transfers?

    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?
  14. 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?
  15. SurberSigns

    Why would you charge to do this job?

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