How do you charge? sq ft,etc?

[Lonestargraphics 0]

Hey everyone! Well I am fairly new to the businesss so I wanted to ask how everyone charges for their vinyl work. Do you simply charge so much per square foot? Or is there another way you figure it? Any info would be great! I know that prices vary from area to area but I want to see if there is a common ground with it. Thanks!

[jpleakis 0]

I'm a noob, but I would look at it like this:

Your vinyl is a fixed cost, you know that if you bought a 24" x 10YD roll for $25.00 (Oracal 641 Shipped to your house (don't forget to include your shipping costs so you're not eating the cost), Every square foot of vinyl cost you about .42 cents.

I like to think of vinyl consumption in terms of linear feet, because its probably the quickest calculation (often you can do it in your head) to figure out how much vinyl will be used.  In the example above, a linear foot would cost .84 cents. this way, if someone says they need 50 4" x 6" stickers, you can probably print either 4 or 6 across your 24" roll and eat up a little over 4 linear feet which would come out to $3.36.  Call it an even $4.00 just to ensure you cover your material cost well enough.

Your variable cost comes in when looking at the complexity of the weeding involved.  If you're doing a single, large sign or graphic, and it will only take you 10 minutes to weed it out, you may only charge a couple bucks for the "Labor".

If you're doing someting like a smaller sticker for a band, and you need to do a couple hundred of them, figure out your takt time to weed, tape and trim down a single sticker.  Add 25% of the time it takes to complete a single sticker. Multiply it out by how many stickers you have to do and you'll know exactly how long it will take you to complete the finishing steps.

For example, if you had 200 stickers, and each sticker took you 2 minutes to weed, tape and trim down, you're looking at 6.67 hours of labor (8.3 hours if you add 25% to your takt).  Figure out how much you want your salary to be for weeding, taping and trimming.  If you are willing to work for $10 an hour, you would want to charge about $83 for labor, if you want to make $20 an hour, you'd need to charge $166 for labor.

If you see where I'm going, its just basic math and business principles, if you know your costs exactly, you'll be able to give clients an exact quote and feel confident that you're not charging too much or too little.  It will also keep you from losing money by charging a "Flat" rate on a process where costs can vary wildly depending on the complexity of the design.

I reccomend using a spreadsheet to type in your costs, takt times, labor rates, etc, its always good to factor in 10% extra here, 20% extra here just to make sure any shortfalls are covered.  If you're a hobbyist, its a pretty easy calculation, if you're trying to run a small business, you've got other capital expenditures and equiptment/utility/building overhead that needs to be built into what you're charging.

I would reccomend keeping your pricing low when you first start out, do some charity work and only ask them to cover your material costs, or maybe pay yourself a couple bucks an hour for labor to bulid a good reputation.

Sorry for the long reply.  Im in a chatty mood.

[2GuysSign 4]

i use estimate...  what it says is what i charge! 

[Lonestargraphics 0]

jpleakis Thanks for all the info, I will keep it all in mind for sure!

[Lonestargraphics 0]

2GuysSign Where did you get your program and how much did it cost? Thanks

[deviated 0]

JPLAKIS, I loved your wording on pricing. Very good post. 

[Rodger 527]

+ 1  , Realistic outlook , especially the end part  .

I forget what the prices was  , but i checked WalMart's prices for just peel & stick mailbox type letters . I thnk it was 50 cents for 3" letters . 1 color vinyl ( oracal 651 ) RTA is under $1 per linial foot ( 24" tall ) . mark up on supplies etc get way too complicated & seems to eat up realistic profit . I made a set of door decals for a dumptruck . charged $50 & the guy was VERY happy because I let him choose the font style . I offered clip art , but he didn't want it .  I made $45 in 10 minutes & got a repeat customer that will tell all of his buddys . I could have made profit after paying for my time anything over $20 . Some have said IF you price work too cheap , you are bound by that price . I don't agree . A " sale " price is meant to attract customers . keeping customers is a result of price & service . I can't remember the name of this marketing practice , but all major stores do it . They sell some products at a loss just to get customers in the door , but that or freebies is what it takes to get going with a steady customer base .

[jpleakis 0]

. A " sale " price is meant to attract customers . keeping customers is a result of price & service . I can't remember the name of this marketing practice , but all major stores do it . They sell some products at a loss just to get customers in the door , but that or freebies is what it takes to get going with a steady customer base .

It is much cheaper to keep an existing customer happy than it is to find a new customer, I think this is pretty well known in most profitable businesses.

[Rodger 527]

Yep , It is . that sales device is mainly for getting customers in the store .. where they most likely will buy more than just the advertised specials . Getting present & new customers to make an order instead of thinking about buying is what  " specials " are great for .