How much do you charge per sq foot.

[Barry]

I know there are many things that determine the price of what you sell, but its always nice for other people to see what the going rate is per sq foot.

In this instance we are going to say that the product is printed on Calendared vinyl with no lamination. This is to the customer not wholesale.

[Ocean Designs]

My prices charged to customers vary depending on who they are. What I am saying is simple, I would not charge the mom and pop liquor store the same price that I would charge Pepsi. Granted if I had a store front the luxury of this would not be readily available. However I would still try.

[Greg]

I have been using Estimate for my pricing and I think I see now that there is a problem.

The plug-in for wide format printing allows you to configure vinyl prices and ink prices which are easy enough as is the hourly rate. There's a range of other very subjective configurable items, any of which changes the price considerably.

All I really need is a price per square foot. The price I get is much higher than any listed in this poll. Perhaps the "print speed" variable is way off but you'd think if I had it set as if the SP-300 printed faster than it is capable of my prices would be lower?

Ink=$75 per cart
vinyl= .17 and up
Almost Always print at high rez since Standard isn't that great
Hourly rate= $50 (or less)
wear and tear=?

So, I guess the question is.....just how do you folks figure your price per square foot? Keep a log of ink used (i.e.#of carts), square footage of vinyl used, time spent printing/cutting each job, etc. and averaging it out?

I'm way off........no one has complained....but then again business isn't exactly booming either at the moment.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Greg

I have been using Estimate for my pricing and I think I see now that there is a problem.

The plug-in for wide format printing allows you to configure vinyl prices and ink prices which are easy enough as is the hourly rate. There's a range of other very subjective configurable items, any of which changes the price considerably.

All I really need is a price per square foot. The price I get is much higher than any listed in this poll. Perhaps the "print speed" variable is way off but you'd think if I had it set as if the SP-300 printed faster than it is capable of my prices would be lower?

Ink=$75 per cart
vinyl= .17 and up
Almost Always print at high rez since Standard isn't that great
Hourly rate= $50 (or less)
wear and tear=?

So, I guess the question is.....just how do you folks figure your price per square foot? Keep a log of ink used (i.e.#of carts), square footage of vinyl used, time spent printing/cutting each job, etc. and averaging it out?

I'm way off........no one has complained....but then again business isn't exactly booming either at the moment.

You are correct that they are MANY varibles that can effect price. I generally figure that I have about $1 or less of materials per sq foot in a print for normal jobs unlaminated.

Orajet 3651 = 23 cents a sq
Ink = Less than 50 cents a sq About half that when I go bulk.

Since Im normally printing is 720dpi 16 pass mode my machine is running approx twice as fast as yours, it will go even faster once I get the new bulk inks and run in 8 pass mode.. With a properly configured printer & profiles 720dpi looks every bit as good as 1440dpi on most prints.

Now I dont necessarly charge a shop rate for printing since I can hit print and walk away and work on something else. For normal customers Im generally in the $8-$10 a sq foot range. I can currently print approx 20 sq foot an hour which translates to $160-$200 an hour of printing with only approx $20 of that being materials. Now if I run my machine for 8 hours a day Im up into the $1280-$1600 range (This never happens).

Now you also have to remember that there may be other charges assosiated with this job. Artwork, Lamination, installation ect, and all of these can be addition charges and increase your profits.

Also the numbers Im quoting are for larger jobs, smaller jobs may bill at $25 a sq foot or more.

[Neil]

I have a list of square metre prices for everything involved with printing.
(1 sqm = 10 sq foot)
The price for materials includes my markup.
This is in Australian dollars - USD would be 75% of these.
my list goes like this...

3551 - $11.50
3951 - $21.50
Laminate - $12.75
Banner - $10
Ink - $10
Machine - $10 (this is roughly based on amortizing the printer over 2 years at approximate rate of usage)
Labour - $40 (this is a variable - allows for firing up and test print for first metre, may drop to $30 for subsequent lengths.
Laminating/trimming labour - $10
Contour cutting/weeding - $20
Liquid lam inc. labour - $15

So now I just add together the parts that are appropriate for each job, and know that I'm covered. Artwork is extra of course

[wagler]

Originally Posted by Barry

I know there are many things that determine the price of what you sell, but its always nice for other people to see what the going rate is per sq foot.

In this instance we are going to say that the product is printed on Calendared vinyl with no lamination. This is to the customer not wholesale.

First post for me, I think this board is very exciting and interesting...anyway...

just wondering what kind of application or board the calendared vinyl is going on or is it just the decal? Also, does anyone charge different $ sq/ft for different substrates?

[Barry]

wagler,

This price would just be for the vinyl and the print not th substrate. Generally I charge 3 to 4 times the cost of the substrate.

BTW, welcome to the site...

[wagler]

thanks barry that helps a bunch...I look forward to contributing to the site!

[Barry]

Originally Posted by wagler

thanks barry that helps a bunch...I look forward to contributing to the site!

No problem Adam

[John Miller]

I'm new to this forum, but I've been in the sign business for 35yrs. I started in BC... before computers. At that time there were just a few sign companys in my area. If you couldn't paint letters, you couldn't be a signmaker. We had a skill that we could sell. Sign computers came along & soon designers & entrepreneurs with no sign painting ability began to make signs. Their thinking was that the machine makes the letters really fast, so charge an hourly rate for signs. Prices went down, we all had to make more signs to earn the same money. The difference was now instead of $100 worth of paint & brushes, we had several thousand invested in computer equipment, which doesn't always work the way we expect it to, & also becomes outdated. Enter the digital printing machine..., 10s of thousands in investment, & I see prices getting even lower. Whats wrong with this picture???

You folks all have sizeable investments, you've got lots of hands on knowledge, you're designers, mechanics, profile makers, etc. etc. For God sakes, don't sell yourselves cheap. You'll never get serious money for your work inless you ask for it. On retail work, I've never sold a job for less than $12.00 psf. about 1/3 of my output sells for $25.psf That's printed at high quality, & sprayed with frog juice (I don't as yet have a laminator) application is extra. Customers are so impressed with the output of the machine, they're glad to pay for it.

Try it, when you have a client who wants a snappy design & a nice job, charge 12,15,20 psf you may be surprised when the guy says OK. Remember this, if you're working out of your home & think you've got no overhead, you are hurting yourself. When the time comes for you to get a shop with overhead, employees, payroll taxes, etc. you'll have to charge a lot more to cover all this and you will have spoiled all your client base & will have to start from scratch because they will be off looking for a bargin printer when your prices jump radically.

Sorry to be pounding my chest on this soap box, I'll get down now.

John Miller Signs by Autografix
http://www.signsbyautografix.com