Customer comes in and wants a motorcycle trailer done. Has a idea of design but mostly left up to you.Do you guys charge a flat rate for design or by an hourly rate for intial design stages of job.
ie. normal rate once design has been finalised.
I ask as the design stage can be up to half the time for some "difficult customers".
------------------
Posted by Bryan Durig (Member # 942) on :
What I tell my customers is that I have a minimum design charge of $25 but I will not charge that until the design is approved and the job is in progress. After that I decide by how long the job took me to design and how difficult it was, I try and get anywhere from $30 to $50 per hour for design. I include that at the end of the bill on top of the cost of the graphics you are providing. Remember your time is worth money, because the customer can't do what you can nor can he/she afford the equipment you have to provide them with the design or graphics. I have learned the hard way and I don't like to see sign shops not get there money's worth. Good luck with the project.
Bryan Durig Midwest Custom Decals
------------------
Posted by Larry Elliott (Member # 263) on :
Bushwood, Design is a separate part of the project, the creative part of the job is more valuable than the actual production in a lot of cases. Most shops are capable of the mechanical end of it but fail terribly on the creative ideas. This is what sets apart the differences from one shop to the next and with the proper marketing it can make you stand out above the crowd.
Bryan, Thats a big range in your pricing, between $30 and $50 makes for a big window of profit or loss. If your time is worth $50 on one project isn't it worth $50 on the next? A $20 per hour cut is definately coming out of the profit end, most sole proprietor shops that do this for a living has found that $30 per hour barely pays the overhead. Some can operate lower than others and we each have to decide what our shop rate needs to be in order to show a profit for our efforts. We most operate on a '1/3rd' basis, overhead and materials takes one third, taxes takes one third and we should be taking home one third.
------------------ Larry
Elliott Design McLemoresville, Tn.
If you can't find the time to do it right, where gonna find the time to do it over?
Posted by Bryan Durig (Member # 942) on :
Larry,
Yes $30 to $50 is a large range but whose to say I don't make the majority of my profit on the graphic itself. People are typically willing to pay large dollars for the finished product rather then feeling like they took a big hit for me sitting in front of the computer. All I'm saying is give them a range of what it will cost to get the design process started and get your money from the finished product. We all have different ways of doing things but the main thing is find a way to survive. Good luck to you Bushwood, and thanks for the advice Larry. Point well taken. Bryan MCD
