I’m new to the Letterville family. I learned lettering and sign making from an artist in NC, (GREAT ARTIST) only he always under bid to get the work or had tabs. So I never learned the right way to bid. The question is $25.00 a square foot for hand lettering (duo tone) seem about right.
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
I'd say if it's a 12" letter you'd be doing pretty good.
Several lines of 1-1/2" stuff might not be as great a deal.
I don't hand letter (yet) so I can't be of as much help as others will, but you might want to give some more specs to get better info. as square foot pricing will never work so well where the labor put into a sq. ft. can vary so much.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
if you can get $25 s.f. GET IT!!!! you will find most times $10-15 and your doin good...
Posted by bronzeo (Member # 1408) on :
Mick, When all other methods fail, try the simple one. Establish a wage/overhead base figure you need to operate your shop on. This would usually be between 25.00 and 60.00 per hour depending on the complexity of your shop. (anyway it is a figure that most of us keep in our head as a survival figure) Take that figure, plus your actual material costs, then add whatever percentage of profit, that you think the job warrants. Typically 20 to 50 percent of the first two figures, but averagely about 30 percent. In times like these, I am happy to just make an extra 10 to 15 percent. The higher I try to move that figure, the more jobs I lose.
I think you will find that the longer that you are in the business, the more opportunities you will have to bid jobs, which should translate to higher profits, and more selective jobs. The key is to acheive a survival mode, then worry about the profits. A point that many shops forget, eventually taking them out of the market. These observations are from being self-employed for 35 years.
Posted by ScooterX (Member # 2023) on :
you might not know about the sign pricing books available. there are two that i know of, and one of them, the Sign Contractors Pricing Guide, is readily available from many places for about $27.95. It lists the prices for lettering on trucks, walls, metal signs, plywood signs, banners, etc. It also gives you pricing for screen printed signs and for computer cut vinyl. it might not be as accurate as some of the sign pricing software, but for under $30 you get pretty close.
lettering on some things (awning fabric) is a lot more time consuming than others (aluminum panels) and the book takes that into account.
