Hey Y'all! I go it alone one day and the next, I'm selling a 14' x 61' exterior cinder wall mural. Haven't done a wall mural since 1999 and in the U.S. back then AND FOR "THE BOSS" inside on drywall. Basically just wanting to know if I needed to prep a bare cinder block wall with anything first.
I'm trying to remember... Block out primer then.... Enamel.
I don't need to pressure wash first would I? Cromatic Ext. Enamel recommended? As per usual, ( I need all the help I can get ) any other advice you specialists out there could give me would be greatly appreciated.
I won't even ask about quoting...
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
Washing the dirt off of sompn yer gonna paint is a good move.
I vote "Yes" on the pressure washing!
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
If it was my job...I would pressure wash it, give it a coat of concrete primer, plus a couple of coats of high build primer (to fillin and smooth the surface. From there it is your choice of 1shot or latex, whichever you feel most comfortable using. If using 1Shot, Smith's Cream will help where you have to do blends.If using latex, FloTrol.
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
I'd vote for latex paints. Thats a big wall and it will make for much easier cleanup - spilt paint, worn paint, wind spattered paint etc., plus the faster drying time means you shouldn't have to wait for paint to dry. What is the mural of?
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Corey
I wouldn't use anything except a premium quality acrylic house paint ot do a mural on a cinderblock wall. And I speak from experience having done more than 85 murals to date.
In a nutshell... acrylic paints will breathe, oil base paints won't, and your cinderblock wall NEEDS to breathe or your paint will blister & flake off the wall in short order.
I would recommend pressure washing the wall and then priming it with the same brand of paint as the final coats...
One coat of primer, one or two of base color and then its creative time with the colors.
Do up a scale drawing of the mural and then transfer it to the wall with an overhead projector in as many sections as you need.
Double coat everything and triple coat the reds & yellows... it will make your wall last a long long time.
Charge good and have fun!
-dan
Posted by Corey Wine (Member # 1640) on :
Good advice! Kelly, yeh, the mural is for a Greek restaraunt and the guy (big harry Greek guy) wants the mural of ancient ruins, Venus de Milo (Mylo?) etc. I am steering towards a surealistic being out of practice howevr, I may have a brainstorm and provide this guy with a couple of options where I may have to blend, shadows ect.. I'm planning to plot and tape together my patterns/ perf. as opposed to projecting it. ..it backs onto a dirt lot so I need not worry about spilt paint. I think I can provide this guy with a really good price but not a low ball price. I am thinking ahead and if I am out there for a week or 2 then I can sell more signs merely by attacting attention to myself. I don't mean ,like, painitng naked or sumpin like that. I mean if I were putting a real estate sign in the ground no one would notice but, this is a big wall in the centre of a little/big city (pop.20,000) that has NO murals. I can picture a write up on the restaurant including a little plug on me..the notority is what I am looking for with my new FT business. Is that good sense??????????
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
I heard a tip (from Brendon Brandon) once about primeing walls w. latex, ... hose the wall down and roll the paint on while the surface is wet. The water based primer will soak in to every nook and cranny. Sounds like a good plan.
When you've got a good amount of the wall done, alert the local newspaper so they'll come out to report on the exciting mural that's being painted by the local exciting and fun wall guy (person).
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
I go with Dan's methods.
Pressure wash, undercoat and only use premium latex paints. Double coat everything and triple coat the reds etc. I also use a waterbase UV Clear over the whole thing when finished. I have sepia murals facing full sun in Australia all day that have not faded in 6 years. I also do full color murals too!
I use a HPLV spray gun to apply base coats and big areas of color. Quicker than rollers and gets into every nick and cranny.
Posted by Corey Wine (Member # 1640) on :
I try not to ask often but, WHAT KINDA PRICING STUCTURE IS INVOLVED IN WALL MURALS. I have been on web sites that are stating between $1.50 sq ft to $24 sq ft. I am going to give the customer a price for a more simple, surrealistic, solid fill wall graphic and a separate price for a gradient filled painting. At first guess, I would place this wall at around $5 a sq ft but, would love some insight. One web site showed pricing charts per sq ft and my size fell into $21,000 approx. I fell off my chair. I just started my bus. F/T and would hate to be off a few grand. It seems like it could easily be done if one important COG was forgotten.
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
For surrealism you need to charge at least $25 per sqft.
For a mural as large as that one, you probably (really) should be getting twenty grand or so. Maybe more. You are/ will be facing a lot of hassles besides the actually painting-it part. Which is the beauty part. Start adding op the permits, insurance, scaffolding... yadda yadda. You'll see.
Posted by John Arnott (Member # 215) on :
If you are painting a lot of "sky" its about $3 s.f. If its a lot of people $24 s.f. IF its objects like products for the customer such as phones or furniture, thats a lot easier to get right than faces or people. Ty to break each object seperate and price accordingly. I did a 7'x115' store front "mural" of furniture and people shopping, I charged $12 s.ft. The job came ot to within one hour of being exact $55 per hr. My shop rate 2 years ago. Hope this helps. Have fun or don't do it. John Arnott
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
Corey,
It sounds like you're not sure what to do. I would talk to the client and see what their budget is and then let them know what that buys.
Example: If they want to pay for scaffolding, a cherry-picker or have one of their fellas at minimum wage flip ladders.
You can do a breakdown on a standard (standards that you set by prechosen visual examples and prices gathered from the scaffold supplier, paint supplier, an idea of what it would run to hire a helper, etc.) mural job to give him an idea of how costly this will be and let him know that your labor cost on the project is determined on how detailed he wants it to be.
Best thing to do is get a legal pad and start making an outline of how to put this job together. Then when he combines some of what's on your list for a theoretical quote, you are familiar with all the costs to pull it off and can answer him on the fly. He'll feel more confident with you if you are confident about your abilities (don't show fear).
Remind your client that this is a large endeavor and it should be grand, more so than "cheap" looking...in other words, something you can both be proud of.
A lot of the time when pricing things, we may have a "grand view" of the out come when they just want red letters on white, so to speak, or vice-versa. It's best to know what to expect from both you and your client. Perception is such a hairy critter...LOL.
Jobs this size can be quite a blessing or a nightmare. Don't be skeered...it ain't bigger than you! I hope you like Greek food!
Posted by AdrienneMorgan (Member # 1046) on :
I figured on how much I want to make in a day's work on a mural....for the amount of work I put into a mural I want to get between $500 and $700 per day(depending on detail).....PLUS expenses (overnight accomodations, equiptment rentals, etc)
Sq footage pricing just never worked for me...but that's just my 2 cents.
In response to your comment Linda, I don't think I'm skeered (as you put it) with my knowledge in how to do the job as much as selling the job ( that's my weakness ). I'm a sign guy who's learning to own / operate my business. It's probably the biggest job I've ever quoted / estimated. Last year I did 2 golf courses (one entrance sign and 9 holes at another course) all sandblasted that were $5400 each. This'll be closer to the both jobs combined. I can do the job but the pricing got's me kinda' "skeered". Well, not kinda. Proceeding with caution. I plan to make an appt. with tthe guy to see where he is in his head for a price. I don't want to chase 'nickles' here.
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
Corey,
I hoped I had not offended you in any way...just never know what the person I haven't met yet has experience with, or not.
Surely this guy who charges a ton of money for a dab of lettuce with moldy cheese on it (LOL) has enough sense to know that this big-butt wall is gonna run him a bit of change. If he knows that you're on your own right now, he may have a notion that he's doing you a favor by offering you first crack at it. You can acknowledge his kindness and "in return" present your "offer."
Good luck with this one and may it not get bigger than you but make you bigger (in the public eye)!
Posted by Corey Wine (Member # 1640) on :
No, I am not offended at all Linda, I thought you might think that. Nope, no bad blood here and thanks for all your replies on this topic...everyone. I'll keep you informed if I pull this one off! Thanks again!!!
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