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It's something when we think we are selling at an adequate price and then crunch some numbers and decide to bring it up to 50 an hour plus mat. and then look in the 1994 signwriters guide by Jack Rumpf that was given to me this month and see that signwriters/designers is listed at 52 an hr. 05 -94 = 10 yrs!
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I recently purchased the Estimate Program for signs. It has a cost analysis program to determine your actual shop costs! It blew me away when mine was $72hr! I thought this was high and estimated a few signs by hand (book) and the same ones by Estimate and was shocked to learn how close they were. The Estimate was higher, but not by all that much and I had been thinking I wasn't making enough anyway. Now I seldom do any sign without running an estimate, printing and then the customer is almost always going, "ya, that sound great" and deposit and contracts made. Life is so much simpler now, and very much busier!
-------------------- Michael A Latham Tee's Me Shirt & Sign 16462 Jefferson Davis Highway Colonial Heights Va. 804-835-3299 signdogopie@aol.com Posts: 379 | From: Colonial Heights, Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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Jerry, What are auto mechanics getting in your area? I always want to stay $10 or more above that. I feel it's easier to justify to a customer if they ask the rate. Come to think of it though, I don't think anyone has ever asked. The shop rate is for estimate purposes mainly. I don't remember having to justify it to a customer. Adjust accordingly, as a rule of thumb, if it seems too low, it probably is.
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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HI, I used the free Profitwatch to get my shop rate and customized it to get 50 an hr. It allows for profit (20%?) and the percentage for Fed Taxes.(18%after deductions) Now,I pay only 110 a month for shop rent(storage 10x40). I judged my wage at 25 an hour@1300 hrs a yr availability for production. I don't make that of course. The problem on many signs is psyching the production time. I'm not into gouging but I am starting to estimate high. If i come in a couple hrs less on the job I usually give a dicounted bill to the client.
Not trying to be a smarta$$, but, when something doesn't go just right, and you end up going over on the projected time, do you invoice the customer with a HIGHER price?
The jobs that go a little quicker help cover for the ones that take a little longer.
Once a customer accepts a bid price, they will accept the same price on the invoice.
Trust me, your mechanic or plumber will not feel bad about charging you full price, even if he gets done an hour or two quicker than he expected.
I picked this "type" of work because I enjoy it more than anything I have ever done, but I "work" to make money.
-------------------- Don Hulsey Strokes by DON signs Utica, KY 270-275-9552 sbdsigns@aol.com
I've always been crazy... but it's kept me from going insane. Posts: 2274 | From: Utica, KY U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 1999
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I find that around 1/3 of what we gross is what we take out of the shop. I also find that getting five billable hours a day usually requires at least ten hours.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6712 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hi, Don, I asked and got a higher price a couple times early in my career but I'm really not that kind of gypsy. Anyway, even with my schedules to go by and the customers insistance to have a shelf price and considering the variables on all the aspects of each sign..... ... .. . .
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
I thought this was high and estimated a few signs by hand (book) and the same ones by Estimate and was shocked to learn how close they were. ![[Applause]](graemlins/applause.gif)
The Estimate was higher, but not by all that much and I had been thinking I wasn't making enough anyway. Now I seldom do any sign without running an estimate, printing and then the customer is almost always going, "ya, that sound great" and deposit and contracts made. Life is so much simpler now, and very much busier! 
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