Pricing V Carved Signs

[scootie]

Nice sign Erminio, the gilding really sets it off on the medium/dark green. I estimate the size to be about ? 3'x7', judging from the posts. The price range in this area (rural Tennessee) would be $2000 to $2500 with posts and installation.

Larry,,,,

[wberminio]

Larry

Thanks!
Your close!The size is 3x6.
All I did was layout and Vcarve the letters.
It was supplied to me painted and masked.
The blank is HDU foam.

I charged 200.00 to just Vcarve.I'm not sure what he got for the sign,but if it was any where near that cost-(probably a bit more)
I think he got a fair deal.

[maxheadroom]

Erminio,

nice job!

'I think he got a fair deal': Absolutely!

[joe]

Me too, I give it an A.

The gilding takes this panel up to another level. It's amazing how that happens.

One little detail I would like to have seen. A thin black pin stripe around the gold would increase the brilliance.

Hope to see more of this kind of work. A little brass tag, at the bottom, with the artists name on it is diserved. I have mine made at the local trophy shop.

[scootie]

Erminio,
At $200 he got a very fair deal, and unless that particular shop is doing several of these a month they cannot afford to own the equipment and hire/train someone to operate it to do it themselves. If you sold the job, layed it out, set it up and v-carved it in an hour you work very fast.
Based on my shop rates and my estimated time of 1 hour and 20 minutes from start to finish the final cost is very similar.
Price Est. Time
Sales/Customer Time = $20 10 min.
Layout = $30 12 min.
Create Tool Paths = $25 10 min.
Set Up = $10 5 min.
Machine/Rout = $65 35 - 40 min.
Clean Up Tools & Work Area = $10 5 min.
Sub Total = $160 Apr. 1hr 20 min.
20% Profit = $32
Total = $192

I try to estimate for all hidden and unforseen time in every project, I may miss a few but from experience I know that when the customer brings the material and returns to pick up the job, you'll have a few minutes in helping unload and load, and then there's the sales time of discussing the job and maybe a few minutes spent doodling rough ideas, and on and on. This time builds up fast and if not careful that "one hour" job turns into a 2 or 3 hour total.

Just a few years ago when I was hand carving everything, the cost would have been three times that much and the labor would have been about 7 to 8 hard hours of back breaking hand work. So, it makes it very economical to be able to produce something wholesale at a good profit and the customer marks up your labor 100% or more and he still looks like a champion to his client. The sign is cost effective in its advertising value for the client because it makes a statement of being a professional business person, and the cost of the sign spread out over the next 8 to 10 years is less than a piece of candy per day.

You did good, keep it up, you'll be working when the lower priced shops have to close for not being able to pay their overhead.

Larry,,,,

[maxheadroom]

Erminio,

I think you made the right choice, and believe your pricing was good, especially in light of your comment "V Carving signs is not my principle work". A good reason to make sure your time is covered, as you're doing something out of the norm, and open to mistakes more than work you do on a daily basis.

A job well done.

Bill, I'm glad you were able to get your times down from the original 8 hours each to 4-5, that makes a tremendous difference. A price of $ 90 per unit is what you'll see others asking for that type of work online, not what you should be selling them for. Not taking materials, paint, maintenance and overhead in to account, which should always be included, for 5 hours each of labor is $ 18 an hour. If it's a hobby you may be fine with that, if that's for supporting a family finances would be a little tight in many parts of the country.

[wberminio]

Thanks to all for you input and kind words.

Remember no matter what happens "BOT ON"!

[marysvillesign]

Far too many variables involved to give any advice on pricing,
but I do like the sign.

[robredick]

Here is 1 1/2 cents.

The best advice is to charge what it cost you to make a living. Bid the job and never the time that someone else thinks that it should take. There is always someone cheaper and the most likely someone with less experience who is better. If you can not make a living you have no business doing the job. It is better to go broke sitting at a black jack table than working yourself to death without a profit. Be honest and do the best that you can to enjoy what you do.

I and many other Interior Sign Makers go for Square Inches to figure the price. Always bid prices for 1-9 or 10 and up for small things.

Here is a good example. We are cutting 1/4" thick letters in varying sizes that cover a wall space of 430" by 63". 27,090 x .12 = a $3,250 set of letters. The material is 7 sheets @ $16 per sheet, but we throw that out the window unless the material that costs over $75 per sheet. For every $25 over $75 on the material I add 1 cent (.01) to the formula. We also add for letters smaller than 3" and charge 10 cents more for metal studded 3/4" stemmed letters. There are many other variables. BUT...

Always always remember, If I can do it, you surely can....

[rob_sekeris]

Well here's my take on this.
I do a lot of this.
[snipped for brevity]
They can wait for it. This is an excellent time for show and tell. Or in other words "Sales Pitch" about all the other things I can offer. This has worked well for me. I sold many complete gold leaf 3D signs upgraded to something way better than just a routed sign panel. I have lots of samples on the walls!
Sometimes I guess the job may take 2 hours to cut. So I estimate accordingly $125-$150. Still I make money and they make money.
A small job for another shop often turn into a big jobs.

John www.signgraphics1.com

I like the cut of your jib, John. I deal with my customers exactly like that.
There are exceptions, of course. One of my clients is a high-end, very creative sign artist. He has the marked cornered. He gets 5-10K per sign all the time. He used to pay a guy $400-500 to sandblast a 4'x8' sign. He would then spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning things up, carving 3D, then paint and gold-leaf.
I give him paint-ready, 3D stuff that takes me a day to cut. I create my own files from his sketches. A basic sign gets me around $ 1000.00, BUT... takes me all the live-long day. $ 100.00 per hour is nice money for a one-man low overhead shop... when I get lucky, $125.00 per hour. I never quote my hourly rate. I guesstimate a lot. Sometimes I make out great, most of the time I do okay. I sleep well at night.