My biggest project yet

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radnurse68
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My biggest project yet

Post by radnurse68 »

My biggest project yet. 7 ft X 5 ft. Double sided with solar powered led back lighting. Main plate is 3/16 and letters are 12 ga. Powder coated. I charged $1300. How does that price sound? That's about $450 over my cost.
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Stephen W. Sparks RN,CRN
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cbassjr
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by cbassjr »

Way too cheap. I wouldn't have done that for less than $3,500_4,000.00. No dig I just think they got a great price.
m79b01
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by m79b01 »

So you had $850 into it and how much time. I would have guessed at least $2500. Looks good!!
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by weldor2005 »

If you mounted it, I would have worked a large portion of the liability insurance into it...
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Shane Warnick
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by Shane Warnick »

Not knowing what kind of time was invested in it would be hard to price. I can say that with a hard $850 in it, I would have been around $2600, probably higher after I figured in chasing lights, if I mounted it (which I usually punt to the local sign shop) etc. Looks like they got a hell of a deal. Nice sign. Any idea of how long the solar powered LED's will hold up? Have you used them before or is this a first run? I am curious as I haven't been able to find any that will hang for more then 9-12 months then they give up.

Thanks

Shane
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by Corfabrication »

How come nobody ever wants to work for free when I need something? Lol
Nice job on the sign
radnurse68
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by radnurse68 »

Thanks for the reply's. I knew as soon as I actually got started on it that I was coming in too low. As far as the amount of time...let's just say that it was a lot! It being my first big sign and my first one with lights I mainly took the job for the experience and the challenge. On the LED's I got them from the website superbrightleds.com. I called and spoke to their tech support for advice. They are a chain of rectangle pods with 3 lights each with about 2.5 inches of wire between each pod. They are the 2nd to highest rating for weatherproofing at IP67. I should have put more on the bar and the G but the customer was happy. I am a nurse full time and started doing this on the side less than a year ago because I gave up the booze and wanted something to keep me busy and off the couch. So far so good! I really enjoy it. By the way the customer hung it himself. I hadn't thought about insurance until last night when I was reading some of the posts on here. I guess I should look into it. Thx
Stephen W. Sparks RN,CRN
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KeeYaw
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by KeeYaw »

Yeah I agree, on the cheap side. How far are u from Lafayette, La. Ill hire u to fab for me and just mark it up to my prices. :mrgreen:
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levesquea
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by levesquea »

Very nice. But NO NO NO..... this is way too cheap. Unless you are making it for a friend at cost...-:)
That sign , If i had to make it....would be minimum 2,500$ to $3,000.

My 2 cents


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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by pipeliner »

Great Job !!! Looks real nice.
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Capstone
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by Capstone »

Glass half-full guy here... . Sure you "gave it away" but you can always count the discount as an "advertising expenditure" and report that figure as an expense on your taxes.

Be sure to leave some buzz(biz)cards with the customer
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by chasxjs »

I think you better check with your accountant. You can only take the discount as an advertising expense if you first take the FULL value as income. In other words, you can't spend what you didn't make.
It would be great if you could though. I would jack up all my prices and just give huge discounts. :twisted:
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by beefy »

chasxjs wrote:I think you better check with your accountant. You can only take the discount as an advertising expense if you first take the FULL value as income. In other words, you can't spend what you didn't make.
It would be great if you could though. I would jack up all my prices and just give huge discounts. :twisted:
Phil, I got to agree with Charles on that.

If that was possible, no matter how much I made I could "lose" a lot more in discounts / advertising expenses, effectively making my income zero (taxable income is just gross income minus claimable expenses) and I'd thus pay no tax ever. The thought is very nice though :D

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radnurse68
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by radnurse68 »

I would like to thank everyone for their input. I do have another question in regards to pricing this type of job. If I were to run the numbers on the excel plasma calculator that a lot of guys use from this site it comes out about 475.00 then add in powder coating @ approx 300.00 (includes customers pole), and lighting materials @ approx 325.00, and just for example say 10 hrs labor @ 60/hr = 600.00 for a total of 1625.00. If I mark up lighting and coating 50% that brings it up to $1967.50.
Even if I doubled the labor I'm only at about $2600.00. How would you guys price it differently to come up with as much as $4000.00? Just asking for my knowledge so I can get the most out of my work and justify it to my customers. Thx again.

Steve
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beefy
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by beefy »

radnurse68 wrote:I would like to thank everyone for their input. I do have another question in regards to pricing this type of job. If I were to run the numbers on the excel plasma calculator that a lot of guys use from this site it comes out about 475.00 then add in powder coating @ approx 300.00 (includes customers pole), and lighting materials @ approx 325.00, and just for example say 10 hrs labor @ 60/hr = 600.00 for a total of 1625.00. If I mark up lighting and coating 50% that brings it up to $1967.50.
Even if I doubled the labor I'm only at about $2600.00. How would you guys price it differently to come up with as much as $4000.00? Just asking for my knowledge so I can get the most out of my work and justify it to my customers. Thx again.

Steve
Steve,

a fair price is whatever a customer is willing to pay (what the market will bare) and whatever you are content with. I'd be wary of any customers wanting you to "justify" your price by giving a breakdown of all costs, etc involved. That just gives them an excuse to nitpick and find reasons why you are charging too much. A quote is a quote, you shouldn't have to explain in detail how you came to that price.
If a general market price for your sign was 10K then you could charge 9.5K and get the job. The worksheet is only a guide to make sure you aren't losing money. If the market will bare more you are not ripping anyone off by charging more, customers are free to say no to a price. Remember customers will only pay you 2 cents for your sign if that's all the competition is charging. They won't care about you losing money, I've certainly learnt that through experience.

Keith.
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ben de lappe
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by ben de lappe »

Any time my quote seemed uncertain I would take into consideration all costs as you have done and triple it. I'd feel much better about the situation.
Shane Warnick
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by Shane Warnick »

I agree with Ben, double my cost plus labor is the floor. Depeds on the project. Dont forget to add in a little head scratching time if you think it will need it. I usually end up around 250% but sometimes as high as 300%.

Lot more money in art as far as markup than production work btw. However production work makes a great profit dont get me wrong.

Shane
radnurse68
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Re: My biggest project yet

Post by radnurse68 »

Thanks again for the advice!

Steve
Stephen W. Sparks RN,CRN
Creating Sparks Metal Worx
Arclight Dynamics Arc Pro 12000 5X10
Linux, Sheetcam, Inkscape, Solid Edge
Hypertherm 85
MIllermatic 175
AHP Alphatig 200X
Kool Koat 3.0 DPW

"Ridin around having a big time!"
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