Pricing Question

[James & Zelma Litzmann]

Can anyone give me an idea on what to charge for simple signs, with a couple of words with logo, approx. 36 inches long by 10.5-11 inches wide.

[Art Mann]

I got some ballpark figures by Googling the phrase "camping signs". I am an avid camper and I see individuals put up carved signs at campgrounds and RV parks all over the place. I just got curious as to what those kind of signs cost.

[Chuck Gallup]

• "A fair price is what a willing market will bear."
I ordered a custom sign in November before Christmas for $70 and have yet to receive it.
Years ago, I ordered a CNC carved sign to my own specifications. 12 x 12" It took months and cost nearly $300.
I'd be ashamed to perform to those standards in both cases.
• Supply and Demand
If the demand is high and the supply is low the prices will rise. Vice versa.
• Confiscatory pricing. No businessman ... ever ... should agree to pay for the privilege of carving a sign for a customer.

I've processed my experiences so as not to repeat the errors of others.
As a wannabe cnc sign maker, imho, there are several No-No's.
1. Every customer is your best salesman. Embrace their vision.
2. The faster you produce a product and get it in the hands of the customer the better. 24/7 if need be.
3. I want as much respect from my customers as they receive from McDonalds. Cash first, product later.
4. Capturing the emotion and imagination of the customer is essential. Don't be an order taker. Few people know about fonts, kerning, true type....but a sign guy does! People say there is no art in CNC work so they shun it. BS! CNC for an artist is like adding an extra letter to the alphabet for a writer, or an extra element to the periodic table for a chemist.
5. The first few moments talking to a prospective customer is critical. They telegraph needs wants and desires. If it is about "Me", "We" or the "Home", people will quickly determine if they are in or out. Capitalize on their decision to go with "you" by filling the void ASAP.
6. There is no fixed price for signs.

[Gary Malone]

You can also go to Etsy.com and get prices for all shapes, sizes and materials.

[James & Zelma Litzmann]

This is a business about 2 counties over and they are wanting 18 - 20 CNC wood signs. We really didn't know where to start, thanks everyone for your help, it is much appreciated.

[Jim Beachler]

I calculate signs by knowing the price of the materials and upcharge at least 10% for those. Calculate the amount of time needed for the design. YOu can do a rough guesstimate. Multiply the time by your labor cost. That should give you the number you are looking for.

All of these numbers are variable from state to state, town to town, operator to operator so telling you my number wouldn't work for you.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I calculate signs by knowing the price of the materials and upcharge at least 10% for those. Calculate the amount of time needed for the design. YOu can do a rough guesstimate. Multiply the time by your labor cost. That should give you the number you are looking for.

All of these numbers are variable from state to state, town to town, operator to operator so telling you my number wouldn't work for you.

10% on materials? Wow. That's a quick way to go broke if you make a mistake....

This is a business about 2 counties over and they are wanting 18 - 20 CNC wood signs. We really didn't know where to start, thanks everyone for your help, it is much appreciated.

Your post has no information so you're not going to get much of a response.

You need to figure out your material costs. Then apply a markup. You need to figure out how many hours of labor you have into the project. Then multiply it by your shop rate.

How much should your markup be? Most people charge 2-3x. Labor rate? Most people charge between $40-120/hr.

[Richard Coers]

What's simple? What wood? How thick is the wood? What are the words? Do you have the art work for the logo? Does it need clear finish? Paint? Gold leaf? Get the picture? Might cost $50, might cost $500. When you ask for pricing on a forum, you are either loosing money, or loosing bids. Everyone has to do their own calculation for overhead, the amount of time to make the sign, amount of design time, then decide if they want to make money, or give them the sign. It's your call. If you don't know how long it takes, go ahead and make one in a piece of scrap wood. During that practice, keep track of every minute. Then the bid is easy, except you threw away time to learn. Throwing away that lesson time is a lot easier to take than loosing money for lots of signs. Another factor to consider with working too cheap, is that the customer may just come back and ask for you to make more signs. Then you get to loose more money. Nobody said this is easy!

[Art Mann]

Making a sample with scrap and keeping up with how much time it took would not be very a very useful pricing strategy for me. I can get good results but I am not time efficient because I am new to the equipment and techniques. I wouldn't expect to charge someone extra due to my lack of experience. I am stuck guessing how long it ought to take (if I ever sell anything).

[Richard Coers]

Making a sample with scrap and keeping up with how much time it took would not be very a very useful pricing strategy for me. I can get good results but I am not time efficient because I am new to the equipment and techniques. I wouldn't expect to charge someone extra due to my lack of experience. I am stuck guessing how long it ought to take (if I ever sell anything).

So how do you charge for your time? What is your time worth? You would rather throw in a wild *ss guess on 18-20 signs rather than the exact time it will take? Not what I would call a viable business model. I suggest you just put a tip jar next to your machine. Let the customer do the guessing for what your time is worth. I bet they think you will be worth less than you do, hardly anyone who doesn't make signs thinks they are worth what it takes to make it. I never correctly guess what the electrician charges me.

[Art Mann]

So how do you charge for your time? What is your time worth? You would rather throw in a wild *ss guess on 18-20 signs rather than the exact time it will take? Not what I would call a viable business model. I suggest you just put a tip jar next to your machine. Let the customer do the guessing for what your time is worth. I bet they think you will be worth less than you do, hardly anyone who doesn't make signs thinks they are worth what it takes to make it. I never correctly guess what the electrician charges me.

What is my time worth? If I am consulting in the discipline in which I am an expert, I can assure you it is a lot more than what I would ever expect to make operating a CNC router. If it is selling something I made on my CNC router, then my time isn't worth very much because I am slow and inexperienced right now. If I want to sell my services or some product I made, what my time is worth to me is totally irrelevant to the customer. I will have to sell at whatever price point is competitive. I will get better as time goes on and the value of my time will rise. I am not necessarily looking for a "viable business model". I already had one of those and walked away form it.

I think the original poster is trying to establish a competitive price point, not an hourly rate.

[Rich Fennessey]

I try not to charge a customer for stupid time - ie if I mess up or trying to figure out something I've never done before. I tend to sell more of my own products rather than doing service but this is a part time thing for me. I consider some finishing, sanding, etc close to unskilled labor, so figure that might cost me $10-15 / hr if I hired it out. If I'm not making money at that rate, that product is pretty much terminated since it has no future. That should be your absolute bottom unless you have another objective like making product to advertise or as a favor. This doesn't include your cutting time which I would think would be at least $50 an hour (assuming an industrial strength machine) unless again, you are learning or have other objectives. When I do things I've done before for the same customer, we normally can figure out a rate per piece and that makes it easy for the customer and me and we don't have to count time.

Another example: I don't have a vacuum system to hold down material, so I may have to eat up some setup time to compete with another shop that does. I had this happen recently where I lost the job but a vacuum really made this job easy, so I wasn't going to win the job for the sake of getting it and have to do a bunch of sanding of tabs at some low rate. The shop that has the vacuum setup will likely have a higher hourly rate but we may come in close due to my lower rate. I was actually just a little over the other shop, but then again, I didn't want that particular job that much (it was just an hour long job anyhow).