Let's Play "What Would You Charge"

[Steve Clarkson]

Some engravers are all over the place with what they will charge to do a job.....one guy charges $1 and another charges $3. We all have our own calculation ($2/min or material cost times three, etc). If you charge too little, eventually you will go out of business. If you charge too much, eventually you will go out of business. So how do you find the sweet spot?


Let's play "What Would You Charge" and listen to each other's rationale. Here's an example of a job:


1) It's for an existing good customer with a national name brand (take your pick.....McDonalds, Home Depot, Sears.....basically a well known company) that has the potential for a lot of new business.
2) The job is to engrave 500 maple wood cutting boards that weigh 5lbs each
3) It takes 5 minutes and 20 seconds to engrave each board (you are not allowed to do the job faster......so it does not matter if you have a 30 watt Rabbit or a 130 watt Trotec). This time does not include loading and unloading. Regardless of the size of your bed, you can only engrave one at a time.
4) Customer supplies the boards......so your material cost is $0
5) Customer wants you to pick up and deliver the boards 40 minutes (one way) from your shop.....100 boards per week for five weeks.
6) Your shop is on the second floor.
7) No asking for additional clarification.

What would you charge? Would it be different if you were bidding on the job against 3 other companies? Would it be different is the customer was Joe's Automotive and Fishing Supply?

(hopefully, we can make this an ongoing series......I'll find it much more entertaining than a thread asking me to help identify a font).

[Keith Winter]

Interesting, a few other things I would factor in.

1 Who pays for damages?
2 Is the design the exact same on all or is there some variable text?
3 Salary (with benefits included) of person running the machines?
4 Do you have enough capacity to do this job too or will you have to turn down other jobs to meet their deadlines?
5 Will you have to pay any overtime to get this done?
6 What floor is their company on, can they accept pallets?
7 Can I do it all at once in one delivery to save back and forth?
8 Do you have a vehicle big enough to transport all these in at once?
9 Is it possible for them to switch to you for the supply too if you meet their supplier's cost? (I prefer to work on products I know vs some unknown supplier, also increases profit per sale)

[Steve Clarkson]

Obviously you didn't read #7.

[Scott Shepherd]

Well, since #7 is there, I'd no quote the job because there's not enough information.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Same as Scotty, not quoting on something I have no idea what my liabilities will be

[Keith Winter]

Lol I'd no quote then. I don't have enough info, apparently I don't even know the liabilities or my own input costs

Obviously you didn't read #7.

[Steve Clarkson]

Haha! You guys are taking this THAT serious? It was intended to be kind of a light-hearted learning experience for newbies.........I wasn't asking you to sign away your soul to the devil.

I tried to throw in a few twists (like carrying 1+ ton of wood up/down stairs that people might not factor into their pricing decision). I added #7 because I knew 1 or 15 people would send a laundry list of additional fact questions which I really didn't feel like making up answers to.

Or maybe you just don't want to show people how you calculate your pricing when you bid on a job......and that's fine too.

[Scott Shepherd]

Haha! You guys are taking this THAT serious? It was intended to be kind of a light-hearted learning experience for newbies.........I wasn't asking you to sign away your soul to the devil.

I tried to throw in a few twists (like carrying 1+ ton of wood up/down stairs that people might not factor into their pricing decision). I added #7 because I knew 1 or 15 people would send a laundry list of additional fact questions which I really didn't feel like making up answers to.

Or maybe you just don't want to show people how you calculate your pricing when you bid on a job......and that's fine too.

No problem playing the game, but you didn't give enough info to quote it. Are they all the same? Everyone different? If something changes is it something that can be done with print merge or is it so different, each one is keyed in manually?

Those things can can radically change the price, I think that was Keith's point. Define the job a little more and we can all play.

[Keith Outten]

Since the boards are 5 pounds each and you must deliver 100 per week thats 500 pounds to deliver on each trip. It should be very easy to make two trips from your delivery vehicle to the second floor using a heavy duty cart to deliver 50 at a time. I would guess about 30 minutes per trip using the building elevator so about one hour on the premises and 80 minutes of driving time or two hours and twenty minutes delivery labor cost total.

A) Add your delivery labor costs of 2 hours and twenty minutes per trip times five = eleven hours and thirty minutes.
B) Add the standard cost per mile (80 miles times 5 = 400 miles total) for the transportation costs.
C) Add your engraving charge for 5 minutes and 20 seconds.
Design time = zero, assuming all 500 boards are identical.
D) Add your company percentage profit margin.
E) Add your company percentage overhead.

The problem with this senerio is that labor, profit and overhead numbers will vary significantly from business to business and even more so based on physical location due to wage scales and the cost of living.
I have never been shy sharing my costs for jobs that I do in my shop but my East Coast rates are much lower than what you will find on the West Coast.

[Bert Kemp]

OK since I don't run a business and I'm gonna take this job on for some extra income, and I know absolutely nothing about real world pricing of jobs. I'm going to assume their all the same.OK
80 Min's driving time. I want $20 per hour plus Mileage which is impossible to guess but lets say 15 miles city traffic 40mins one way. .56 a mile cost $8.40 one way 16.80 RT 20 mins to run in grab a pallet jack load the boards into your truck (ramp roll right in) . 20 mins to unload you have a service elevator.

80 mnin drv time
40 min load and unload 2hr tot $40+16.80 milages. so 56.80 round up $60 pickup and deliver 100brds
now 7 min engraving each board includes load and unload $1 per min 7 bucks so so rough est 760 per 100 boards.

[Steve Clarkson]

OK.....let's assume all the same......a logo provided in a vector format by the customer.

Oh, and no elevator Keith!!!! Haha!

[Bert Kemp]

Steve your changing your own rule 2 people have made the decision there is an elevator come on guy

OK.....let's assume all the same......a logo provided in a vector format by the customer.

Oh, and no elevator Keith!!!! Haha!

[Bert Kemp]

Hey nobody will play if you changes rules mid flight, as it stood we have to make assumptions to each his own assumtions thus each pricing will be a lot different. But by you changing things then we that have participated will have to re do the job, NOT GONNA HAPPEN

so now no bid I guess

OK.....let's assume all the same......a logo provided in a vector format by the customer.

Oh, and no elevator Keith!!!! Haha!

[Dan Hintz]

Well, since #7 is there, I'd no quote the job because there's not enough information.

Hey nobody will play if you changes rules mid flight

This is exactly what customers do when you don't force them to provide enough information... at which point I nod towards Steve's answer and politely show them the door.

Though I do find it amusing the "game" is quickly turning into a real-world scenario

[Ernie Balch]

I would tell them $6 each and they have to do the transportation or pay for shipping. Also they need to provide a couple extra in case of engraving problems.