pricing suggestions

[pat bogarin]

hi everyone. i have a potential customer who is wanting me to supply him with engraved plaques. my question is, how much do i charge him? he wants black marble plaques measuring, 24" x 18 ". he will give me consistent work usually 2 a week. any input??

thanks in advance, pat

[Keith Outten]

Pat,

Like any other job you need to price this one based on your business formula.

Material Cost + Labor Cost + Profit Percentage + Overhead Percentage = Wholesale Cost

From the Wholesale cost figure you can apply a percentage or flat fee to cover your retail expenses if any. Should you provide widgets to a local business that sells them in their store they need to add something for their retail expense and your Retail cost should never be below theirs.

Your labor cost should include your fee for engraving per minute plus any design time at your hourly rate.

Your prices will differ from mine because it is unlikely that we have the same overhead or proffit structure. Overhead should include things like, electricity, insurance, shop and office rent, hardware and software costs, telephone, office expendables, equipment maintenance, etc. Don't forget to include your costs for things like router bits, sandpaper, etc in your material cost for the job.

As an example;
Laser Engraving A Very Small Marble Plaque with no design time required.
$04.50 = Material
$13.00 = Labor
-------------------
$17.50 = Sub Total
-------------------
$02.60 = Proffit @15%
$01.75 = Overhead @10%
-------------------------
$21.85 = Wholesale Price

Your retailer would most likely add 50% to cover his Profit and Overhead for the small plaque.

Retail cost = $32.77

Note:
When engraving black marble don't forget to coat your plaque with Armor All, then wipe and allow to dry before you engrave.
You should perform a test using Armor All to verify for yourself the difference in engraving contrast.
This Tip is my gift to the Engraving community

.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Originally Posted by Keith Outten

Note:
When engraving black marble don't forget to coat your plaque with Armor All, then wipe and allow to dry before you engrave.
You should perform a test using Armor All to verify for yourself the difference in engraving contrast.
This Tip is my gift to the Engraving community

.

...but one of many...

Mitch