Price Suggestions

[Patrick Licata]

Hello all,
I am quoting a job for Rowmark Lasermax material, 1 1/2" x 10" with one "team name" on each one. Supposedly there will be approx. 225 teams and 3 to 4 sets of these giving a total of 675 - 900 plates.
Any suggestions for prices???
Thanks in advance
Patrick:)

[Scott Shepherd]

Depends on a couple of factors. Does the material have a grain pattern that has to run right to left? How large is your machine?

I ask because if it's got grain, and it has to run from right to left, I'd look into buying the 1/2 sheets instead of quarter sheets, so you can cut then vertically instead of horizontally.

I did a quick test and ran it through the estimator and doing a sheet of 12" x 24" horizontally, it was about 24 minutes ($48 at $2 per minute). I forced the extra one is and did 2 rows of 7 for 14 of them, which is $3.42 each for labor plus the material cost (about a buck each).

However, I ran the job vertically and it knocked off 10 minutes, down to 14 minutes run time. So $28 in labor or $2.00 each plus material.

My gut feeling is the $3.00-$3.50 range (well, that's what I would quote).

[Mike Null]

I would be closer to $5. This is a great job for print merge to save some set up time.

[Joe Pelonio]

I did a similar job recently for a wholesale customer, not quite as many but I charged him $4 each. Remember to add more if they need mounting tape.

[Stephen Beckham]

Patrick - the only other figure I would add is if it's exterior plastic. They have a thicker top coat and may require a second pass of the laser. You can cut it in on one pass, but your text will blur if you make it hotter to get through the topcoat in just one pass...

I'm liking the $3ish range - very well explained for that price range and reasonable for the project. I cheat by using a man-chart for the price - figuring my Romark out to the sq inch. I came up with a flat rate of $.25 per inch when etched. 1.5X10 is 15 square inches which would be $3.75 in my shop... The larger I go - I come off of that a bit.

If you can get 16 out of a quarter sheet - you'll take in $60 per sheet that cost you $6-7 in cost plus ~40 minutes laser time...

[Scott Shepherd]

~40 minutes laser time...

40 Minutes? Whatcha got in that thing, a 4 cylinder? ;) (just kidding)

[Bob Davis]

The only real question here is what the market will bear. We would charge a minimum of $5 each, probably more like $5.50 (plus 10% tax here in Oz). If you don't ask for it you can't possibly get it, and in 12 years plus in the biz we would have missed out on only a hanfdfull of jobs by being too expensive. On balance we're miles in front by being a little bit pricier than we need to be to just stay in business.

[bruce cain]

Are there any other factors involved... tape on back or screw holes, do you have to bevel the edges, will you get the whole order at one time or is it spaced out over a long time. Based on these options, I would go anywhere from $4.00 to $5.50.

Bruce

[Patrick Licata]

Thank you all for your help! It seems everybody is pretty close on average. Scott, when you said you ran it through the estimator, is that a program you have that does it or do you actually run it without engraving?
Thanks again for the input.
Patrick

[Scott Shepherd]

Patrick, the Universal Laser has an Estimate function in the driver or job control software or whatever else it's proper name is. It's not so much an estimator rather than an emulator. I drew up the sign in Corel, printed it to the laser, and then clicked "Estimate" and it runs through the job at an accelerated pace without the laser actually moving.

It's normally pretty darn close in times.