Vinyl Letter pricing

[George Elston]

We did a front window sign in Vinyl letters for my wifes church. Came out pretty nice. But now I am getting requests to do other signs. Nothing to big, but I hate to turn down a job. Can anyone give me an idea as to how to price these. Is it by the letter or is there some kind of formula for size of sign? If I have a local sign shop cut the letters what would be a fair price to pay? Any help would be appreciated.

ps
Yes I know about don't cut PVC, but I need an idea of what's a fair price.

[Scott Shepherd]

George, go into the Sign Forum, I posted a link to some vinyl pricing info the other day that might be useful.

[Joe Pelonio]

George,

I moved it here to the sign forum where it's more appropriate.

For things like storefront lettering, vehicle lettering, and letters "to go" I have a price per letter for basic fonts based on the size of each letter. It's for premium (2 mil extruded) vinyl. Then it goes up for metallic, reflective etc., and down for the intermediate (3 mil calendared) vinyl which I only use by request and for indoor or short-term jobs.

Those prices are based on what I pay for vinyl which can vary greatly. Some places have to buy 10 yards at a time, and pay for shipping. Others like me, have free daily delivery and can get as little as 1 yard for the same per yard price as a 50 yard roll. My charge (for retail) varies from $0.50/letter for 1" or smaller to $30/letter for 28" letters (the largest I can do in one piece with the 30" plotter). I give discount breaks at 100, 250, and 500 letters. For my wholesale customers I charge 25% less. You may find other signs shops will do something similar, others will charge you the same as retail.

My price per letter includes weeding and taping, then I charge $75 to install on most windows and vehicles, $100/hour for trucks with rivets.

Many shops will have a minimum, around here many are at $30, so if you walk in and want the words "NO SOLICITORS" in 1" letters it will be $30.