First paid job

[Dave West]

My day job is as a computer animation and visual effects instructor at a school at Universal Studios Orlando. The school director wanted a small 3D logo to put on the corner of all the monitors. The logos are 1.1 by 2.1 inches each.
I'm using a plexi jig to hold the individual letters in place while the cement dries. The letters were cut out and the piece indexed to hold the red and white rectangles in place. Both rectangles are cemented to a piece of white plexi and everything is surrounded by a 1/8 thick black border. Everything except the border is 1/16. I had to use a white backing because the only 1/16 red plexi I could find was translucent. It needed a white backing or it looked black. Besides a backing gives me something stable to cement everything onto. Weld-On 3 with a hypodermic needle gave me much more control that the needle applicator I was using.

I quoted $10.00 each due to the extensive labor involved. The first order is for 30.

The jig needs to be adjusted so the letters are straighter, But all in all I'm satisfied.
This is the prototype.

Dave

[David Lavaneri]

Dave,

Beside the job being priced in the "gift" category, it's a nice piece of work.

Congratulations on the first paid job.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri

[Dave West]

Dave,

Beside the job being priced in the "gift" category, it's a nice piece of work.

Congratulations on the first paid job.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri

Dave,

What would you price this at?

Dave

[David Lavaneri]

Dave,

No particular price in mind, but you stated that it was a laborious endeavor.

From your description of the process, I'd agree whole-heartedly.

My labor charge is $80 per hour, and I use that as a baseline for the work I perform.

I've often found myself in the position of making more than that amount and I certainly take advantage of those occasions.

Since you're working at a day job, I'm sure you (like I did, when I first went on my own) base your charges on the relative scale of what you make on the day job.

I made $12.50 per hour, before I went on my own.

Of course, being a self-employed businessman, I was really going to raise the stakes, by charging twice what I made as an employee.

Guess what?

That amount didn't cut it at all.

As I said, I don't have a specific price for your job, but off-hand, if pressed for an answer, I would place each piece in the $25 range.

That project shows plenty of imagination and expertise, which should be weighed into the charges.

If you think anyone who owns a laser could do that, you'd be wrong.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri

[Micheal Donnellan]

Read it the first time didnt think much until I read it properly and saw the size of it. Thats fiddly work to be doing, I am not a laser engraver yet until 3wks. I do vinyl and I have devoloped a hatred of anything less than 1/2" font esp. the fiddly bits, the insides of letters and dots on i's.
On the price I have no idea what I would charge for laser work esp the fiddly kind clumbsy fingers find hard to hold. 10 I am not sure if the lot over here would pay even that for some thing "small and simple" as they tend to view everything.
From what I know, charge what makes you money and remember the "fiddly work" charge.

[Dave West]

The mistake I made was quoting a price before I had a clear idea how'd I do it. I knew it'd be tedious but not to the extent it is. Live and learn I guess.

Dave

[Joe Pelonio]

Read it the first time didnt think much until I read it properly and saw the size of it. Thats fiddly work to be doing, I am not a laser engraver yet until 3wks. I do vinyl and I have devoloped a hatred of anything less than 1/2" font esp. the fiddly bits, the insides of letters and dots on i's.
On the price I have no idea what I would charge for laser work esp the fiddly kind clumbsy fingers find hard to hold. 10 I am not sure if the lot over here would pay even that for some thing "small and simple" as they tend to view everything.
From what I know, charge what makes you money and remember the "fiddly work" charge.
Micheal,

I just did a whole bunch of vinyl "registered trademark" (R in a circle) for a good customer to add to their old signs, as they had just registered their logo.
The circle was 1/4", the R smaller than that. My eyeballs are still sore. For vinyl lettering I normally charge by the letter, $0.50/letter for 1" and smaller it goes up. What you call a fiddly work charge I call a "tedium at nauseum" charge and basically what I think it's worth to do it, or I'll pass.

Today I did a peel and replace of lettering on a backlit monument sign by ladder, 15' up and at 28-36 degrees F. While my labor for such a job might be $75/hour normally to do it when they wanted it done I charged $125/hr (took 3).

I think Dave's price of $10 each considering that it was for his employer,
and that it was his first paying job, was OK.

He made some money and they got a good deal. If they had gone to a large architectural sign company for them they would probably have been charged double that.