Approximate markup on plaques

[Debbie Gillett]

Hi all,
I am looking at doing my first Perpetual Plaque and I am not sure of the markup. I understand that all areas across the country and different retailers use different ways to come up with this figure. I am just looking at what would be the approximate for this.
My situation is this is a fire hall a government agency but it is a small town one. They have 2 PP already but have had them for years and it started with a rotary engraver and then different retailers were doing the plates as the fonts and thickness of fonts are all over the place so nothing matches as well as some misspelled names. They are looking to replace completely on the one perpetual plaque and maybe salvaging the other board and replacing all brass plates on this particular one. I would be redoing all existing plaque plates including headers. One plaque has an existing 37 name plates that would need to be replaced with the addition of two new ones. The other plaque all brass plates would be redone and a few new ones added. I will be looking into seeing if replacing all plates is more advantageous than purchasing a whole new system. Any advice here would be great too.
So to recap I am looking at what the industry average is for markup on my end for these perpetual plaques. I want to stay with in the industry standard as to not over price these but at the same time not take a loss lol. There is a big difference in lets say a $100 wholesale PP then doubling for retail at $200 than a 4x the retail price of $400 for that same PP. I just want to be fair to all involved. Myself, the Fire Hall, and any other retailer that one day might be up against my pricing.
Thank you very much for helping this one time perpetual plaque person out
Debbie

[Glenn Norton]

We use the Airflite catalog and use their list pricing of the plaque. I will include up to 50 characters of engraving. Everything else is normal engraving price. Again it depends on your location and feel of the customer.

[John Lifer]

Agree with Glenn. I've used JDS and Airflite and found I need to reduce JDS's suggested price a bit. Now for you taking an old plaque with a bunch of names on it and replace with a new one to make all the same would cost them more if you are the one transcribing the names.
If they take plaque and send you a file with text needed, then I'd stay with the prior figure. and I would suggest them doing that to eliminate YOUR typing errors.

[Debbie Gillett]

Agree with Glenn. I've used JDS and Airflite and found I need to reduce JDS's suggested price a bit. Now for you taking an old plaque with a bunch of names on it and replace with a new one to make all the same would cost them more if you are the one transcribing the names.
If they take plaque and send you a file with text needed, then I'd stay with the prior figure. and I would suggest them doing that to eliminate YOUR typing errors.

Thanks John and Glenn. I did not realize JDS had a suggested retail pricing. I looked it up and see a premiere brochure that states some pricing. This is very handy on now quoting this project with less worry or guilt that I might be over charging. And as for the names that have to be engraved all over again. Since their last engraver either was given the wrong spelling or the person in charge did not tell that company to redo their mistake, I know better and always have a typed version from my customer. That way if it is engraved wrong we know who is responsible to fix it lol
Thanks bunches !!

[Ross Moshinsky]

Pricing depends heavily on situation and region.

Generally speaking, for a perpetual plaque your markup is going to be 2.5-3x and that will include engraving the top plate and the first plate. Individual plates at the time of order are discounted. The range is wide but typically falls between $5-12. It would depend on amount of engraving, amount of plates, and type of engraving. Keep in mind, it takes some time to remove and put back on plates and it's quite easy to slip the screw driver and damage a plate. On a stock plaque, it's not hard to keep the margins so you walk away with cash in your pocket. Re-doing or custom plaques can be a different story.

For the plaque where you're removing plates and putting new plates back on. You need to break it down into three different categories. 1 - Blank Plates. 2 - Engraving of plates. 3 - Labor. My guess is you're talking about a minimum of 1 hour to remove all the plates and put new ones on.

My personal opinion is send proofs out on just about everything. Also, I strongly recommend having the customer type up a spreadsheet with all their engraving and email it to you. If I'm dealing with elderly people who can't use a computer, I'll let it slide but anyone under 65 should be able to type a basic spread sheet. There's no excuse to walk in with a hand written list.

[Mike Null]

I agree with Ross.

[Glenn Norton]

I'll go along with what Ross said about copy. Customer needs to email the list or at least type it. I really do not like a handwritten text for anything. I have really bad, bad handwriting, I don't really need to work with someone else hand writing.