what would you have charged?

[cxixer]

I just made this sign for a local hair salon. The buyer is a friend of mine, which is how I got the job, they wanted to replace their old sign. It's not a great picture, but it's a vcarved, 2 color, outdoor sign, she gave me the idea, I designed it, cut, painted, and installed it. 18 x 24" overall.

What would you charge for a sign like this?

[DareBee]

A days work - $600

PS never do work for friends WITHOUT telling them what they are paying UP FRONT so that everybody understands the deal.

[cxixer]

Nice price tag. I told them up front, I already collected the cash, I just wanted to know what this would go for at a regular shop so I know what to charge regular customers. I'm doing a few carvings and such for whoever I can at a pretty decent discount so I can practice and still pay the bills. No one wants to spend real cash without some examples to back up my words!

Thanks! What's everyone else think?

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by cxixer Nice price tag. I told them up front, I already collected the cash, I just wanted to know what this would go for at a regular shop so I know what to charge regular customers. I'm doing a few carvings and such for whoever I can at a pretty decent discount so I can practice and still pay the bills. No one wants to spend real cash without some examples to back up my words! Thanks! What's everyone else think?

$600, sounds cheap to me.
What I would charge is the shop rate times the number of hours involved. People don't realise that time spent infront of a computer is still charged at shop rate. $50/hr x 8 hrs = $400 but my shop is in the back yard. The guys that have to pay rent and employess will easily charge $75/hr = $600.

How long did it take you?

[cxixer]

I would have to guess on the hours it took, I worked on this in-between other projects. I'd guess from the artwork to the final painting, maybe about 5 or 7 hours including cleaning up. Took forever to paint the lettering. I tried something I read on some forum somewhere, I masked it off before I vcarved it, so I could just spray it right away. This worked OK, but I still touched it up by hand.

[ger21]

If it takes you twice as long as it should because you're learning, you can't really charge for 8 hours if it's really a 4 hour job. Because someone down the street who can do it in 4 hours will sell it for half of your price.

[cxixer]

Good point. Until I get a bit better at this stuff it's hard to judge what to charge. Good thing I'm getting paid for my practice.