[AlArchie]

The local Chamber of Commerce contacted me as the VP of our carving club to see if the club would put in a bid on doing a sign for them. Seems that when the original was contracted, they forgot to put "Chamber of Commerce" on it, and now they want a piece added below the main part that would fit in with the original. Of course pro sign shop that made the original wants more than the CC wants to pay so they are looking for competitive bids. But, they won't tell me what the original mfg wants.

Anyway, does someone have a good way to price signs?

This add-on would be about ten inches high, roughly 6 1/2 feet long and two sided 1" redwood held apart by 5" spacers. In other words, two actual 1" signs spaced back to back.

It will have to have 4 1/2" letters or maybe a bit larger, depending on the overall appearance they want.

Below is a photo of the current sign...this would be added on just below and anchored to the vertical posts.

We've voluteered to make signs for the local Historical Society and the Hope Animal Shelter for material cost, but as this is a commercial operation, it doesn't seem right to work against another local business (sign shop) on a non-competitive basis.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Al

[whitecree]

Price it by the square inch. Perhaps $2/per square?

[Ashbys]

Ok I will be just rude here but ,

chances are the town center owns the buildings and purchased the sign, and the chamber had little to do with it. I would assume they were left out because they did not respond , or were not located there at the time the sign was contracted. Now they wish to have an add on to the sign and Town center owners has refused to foot the bill.
The chamber is probley aware that you have done signs for free in the past and are hoping for you to offer the sign for free.

Commerical manufacters are indeed under a different set of rules for the manufactor of items, especially wood or items of the type. They also normally carry a one million libility policy on all work they do to protect them from the public. That said from a manufactors standpoint chances are they charge a flat shop rate plus material. Something like
100.00 and hour + material , then they will estimate the time , say 7 min per letter using an cnc cutter. Since they are raised letters they will be clearing background , doing the graphic worK and matching it to the board. And since they are working both sides of the board I would say they asked somewhere close to 400.00 for the signs.
So al all I can say is what is your time worth? Does the culb have insurance to protect it from someone saying they got a splinter in their hand which got infected and them suing for damages for lost time and suffering. And if your going to try to match the upper side of the sign , make sure they didn't copywrite the base design , which a lot of grapic companies will do .

Ash

[AlArchie]

Ash you are right on at least one point...the rest, probably. We don't carry that type of liability insurance so will have to look into that a little closer.

The original sign was put up by the Downtown Ironwood Development Asc, DIDA, a consortium of the businesses there. The CC is working with them on all this development stuff, and I'll probably have to check with DIDA to see where their and our liablities would lie and if there is indeed any copyright infringements. Stuff sure gets complicated in this day and age!

I looked at that square inch formula and figured at 25 cents a square inch or $35/sq. ft. , that would come to around $198 per side.or just under 400 bucks for the whole thing.

We might be able to cut that to $300 if they will do the mounting and provide materials.

Des that sound reasonable?

I still have to run this past the membership to see if anyone is willing to do it, either as a club project or personally.

[Ashbys]

Al ,
Sounds like a fair price to me , but check the insurance before you commit.
A real shame we have gotten to be this way , but too many laws produced by too many lawers , looking for free rides has really put us into a protect your back attitude. Oh and to give you an idea that libality insurance cost the place I work , almost 5 grand a year. And we do not sell to the general public.

Ash

[JeffB]

Al,
This site may give you some priceing ideas:
http://www.signcarving.com/Main.htm
Jeff