By signcraft
Posted on Monday, February 21st, 2022
Routine truck lettering jobs like this are common in most sign shops—just a company name and phone number in a pleasing layout. So what do others charge to letter the doors of a pickup and tailgate like the one you see here?
Last week we sent a survey to our readers, asking them what they would charge and for a little information about their business. The results are in, and we’d like to thank the 350-plus sign professionals who took the time to participate. We really appreciate that, and we’re sure other readers do, too.
The average price to letter the two doors and tailgate was $333. As expected, most would use computer-cut vinyl though a few said they would hand letter it.
As you might expect, on the low end there were a handful of shops that were half or less than the average price. On the high end, there were a few that were double the average. But over 50% of the shops gave a price within $100 of the overall average.
For reference, if you estimated this job using our web app, SignQuote Pro, with an hourly shop rate of $85, the price would be $392. ($289 for the doors and $103 for the tailgate.) If you don’t already use SignQuote Pro, be sure to give it a try using your own shop rate.
Along with these two selling prices, we also asked some basic information about the sign maker’s business, market and experience.
Most were owners of sign businesses. Over half, 52%, were owners of commercial sign shops (primarily non-electric signs) and over one quarter, 26%, owned full-service sign shops (both electric and non-electric signs).
They were experienced. Over 80% had been involved in the sign business for 11 years or more:
Two-thirds letter three or more trucks per month:
Every type of market was represented. Here’s how they described their markets:
Two-thirds have employees. Almost half have 1 to 3 employees, and about one-third work alone:
Volume didn’t affect the average selling price much. Interestingly, the average selling price for the truck didn’t vary much, depending on the number of trucks the shop did each month. For a shop that does 3 to 5 trucks per month, the average was $309. For shops that did 6 to 8 trucks per month, the average was $293. For shops that did 9 or more, the average was $331.
Experience had little effect on the prices. The average selling price was relatively close whether the shop owner had 2 to 5, 6 to 10, or over 11 years of experience. The averages were all within about $25 of each other.
Market size mattered, though. In large urban areas, the average selling price was $379. Among shops in suburban areas or mid-sized towns, the average was $324. For those in rural areas, the average dropped to $295.
What they had to say
Many of the respondents shared their comments on the subject of pricing, and we wish we had room to share them all here. (Thanks, too, for the suggestions on survey improvements. We’ll put them to work on the next one.) Here’s a sampling of what they had to say:
“With the pandemic, supply costs have increased so as a business what we charge must reflect those changes.”
“We would consider this design an ‘Intermediate’ design because of the two-layer portion of the design. We would charge $162 (36″ x 42″ Area) for the pair of doors and $96 (24″ x 60″ Area) for the tailgate, installed. We would consider single-layer vinyl graphics a ‘Basic’ design and would charge $116 for the doors plus $77 for the tailgate. We would consider three layers of vinyl graphics a ‘Complex’ design and would charge $278 for the doors plus $135 for the tailgate. All pricing is based on the vehicle coming to our shop.”
“Almost all of our truck jobs are 100% vinyl applied graphics these days. The majority are also four-door crew cab style trucks, so the lettering jobs for them run a little higher than this quote due to material and increased labor.”
“I would charge $300: $100 for design then $100 per side to cut and install.”
“In the old days we wouldn’t charge extra for removing and replacing the West Coast mirrors, removing badges and some small existing vinyl that might happen to be on a door or tailgate, but now we do.”
“This survey is a great idea. I wish I had tools like this when I started out 28 years ago. Good work!”
“As vinyl graphics it would be $450 and hand lettered would be $600. Most customers prefer hand lettering from our shop. Just a trend maybe. I have been in the sign trade since 1977.”
“Removing the Mirror Mounts adds nearly one third to the price, since the interior door panels must be taken off.”
“$200 for digitally printed graphics, laminated and cut, plus $225 for installation. Design would be 1/2 hour or $62.50. Total that up and add additional markup and round off and I get $525. Raise your prices. Everything is increasing in cost, if not our products, for our daily living expenses.”
“If the truck had mirrors on the door like this, I would charge more to loosen them and put the vinyl behind the brackets. My price assumes that I was given clean artwork to cut from.”
“We would print and cut digital vinyl for this job. We are the highest-priced sign company in the area. All the other shops in the area set their prices just below mine. Signwarehouse is 20 miles away and there are cheap printers and plotters in almost every garage or bedroom in our area. I have been in business 24 years, and most of the other area shops have been open for less than four years.”
“Not many people can execute a layout as masterfully as Bob Behounek. My layout would be different, of course, and the price reflects a combination of hand lettering and vinyl. It’s four colors and no striping included.”
“Part of our quote is a ‘Setup/Layout Fee’. We try not to give away design, so a basic design fee ($60) is included in that price of $348. We do lots of truck lettering (three just today!) along with many other types of signs.”
“This is a pretty simple job and we do a lot like this. We would use cut vinyl.”
“I charge $80 per hour and I see this as a simple vinyl job, although the time to produce it adds up. I’d charge an hour for sketch and bid approval, an hour to remove the mirrors, clean the doors then replace them afterward. Then there’s a minimum of five hours to cut, weed and apply application tape to the vinyl to make into transfers. Then, of course, applying all of it to the doors. So I’m at $560 plus local and state taxes.”
“I would do this job snapper style. Do a direct layout on the first door, hand letter in 1 Shot enamel, then repeat the process on the tailgate. Then I would return to the door I lettered, trace the layout to make a pattern on the spot and use the pattern for the second door. Or, I may use a direct layout on the second door, depending which I feel is faster.”
“The example shown is not a basic truck door lettering job. It is multicolor with shadows and a tricky install around the bars.”
“I’ve added an extra $50 to pull and reinstall the mirrors.”
“Two things stand out that I would have done differently. I would have moved the name down below the rearview supports, which would maximize visibility, and I would have used a different font for ‘Masonry’ as it is a bit hard to read in that font.”
“I’d charge $425 for vinyl or $600 for paint. The pricing goes up if more than 1 person is involved in decision-making.”
