Ok Guy's, got a question on progressive pricing.

[Guest VR6freak]

Ok, so on pricing larger flat glass jobs, do you drop the sq ft price a bit on bigger size jobs?

Lets say you'r charging xxxx per foot on a 400 sq ft job, would you charge a bit less per sq ft on a job 3x's the size?

Kinda hard to explain what I'm really getting at here, but still kinda new to the flat glass scene and want to stay competitive with the locals.

Thanx.

[suntint]

Many, probably most, tinters would drop their price per SF for larger quantity jobs. I do.

[Guest RCOOTE]

I think there should be an standard that we try to follow to keep it profitable and balanced.

I called my dist. and asked what the average price should be and they told me they are not aloud to say and its up to me. Well I charged x-amount per SF and would like to know if I'm too low and am wrecking everyone elses business or if I'm too high and killing my own.

Anyways, I spoke to someone in my area and he said I'm good and with in range. But I had to guess and had no direction.

Back to the point, Yes, I would drop my price per SF a little to get a big job. Say a 150 sf and under keep it the same, over 150 SF drop like 50 cents or so...

[Guest mischief]

I think you are approaching this problem backwards. Set your pricing based on what it will cost you to serve your customers, pay all your bills and earn a fair profit on your risk and effort. The only thing a competitor's lower price tells you is either their costs are lower (cheaper film? worse installers? lower overhead) or they are idiots (lower profit, cheaper film, worse installers).

I charge less for bigger jobs because my overhead costs (transport, insurance, invoicing, bidding and the time spent setting up and messing around,etc) are spread over more square feet which drives my price per square foot down. Plus truly bigger jobs qualify for price breaks with my suppliers and sometimes labor. Having a square foot price helps to simplify bidding, but it is really only a bench mark and too much reliance on it can lose you money (or jobs). I figure my pricing based either on a $/hour or % gross profit. Then I back into a square foot number to simplify bidding in the field.

I guess what I am saying is if you are new to the flat glass, you need to spend some time figuring out the pricing, but even more making sure you offer something worth spending money on. If we all put more effort into serving our customers and less effort into beating the competition, everyone wins.

[TINT]

hey man,

just figure out how much profit you want for yourself...unless your using a real expensive film then most films out there arent expensive at all enough room to make a decent profit depending on the job.

[Guest haroldshouseoftint]

We talked about this, and like everyone else said, charge

A: what your area will warrant,

B: what you need to make to cover your bills

and also like I told you about the contractors licence, if yoou need help with that, don't hesitate to ask, I can hep you out on that

[Cuttingedge]

Well lets just say I lowered my normal commercial price to get my recent multiple storefront papa johns account to bite. It makes sense because I pretty much figure all of them as one big job instead of many smaller jobs.

[Guest darkdan]

Get a contract.

What happens when you don't get the rest?

[Guest Key West]

Take the cost of the film. Double that figure, then double it again. That should be your rock bottom price. Depending on your overhead. Are you insured? Bonded? Licensed, workmans comp, etc. they all add up. Vehicle, gas, you have to make a minimum margin of profit to stay in biz. I use this formula to figure my rock bottom price, and very rarely deviate from it. That figure is as low as I will go. I try and start a few bucks per square higher, and go down from there.

For example, if your film costs .80 per square ft, then .80 x 2 = 1.60 x 2 = 3.20 per sq/ft. That should be your rock bottom. Start higher, and work down from there. I start lowering the price by .10 per square for anything over 500 square. Drop .20 per square for 750 square, and .25 for 1000 square and above. 2000 square and you still got alot of working room. Believe me, .20 per square discount adds up. do the math

Hope this helps.

[Guest Key West]

I think there should be an standard that we try to follow to keep it profitable and balanced.

Back to the point, Yes, I would drop my price per SF a little to get a big job. Say a 150 sf and under keep it the same, over 150 SF drop like 50 cents or so...

Dropping your price in .50 increments is shooting your self in the foot. Thats $150 on a 300 sq/ft job!!! Unless you are starting out way high to begin with, thats ! Try dropping in .10 increments. I would never drop .50 per square unless it was 2500 square or better! And then I would drop only to my base minimum. Think of it this way, would you tint 1000 cars at 69.99 apiece for all 1000? I would certainly hope not!!