Bidding Large Jobs
You’re a fairly small sign shop and you’ve just been offered a chance to bid on a large volume contract. You have the staff to accommodate the work, but you have never bid on such a large volume before. How do you go about coming up with a price? Make sure that you estimate the cost of materials and labor first. Be generous to yourself, you do not want to underbid. You will just create a lot of pressure for yourself and your staff, without reaping the rewards of a nice profit. Then contact some other sign shop owners or suppliers that you are friendly with and ask what they would charge. See if your original figure was close. Decide on what you know is the minimum you would accept, and then add a little more to give yourself room to negotiate. It is more important that you let the potential client know that you must charge for the quality and craftsmanship you are capable of producing for them, thus earning their trust and respect.