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Re: Prices

>Tom,

>I've had a neon shop in the midatlantic area for over 9 years.
>The general rule of thumb in this area is there are three- four categories
>for pricing, depending on the type of glass, i.e., clear, standard coated,
>double coated, and classic. Each category graduating in cost,  reflecting the
>additional cost for materials, bending time and experience required to
>execute quality looking work.  Some shops simply add the additional cost of

>Pat Meyer
>Custom Neon Designs, Inc.
>Wilmington DE
>
>

I agree that we have these categories. We also have per letter, per foot,
and sometimes per bend to take into account. Additionally, I feel there are
varying levels of clientel i.e. to the trade, to middle persons, to
businesses, to corporations (the difference here often being a higher
architectural specification and many more meetings), private home
installations, etc, etc.  There are also different kinds of installations
from a ready to go hanger all the way to rigging a rooftop sign.  Also there
are varying degrees of client demand.  I don't mean to imply that you should
do garbage.  I just mean that one client may be perfectly happy to have an
exposed hanging transformer and  another may want to see as little wiring as
possible.

The problem here is that you and your client will get dizzy if you try to
spell all this out.  If you round off pricing toward a higher category you
are not competetive if you round off too low you're screwed.

Then you get the random call (probably from a competitor) asking "what do
you get per foot?"  And of course everything also depends on quantity. 

I try to work with a limited range of base prices but I also have a list of
extras.
I try not to scare the client with too many.

Generally I still find that the job you priced too low also turns out to be
the one with the most headaches.

As Tom said something to the effect that it's better to be known as "not the
cheapest but good".  I like to think of this as quite a reasonable deal.
The client is getting intelligence, care, reliability, and I don't screw
around if there's a problem.

Kenny

  

Kenny Greenberg   Neon Artist, Scenic Specialist, Columnist - Internet World
c/o KRYPTON NEON 34-43 Vernon Blvd Long Island City, NY 11106
      Ph: 718-728-4450   Fx: 718-728-7206  Email: kenny@neonshop.com
      http://www.neonshop.com    gopher://gopher.panix.com:70/11/nyart