MINIMUMS SHOULD GO UP WITH THE PRICE OF GAS AND PAINT

I have been doing this for 7 years now and my competitors never charge more for their minimums yet the price of EVERYTHING has gone through the roof. I grew some balls this year and started charging more than double my minimum which used to be $150. and sure enough not many people are even batting an eyelash to my and my bank accounts chagrin. Now of course I have done a line here and a HC there cause I was in the neighbourhood (on my time, not on the customers schedule if it is not the minimum). But I think that the people we deal with own land and buildings worth in most cases hundreds of thousands if not millions and they understand. When I talked to one of my competitors who has been in the business since the dinosaurs were around he said "I would feel guilty..." meanwhile he is running around in his old beater pick up. I want him to succeed and make money...but he just doesnt get it... I there anyone who does not go anywhere for less than $500.00. ?

Our small job minimum has been at $300 for over a year.. Just started adding $1 per mile for everything outside 25 mile radius. No one has flinched yet and work hasn't slowed.

My minimum is $300. I don't charge (list on the estimate) a mileage charge, but it is taken into account @ the time of the estimate. TSZ

$300 doesnt sound like a lot of money to me to keep my property looking good. Of course I dont have commercial property and I dont have any work yet. It's been 3 weeks since I bought my linelazer I'd like to do a seven 11 or something. I ask people and they dont call back I had planed on small jobs $300 but I might have to cut my throut for the first couple jobs? Well see hopefully things will get better. But I think $300 is O.K. Best of luck! jknight

I am starting out just doing mainly restriping over faded lines with a fairly good amount of sealcoat still left.. I was thinkin to charge $100-150 min charge for restriping.. What are you gettin per lin ft for re-striping, HC 39" men and stop bars etc..

Minimum here is $150 that includes 30 stalls and one HC and $200 min for new layout.. prolly should raise both of them

I think the saying is something like " I want to be the best paid striper in town...who has work". To figure what to set as your minimum you must know your costs, your profit objective, and your market. It's great if you have a $250 minimum...as long as you have work. If work is slack, or there is competition, or you're willing to work a little cheaper to get your name out there, then a minimum of $125-$150 might be in order. When I first started, my absolute minimum was $25 for restripe or $50 for new work, and I was happy to get that ( I was 17 and $50 was a weeks wages @$1.60 an hour). Nowadays with everything going up, look hard at your minimums and make sure they are sufficient to meet your objectives. ...and then, of course, "Weekend Willie" will come along and undercut you....

We don't go anywhere for under $295.00. I honestly don't see how anyone can make a profit below that. We've been at it for three years now, and still aren't striping a parking lot everyday yet. Come stand in a parking lot for about four our five hours in this South Louisiana heat and you would be charging $500.00 minimum.

$300 minimums. $500 minimums. I am glad I don't own a small business and have to call you guys to restripe my 25 stall parking lot with a couple of white only handicap stalls. I think I would let my fingers do the walking until I found someone with a smaller minimum. If you aren't getting a lot of rejections, more power to you. Whatever the market will bare. Not being busy striping 7 days a week, my minimums if it is a one person job are considerably less. I try to clear $150 after materials the first hour or less. $1,250 per day is not bad for an 8 hour day. My furthest customer is usually no more than 20 minutes away. I like to consider each striping customer as a starting point to other pavement services such as patching and seal coating. If I can't upsell the customer down the road I must be losing my touch. Each customer I miss because of a high minimum could "cost" me hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the future.

Dennis, You are lucky! 20 min between jobs! Here 2 hours is common. You are right about what the market will bear. But, the market also dictates what prices should be. In a capitalistic system prices act much like water. Prices seek their natural level if allowed. Underpricing what the market will bear (or dictates) will lose more than the "hundreds if not thousands of dollars." True, if you happen to exceed what the market requires, you will begin to lose work. Make adjustments and lick the wounds. You've only lost a fixed amount. BUT, if you are continually underpriced for fear of losing a job or two, you will be losing on every job from then on. I didn't mean to get on a soap-box. But, I've witnessed too many individual stripers that stayed busy and couldn't stay afloat because they were trying to compete with the deflated per foot prices the bigger companies use here in the metroplex. They have their own price war and I elect not to participate.

If you stripe a lot for $50. and a pack of smokes,next time around they will still be looking for that price. Example, if all stripers in your area charged a min of $100,eventually everyone would know that automatically the compettitors will charge $100 min. it would be a hit and a miss for all,but you would make some money. This would only work in a perfect world. Followed up on a quote the other day and the guy told me he was getting it done for 1/2 the price quoted the previous year. Yup,sitting back fat,dumb and happy. Rcan 10-7 till midnight.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I've done all types of work in the past but my new venture is kind of a money making hobbie. I know most of you do this for a living but I don't see how you can change colors three times, clean the machine and drive an hour for $150. Thats crazy I think $295 is right on time!

How much water do u carry on ur trailer to flush and change paint colors? I was thinkin bout 2, 5gal buckets per color.. ?? Do you take a hose just in case there is a hose bib to hook up to ? where do you dispose of all the colored water once u flush it onsite?

lets face it, all of us here are not the same and dont have the same overhead, expenses, or certain criteria to meet (money wise etc...)so i can see where some of u here say low/high minimums, but personally i feel anything less then what the "market"/going rate among stripers is(in your area), is then going against the grain of the profession, meaning if some joe blow has a minimum of $100 and majority of other stripers has $300, joe blow is not necessarily going to get the work and of course reputation etc...weigh into scenerio, but it justs knocks things out of balance a bit, call numerous plumbers in your area and see what the "rate" is, i can assure you they are all for the most part in the same ball park (along with most professions) when i first started striping, i went by what the rate was.....(which is $300) sometimes i feel that is kinda high and sometimes i dont (depending on situations) but i stick to it and try and keep a balance out here in the market where i am at.....i dont want to be known as the cut throat low ball guy or the overpriced guy, i know certain things weigh into that thought, but it works for me and of course i try and do quality work and do things right....of course things are going up in price, and minimum prices are proably going to follow, and i dont have no problem with it, just my 2 cents.....just for instance today, i did a small layout ( like 25 stalls,90's and no hc's or nothing else....and like 2 miles from my house) i felt $300 was too much personally, "but" i charged my minimum and guy was tickled pink and had a smile on his face....

I guess id play it on a case by case scenario , dependin how close from home it is, condition of lot, amount of prep, sweepin blowing etc.. I think $150-200 is a reasonable startin min charge for someone like myself tryin to get into the biz.. If I bid out lets say 10 lots and every one of them say Im way out of line then I'd adjust accordingly..

Well I'm in NY. I've called around to many other striper's/sealcoaters and created a think tank of sorts. We beat each other up for new Ideas and the one about minimums came up after paint and gas went up. we all agreed, Our costs go up our prices go up. we pass the buck. I can say I'm plenty busy and I sometimes sub out some of it. there is one guy who will do it for .75 a line. but the customer soon sees you get what you pay for. I have since gotten 8 of his properties. stick to your guns and do quality work. they will pay.

Be careful, your "think tank" is starting to sound like "restraint of trade".

We don't price fix There is an industry standard here. We sometimes compete on the same jobs but there are also other people bidding.I consider myself very ethical. and I wouldn't be part of it. but I do understand where you're comming from.

Rich wrote on Jul 10, 2005:Go to #15

I guess id play it on a case by case scenario , dependin how close from home it is, condition of lot, amount of prep, sweepin blowing etc.. I think $150-200 is a reasonable startin min charge for someone like myself tryin to get into the biz.. If I bid out lets say 10 lots and every one of them say Im way out of line then I'd adjust accordingly..

i have not been in the striping biz (for myself) very long(sealcoating i have), and not sure of area you are in, i am in a fairly small town, and not everyone knows everyone, but it's a small world out here sometimes, and as a consumer, i prefer someone for sure being fair when providing a service for me, but if someone charges me a specified fee, and then i hear the same guy charged someone i know of (a different fee) for same service, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth, even though you may not know all the circumstances, that's another reason i try and be around the "norm" , not saying you are doing wrong and i am no expert, but be careful changing prices, you mention 10 jobs for instance, 10 jobs in my area , that feel i am " way out of line" might lead to 20 others hearing i am way out of line...(if you know what i mean) word of mouth especially in small towns is very powerful and is contagious

Good call johnnyb. Try not to get caught up in a bidding war. Being you are in a small town, it shouldn't be too difficult to provide info to your service area that would allow them to compare apples to apples. Just be sure to point out to your customer(s) how your service(s) are worth the extra cost.