restripe

Hey,I was just curious about what you guys are charging in other parts of the US for restriping per linear foot nowadays

10-15 cents per LF, depending on how much traffic I've got to deal with. I try to figure in my "waiting for paint to dry" time.

As much as you can get. If it is a large job or mall, 10-15 cents per LF is good but if it is a McDonalds or other small job that is a pain in the a$$, 25 cents per foot (or more) is reasonable. Keep in mind a minimum charge for those small ones

Like Randy said but my minimum starts at $.27/ft. plus extras.

Hey all, We were bidding on a job for Minyards, there was a woman I was speaking with over there that was appalled at the price I gave here of .11 a LF. I guess American Striping is doing it for around .06 a LF..... (expletive), I wish I could make money at that!!!!

Once again, it goes to what has been said here over and over. KNOW YOUR COSTS! Yes, there are jobs that can be done at $0.06/lf and still make plenty of money. But you have to know your costs on such a job. If you bid the wrong job at that price you will get burned. Prices in this range is where experience prevails and there is little margin for error but it can be done (at least in most of the lower 48).

My paint alone plus freight cost me $0.0766667 per foot @300ft/gal. I suppose if I was to buy one of those rider thingamabobs I could put it on a little thinner. Then I could apply it to the same lot maybe 3 times a year so everyone could see it. Or maybe put it on 1/2 as thick because the lot is covered with snow 1/2 the year. My dime says I am putting it on a little thin even at that rate. With all the sand I dump on the lots in the winter for ice control some of my lines ain't even there in the spring. Maybe it is the snow eating away at the paint? ha ha. As Randy said again (dam that man is smart) your overhead is the most important part of the equation on figuring how much to charge. another is how much you want to take home after the job and another is how much profit the Co. needs to make to prosper. note: To me profit is not what I take home at the end of the day. (that is my wage) But profit is what I can put back into the CO. to make it grow. It is not needed to pay bills or buy dinner or lunch for the crew but what the Co. has to spend for anything it wants but doesn't need to continue existing. If all you make is enough to pay the bills and pay yourself a wage with nothing left over, then your Co. is not profitable. All you have is a job and should be working for someone else. Truth be known 90% of the self employed out there only have a job. You have to keep your self separate form the business, otherwise you and the business are working for the same $. National Maintenance Companies pray on new people that don't know how to run a business. They offer someone a big name contract and a nonprofitable price hoping they take it because of the name recognition. Not because they want to help the little guy grow. And as long as there is a new guy on the block there will always be cheep pricing. You will never find a striping company that has been in business 20 years accepting jobs with no profit. (unless they are trying to make a point) You say you can't get higher pricing because your competition is taking it all. Then you need to eather change your business around to cut your overhead or sell your business as producing a better product/service for the higher price of look for something else to do for a living. As you maybe able to tell there is 2" of fresh snow on the ground this morning and I have nothing else to do. Ha Ha. This is just my 2 cents worth on why some think they can run a business with such low pricing. Dwan

Well actually I am a commercial pilot and this is a business I have started. My brother and father work for me. I enjoy the work on my time off from work and military duty(Reserves). I am trying to make this profitable but sometimes find myself wondering what I am doing wrong. I actually have little overhead but do pay the insurance cost for workers comp, general liability, and commercial auto policies. I would think that with the little overhead I would be able to capture some of the work at a lower price without giving it away. I'm pretty sure I am not catching something, you know there is no substitute for experience so I'm sure in the future I'll get there but there are so many things involved in getting to that point. But nothing that money can't solve....right? Thank all you guys for your input, I hope I can figure it out....................See ya'll

In my area their are plenty of Weekend Earls whose overhead consists of their personal pickup, the payment to Sherwin-Williams for the striper, the paint and the minimal (if any) insurance they have. You cannot compete with those folks pricewise, so do not try. Establish your actual costs, establish your minimums, run the business as a business and you will make money.

Our industry is not the only one that fights this problem. Almost any business ran from a pickup is like ours. Roofing, plumbing, painting, concrete paving, etc.. I had a concrete construction business back in the late 70's and early 80's and I had to meet prices that were actually below my costs. There are so many factors involved when trying to compete with these people and sometimes these people are us! We all have payments to make, food to buy, children to care for, that's what makes this country so great.

Dawn, you sound like you know what you talking about...we should all be in business to make money for our company. Business is business. friends or family have a hard time understanding this.

Say, Fly, would you happen to be in D/FW?

JimJack42, you mean you understood what I was trying to say? I reread it and not sure I understand it. Sure was a slow Sunday. Anyway thanks for the compliment

Dwan, forget overhead for the moment, your material costs are too high. Using your figures I calculate you are paying $23/gal for your paint - way too high! I'm paying between 8 and 9 per gal. delivered. At about 400 ft/gal (I think 300'/gal is too much for a restripe) that comes to about $.02 per foot for my material cost. You can't compete with the big guys if you are paying $23 per gallon. You need to find a better supplier!

Salty wrote on Mar 8, 2006:Go to #14

Dwan, forget overhead for the moment, your material costs are too high. Using your figures I calculate you are paying $23/gal for your paint - way too high! I'm paying between 8 and 9 per gal. delivered. At about 400 ft/gal (I think 300'/gal is too much for a restripe) that comes to about $.02 per foot for my material cost. You can't compete with the big guys if you are paying $23 per gallon. You need to find a better supplier!

Ask your paint suppier if they will deliver to Alaska for that same price, I'm sure dwan will buy it buy the truck load. Dwan is the big guy...

I didn't realize the remote location. If thats the going rate in Alaska, fine. Obviously, nobody should be bidding work at 6 cents/ft. up there. Its a different world here in the lower 48. I meant no disrespect to Dwan - I should have seen his 5 stars. Open mouth, insert foot !

Thanks Bear62; No offence taken Salty; Here is a brakedown A truck load of paint would last me 5 years. There are less then 100 parking lots in Juneau and they all get done every year. I do 75% of them and the others are done by the owners with rollers. Some get there paint from me. My pint is expensive and not the best but it is the same every year (consistent). Freight is by barge and takes 3 to 4 days depending on weather. Paint supplyer (Seattle) delivers to barge for free. Barge charges for "HAZ" approx $1.5 lb for freight. (1gal = approx 7.6 lb). So as you can see I pay more in freight then most of you pay for your paint. My overhead may be less then some but my supplies are a lot higher. I share insurance and equipment costs with other parts of my business. Because of the ad mount of sand (ice control) I put down in the winter a restripe uses as much paint as new because there is no paint left on the lot come spring. We have an the average 270 un paintable days a year. (rain, snow) Anyone can come in here and compeat with me on striping but they would have to offer the other services I do for my clients to get the jobs. They could bring a $5,000 striping machine to town but would also have to also bring $500,000 worth of supporting equipment. The door is open. Here is an example of how to remove stripes. apply sand in fall and wait till spring and let mother nature take its course.

Dwan would have to buy a whole truck load to get free shipping, I don't think he wants to fork out a few hundred K just to save a few bucks a gallon. Bad thing about living in Alaska is that every thing cost more, but it is a great place to look at.