help with quote

[parrotlady]

Hi folks,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with a quote.. Last time (my first and only project) I quoted way too low, and it took me so long, and the person got such a good deal and it made me resent the person and the project so much.

A local town wants 200 basic shapes like fruits, trees etc.. cut out and decorated (by local girl guides) to hang on their fence. Each shape is to be 2'square. They will be outside year round.
I was thinking of using a satin coat 20g metal (they want it lightweight), but then I was thinking that the satincoat would rust along the cuts? Should I used galvanized, then prime one side so the girls can paint it? Can they paint them, then have them powdercoated clear?

As for design time; there would be only 10 or so patterns repeated.

Could you guys tell me what you would quote on this if it were you?

Thanks

April

[AnotherDano]

Any idea what the inches of cut would be?
I've seen ranges from $.05 to $.15 per inch.

For the material, it's another tough call.
I'm doing a job for a powder coating friend for WAY too low a price.
His pieces are 8x24" and I'm just charging ten bucks apiece. Think about how many ten dollar shiny things I could cut from that piece of steel. But he needs sets of five and the first order is for three sets. 15 pieces = $150.00. Costs for the steel is about $65.00. There may be future orders so it might work out in the long run.

Charge by the square foot by the piece and then nest the crap out of the piece of steel.

'Community service' projects can be not only good for the heart but future business. Think of all those mommies who will see your work!

The hobby paints like Testors will stand up to a low cure-temp clear powdercoat, about 320-340, but they are very pricey. Powder Coating could run about $5.00/sq. ft. and don't forget the back side when adding that up. If you want the best base for the girls to add their paint to, have it powder coated in a matte finish like Black Magic (tm) and insist on a pre-treatment with iron phosphate to give it a long life. Any little chip in the p-coat will allow rust to crawl under the coating. The pre-treatment will stop that.

Ask Bill Worland about the clear coating he would recommend.

A straight answer..
Cost of the steel x 2, to include the gas to get it (or have it shipped). IOW; Total cost x 2, maybe 2.5 or 3.
Inches of cut at a rate that you are comfortable with and that is reasonable. Mine varies between the afore mentioned rates.
PITA factor; Rush jobs, late design changes, pre/post pay (I charge extra for payment upon completion and only accept a deal like that if the customer is a known entity), delivery charges, especially on a job that big..

[Streetwerkz]

The job estimator spreadsheet I down loaded from here has been good to me.
Sometimes when I'm stumped I will send my files off to a local laser cutter I use & get pricing on a 1, 5, 10, 20 qty.
this helps me gauge if I'm on the correct track.

I agree with Dan about the powder coat being the first layer then paint on top of it. Pretreatment is critical & a phosphate coating on P&O material will get you far.

You may consider a zinc rich primer (usually gray in color) rather than a color which will give the items more corrosion & rust resistance.

[WSS]

We do something close to what AnotherDano mentioned, 2.5 to 2.7 times the material cost, or cost of material + $60per hour, which ever is higher. The cutting software (DynaTorch) calculates the time to cut, I have found that doubling that number covers file tweaking, nesting, leads, plate on/off the table and any clean up. If the file has lots of internals, then I may add a bit more than double the time. If it is a few inside pierces and a profile then it is just a double for us.

Good luck getting and making $$$ on the project

WSS

[Bigrhamr]

You mentioned galvanized. In case you don't already know galv gives off some nasty, deadly fumes when cutting, welding or grinding it. Most shops that cut galv for HVAC use will, or should have a 100% effective downdraft table to capture everything. I would suggest staying away from it or at least doing some serious research to understand what you are dealing with. Some people take it way too lightly and figure a little wont hurt you, that may be true but it is a cumulative thing, every bit you breathe in stays with you.

[parrotlady]

Thanks guys... I will do some figuring tonight... Likely it will cost alot more than they are willing to pay.. On the galvanized, yes, I know, I wasnt going to cut it here... I would farm it out to a local shop and charge them more.
The shop thats cuts the galvanized... the guy that runs the plasma is now breaking out in weird skin rashes and I keep telling him that it is from cutting the galvanized metal, and he doesnt believe me. They only have a furnace fan exhausting the table in a great big open room. The exhaust just goes outside the door, and most of the time the door is open. Talk about a worker's comp case just waiting

April