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4.122. How do I price banners I buy by the lineal foot?

We purchase our ready made blank banners from Sign Mart. Their pricing for
these items is based on lineal foot. If, for example I need a 24 inch wide
banner x 5 feet long, they will cut it from 36 inch wide goods, cut it to the
length, hem & grommet it and charge me for a 5 foot length of 36 inch goods.
If I buy a 33 inch (finished width) x 5 foot banner it will cost me exactly
the same because I pay by the lineal foot. If my banner must have a finished
width of 36 inches it will be cut from 60 inch wide goods, so a 36 inch x 5
foot blank banner is considerably more costly than a 33 inch x 5 foot blank
banner. How do I feed this information into the Estimate system so it knows
the difference in substrate cost? (Realize that the cost of a 58 inch x 5
foot blank banner is the same as that of a 36 inch x 5 foot blank banner.)

The best solution for you under the circumstances is to find a median price for your banners that you buy (per square foot) and enter this banner price in the substrate list, with a 100% markup. This way, in the worst case scenario you are breaking even on the substrate and in the best case you are making nearly 200% profit. Then you can price banners without worry.