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4.153. How do I price Wide Format Inkjet Printing?

I have a wide format printer and want to price the output of this printer using EstiMate's wide format plugin. How do I do it?

In this example we will price 50 11? X 17? inch prints.

1. Open EstiMate and Click new estimate > add item > Wide Format Inkjet.

2. Input the number 50 into the quantity field. In the width field enter the number 11 and in the length field the number 17.

3. From the print media drop down select the print media of your choice. This is the substance you will be printing on. If you do not find it in the list, click the book icon to add.

4. Select a machine and a print mode from their respective dropdowns. The machine is the type of printer you will be using to print and the print mode is the quality or resolution of the print.

5. Select the ink you will need from the ink dropdown or click the book icon to add a new ink.

6. Leave the trim difficulty at its default of 5% as these are very conventional prints. You would increase the trim difficulty if you were doing something more difficult that had a complex design to cut out.

7. In the copy and colors field you can input what the finished print will say or the colors being used.

8. Adjust the artwork complexity to 3% and note that the design time (in the lower right) comes up to about 15minutes.

9. Leave the General Difficulty Level slider alone, since this is a very simple project.

10. Leave the Shop Workload slider at 50% which represents an average Workload in your shop and doesn?t adjust the price at all.

11. Market level at 50% also for the time being.

12. Margin at 100%.

13. Double-Click on the calculate total button. The price for the prints will appear in the subtotal box. You may think this is high or low, remember no program can exactly price wide format graphics for you. This is where you have to use your experience. Everyone tells us EstiMate comes extremely close, however.

14. Now for the exciting part. Double-click directly in the sub total box. The ?Hard Numbers? will appear. This screen tells you exactly how much the job will cost you and how much you?ll profit. They are called the hard numbers for a reason and may help put the price in perspective for you.

15. Click the OK button (green checkmark) on the hard numbers screen to return to the Wide Format Screen. Click the OK checkmark on the Wide Format Inkjet screen to save these prints as a line-item on the estimate.

16. Now we will add a customer to this estimate. At the top left of the screen you will see a box marked ?Client.? Click the icon of an open book to the right of this box to bring up the client list. Click the ?New? button in the lower left of the screen. Enter a new client record exactly the way you want it to appear on an estimate. Then click the OK button.

17. Once you are back at the client list, click the OK button to return to the estimate. Then choose the client you just entered from the drop-down list on the New Estimate screen.

18. To the right of the client box, enter a description for this job, i.e. ?Prints for Gallery Opening? and Click ?Save.?

19. Click the ?Print? button and choose ?Estimate? from the menu that comes up.

20. In the Print A Report screen that appears, make sure to check the following boxes: ?Include Signature Line? , ?Preview?, and ?Print totals on estimate? . Be sure the following are unchecked: ?Print financial analysis report? and ?Suppress individual item prices?.

21. Click the printer icon to print the estimate; you will see a preview appear on the screen. To print it to your printer, click the printer button at the top left of the preview screen. You can add your logo to this print later by clicking Management->Configure EstiMate from the main EstiMate screen and choosing the ?Logo? tab.

22. Once you are back at the ?New estimate? screen, click ?Close.? Congratulations! You have priced a set of digital prints.

Variation #1: Lamination.
1. Click the lamination and mounting tab found in the upper left corner of the Wide Format inkjet pricing screen.
2. In the lamination section choose a laminate or click the book icon to add one of your own.
3. (Optional) if a bottom lamination is needed, it can be selected from the bottom lamination dropdown.
4. After you are done choosing your laminates click the Job options tab to return to the Wide format screen.

Variation #2: Mounting.
1. Click the lamination and mounting tab found in the upper left corner of the Wide Format inkjet pricing screen.
2. In the mounting section choose a mounting material or click the book icon to add one of your own.
3. After you are done choosing your laminates click the Job options tab to return to the Wide format screen.


Q and A:

Q: Is there a way to set defaults for my print media, machine, and ink so I don?t have to select them on every quote?
A: Yes. Click the hammer icon at the top of the wide format screen. Select your default media, machine, and ink. Click the green checkmark to save. Subsequent quotes will now come up with your default selections automatically.

Q: Where do I input the width and length of my laminates or mounting material?
A: There is no need to enter this info. The width and length info you entered on the job details screen will also apply to the laminate or mounting material automatically.

Q: My machine is not in the list of machines, how do I add it?
A: A detailed discussion of this topic is available in the Café (estimate discussion group). Copy and paste the link below into your browser:
http://www.estimatesoftware.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000340
The discussion is concerning the Roland Versacamm but the entry details apply to all inkjet printers.

Q: Following the method above EstiMate is pricing too low on my quotes, what am I doing wrong?
A: If EstiMate is pricing too low there are three areas to check:
1. Your hourly rate. (Management > Configure EstiMate)
2. Your market level. See k-base article 30 for details located at http://www.PricingMadeEasy.com/go/kbase?id=30
3. Material Markups. Example: some people who produce wide format graphics feel the default markup of 100% EstiMate uses is too low for inkjet inks so they markup the inks in the 200-400% range (or more.)