A simple sign shop price book
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A simple sign shop price book has three parts: your materials (what each one costs per square foot or per piece, plus a waste %), your labor rates per hour, and your products, each with a recipe (which materials, how many minutes), a markup and a minimum. For example, an $18 coroplast sheet is $0.5625 a square foot; with 15% waste, ink and five minutes of printer and shop time, an 18×24 sign costs $6.36 and prices at $12.71 each with a 100% markup (one sign alone hits the $20 minimum). Keep costs and recipes like that, not a list of finished prices: then any size can be priced the same way by anyone in the shop, and one supplier price change updates every product that uses it. A spreadsheet does this for free (there's a free template on GitHub, with its own example costs); software is worth it when you want quotes and jobs to come straight from the book.
What goes in each part
| Part | What to write down | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | Cost per square foot (or per piece), and the waste % you really lose to trimming and misprints | 4 mm coroplast: $18 for a 4×8 sheet = $0.5625/sq ft, 15% waste. Ink: $0.25/sq ft. |
| Labor rates | Dollars per hour for each kind of work: printer time, shop time, install | Printer $40/hour, shop $50/hour |
| Products | The recipe (materials per sq ft, minutes per piece), the markup, the minimum and any add-ons | 18×24 yard sign: coroplast + ink + 3 minutes printing + 2 minutes cutting; 100% markup; $20 minimum; H-stake $1.50 each, not marked up |
These are the example costs from our coroplast guide, not supplier quotes: replace every one with what you pay. More on typical figures: vinyl banners and markup.
Worked example: ten yard signs from the book
| Step | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 18 × 24 in ÷ 144 | 3 sq ft |
| Coroplast with waste | 3 × $0.5625 × 1.15 | $1.94 |
| Ink | 3 × $0.25 | $0.75 |
| Printing | 3 min ÷ 60 × $40 | $2.00 |
| Cutting | 2 min ÷ 60 × $50 | $1.67 |
| Cost per sign | $6.36 | |
| Price per sign | $6.3573 (unrounded) × (1 + 100%), rounded to the cent | $12.71 |
| Ten signs | 10 × $12.71, above the $20 minimum | $127.10 |
| Stakes | 10 × $1.50 | $15.00 |
| Price | $142.10 ($14.21 a sign with its stake) |
Printing and cutting are more than half the cost of one yard sign, which is why the minutes and the minimum matter as much as the board price. One sign on its own would be $20.00, the minimum.
When a cost changes
Say your supplier raises coroplast from $18 to $20.50 a sheet. In the book that's one line: $0.6406/sq ft. Each sign now costs $6.63 and prices at $13.25, so the same ten signs with stakes come to $147.50: $5.40 more on this job. A list of finished prices wouldn't change until someone noticed, and every yard sign job would carry that loss. A recipe-based book picks the change up everywhere the material is used. Quotes you already sent should keep the price you gave.
Spreadsheet, laminated sheet or software
- Laminated price sheet: fast at the counter, but it lists finished prices, so it can't price an odd size and it's out of date at the next supplier increase. Print it from the book, not instead of it.
- Spreadsheet: free and enough for many small shops. Put costs on one sheet and have the products read them. The sign pricing template does this for banners, coroplast, ACM and printed vinyl. Its example costs differ from the ones on this page, so put in your own.
- Sign shop software: worth it when you want quotes and jobs built from the book, so nothing is re-typed. SignShop Profit starts from presets (banners, Coroplast, ACM and more); shopVOX and SignTracker use product templates; CoreBridge sets it up with onboarding specialists for a one-time fee. Prices and fit are on the comparison page.
The same book in Grommetbook
Grommetbook keeps exactly these three parts: Materials (with waste), Rates and Products (with markup, minimum and options). You fill it in with forms in your browser, upload a spreadsheet, or tell an AI assistant your costs. Every price shows its working step by step, a material change reprices every Product that uses it, and Quotes you already sent stay frozen. It's free for up to 5 new quotes a month, or $49 a month per shop for unlimited.
Start your price book in the browser or see pricing.
Questions
- What is a sign shop price book?
- A written list of what things cost you and how you turn that into a price: your materials (cost per square foot or per piece, with waste), your labor rates per hour, and your products, each with its recipe, markup and minimum. Anyone in the shop can price a job from it and get the same answer.
- Should a price book list prices or costs?
- Costs and recipes. A list of finished prices goes out of date the day a supplier raises a price and can't handle a size you didn't list. Costs plus a recipe price any size, and one cost change updates every product that uses it.
- What's the simplest way to keep one?
- A spreadsheet with a Costs sheet and a Products sheet whose formulas read the costs. There's a free one on GitHub. Software helps when you want quotes and jobs built straight from it.
- How often should I update it?
- Whenever a supplier invoice changes a material cost, and at least once a year for labor rates. Quotes you already sent keep the price you gave.