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Sign pricing calculator.

Work out what to charge for a sign from its square footage, substrate rate, finishing and labor. The defaults are mid-market US sign shop rates from SignCraft's starter catalog — change any of them to match your own.

Install is priced at $95/hr and design at $85/hr — the starter catalog rates. Change the per-square-foot rate above to match your own pricing.

Quoted total
$217.00
one unit
Area32 sq ft
Material at your rate$192.00
Finishing$25.00
Labor$0.00

This adds the line up at your own sell rates. It is not a cost breakdown, and it leaves out overhead, profit margin and tax.

How it works

Four steps, the way a shop actually quotes.

Most sign pricing is a rate, an area and a few extras. The calculator does exactly that sum, in the open, so you can argue with any line of it.

Banners are usually sold by the square foot. Rigid panels too, with the substrate changing the rate. Wraps are often a flat price per vehicle size. Install and design are hourly.

  1. Measure the sign

    Width times height, in feet, gives the area in square feet. A 4 × 8 banner is 32 sq ft.

  2. Apply the substrate rate

    Area times the rate for that material, times quantity. 32 sq ft at $6.00 is $192.00.

  3. Add finishing

    Per unit, not per square foot. Hem and grommets are $25.00 in the starter catalog; pole pockets are $40.00.

  4. Add labor

    Install hours at $95.00, design hours at $85.00. On a simple banner, both are often zero.

Three worked examples.

Straight from the starter catalog rates. Every number is editable inside SignCraft.

4 × 8 vinyl banner

13oz vinyl, hem + grommets

32 sq ft × $6.00$192.00
Hem + grommets$25.00
Total$217.00

3 × 6 banner, pole pockets

18oz blockout at $8.00

18 sq ft × $8.00$144.00
Pole pockets$40.00
Total$184.00

2 × 3 ACM panel

Aluminum composite, standoffs

6 sq ft × $18.00$108.00
Standoffs$35.00
Total$143.00

Where this lives in SignCraft

Same sum, stored once, applied to every quote.

In SignCraft the substrate and finishing rates live in the product, not in a spreadsheet cell you have to remember. A quote line picks the product, the size and the finishing, and the price is calculated from the catalog.

Each line also carries its margin, checked against a threshold you set — 30 percent by default. If a line falls below it, the quote screen says so before the quote goes out.

  • One rate per substrate. Change ACM from $18 to $20 once; every future quote uses it.
  • Finishing priced per unit. No more remembering whether grommets were $20 or $25.
  • Margin visible per line. Below your threshold, before the quote goes out.
  • The same numbers on the PDF. Customer-facing, branded, no retyping.
  • Pricing questions, answered.

    What is a fair price per square foot for a vinyl banner?

    The starter catalog in SignCraft uses $6.00 a square foot for 13oz vinyl, $8.00 for 18oz blockout and $7.00 for mesh. Those are mid-market US sell rates, not costs. Your market, volume and turnaround decide whether they fit.

    Should finishing be per square foot or per unit?

    Per unit, usually. Hemming, grommets and pole pockets are labor and hardware per banner, so a 2 × 3 and a 4 × 8 do not carry the same charge. The calculator follows that rule.

    How do I price install?

    By the hour at your shop rate, plus anything the site needs — a boom lift, a second installer, a removal. The starter catalog uses $95.00 an hour for on-site install and lists monument installs at $450.00.

    Does this include overhead and profit?

    No. It adds up the line at your sell rates. Overhead, profit target and tax are yours to apply — SignCraft shows margin per line against a threshold so you can see whether the result is worth doing.

    Stop rebuilding the same sum.

    The calculator is free forever. If you want the rate stored once, applied to every quote, and followed up automatically, open SignCraft.