You need to factor in cost of paint as well as your time. More letters mean more paint.

Diane

Not many sign makers left who still do hand lettering.

Price the self stick letters at the hardware store and make sure you are charging at least 2-3 times as much.

Sorry, Horsa, but I totally disagree with this approach. Vinyl lettering is dirt cheap… even custom cut vinyl lettering done on a machine.

Hand lettering is becoming a lost art, as you pointed out. It takes a true craftsman to do this work well. If the sign painter is any good at their craft I think they should charge $ 60.00 to $ 100.00 and hour for their efforts… more if it entails any gilding.

Besides, if they can afford the boat, they can afford to pay for the lettering. :thumbsup:

When I had my shop sign painted I paid about $5-10 per letter. They weren’t broken out separately. And I live in an area where the sign painter who still does it all by hand works cheap!

Sigh. My husband used to be a sign painter and pictorial billboard painter. I still remember the day he came home and told me “a machine” had come out and could do what he did cheaper and in a fraction of the time and he needed to change careers. About 35 years ago…my son was a baby.

I didn’t believe it. He did beautiful custom work and I didn’t believe anyone would buy the cheesy vinyl.

How wrong I was! He still misses it.

Historically, so many artists were sign painters, too. It’s one of those things that looks easy but is very easy to look amateurish, too.

Anyway, there is a site called the Letterheads, they are what’s left of the trade and you might get some ideas of pricing from them. But they are pros, not doing this as a side.

I have done custom lettering of signs in festivals and market type shows and did quite well until the computerized machines started popping up at the shows. You need to charge for time and materials.