Digital BW, The Print

In case anyone is interested to the follow-up on this story.  Among other 
helpful responses to my original post, there was some interesting discussion 
about pricing.  Just a quick end to the story:

I went to meet with the client today.  Took along 5-6 mounted prints as well as 
my portfolio on my laptop (I have it in iPhoto and iDVD format).  Also took 
along a detailed pricing sheet w. printout of the Wilhelm data on Ultrachrome 
prints attached.  Finally, took along 3 copies of the portfolio on DVD.

The initial contact was the head of the office, who gave the 4 people there 
autonomy to decide what they wanted but who made some suggestions.  So, 
the prints I brought leaned toward the ones she liked.  The 2 people making 
the selections had totally different stuff in mind, so it's a good thing I brought 
the whole portfolio.  In the end, they selected 4 (instead of 3) color (instead of 
B&W) shots.

The total price I gave them for 4 20x24 framed color images was $1375.  
Works out to something like $340/ea.  My matting and framing cost will be $90 
(discounted -- I have a friend who works at the frame shop).  Assuming about 
$25 cost for each print (on a 9600), I'll have a total of about $800 profit (not 
counting cost of my time, cost of making the images, etc, since I don't really 
know how to quantify that).  

The interesting things here are that (a) had I brought only what the initial 
contact person was interested in, I likely would not have made a sale and (b) I 
shoulda listened to the advice from someone who responded to my original 
post and asked $500/ea -- they didn't even blink at the price I gave them, and 
I'm positive I could have priced it at $500 w. no problem.  Live and learn....

Also, as it happens to work out, I have more time to find a B&W solution.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "chipcarterdc" <
chipcarterdc@h...> wrote:
> I've got a corporate client who, w/in the next 2 weeks, will be 
> purchasing 4 large (at least 20x24) B&W prints from me for their 
> office.  I currently have an Epson 2200 + ImagePrint, so obviously my 
> current equipment won't work.
> 
> Here's my dilemma, given that I'm currently looking at purchasing a 
> wide-format printer, but haven't done so yet.  Do I (a) go ahead and 
> get a 9600 (my top choice at the moment) plus ImagePrint and do the 
> job myself or (b) send these prints out and continue the long 
> painstaking process of deciding what to do in the long run for large 
> format B&W independent of this current job?  I haven't yet figured 
> out what I'm going to charge these guys (any help there would be 
> greatly appreciated).  But if I send it out to West Coast Imaging, I 
> guessing it will cost me around $100 (I had a 20x30 Piezo print done 
> there a few months back and it was around $120), thereby 
> significantly cutting into my profit margin if I charge anything like 
> a reasonable price for the prints.  (Another factor is that they also 
> want me to frame the prints -- I guess I could jack up the total cost 
> by "writing it off" to the framing cost....).  Assuming it costs me 
> about $10 each to make these prints myself on a 9600 (I just made 
> that number up), I could make $90 profit on each print.  Or, I could 
> send it out to West Coast and make almost no profit unless I want to 
> give the client a serious case of sticker shock.
> 
> What would you do in this situation?  I mean, I'm getting tired of 
> throwing money down the drain by having someone else do my wide 
> format work, but I don't want to be hasty on the purchase of a 9600 
> either....
> 
> (A final piece of the puzzle is that I have been thinking about 
> having 2 printers, one dedicated to B&W probably running the UT7 
> system when it becomes available.  But to do this job (right) myself 
> on the 9600, I need ImagePrint; and if I buy ImagePrint (I got a 
> quote from a dealer of $2000 for it for the 9600), I ain't buying a 
> second printer for a LONG time).