Selling Unfinished Projects

[BanksAg]

Anyone have any thoughts or advice one way or the other on selling unfinished/unpainted projects? I've always been of the mindset that anything we produce and sell should be a finished, complete, professional product. We're simply not set up well enough to do much painting, and being a school there are a ton of hoops to jump through to try and get set-up to have someone else paint or powder coat for us. We've had several requests for signs like this one that we designed last year. When I've mentioned our painting challenges, I've had several people tell me that they are fine painting their own. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

Tim

[SegoMan DeSigns]

I am currently not set up to PC either so I tell my customers to do that on their own. This saves them money as I don't apply up charges and / or charge for millage, more importantly it puts the color decisions on them and the finish warranty is between them and the PC shop.

[djreiswig]

I sell it to them however they want to purchase it. If they want to handle the finish work, fine with me. That's the part I don't really care for anyway. I more enjoy the design and cutting. I just adjust the price accordingly.

[Ironken]

Depending on volume, have you considered partnering with a coating shop....maybe finding out their pricing structure for your most popular sizes. This way you can have the groundwork laid out for the customer and an approximate price. If you move enough product, you may be able to angle for a price break that you can make the customers aware of.

[mdwalker]

Most people don't own a cnc plasma table. Almost anybody can go buy a can of paint. 99% of the products I produce are sold/shipped bare metal. When I advertise an item I state that it is delivered bare metal and they can be painted, powder coated or some people like the rustic look and leave them bare. I stay busy enough that I don't have time to paint.

[BanksAg]

Thanks for the input guys. So far the demand for unfinished signs has been much greater than I expected.

[4eleven]

I've been wondering the same thing. Thanks guys for posting your thoughts on this subject.