Estimating for Printing Industry and Small Business Spreadsheet Estimator

[@RoadCaptainUSA]

Thank you for bringing Print Estimating to the world or at least a peak. I have been a full time print estimator for the past 24 years. Since the pandemic I have been able to work from home. I am as many print estimator s are, an RIT graduate. It comes down to time, materials and outsourcing. An accurate production estimate is an exact plan to follow which can drive scheduling and purchasing systems. But estimating to come up with a competitive and profitable price can be slightly different. Many variables. Every estimate is like a puzzle which makes the job interesting. Must know everything in regards to equipment, substrates, inks, etc… have to look at the finishing and engineer backwards to get great results. Print estimating has been a blessing to me. I get to do what I’m good at and now I get to work from home. Too bad the field does not seem to be attracting young people. On the other hand it may be a matter of time where AI can do it better and faster. Thanks again for bringing attention to my vocation.

[@denniswatson83]

Dennis here from Jamaica, thanks for your videos great content, and I do printing myself but mostly funeral programs and your videos inspired me to move forward to do a wide variety of printing but for now I will master what I'm doing now and will continue watching your videos to learn a lot that when the time comes I will have a vast amount of knowledge. YOU ARE MY MOTIVATOR so please keep up the good work. God bless

[@justaprinter]

Good for you, glad my video motivate you!

[@stephenbrown8898]

I love your ideals. Ive always felt you make your own destiny you can choise where you want to go and end up.

[@ryananthony4840]

I like your motivation perspective, good work ethic..... That's the way I was raised; "u learn to like it" or "make yourself like it".... It truly is all in your head, and that's probably why I always ended up in manager positions and why I've had my own business for 10 years... And I truly do love what I do!

[@justaprinter]

Well said! I agree, mindset is very powerful!

[@BenediktFoit]

Thanks for taking the time to show us your work and sharing your process and thinking. Helpful and inspiring.

[@justaprinter]

You are welcome!

[@miketheprintman]

Great video, Dan. I’ve been working on simplifying pricing doing the same thing with price sheets. Makes things so much easier. Appreciate the great content.

[@justaprinter]

Great! My spreadsheets are always a work in progress, getting closer to perfection.

[@elncalls]

Been using PrintSmith for over 25 years. Seriously has been become an art form to estimate jobs. I have spreadsheets that cover hard cost/profit numbers as well and just can’t stop using them in conjunction. What I like about having a dedicated MIS is that I can adjust everything across the board cost associated based upon the ever changing supply cost. Consistency is key when it comes to estimating.

[@justaprinter]

Neat, I'll look into PrintSmith, I have heard of that before.

[@khalidmurii]

Long experience makes a really good estimator Love to watch your videos Always learning something new A big thumb up 👍👍👍👍👍 for you Dan Wish you the best

[@justaprinter]

Experience is great! Thanks for watching!

[@cloakcity7751]

Great video Dan, I may check out the price sheets on Patreon. I appreciate the funky beats too!

[@justaprinter]

You bet!

[@MrEklips1]

Great video as always Dan! Im still waiting for some explain about expert adjustment for C1070/C3070. Greetings from Poland :)

[@justaprinter]

Ah yes, I need to do that. You will find out how much I don't know... lol.

[@atulsingh7539]

You are doing a great job.

[@justaprinter]

Thanks!

[@Max-lx4gv]

Dan, thank you for giving a peak behind the scenes and how things are done. I came across your video searching for print estimating and while watching noticed you used a mix of manual notes and calculations on a spreadsheet. Unless it's too late. As one who sets companies up with a small print estimating system titled ePRO MIS. I'd like to offer you the software to review and if useful - translate your spreadsheet data into the system to save you time thinking and preparing quotes in the future? Max The Printers Apprentice

[@philanderson1200]

I refer to your spreadsheets on patreon. I also use a estimating program called Franklin Estimator. It allows me to input all my paper sizes and weights. The cost I pay and the markup I want to add. I can use this for digital and my offset printing.

[@justaprinter]

That Franklin estimator looks like fun. I'll explore that.

[@JeroenSteen]

How do you calculate price of a click when out of contract on a laserprinter? How do you charge/handle different toner coverages per printed page? I'm trying to understand the consumable yields that for example Xerox gives per toner, drums and fuser et cetera. They base it on 5 percentage of toner coverage, but it can go up higher. The total toner coverage of all colors is maximum 300% I understand.

[@KevinLynchMusic]

Do you ever do sheet music printing??

[@justaprinter]

Yes. I have.

[@officejrc993]

Hey Dan, Love this video on estimating. Do you have a video on how you set up your billing or invoicing? How much information do you track on your invoicing/bill? How do you keep track of customers and the different jobs for that customer? Setting up QuickBooks and would like your input on how you bill your customers and tracking customer information. New to printing.

[@justaprinter]

Great idea, I'll work on that video.

[@bumzilla8586]

Love being a printer but the day can go from great to bad many times an hour haha...it’s us vs the machines some days

[@justaprinter]

Tell me about it! That motivates me to keep my equipment as clean and well maintained as possible, but it still can happen.

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

We are all one estimate away from nuclear war

[@justaprinter]

Seriously!

[@graphicpressest]

Curious to know how you’ve found having the online store? Do you keep standard prices for common things like business cards and brochures? Or do you quote them out everything?

[@bradtipton986]

Hello, Jeffery, My name is Brad, I am a (now retired) third generation printer, and the first in the family to work in the office production planning, estimating, customer service and billing. My background includes a BS degree in Printing Management from Rochester Institute of Technology, I worked for small to very large printers in everything from "job shop" to high end soft and hard cover book printing and binding, totaling 6 companies over a span of over 40 years. Competition for sales in our New York City market area generated a very high volume of estimates, especially difficult to meet for book printing estimators. Three of the book printers I worked for offered to subscribe to what I call "CANNED PROGRAMS" that did not lend themselves to many of the variations required for projects and were very unwieldy. The last printer I worked for gave me the "go ahead" to design my own program. I realized that normal computer programmers would not work out because of their thought processes. Therefor I chose the "Lotus 123" spreadsheet to design and write my own program. It took me months of working on it part time, when time was available. I finally came up with a working single component program. Then I added layers and tied them together for calculating costs for each component of a book (text, cover, inserts, etc.) and integrate them. The program was designed to be run by an experienced estimator. Changes made by customers (paper weight or type, number of colors, quantity, etc.) were easily input and the price re-calculated. I oriented production planners to make some of the most basic changes. They could then confidently recalculate job prices right away for the customer. Furthermore, my system would print out "job tickets or job jackets" that traveled with the job with instructions, specifications, ink colors, paper types and sizes, paper allowed per form and expected good sheets to be produced. Every operation to product a job was covered. These job jackets are in exactly the same order and format as the manually written jackets that the production operators were used to. The job jackets were printed out on the large envelope by an ink jet printer. My program was very successful, and I received a lot of compliments from those who had to deal with customer service and production planning, not to mention the VP of Manufacturing. (He arranged for the company to give me a large bonus for my success.) Perhaps the most meaningful compliment came from a new customer service person on his second day at work. Without any training he recognized all the logic in the program and was able to work with it. He and I had worked together years earlier, so he understood how I thought my way through estimates. Alas, the VP of Manufacturing retired and was replaced. The new VP wanted to have people of his own choosing working for him in positions like estimating, so he "let me go". The replacement he hired he recruited from a company that only printed process color, rarely magazines and never books. The "new guy" hated my program and replaced it with his favorite "canned program". I had stayed in touch with some of my former co-workers who informed me that the latest change was not working too efficiently. They had to go back to handwriting job jackets and could not re-estimate minor changes without sending the project back to estimating. I can imagine the issues from time delays due to this and what it did to "customer satisfaction". When I left, I took a copy of the program with me on a disc. After 20 years I do not know if I could find it to give to you.

[@halexp]

my god that laaarge keyboard i love printers

[@justaprinter]

Great

[@RahulAntala2024]

Hi Dan, I would like to connect and share how you can automate estimation price + automating print order management you save effort and time.

[@michaelduke4500]

I'm a little late to the party here but, you would be so happy working as an estimator in a large commercial printer. It's kinda like a bean counter on steroids with large printers.

[@justaprinter]

Ah yes, that would be fun. I do like analyzing numbers the most!

[@fouchedesigns2357]

I simply enjoyed your videos. Your work, and expertise is WONDERFUL! I would like to know, where is your company located? I have a script to be publish...

[@justaprinter]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Sorry, I'm not currently accepting more work.

[@miroslavdunik3295]

Another excellent video, Dan. I can see the prices of sheets in US are so low.

[@justaprinter]

So far... I'm sure they will rise in the future.

[@printhubbrasil]

I've noticed that you have a Ricoh 2050 (or similar) at your background on 16:53 , what do you use him for? I think this is one of the most popular laser color machines that we have here in Brasil for a loooong time, good to see one just chilling on your background hahahaha

[@justaprinter]

Haha, my co-workers and I use that little guy for office copies, printing invoices etc. Just little stuff that needs to be fast and cheap.

[@deraglane9249]

I am from Ethiopian. I work in the printing industries for many years. I am very much interested in learning from you and agreed terms and conditions including the monthly payment. But please advise me how to pay the monthly bills. Look forward your reply Dera Gelan, Marking Manager, Continental Printers plc

[@mazaya4adve]

Finally I noticed a Ricoh MF printer in your office and I'd like to ask you about Ricoh ( Pro ) as a production machines comparing to Konica Minolta

[@justaprinter]

I don't know much about production machines. I have heard people have bad experiences. But I like my little Ricoh office copier for copies.

[@Dorinavniekerk]

Hi pls give detail of paper collator and thank you for the videos. I am brand new in printing business in South Africa

[@justaprinter]

I can probably do that for you.

[@copyshop7867]

Thanks for another useful video. Please keep them coming! I believe you mentioned downloading the estimating spreadsheets in your video. Where can we find them?

[@justaprinter]

They are available on my Patreon page. www.patreon.com/justaprinter

[@copyshop7867]

Thank you! I was playing with the spreadsheet and was in the tablet tab and had a question. Is the labor charge supposed to be added to the total job cost? It seems like it has been left out. When I look at the formula, it seems to only include the paper, clicks, finishing and setup fees but not the labor (B19) charge.

[@justaprinter]

@@copyshop7867 Yes, the labor should be included in there. I need to check my spreadsheet at work and see if its wrong there too. Good catch.

[@germancortescaloca7892]

Do you know Smartier Graphics to quote automatically?

[@bjlits9437]

I would love access to your spreadsheet downloads and such (for pricing), but don't have a Paypal account for the shop, is there any way to snail mail you a check?

[@ryankuehn]

What gauge wire do you use to stitch your wrap around cover forms books? Thanks for sharing your videos, Dan!

[@justaprinter]

Its a 20 gauge square wire. Actually ordered it by accident and liked it. I use 25 gauge round on the collator.

[@halexp]

can u mail stuff? 4x9cm 80sheet x3 on a regular c5 mail basis?

[@justaprinter]

Yes

[@agtgs6872]

Always, Lovely videos

[@justaprinter]

Glad you like them!

[@jbrujster]

Hey Dan, what kind of laminator are you using? I notice it’s a film - is there advantages over the liquid laminator and infra red? Thanks.

[@justaprinter]

Film is more durable and higher quality, but also more expensive. I wanted to offer the best durability to my customers, thats the main reason I went with film over UV.

[@Dorinavniekerk]

Hi we bind ncr per hand do you have alternative suggestions for machines which could assist. Greetings from South America

[@justaprinter]

Thats the only way I know how to bind NCR.

[@abdulazeezmuhammad207]

Any chance of getting the spreadsheet samples... Thanks for the update. Huge fan

[@justaprinter]

They are at www.patreon.com/justaprinter

[@flexibleman4057]

Hey Dan, can you advice me on which machine to get? My seller is offering me the same price for c3080 and c4070. Which one should i get?

[@justaprinter]

I don't know anything about the new 4070. If they are the same price I would ge the 3080 since it prints a bit faster and has a proven record.

[@ctecrwp]

As a service provider I have made worksheets for rentals... Great work though... BTW.... Do I see a Ricoh in your office?????😳

[@justaprinter]

You do see a Ricoh. I like that little copier, its nice!

[@NorthFloridaPrinting]

What type of laminator do you have in your shop? We are looking to upgrade what we have now.

[@justaprinter]

D & K Group Laminator. They manufacture their own film too. They are good people, tell them I sent you.

[@SimohamedC]

hello, can you share this template with us ?

[@travelbeats9087]

I'm from Dubai, can I work there for a month?

[@justaprinter]

Sorry. No

[@bhaskerbaluru4580]

I need flexo printing label estimate

[@micaiahjock8565]

Wish i could meet you in person 🤲

[@sriramr4836]

Where I can go and download the spreadsheet?

[@justaprinter]

Its on my patreon page.

[@halexp]

love u love u love u i love u

[@justaprinter]

Thanks

[@robertmould480]

Good video and gives an idea of how to estimate a printing job. I have worked in the printing industry since I was 20 and work on Letter press, Litho and digital print I also moved into print estimating and have estimated in print and direct mail. Watching your video you have made a simple error which a lot of people make when estimating. When you start estimating you need to know all your cost fixed and variable, On the variable side you are pretty good but when you were showing the cost to print the job you put in price per click. Ok if you are leasing your printing machine and the cost is based upon price per click of say 10 pence a click (sorry I am livig in the Uk so my cost are in sterling) and you put that into you cost what you are not showing is the running cost for the machine for instance if your machine consumes 15 amps per hour when running you should be adding that to your running cost. The other main cost is fixed cost which would be rent and taxes on your property electrical power for heating and lighting etc. Its an easy mistake to make a friend of mine set up in business as a printer and did his costing just how you have done yours and he thought he was doing ok but after a year his business closed as he had not allowed for his fixed cost.

[@justaprinter]

You are right. I didn't put that into my quoting video. I do have that included in my actual quoting through an inflated click cost.

[@nasrulaziz2504]

how do you promotion your print shop until get customer?

[@justaprinter]

Word of mouth. Treat your customers well and they will tell their friends.

[@strmkid]

Does your per piece price increase and decrease based on qty? And if so, how do you factor that in the sheets? Also love your videos :)

[@justaprinter]

Yes, per-piece price will be lower at higher volumes. This is achieved by having a flat setup fee. I will also sometimes manually adjust pricing to achieve that.

[@saltwaterredfish8456]

Contact info. Website?

[@justaprinter]

I'm currently working on a new website. justaprinter.com you can contact me at [e-mail]