Line striping is a profitable side hustle or additional service for you. It’s also easy to learn and requires only a few supplies. The trick is pricing line striping correctly to win bids while still making a profit on every job.
Line Striping Business Options
If you work in sealcoating, you already have a client base eager for this service. If you’re new, you know businesses in your town that need the service. However, each approach requires a slightly different business plan.
When you add line striping as an additional service, you can add it to existing job bids. This option makes the service easy to launch. It also tends to be an efficient use of your crew since they will already be at the site.
New line striping business owners may need to navigate more carefully and complete a line striping course. Pricing line striping could make an enormous difference in winning bids. Understanding all the tricks can also help you grow your new business quickly.
Standalone and as part of sealcoating businesses are not the only options. Some people line stripe in warehouses, for example. The different environments also affect line striping pricing, so your specialties do determine how you bid.
Understanding Line Striping Pricing
The first step when pricing line striping is understanding your costs. For example, the paint and the labor for each line cost something, even if it seems small. Other costs might be transportation to the site, insurance, preparation time, and training time.
You will also need to consider your acceptable profit margin. These numbers may fluctuate depending on job size, company growth, and more. It’s vital to settle on a minimum profit margin, though, or your line striping pricing will always be off.
The second involves your local market, for which there are many factors. One of those factors is what customers expect to pay. In the U.S., service websites often say that clients should expect to pay $4 to $5 per line. It’s reasonable to work with those expectations.
The Nuances of Pricing
Winning a bid is not necessarily about offering the lowest price to potential clients. In fact, this strategy often backfires when clients believe low bidders will not do their job well. Pricing line striping so it sells is more complex than that.
Other factors, like demand and scale, also play into getting line striping pricing right. These require an intuitive understanding of the clients and jobs. Otherwise, your bids will not be more appealing than competitors.
Typically, people learn about line striping pricing through trial and error. This process costs them money, and in some cases, kills businesses. However, that does not need to be how it is for you since you’re reading this article.
Instead, line striping pricing expert Billy Davidson is offering to share his experience of over 25 years with you in his How to Price a Linestriping Job video. It’s the best option that will help you nail the perfect line striping price for every type of job.
