‘Growth without structure creates chaos. Growth with structure creates scalability.’
By Craig Mertens, Director of Education and Growth at Inktavo | Clarity
In sign and print businesses, quoting is rarely as simple as pricing a product. More often, you are pricing a process.
A banner might seem straightforward. You know the size, the material and the finishing. But much of the work in signage and wide format is more complex than that. A set of channel letters, for example, involves several stages: design, printing, finishing, fabrication and installation. Each stage has its own labour, materials and equipment.
That means every job is slightly different. Unlike many industries, sign-makers rarely deal with repeat SKUs. Much of the work is bespoke.
Materials add another layer of complexity. Prices change frequently, and labour costs vary between departments. Two jobs that appear identical on the surface can require different production steps once they reach the workshop.
If the quote does not reflect how the job will actually be produced, the business will feel the consequences later.
The hidden costs in everyday jobs
One of the biggest quoting mistakes is failing to account properly for labour.
A simple example shows how easily this happens. I once worked with a customer who produced illuminated signs. One option she offered was drilling holes in each corner of the panel.
When we reviewed her quoting template, I asked what she charged for drilling the holes.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just air. We’re removing material.”
But drilling those holes still required time. The panel had to be measured, positioned and set up on the press before the work could begin. When we calculated the labour involved, the cost changed.
On a single quote it did not look dramatic. But over a year the lost revenue added up quickly.
These are the kinds of small processes that often slip through the cracks when quoting is done informally. A few minutes of labour here and there can represent a significant cost if it is repeated across hundreds of jobs.
Why spreadsheets can become a problem
Many sign and print businesses rely on spreadsheets to calculate quotes. Some of these spreadsheets are extremely sophisticated. I have seen some remarkably inventive systems.
The problem is how they evolve.
Over time, formulas are added, exceptions appear and extra calculations are layered on top. Eventually the system becomes so complex that only one person understands how it works.
That creates a bottleneck. If the estimator is away, quoting stops.
It also slows the response to customers. Each job requires manual adjustments and interpretation. For growing businesses, this lack of structure becomes a real constraint.
I worked with one successful business where the owner was the only person who could quote jobs because the system had become so complicated. When she began planning her retirement, the team realised the entire process needed to be rebuilt so the business could continue without her.
Build a ‘cookbook’ for quoting
The most practical way to approach quoting is to think of it like writing a cookbook.
Your materials are the ingredients. Your labour is the cooking process. The finished product is the final dish.
Each service or product becomes a recipe. Once you understand how the ingredients and labour combine, you can repeat that recipe whenever a similar job appears.
If something changes, you adjust the recipe slightly. But the structure remains the same.
Building this cookbook requires some careful thinking. Businesses need to ask themselves basic but important questions.
What do materials actually cost? What is the true hourly business rate for labour? Are you accounting for waste? Are quotes based on real costs or simply on a retail selling price?
Many businesses only go through this exercise when they introduce a management system. Until that point, pricing often relies on instinct or experience rather than clear cost data.
The goal is not to make quoting overly complicated. In fact, one common mistake is becoming too granular. Some companies calculate material waste down to the square inch. Others simply apply a ten per cent allowance.
Both approaches can work, provided the costs are understood and applied consistently.
Turning quoting into a repeatable process
This is where a management information system can help. Systems such as Clarity allow businesses to embed their quoting framework directly into the platform.
One of the key tools in Clarity is CalcWizard, a flexible quoting engine built into the system. CalcWizard allows businesses to create templates that reflect exactly how their jobs are produced.
These templates draw on the firm’s bill of materials, labour rates and production data. They can also factor in material waste, machine run times, ink coverage and other operational costs. Once set up, the template acts as a framework for quoting that mirrors the real manufacturing process.
In practical terms, it works like an advanced spreadsheet, but one that is fully integrated into the management system rather than sitting outside it.
The benefit is speed and consistency. Quotes can be generated quickly, and multiple staff can use the same templates without needing to understand every calculation behind them.
Benefits that build over time
The advantages of structured quoting appear in stages.
In the short term, businesses send quotes faster and pricing becomes consistent across the team. Staff no longer rely on a single estimator or a complicated spreadsheet.
In the medium term, companies start analysing their costs more closely. They gain visibility into margins, production times and materials.
That insight can lead to better decisions. Some services may need higher prices. Others may not be profitable enough to justify the time and resources they consume.
Over time, the business becomes less reliant on individual knowledge and more dependent on structured systems. That shift is what allows companies to grow without losing control.
Linking quoting to production
Connecting quotes directly to production is another important step.
When a quote turns into a job, the production details move with it. Materials, labour steps and timings are already defined within the system.
That reduces errors and removes ambiguity between the sales team and the workshop.
Quoting can also highlight production capacity issues. Take routing as an example. The material cost is fixed because the router removes material rather than adding it. The real constraint is machine time.
If a router is running only twenty per cent of the time but the lease payment assumes full capacity, that unused time affects profitability.
Understanding this kind of capacity through quoting data helps businesses make better decisions about scheduling, pricing and investment.
Visibility improves service and profitability
One of the most common frustrations in sign and print businesses is not knowing exactly where a job sits.
A customer calls to ask about progress, and staff begin searching through emails, paperwork or internal messages to find the answer. It is not a great experience for anyone involved.
Real-time visibility changes that. With a central system, staff can see immediately where a job is in the production pipeline.
That improves customer service and also helps managers spot bottlenecks, balance workloads and protect margins.
Building a business that can scale
Most sign and print companies grow organically. Processes develop gradually as the business expands.
Eventually the lack of structure becomes visible, often through quoting.
When every job is calculated differently, consistency disappears and mistakes become more likely.
Structured quoting and connected production workflows bring order to that process. They allow businesses to grow while maintaining control over costs, capacity and service.
Or, as I often say, growth without structure creates chaos. Growth with structure creates scalability.
