Stop Guessing on Price: What Every Sign Shop Owner Needs to Know About Quoting & Profit

Are you pricing your sign work to actually make money — or just to stay busy? In this episode of Behind the Signs, Joe and Liz get real about one of the most common pain points in the sign industry: pricing, quoting, and knowing your numbers. This is one of the most-asked topics in the Behind the Signs community, and for good reason. Without understanding your true costs - materials, labor burden, overhead, and break-even — you could be working hard and still losing money. Joe and Liz break down the foundational concepts every sign shop owner needs to have a handle on, whether you're a manufacturer, broker, installer, or designer. 🛠️ Free Resource — Labor Rate Calculator: Download it free in the Behind the Signs Facebook community (Files section) or at 👉 sign-tracker.com 🎟️ Get a FREE pass to ISA Sign Expo 2026 (Orlando, April 8–10): Use promo code: behindthesigns at 👉 https://signexpo.org/ 00:00 – Intro 03:00 – ISA Sign Expo 2026: Don't Miss It 09:00 – The Pricing Problem Sign Shops Keep Running Into 13:00 – Don't Discount Your Work (Here's Why) 15:00 – Understanding Material Costs & Markup 19:00 – Labor Burden vs. Hourly Wage 22:00 – Finding Your Break-Even Point 25:00 – When Is It Okay to Take a Discounted Job? 27:00 – Free Tools & What's Coming Next Sponsors: 📌 SignTracker – Project management made for sign shops: Click here to try it free for 14 days: https://bit.ly/3SMSY2s 📌 Inktavo – Business tools for print, promo, and sign professionals: Click to check out our tools: https://www.inktavo.com/tools-resources/ Be sure to join our community:   / behindthesigns   Special thanks to our friends at International Sign Association: signs.org Thanks to our friends at: Sign Builder Illustrated: signshop.com