Jo - we do a plaques for a couple organizaitons similar to what your man has ask for only simpler and would be less expensive that the way he wants it done. First we take a wood plaque - 7x9 (Could be larger if you prefer) and engrave a header direct into the wood or use a outline border then add a engraved plastic gold plate. We then do a 3 rows of 8 plate outlines to give us a border to place small engraved gold plastic plates for the year dates. Normally I use a deep groved walnut plaque that we get from JDS, because it is inexpensive and still has nice look. This way they get a nice plaque and each year they buy a group of small plates engraved with the year date. To me it would less expensive that dealing with all the screws and chains that he is speaking of and still give him something nice for the donor to hang up. This could also be done with a press wood plaque.
We have one association that we have done over thirty of this style for and they love them.
Was all that clear as mud?

Joe,
Do you happen to have pictures of the plaques you do?

I submitted an idea, which I know was way out of the ballpark of what he wanted to pay. Can I aske what you charge?

You mentioned you purchased plaques from JDS-do you know the item number?

Is that enough questions for you? :P 

I just have no idea where to go with this and I would really like to get the business as it is the local High School and could turn into consistant business for us.

Thanks Joe!

David, thanks. I was thinking of what our local Chamber sends out each year. The "plaques" are plastic, the letters are molded right into the plastic.

Actually I'm not sure what I'm looking for either! :-$ 

No David he hasn't. But like all clients I'm sure it is small. He is wanting somewhere in the neighborhood of "cheap." But after reading your item on pricing I'm thinking I won't be cheapening my expertise.

I would love to hear what you have to offer.

Jo,

If I were asked to do this project, here's what I'd do:

If "cheap" is the requirement; for starters, I'd use a single, vinyl-finish plaque board, such as the JDS mahogany plaque. No hanging, add-on plates. Too much work, for what they're willing to pay.

The mahogany finish makes a nice looking plaque, which, so far, hasn't been over-exposed, making your plaque a little more unique, than what they've probably seen, to this point.

I'd lay out the plaque, (per Joe Hayes' suggestion) with room for a header plate and whatever number of indivual plates will be required; leaving more room for the header plate, which will become the focal point.

I would laser engrave "keylines" into the plaque, making for easy placement of the individual plates, as they're subsequently added.

For the header plate, I'd use a goldtone, brushed aluminum plate and employ the "wow factor" that full-color sublimation can provide.

The header plate would include a logo, if any, and incorporate colors in that logo, (or colors complimentary to the gold plate and mahogany finish) for use in a simple border and a tasteful use of gradients, for the background.

By using this "cross-platform" approach, you've already sent any challengers, who rely on a single process, i.e., laser, rotary-drag, silkscreen, monochrome sublimation, back home.

What I'd be striving for, is something the customer has never seen before, that's so intriguing; so captivating to the eye, that proposals from other companies will be instantly discarded.

Even though "cheap" is the goal, you can still honor that request, but don't be surprised if the customer is willing to go a little bit higher on their budget, to secure your unique concept, to be hung proudly, all around the town. :-) 

Is he talking about a rectangular, (or shaped), piece of acrylic that is lasered with information? Then two holes at the top to hang off wall hooks, two holes at the bottom to hang the tags with 'S' hooks. This should be 1/4" thick. If you want to get fancy you could even color fill the lasered image before removing the masking.

Each plate could be acrylic in 1/8" with two holes at the top and bottom. Again 'S' hooks.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Jo

No photos
Price was in the $30 range - I did about 30 or 40 for the one organization. Charge $2.00 for small plate each year.

JDS - page 50 - bottom of page - groved plaque GWME79 (7x9) GWME810 (8x10) GWME912 (9x12)

Used Gold to Black engravable plastic. Quick easy with a laser. Beveled the edges.

If you need for me too send a private message with a email I can send the Corel File with the layout - but it's really very simple.

Is that enough answers ;-) ?

Let me know if I can do anything else. :-) 

Thank you everyone for all your help. Here is what I've come up with. When I get it finished I will post a picture. I haven't proposed it to the client yet.

Anywhay, the local High School mascot is a bulldog. What I did was cut out a piece of purple plastic in the shape of the bulldog.

My proposal is to cut holes in the feet, attach some type of ring or chain and hang the years from the feet. I'm not sure what to charge, it is about 8 x 10 and I lasered the wording in and cut the bulldog shape out. The run time was over 30 minutes. Todd thinks we can cut the time down somehow. My thought it to resize the bulldog to about 6x8 or so and charge around 15 to 20 bucks for the dog and $5 each for the years.

I thought I would use a gold and/or yellow plastic to engrave the years.

What do you all think? Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated. Good or bad :S 

He will have to cut down the run time a lot. I have just raised my retail charge for laser time from $90/hour because I have to be paid for my time and wear and tear on the machine. My wholesale time on the laser is still $60 per hour because it is all repeats, but I am wondering about that.

$20 for 30 minutes of runtime will not cover much, wear & tear plus loading and unloading time will eat most of that up, almost nothing left for profit. (Oops, forgot the overhead costs. Yikes you might even be losing money in the long run at those prices.)

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Thanks Harvy, you didn't make my day :P  We will take that into account and figure out what we are going to do.

Thanks for the eye opener.

I know you're right but our location dynamics makes it difficult for us to charge what I know we are worth and what I know we should charge based on equipment run time and wear and tear.

He wants 50 of them so I would like to find a way I could sell them at a reasonable price so he would be happy, we would be able to provide a specialized product then in the future he might bring us more business and I wouldn't feel bad about charging a little more. Does that make sense.

Hopefully I can finish my prototype and show you all what I've come up with. My next hurdle is to figure out how the recipient will hang them.

Thanks for your input Dave.

Jo,

You can make the plaque with a wall mount slide-in holder that you can engrave 2x8 or 2x10 plastic plates that can be removed and replaced by just sliding the plates in or out of the holder.