What to charge for site hoarding graphics
·7 min read
Hoarding is quoted per linear metre but costed per square metre, and the gap between the two is where margin disappears. Here is the build-up we use, and the lines that get missed.
Start from area, not length
A 2.4m high run is 2.4m² per linear metre before any waste. Quote per metre by all means, but build the number from area so a change of height does not quietly halve the margin.
Then add sheet waste. Hoarding is nested onto 1220 x 2440 panels and a run rarely divides evenly, so 8-12% waste is realistic on a straight run and more where the ground rises and falls.
The cost lines
- Print media per m², at the coverage you will actually lay down, not at list.
- Laminate per m² where the job is outdoors for more than a few months.
- Substrate per panel — correx, foamex or ply — priced per sheet and divided by yield, not by area.
- Machine time: printing, laminating, and cutting. Cutting is the line most often left at zero.
- Fixings, corner strips and trims, counted from the drawing rather than estimated.
- Install labour and access, plus a return visit allowance for the panels that get damaged on site.
Allowances people forget
Cutting allowance. A nested hoarding run needs a cutter file, a knife pass and someone to break out and stack the panels. On a long run that is hours, not minutes.
Corner strips and returns. A site with six corners needs six sets of trim and six part-panels, and the part-panels come off full sheets.
Cumulative rise and drop. Hoarding follows the ground, so panel heights step. That is a per-panel geometry job and a per-panel cut, not one repeated size.
Vehicle access gates and door panels, which are separate small jobs at a much higher cost per m² than the run they sit in.
Sense-checking a rate
As a benchmark, printed and laminated hoarding panels supplied only tend to sit meaningfully above £40/m² in the UK trade, and installed runs are quoted at a good deal more per linear metre than the panel cost alone implies. A rate in the low thirties per m² with no cutting allowance is a rate that is buying work, not selling it.
If you do decide to go in low to win a first job on a site, know which line you cut and put it back on the next quote rather than letting it become your standard price.
In the suite
The Hoarding module carries a cost and sell estimator alongside the layout: enter media, laminate, substrate, cutting and install rates plus a margin, and it works the run out from the actual nested sheet count rather than from a rule of thumb. The estimate copies out as text you can paste straight into a quote email.
Run it on a live job
Every module is included on one subscription — £99/month per user or £990/year. Artwork is processed in your browser and never uploaded.
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