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Banner Pricing Calculator

Cost-plus pricing by the square foot: your material cost, your labor, your margin — not a number pulled out of thin air. Every default is editable; plug in your shop's real numbers.

Banner
Your costs
13 oz vinyl + ink + waste typically runs $0.90–1.60/sq ft
Fully loaded: wages + overhead
Your pricing policy
Sign trade typically prices at 60–70% gross margin

Suggested price

Material + ink
Labor
Total cost
Margin
Sell price
Per banner
Per sq ft (effective)
These are defaults, not gospel. Material at $1.20/sq ft, shop rate at $75/hr and 65% margin are mid-range for US independent shops in 2026. Your rent, your printer, and your market set the real numbers — that's why every field is editable.
How the math works

Cost-plus beats guessing

Most banner pricing arguments ("is $5/sq ft too much?") skip the only question that matters: what does the banner cost you? This calculator prices the way profitable shops do it: (material + ink + labor) ÷ (1 − target margin). The per-square-foot number is an output, not an input — it falls out of your costs and your margin, and it naturally gets better at larger sizes because setup time is spread across more square feet.

Finishing matters more than people think on small banners: hemming and grommeting a 2×4 takes nearly as long as a 4×8, which is why the small one costs more per square foot and why a minimum charge exists. Grommets are estimated at one every 2 ft around the perimeter, corners included.

Double-sided isn't simply ×2: blockout material and two printed faces roughly double the material cost (we use ×1.9), but you still handle, hem and grommet one banner — so finishing labor stays the same, and the final price lands well under twice the single-sided number.

Built by the folks making SignDock

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