Home » business of art, Murals, Pricing, Written Agreements
How to Price a Wall Mural – Developing a Price Sheet and Proposal
In this article I’m going to do something that some of my friends warn me not to because they are so darn practical:
I’m going to tell all. Oh My God, I’m sharing with the entire world our pricing structure for wall murals. (Subject to increase by 10% every year…)
Why would I do something so daring and crazy, you ask? Because that’s what this blog is all about – uniting artists and sharing information so that we all can be successful and live the dream life.
In a second follow-up article, I’m going to give you our “secrets” for making mural clients so happy that they scream from their rooftops “Use this artist for your next project. She’s/He’s the BEST!”
But first, I’ll go over the money part – because for me, money is important. I love to eat good food and travel. And for some strange reason, it costs money to do that.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO DEVELOP A STRUCTURED PRICE SHEET
You should have a detailed mural pricing structure in writing. And if you don’t have one already, you can use mine as a guide.
Determining what to charge for a wall mural can be tricky. But once you get a structure in place, pricing murals will be a smooth process.
This month we have two large murals that Drew has been commissioned to paint. One of the murals is for a new store called Yogurt Wave. We flew mural expert, Katie Staib, down from Spokane Washington to help make it look great.
The owners, Kerry and Tommy, contacted Drew because his fun style attracts young people that are into action sports, which is their target market.
Their first question was “what will it cost to have Drew paint a 46’ foot mural?” In just a few short minutes, I was able to give them a quote thanks to my nicely organized price sheet.
One of the most common challenges for artists is determining what to charge for a project. Developing a structure & system will make it so much easier for you.
Our current system is working well for us and our clients understand it. But there may be alternative ways to do it, so if you know of a better system, please share in the comments! I’m constantly improving upon how I do things.
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR PRICE SHEET
Photo: Wall Mural by Drew Brophy
Your price sheet should be structured in a way that makes sense and that enables you to easily determine what you will charge based on size of the mural.
We charge approx. $35.00 per square foot with a minimum of 160 square feet. Knowing this makes it easy to establish pricing based on various sizes.
Below is a copy of the price sheet that we give to people prior to a written proposal, to let them know how we price it and what they can expect as well as what we expect from them.
Giving a potential client a price sheet helps to do two things:
- It weeds out the people who can’t afford you (so you don’t waste your time or theirs); and
- It demonstrates your professionalism. People tend to feel better about handing you a big check when they think you know what you’re doing.
Keep in mind, our pricing may be considered high by some standards and very low by others. We know of many artists that charge a lot more than we do. And then there are some that are charging half of what we do.
What you charge is relative to your experience, where you are located (some places are cheaper to live than others) and supply and demand of your art.
I hope that by sharing our methods I will save you time and confusion. You are welcome to copy and paste the form below and adjust it accordingly for your own use.
DREW BROPHY MURAL PRICING SHEET (Revised March 2010)
Minimum Price: Murals sized 0 to 160 Square Feet: Price is $5,600
Pricing starts at $35 per square foot and decreases with increased size of mural; at 290 sf price drops to $32/sf – at 500 sf drops to $30/sf – at 900 sf price drops to $28/sf.
(Square Foot is determined by multiplying the height x width of the painting surface)
*Price per square foot may increase if design requested is complex. This will be indicated in price quote and determined at the time that the final sketch is approved.
SAMPLE PRICING, per square foot:
| Prices per Unit Size (sample sizes) | ||
| DIMENSIONS | ²AREA | PRICE |
| Up to 10ft. x 16ft. | 160ft. | $5,600.00 |
| 11ft. x 16ft. | 176ft. | $6,160.00 |
| 12ft. x 20ft. | 240ft. | $8,400.00 |
| 13ft. x 20ft. | 260ft. | $9,100.00 |
| 14ft. x 21ft. | 294ft. | $9,410.00 |
| 15ft. x 23ft. | 345ft. | $11,040.00 |
| 17ft. x 26ft. | 442ft. | $14,144.00 |
| 18ft. x 28ft. | 504ft. | $15,120.00 |
| 19ft. x 30ft. | 570ft. | $17,100.00 |
| 20ft. x 31ft. | 620ft. | $18,600.00 |
| 25ft. x 39ft. | 975ft. | $27,300.00 |
| 28ft. x 44ft. | 1232ft. | $34,500.00 |
Non-Refundable Design/Sketch Fee: $1500.00 – Includes up to 2 sets of changes by client (Additional sketches charged at $100/sketch)
Pricing includes: Travel within South Orange County, all materials, rental equipment, assistant fees and work to completion.
Pricing does not include: Travel outside of South Orange County, liability insurance or Wall Preparation.
*Additional work due to adverse conditions on surface that requires extraneous labor will be charged extra, by the hour, at a rate of $150.00 / hour, and sometimes cannot be determined until after the job has begun.
PAYMENT TERMS: Design fee of $1,500 due prior to sketch process. A 50% non-refundable deposit is due two weeks prior to start date of painting (this allows ordering of supplies and scheduling.) Full balance is due on the final day of completion.
PRICE SHEET EXPLANATION
Every detail and *caveat on the price sheet is necessary and came from us learning the hard way. I want to explain each point:
Pricing Structure: I’ve talked to mural artists who charge $40 – $50 a square foot. For us, a starting price of $35 per square foot works, because Drew is extremely efficient and gets a project completed rather quickly.
- You might charge less if you’re new at it or if you live in a low cost-of-living area, or
- You might charge more if you are very experienced or in high demand, or live in a high cost-of-living area (like New York or LA).
Minimum Price: We charge a minimum for small murals under 160 square feet because it’s a lot of work and time to set up at a location. It’s not worth it for us to have Drew go out to paint a small mural and only be paid a couple thousand dollars. You may want to adjust this number up or down, depending upon where you are in your career.
Realistically, for murals smaller than 160 sf, an artist is better off painting an original painting in their studio. It’s easier and doesn’t require travel or set up someplace else.
Often we will suggest an original painting on canvas, instead, to clients who ask for a small mural. The upside for the client is a piece of art that they can remove from the wall if they move, or that they can resell if they want to later.
Non-Refundable Design (Sketch) Fee: Every mural we do is designed on paper first. We offer the client the ability to pay just for the sketches first, because sometimes a client isn’t sure if you can do what it is that they want.
If they don’t like your design or decide not to use your services after all, they only lose $1,500.00 and you are at least paid for your time to sketch it for them. We don’t sketch out anything without the design fee because it’s a lot of work. Just meeting with the person to discuss what they want can take a couple hours. You want to make sure that you are paid for that time.
Why You Should Limit the Number of Sketches: We have a limit of up to 3 sketches (2 sets of changes) and then charge for each additional sketch beyond that. When you do this, your client will be motivated to be very specific about what they want. If you don’t limit the number of sketches, they will just go on and on with changes. Trust me on this!
Wall Preparation: So far, we’ve never had to charge additional fees for wall prep. We’ve only had brand new walls to paint. But if Drew arrived at a location and the walls were in bad shape, we have this caveat in the price quote so that we can charge extra for getting the wall paint-ready.
Payment Terms: This is very Important! We require 50% of the total amount 2 weeks prior to the scheduled start date. This allows us to block out 5 or more days on the calendar (thus not accepting other projects for those days) and to purchase the necessary materials prior to the painting.
Paying a deposit is also a psychological thing with your client – you want to train them to view you as a professional who expects prompt payment, and they are fully committed when they pay half up front.
If you are just building your portfolio, you may want to only require 30% up front until you’ve become established and you have a good reputation for following through and doing top quality work.
THE BALANCE is due on the last day of the painting. This is because I personally hate chasing money. I want to be paid and done with a job when it’s finished. Also, I have to pay our assistant on that last day as well. And if you know anything about me by reading my posts, you know that I got out of the Art Banking business years ago!
PROPOSAL PROCESS
When we get a call from someone interested in a mural painting, our process is:
1.) E-mail them the pricing sheet above. This is so that from the very beginning, your client knows your general pricing and they can determine if it’s in their price range.
2.) Gather details about the mural, such as: Height and Width of the proposed mural, physical location, the shape that the wall is in, and what design they want. (I ask the client for this – we rarely go out to see the mural space until after we know it’s a “go”.)
3.) Based on the information provided above, then I’ll write up and e-mail a written proposal. (See sample proposal at bottom of post)
Throughout the process I will verbally clarify, up front, how we work (meaning our payment policies). I’ll usually say: “We will begin the sketch process once you pay your $1,500 fee. The fee includes up to 3 sketches, so please be as specific as you can about what you want. A 50% deposit is due 2 weeks before the painting begins. The mural will take approximately 5 days (or however many). We plan to work from 9-5 daily. Your final payment is due on the day it’s finished.”
Being clear and direct helps to prevent misunderstandings later. I don’t like surprises, especially when it comes to money. That’s why I’m so specific in both my written agreements and my verbal discussions with clients. Everything goes better that way, and clients appreciate knowing what to expect.
GIVING A DEAL/PRICE BREAK
Your client may ask for a deal on price. Sometimes it’s reasonable to give a small discount or freebie to a returning client.
For new clients: If it seems like it’ll be a less complicated design, sometimes I’ll offer to deduct their $1,500 sketch fee from the total of the mural price. Basically I’m waiving the sketch fee, but I still require a payment of $1,500 prior to the sketch process. (Read How to Never Get Ripped off Again to see why I require this).
You could also offer to lower the per-square-foot fee if the mural is going to be very simple and easy, say, like a basic design. On the other hand, if the design they want is extremely detailed, you should consider increasing the per square foot fee.
ONCE THE SKETCH PROCESS IS COMPLETE
After we get the sketch drawn out, and the client is ready to move forward, we ask for 50% down and we schedule the dates that the painting will take place.
Typically Drew can get a mural completed in 5-7 days. Using a system of gridlines and efficiency, along with the help of an assistant, most murals, even very large ones, can be completed in that time frame.
In the end, the most important thing is to make sure that your client is extremely happy with your work. Read my article “Painting a Wall Mural – Ten Ways to Please Your Client” on how to make your client so pleased, that they are screaming your name from their rooftops!
SAMPLE WALL MURAL PROPOSAL:
Artist Wall Mural Painting Proposal – SHANTI’S COSTA MESA
Date: May 29, 2010 – Proposal valid for 30 days
FOR: Shanti’s (Client) Contact Name: _________________ Phone: _________________
Billing Address:______________________________________________
| Description: Client wishes to enhance their space with original artwork in the form of a mural and enhancements by Drew Brophy (Artist)Price Breakdown:Designs by Artist in sketch form / includes up to 2 changes to sketch $1,500 (add’l sketches $100 each)Wall Mural sized 323 Square Feet / Surface is Ready-to-Paint $10,330
Price Includes: Paint Materials and Scaffolding / Expense of an assistant required to help with the painting Price does not include: Unforeseen Complex painting design / design changes, Liability insurance, Unforeseen additional work due to adverse conditions on surface that may require extraneous labor.
|
| PRICE/TERMS: $10,830 Deposit of $5,418 required *DEPOSIT MUST BE PAID 14 DAYS IN ADVANCE OF SCHEDULED WORK*Full balance of $5,418 due on the day of completion. Checks should be made out to Son of the Sea, Inc. PO Box 836 San Clemente, Ca 92674.Copyright: All copyrights to the artwork remain in the ownership of Artist |
By signing below, we state that we agree to the terms set forth in this document:
FOR ARTIST: FOR COMPANY:
AUTHORIZED BY: Artists Name Here AUTHORIZED BY:
SIGNATURE:______________ SIGNATURE:_________________
I hope this has been helpful to you. If it has been helpful, please let me know in the comments below. (Or share your suggestions on how to make the mural pricing process better).
AND: Sign up for my informative Newsletters! In every newsletter I send by email you get FREE sample forms for creative entrepreneurs: a Deal Memo, an Illustration Proposal and an Amendment to a Contract – my gift to you for being on my e-mail list!
Because of my freakish nature of ruminating over every little detail, it takes me hours to write these articles, and if I know that I’m helping people, I will keep on doing it!
Luv, Maria xxoo
.
Similar Posts:
- Fear Giving a Price Quote? The art of the Deal Memo
- Painting a Wall Mural: Ten Ways to Please Your Client
- How to Never get Ripped Off AGAIN – For Freelancers
Tags: drew brophy, katie staib, Price Structure, Pricing, proposal, Wall Mural, written agreement, Yogurt Wave
Great post. Very helpful. Thanks
Thank you, Maria. Very Informative and always helpful to see what other artists are doing!
Maria-
your advice is awesome and I truly appreciate you sharing all of it!
Maria,
Another great contribution…this is priceless information!
Great advice and structure to go by.
I really like the “Why You Should Limit the Number of Sketches”.
Cause we know how clients will keep changing it on ya.
This was a great post, really one of the most educational I’ve seen. I can only hope that I get to use this sort of structure someday in the near or distant future. Have there been instances in which you’ve LOST money completing a mural commission?
Does Drew use those pens for these, or traditional paints? If the latter, what does he find best for indoor vs. outdoor murals? Inquiring minds want to know.
Hey John, thanks for your questions. To answer:
1 – Have we lost money on a mural? Yes, there have been times where we under-priced something because we didn’t expect there to be difficulties or it was more work than planned. That’s why I now include the wording about adding more to the quote if there are unexpected difficulties.
2 – Drew will use house paints, spray paints and then paint pens at the end for details. Every mural is different – but he really likes Montana Spray Paints when he can use them. The colors are great and it’s fast.
Outdoor Murals: He uses the Montana Spray paints, airbrushing and paint pens as well.
Maria
I wonder if you will allow me to post this article–or a portion of this article-to my blog, the Artist Marketing Salon? Along with your link and contact info or whatever other info you like?
Please consider giving me permission to repost to my blog. My blog is barebones design, but it’s a place artist visit for basic info for their art careers. I have been receiving 130-150 visitors per day and large spikes up into 300 hits.
oops, I knew I’d left something out!
Here is my blog link:
Artist Marketing Salon blog:
http://ArtistMarketingSalon.wordpress.com
To Marie: Yes, use any articles from my blog anytime you’d like. All I ask is links back to my site. Thank you so much for asking!
To everyone else: Thanks for leaving the nice comments and letting me know you enjoyed this article. It means a lot to me. xxoo
I wish I had advice like this 20 years ago. I haven’t done a wall mural in years. The last one I did I was pretty much just out of college and I had no idea what to charge.
I’ll be passing this link on. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent post !
Thanks Maria! I have posted your article to my blog (my blog link in my comment above). This is really a helpful article for artists. I added your link to the bottom of the article, your name under the article title.
The point being, that for allowing me to post your article, you will get some of my traffic!
Thanks for sharing!
Best wishes for a productive day, to all!
♥ this post and blog!
Thank you so much for sharing your pricing process. I am new a have never felt confident about my prices. I REALLY appreciate your guidelines. I now feel I have a sense of direction in how to determine prices depending not only on size, but also complexity and my own level of expertise. I can price lower than I might like right now, just getting started, and not feel bad about raising my prices when I feel I am deserve a raise! Thanks again!
Love this! When I was painting murals, I made many mistakes and a lot of them could have been prevented if I had used this sort of system! Painting murals is back breaking work, and you deserve to be paid well for it!
Thank you Maria,
I have been asked to paint a large mural a couple of times. I have been too intimidated to even quote one given the fact that I have never worked in very large format. This information in very helpful.
This is tremendously helpful! I was unprepared for my first wall mural, and was terribly underpaid (my fault, not my client’s). This makes wonderful sense!
[...] take comfort in knowing that they are dealing with someone who knows what they are doing. (Read HOW TO PRICE A WALL MURAL for details on how to do [...]
FYI, I just wrote a follow up article to this one titled “PAINTING A WALL MURAL – TEN WAYS TO PLEASE YOUR CLIENT” – the link is here: http://mariabrophy.com/business-of-art/painting-a-wall-mural-ten-ways-to-please-your-client.html
Enjoy!
Thank you so much for posting this amazingly helpful information! I cannot tell you how valuable it is, nor how much I appreciate your generosity in sharing it.
Good information.
Great article. I have learned the hard way, like yourself, that i needed to include a design fee as part of the cost. But I like your way of doing it which will keep the design process easy and smooth- especially when you need to weed out the serious from the not-so-serious. I have done elaborate designs in the past for large projects that didn’t end up happening in the end. This was a waste of time and I didn’t get compensated for my designs.
I usually charge a per day rate so that my clients know roughly the cost of the mural. I can usually estimate pretty well on how long a project will take me, but it’s good to add the clause about “unforseen changes” if the client wants to add more detail. I’ve learned the hard way about that as well.
Terrific article! Thanks for posting it!
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
[...] http://mariabrophy.com/business-of-art/how-to-price-a-wall-mural-developing-a-price-sheet-and-propos… [...]
Thanks for this excellent post. I have also painted murals and this tip may help some of you. Following one of our south Florida hurricanes, a client asked for a mural for his medical office. I suggested three large panels for the mural instead of painting directly onto his wall. In case of hurricane the panels could be easily removed and stored in a more safe location. He was delighted. Plus, it made the job easier for me since I didn’t need to transport my painting supplies; I did the work in the privacy of my studio and on completion the panels were hung abutting each other with mirror hangers (unobtrusive). He had the effect of a wall mural and I had a much easier job of it! That particular mural is posted on my website where you can see the finished product and how it was hung..
I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts.
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
Thank you, mostly, for you generosity in sharing information that is sometimes hard to obtain from people. This post was extremely helpful to me being brand new to this endeavor and I am indebted. Continued success to you !
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
Thank you for this very valid information. it’s great for coming up with a ballpark price. and I like the fact that its clear, concise and no-nonsense to the point. Translating fine art from canvas to wall can be so tricky, there are so many variables to consider. i use Nova Colors from Artex in California. fabulous colors, formulated for outdoor murals with many wonderful mediums, etc to use.. I use them for all my fine art also. yea for “telling all” we gotta hang together, us creatives.
I am just starting my business. Over the past few years I have been requested to do a few murals around town. I have always felt honored to paint for friends and never really thought of doing it for a profit. I have recently received a request to paint for a new business after painting a mural for our local police department. This new business requested how much I charged and I did not even know where to begin. Thank you so much for this helpful information!
I was recently commissioned to do a mural at an elementary school and didnt know what to do…I am a recent art grad of GSU in atl ga…..this blog helped me tremendously….thank you so much. u answered every question i had…..and when i had another and thought the article was over u answered it again. Thanx!
Thank you for the great post. The way you described the process made it very easy to understand and I like your writing style. You described all the details and made it a fun and interesting post as well. Thanks.
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
Wow! really good proposal, and THANKS! for sharing your price list, this is something that not all Agents or Artists are wiling to talk about on a public space, also I want to ask you if this is the same price list for “any” client? because I have made some designs for some celebrities and sincerely I do not know how to treat them
and I do not want to charge as little because could look that I’m not professional and I do not like to charge more because I think the could think I’m taking advantage of their status, this is a huge dilemma or me
Thanks! luv your super blog
Dear Edel, thanks for commenting on my blog! So glad it’s helpful to you. Since i wrote this article, we have raised our base price to $40 a square foot – materials costs keep going up.
To answer your question: We try to be consistent with our pricing. It wouldn’t be fair to charge one person more than another. I would give the same price to Oprah that I would to the school teacher down the street. Maybe it’s not done that way by every artist, but I have found that consistency works best for us.
As an aside, I’ve also found, interestingly enough, that celebrities often expect to pay LESS than most people. Not sure where that comes from – but again, I stick to our general pricing for anyone.
The per square foot rate also goes up for complicated designs and/or situations where the is a lot more work involved. We also add on for difficult preparation and/or surfaces. The base price is really just a starting point.
I hope this helps answer your questions!
I’ve been commissioned for a mural and I just stumbled upon your website. I think Drew’s work is phenomenal and I cant thank you guys enough for the new level of inspiration that I’ve found in some designs I’ve been working on. I watched the video about the screaming skull motorcycle and its awesome to see another unconventional artist that is still down to earth. thanks again
Chris “Styx” Erickson
Hey Styx, thanks for all the great compliments! So glad you liked the show – thank you for watching. I wish you the best with your mural – keep us posted on it!
i am doing my first real art gig as an independent artist for a real big corporate company. they have a wall that they would like me to design and this blog is soooo amazingly perfect for my situation. i appreciate you so much for shedding some light on a new artist like myself. thank u thank u thank YOU!! *BIG HUGS*
Thank you so much, this is really valuable information!
Maria- Thank you so much for all the insight and information. I have been a freelance children’s illustrator for 25 years and was recently commissioned to design and produce a series of large murals, having never done this before, I really didn’t know where to start and I need the work. So with your recommendations, some hard work and a little luck maybe I can at least make it look like I know what I am doing. Drew’s work is beautiful, I just hope I can follow suit.
great tips! Just what I was looking for
Thanks so much for these helpful tips and structure! I did my degree in Textile Design and Technology in South Africa. I’m an artist and love what I do but when it comes to the business side of things I truly suck!
Thanks again!
Now to convert all this to Rands an meters
thank you very much maria for the pricing tips that youve shared,,coz pricing is my problem evrytime i have a client for mural paintings..your great…..and not a selfish artist…thanks again..
THANKS a million…. this helped me soooOOO000 much!!!! ive been asked to do murals over and over again,but when the question came up of “how much will that cost” came up..i never had a clue,but this is a great guide to pricing!! AGAIN THANKS A MILLION!!! OAN:please tell Drew,that yougurt wave mural look great(which i figure he already knows lol!)
Rico, I’m so glad this was helpful to you! Thanks for the comment!
[...] a sample Mural Price Sheet, go to How to Price A Wall Mural. You can copy and paste the price sheet in that post and plug in your own [...]
I’ve been an artist since the age of 2 (at least I knew I wanted to be back then) and I’ve been doing it now for over 4 decades. Over the years I’ve done a lot of murals and every time it comes to price I’ve simply winged it. Though the prices I’ve charged have always seemed good to me, I’ve always had a nagging fear that I was under charging. But what do you know! — based on your excellent article, I’ve found out I’ve been charging right in there! The one thing I like that you do is the minimum charge I’ve never thought of that, but that’s pretty good. Coincidently I’m in the middle of pricing out a job and your pricing structure came in a tad less than what I was estimating, but at least I’m not lower. Thanks! Here’s a question: What if you’re doing say six 40 sq. ft. murals (of the same basic look) at one place? Do you just add them all up and come up with a total? Thanks again.
This article was a great help! I teach at a college graphic design department in Florida, and I plan on including your excellent article in my curriculum. It addresses some of the main questions students want to know.
I honestly cant believe how little i was charging for murals!!!!!! >:[ thanks to this page i can finally start charging appropriately. i was charging about 2 dollars per square foot after i realized, now i’ve raised it to 7 and my customers are satisfied, as well as i!
This is a great guide.We are also using murals to fight climate change.
see more in our site.
regards,
Joram.
Thks a lot….you make my day.
thanks for the info, very informative! Was exactly what I was looking for. I think it is awesome how you share this info and your desire to create a sense of community to help each other!
THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks for this. I live on the east coast and appreciate your openess to share. My mural side business is extending out from mostly friends to other cientelle, and I needed some tips on pricing so that I can be as professional as possible. This was very helpful thank you for suporting the arts. waya
This was very helpful (as all the other posts I read on your blog). Please keep sharing your experience…
Thank you!! This is an excellent find! I have been toying with starting up a small mural business but felt completely lost on where to even begin with the “business” side of it. Lots of great info on here. Thank you SO much!
Thank you for being so open and helpful w/your information. That was amazing. Just curious…When you do your sketch, is it just a concept sketched out w/colors, or is it pretty close to looking the end product?
Thank you!
Ivonne Campbell
Hey Cricket,
Thanks for the comment. To answer your question: The sketch is without colors, it’s very close to what you will paint on the wall. We have our clients approve the sketch before painting. Once approved, there should be no more changes.
Yessssss…. this was very helpful & thank you so much for sharing. No one really has to share, so that’s a great thing that you did. Many blessings coming your way.
So yeah, I’m an Artist. Been all my life, so on my many past experience on any kind of freelance work, I’ve also learn that it get’s crazy when it comes to clients with the prices and all. People always expect too much for so little and happy with the design at first & start wanting to change up things once you’ve already started or even sometime when you’re done. No thought of paying any more for all this even comes to their minds or even how all you’re precious time & hard labor is going behind all this work. Gosh!!! LOL
So yes, this really does also help me a lot as I do appreciate you taking out your own time to teach me & others (Freelance Artists) on this subject as I found you be researching due to planing on going into the Wall Mural business for myself. Thanks!!!
PS
It’s Tampa Florida a good place to charge those Nice Prices in your opinion if you can answer?
Zamir, thanks for visiting my blog!
Regarding Tampa FLA: I know a mural artist there who charges over $40 a square foot, and it’s all he does. I think the amount you charge depends on your experience level and reputation. The fees in this article are reasonable for the amount of work required to paint a mural. Since I wrote this article, we have raised our prices over 10%.
I’m in the process of being commissioned for my first mural and this post was EXACTLY what I needed to get started. I appreciate that you took the time to write this out for other artists and will use the information you provided to do my first job! Thank you!
This was so helpful! I’m working on a bid and waffling about a price, wondering if I’m asking too much. On a whim I googled pricing murals and got your article. I am by no means asking too much and this gave me the confidence I need to walk back into my customer and feel free to tell them that if it’s too much, they can’t afford me! Thank you for your honesty. Can’t wait to read what else you have to say.
So very helpful! thanks so much for sharing.
Hi
I am a self taught artist that has set up my own mural buisness, I started of just doing lots of residential things but have started getting lots of commercial work – so you guide was just what I was looking for.
Can you recommend which paint is best as your colours are amazing as I am now doing much bigger surface areas
Thanks
Your efforts did not go to waste, I used every bit of info you gave in your article, thank you! I now hope to soon have a contract.
Great article! Thanks for sharing.
This is EXACTLY the info I was looking for. Before seeing this structure, I would have charged WAY too little for a job that seems simple but is sure to take me at least a week to complete.THANK YOU!
that was very sweet of you to share, i need to understand more about the liabilty insurance, how do you seperate it from cost. isnt something that you pay yearly or is it by project?
my experience was all overseas, so that is new to me.
thank you Maria.
Rania, thanks for the comment. To answer your question about Liability Insurance: Some companies may want the artist to provide it. Since we are a small business, we do not have liability insurance in place. I feel it’s important for the client to know this, that’s why I included reference to it n the list of things not included in the price (and not included at all).
hi maria,im a mural artist from the philippines this was very helpful. thank you so much maria brophy.
Thank you for this great article it helps a lot. I have done a few murals and am trying to get into it more. I actually went and looked at a job last night and am working on a bid for them right now. The total square footage of the project is over 1300 and they dont want a real detailed mural but it is still a lot of area to paint . Its an apartment complex that is a warehouse style flat and they want some industrial scenes painted on the walls, when I say not detailed I mean realistic but stylized.
Your article is very helpful in the pricing and I appreciate the information about the insurance also.
Thanks again
Have a great day
Just what I needed. Very helpful and truly a blessing. By reaching out to others you make a difference and your information will help others reach their goals. Awesome Job!
Thank you very much this was very helpful… :0)
its a big helful for me but you did not mentioned how many days tobe finsh the work:-)
Wow, so great of you to be so forthcoming with your extremely valuable information! Just the kind of information that I can use being new in the selling my art world. I can’t wait to read more of your articles. I’ve just found you. Thanks again. Oh and please, do keep writing!
Thank you so much for this! Im starting murals for the first time and this was so helpful!
Hi From AZ! What a great article! VERY VERY VERY helpful and I so much appreciate the option to use your proposal as a template. As our company is *just* budding, I don’t think we’d have a minimum square footage (trying to build our reputation and portfolio). For very simple designs, do you think $20-$25 is too little? My partner and I also always do a colored final draft, is that too much without adding a design fee? Since we’re super new at this, do you think we’re selling ourselves short? Or will a drastic hike in price cause us to lose our client base? Any info is greatly appreciated!
Dear Jocelyn,
Thanks for the comment and the question. You should always have a base price (a minimum) that covers your paint, materials, planning time and travel time (gas, etc).
Customers who won’t pay a decent price are not customers that you want to have.
You can find the best customers by charging what’s fair to you. That weeds out the good ones from the not-so-good ones.
I hope this is helpful!
PS: Please Sign up for my email newsletter – on the upper right toolbar.
Hello Maria I have a long art and mural experience back from Canada and Czech republic. The 90′s were great for mural business down in Prague. Unfortunately I have end up in the West of Canada in Calgary. I must say art business is very bad over here(except Stampede art show-realistic western art,every year),trying to find clientele is very hard. Somehow the people they do not even know about the possibility to have a mural painted at home. So I have switched partly to airbrushing helmets,it was little bit better but nothing great,still have difficulty to get to the right clientele. Everybody seems to be so cheap but demanding high quality of work. I wish to be able to charge same money as you do back in US. Canada is all frozen for art..Beside most of my Kijjii ads had been removed for now apparent reasons(Iam complaining through email at their service). So Iam looking how to promote my art work. Would you know some tips,beside to move out of this cold cave..:)) Thank you a lot for your side it gaves me hope that somewhere far is possible to ask what we all deserve.
Hey thanks a lot I have been looking for some one that knows what there doing and if u have a facebook please add me you can look me up as Uriel Valencia custom canvas I’m trying to come up in the painting world and if you any in vice or tip please email me and thanks again hope to hear from you
While the grid system is fine and traditional. The drawing can be done much quicker however by using an opaque projector with the drawing projected on the wall. Tracing the drawing is so much faster than the grid system that I feel it worth mentioning. Of course you do have to work at night to make that drawing. I did a mural near 100 ft long and easily 20 feet high that way.
Wow you just opened my eyes. I didn’t know you could charge that much. I’m barely starting and I was charging $25 for big window size drawings and $80 for walls! You must be laughing. Thank you so much.
thank you so much for sharing. Your 100% right, artist should share info…stick together in pricing and never underestimate the value of our time or art. It is a gift to be able to do art, and it seems lately in my life, some folks, want alot for nothing or free…..I appreciate what you shared…all the best to you!
So here is my share…for those of you who don’t know about it already,
check out callforentry.org..There are heaps of art, mural calls and projects all over the US listed constantly. All you have to do is apply…
hi, i have been an artist/ designer for many years. i have painted some murals vases and vines for some of my design clients. i have recently been asked to paint store fronts(glass) and some characters and vines on a wall. these are small areas as compared to a large mural. How does this fall into the pricing chart. i would rather give a flat price than charge by the hour.
help
thanks
Isabelle, thanks for the comment and the question.
The answer is that you can come up with a per square foot price that is both good for you and that the client will pay. That number depends on a few different factors: your reputation & experience, where you live, your clientele, etc. Experiment and find a price that works well for you. Then raise it by 10% every year to keep up with inflation, etc.
I did a mural as a volunteer at my church, and now I’m getting requests to paint murals for money. This is going to be a huge help, I had no idea how much to charge for such a huge amount of work. Thank you for posting this, pricing is so intimidating and this will make things easier and keep me from getting ripped off.
Mil Gracias!! This honest information has saved me from imbarrasement. I am a professional artist, portraits and landscapes, who was asked to paint a mural on a family members office wall. All went well, except for the pricing. Mind you, this person would not object to any quote, but I want to be fair – you have made that possible. I too believe in sharing gained knowledge earned through experience.
Thank you VERY much:) I am starting my very first(paid) mural, and you helped me soooo…much. I also appreciate your freedom to give out your experienced knowledge. My pricing on ALL my art work has been difficult. Too high? Too low? You’ve given me some great tips. THANK YOU:)
Hi,
I am residing in Bangalore,India. I am doing Mural business. Mural in the sense it is a embossed mouled version which then applying resin on mud mould and then painted it for final finishing.
That mural will be clamped at outside home wall. So it appears like it is attached to the wall.
So i want to extend my business to US.
can you please suggest over some ideas in which type i can establish my business.!
Thankyou soo much. Ive been interested and told to do this by so many for so long. But never knew how to start. Thankyou!
phone number please
Thank you SO much for this! It is very informative and right to the point. I have just started out as a mural artist (I primarily tattoo or offer canvas paintings) and I had NO idea what to charge. Thank you again for sharing your info and plan sheets with us!
thanks man,may god bless u and the company to grow big.u realy enlighten my vision and now i know cause i can see because of your love you got for the artists.im from South Africa.and your spirit called me from a distance and i appriciate it man.once againg may the lord almighty grown you spiritualy.keep spreading that info *i call it the words and numbers of enlightment* take care.sharp sharp!
Great blog!, thank you for sharing,
I ask for the deposit and most times i get it and if they don’t pay i leave its just not worth it,
but i have been done over at the end of my projects a couple of times, where either the client has given me a check and it has bounced and another time where the client has said that they don’t have the final fee amount and i just had to walk away empty handed but i was paid the 50% deposit fee but the client did get the mural for half the price.
what should i have done in those situations?
any information you could tell me would be greatly appreciated
thank you
Joanne, thanks for the email and question! There are many ways to avoid someone stiffing you the final payment. They are:
1 – Do a good job of choosing your clients (make sure they are people you can trust);
2 – have every client sign a proposal/contract (it can be a simple one pager, just get their signature), and
3 – constantly remind them that you will require final payment on your last day.
Make sure there are no questions in their mind what you EXPECT of them. When we make it clear what we expect, people usually deliver.
I hope this helps!
I recently painted my first mural and thanks to Maria, it was a wonderful experience. One other comment I would like to add from having been a freelance artist for many years is:
If you go that extra mile and do a favor for a client ALWAYS be certain that they KNOW that you are doing them a favor, otherwise they come to expect you to do extra stuff for them and they really appreciate your endeavor to make them happy.
Thank you for sharing your pricing guide and terms. This has been very helpful to me in my current situation. I have been painting custom work for years; however, it was not until recently that I was asked to paint a large mural 20×30 foot on the side of a down town building. I had no idea what to charge for this since my current “per square inch” painting scale came out to be astronomical! I know that my potential client will be impressed with your setup (with a few minor tweaks for living location). Thanks again!
Jenn
This article has been really helpful to me. I am an Art student and I’m thinking of doing this mural for a business.The mural just consists of his business design which is just words but it’s my second mural, which is my first solo mural and I really lacked the proper mural pricing method so thank you soooooo much =) for giving me someeee =)
Your are a great help, i am new to this and this is exactly what i needed for a moral boost! thanks and cheers, please visit my site, your input would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.facebook.com/thor6692.
It was so wonderful of you to post this article. It is sad in my experience that artists don’t share information more like this. Love your blog! Love your work.
Blessings,
This is excellent stuff, so good as this will be the first time I have ever charged professionally for a wall mural. Love it…please keep helping.
Thank you! This is super nice of you to share the knowledge! Much success to us all!
Hi was just wondering if anyone had any advice on charging for lettering. I have been asked to paint a childs name and not sure hove to price this.
would also appreciate making contacts in the mural world please check out my link
https://www.facebook.com/thor6692#!/Mural.Designs
Hey Alison, thanks for landing on my blog!
Regarding charging for lettering: I would recommend coming up with a minimum fee (i.e. $500 minimum for lettering) and then add a dollar amount for each letter (i.e. $20 per letter or $500, whichever is greater).
So, using the above example, if the total number of letters/numbers added up to 35, you would charge $20 x 35 = $700.00. If the total number was 12 letters/numbers, you would charge the minimum of $500.
I hope this helps!
Thank you SO much for this information! As a lifelong Artist I have wanted to do murals for as long as I can remember. At age 52, having just graduated from college for graphic design, I now have the information to begin this process! You Rock!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I’m about to do my first mural, and your article has given me the perspective I needed to get my prices down. You rock!
I have really enjoyed your comments and blogg. I am an African American illustator with many years of art experience. It is nice to get a handle on the project ans hold onto it. You have helped. Irie Ites.
Wow, this was a wonderful and unexpected find, so tremendously useful. Thank you! I have been a commercial artist for years, (excepting the homeschooling-mommy-at-home years) and I have always found it exceedingly difficult to price my work, consequently I have usually cheated myself of my rightful compensation. Your site is going to change the way I proceed from now on. Again, thank you very much!!
Thank you, the information you provided has been helpful. My father and I are planning to start up a mural business, and it’s been difficult for me to have him commit to some solid “base pricing”. He wants to just do case-by-case at the site estimated pricing. Hopefully this will help him see the necessity of “base pricing”.
Hi Tillman you are lucky to start serious business at your area. If you live in Calgary Canada you will not have some worries as mural business is dead over here..GOOD LUCK IN MURAL ART..maybe one day I will move down to USA. But getting too old probably even older then your dad.. (all of the murals on my webside were done in Europe)
So helpful!! Thank you for taking the time to do this. You are a blessing, an answer to prayer!
Thank you so much for this article! I am a newbie learning along the way and this was do valuable for me starting off my first project!!
During many years i have struggle with how much to charge people, for illustrations, paintings and murals, many times i have fallen short, creating a feeling of being not satisfy with the payment, many times clients want more changes and del I’m sure you know…I just want to thank you, you have given the answer to my question, I had ask many artist before on how they go about pricing murals, but many don’t want to share.
Im very grateful to you for this information, it sure will change my dream now.
Hello Maria how can I price original painting on canvas that supposed to be mural at first. Thank you for your answer.
Hello Maria what is difference in price for painting on canvas or on the wall?Thank you for your answer.
Thank you for posting this I’m a new artist in my community and I have had several people request a mural. I was never really sure what to charge or how I should have handel it. Thanks for the help.
Hello Melody where do you live? You are lucky if someone ask you for mural. If it happened here in Calgary Canada it would be almost miracle. I even ask less for mural then half -Maria is asking for 1 foot square and they refused it, people here are so cheap.. One of my competitor got company name Starving Artist..I thought he might be joking,now I know he is serious. If I had more finance I would move out of here back to Europe,Montreal or to USA right away. Better province for art in Canada seems to be Montreal..
Hello Maria and THANK YOU for sharing your years of business experience with those who are just starting out. How very valuable and generous!! My daughter is 17 and an incredible artist. She did a mural in the band hall at her high school and the pricipal was so impressed that he has commisioned her (is there such thing as an unpaid commission?!?) to paint a HUGE mural of their mascot in the entry way of their school. She is about 80% complete. Since starting the mural she has been asked by several people to do murals. I need to know what to charge, and I was clueless. Thank goodness for the internet. I’m not sure we could charge what you are because of her age and being new to the business, but it sure gives me a great idea of where to start. I definitely think she has a future in this business!! Thanks Again
Do you ever run into the problem of going through the design process and then having the client decide not to go through with the mural… Only to find out later that they hired someone cheap to paint your design?
Kyle, that’s a great question! No, we have never run into that. But, recently we have increased our sketch price to $1,500.
The way we prevent a client from taking our sketches to another artist is in the written proposal: The proposal has a statement that says “All copyrights to the artwork remain in the ownership of Artist”.
Legally, they cannot take your sketch to another artist, because you, the artist of the sketch, owns the copyright to the art.
Excellent. Thanks for the speedy response, and thanks again for this whole post – extremely helpful for someone like myself who has been painting murals since high school… But has never gotten paid properly.
Thank you so much for this article! I’m a painter looking to start doing murals as a career option but i’m having a hard time getting things rolling. Any tips on getting started, finding customers etc..? Thanks again, i’m signing up for your newsletter =)
Maria
Thank you for helping those of us still struggling in the muck. It’s difficult to ask for money when one is doing what they love. Clients see that as a weakness and usually devour me.
I plan to be prepared on the next project.
[sending a virtual hug]
Ree
Hi Maria, I really liked your article. It is very informative,to the point and witty. I really appreciate it. Thanks,
S. King
Thank you so much! I’ve been a working muralist for 20 years and still find difficulty with my estimates. You are fantastic to share your experience with other artists in CA.
Best regards,
Jeanine
This was a life/time saver! I have commissioned to do a 600sqft fence mural and am new to a project this big and as such had no clue what to charge for actual painting. Prep work will be fairly time consuming too. Thank you for sharing this most valuable info!
Maria,
Thank you for this article! For years I have had problems knowing what to charge and even when I try to be firm people see me get wishy washy when i say the price (because im really never sure) instead of telling them the price it almost sounds like Im asking them. I know thats the worse thing an artist can do. After reading this article and a few of your others I’m sure this will be an easier process for me! Also I have NEVER charged a sketch fee and yes it’s a lot of work and i had one person change their mind about the whole design going from cute to elegant .. i wanted to cry and felt like i did the whole thing almost for free… Thank you, I am going to contnue to watch your posts.
Thank You times 3 for your post on proper pricing!! I am a new murals working on starting my own small company, and have struggled with the details of pricing. I have so far 2 murals in my portfolio, and learned the hard way when it came to cost and payment. So thank once gain for sharing. Keep up the amazing art work too!
Hi Maria, I was wondering if you can help me with my pricing problem. Someone asked me to paint a door mural for them. One is a double door and another a single door. How much should I charge them if I’m painting a landscape? or should I charge them per hour? I live in Las Vegas by the way. Please help.. Thank you
Thanks so much for sharing this information, I’m amazed and grateful that you’ve shared it freely, that’s a rare thing indeed.
I found it very detailed, there was nothing I was wondering that was left out. This will help me immensely in pricing my own mural quotes.
Thanks again.
Hi Maria!!
ur a life saver.. ive been painting all my life and finally i found the courage to take a step infront and get into mural painting.. thank you for the guidance and advices.. will be lookin up into ur website more often to get mor information.
loads of loce n support,
Gill
Wow !!! Really I don’t have much to say than …you are an angel of glory!you are sent by God to the world for a great delivery. Am from Nigeria. Pls don’t doubt. my comment here.
So than pray to the Lord to get same clients to Canada that would agree with that kind of prices..:)) that you ask in USA. There is no as question ..how long are you at that bussines or how talented are you.. right question is: WHERE DO YOU LIVE? WHAT IS THE CLIENTELE? ARE THEY GOING TO PAY SUCH MONEY FOR YOUR WORK? If many of you artists muralists down in States are getting that sort of money GOOD FOR YOU..you really live at the right place. People down here are hesitating to pay even the half what Maria is asking,so I rather go by estimate,otherwise I will not survive. To make money as an artist you can not relay just on mural work down here. I am in art bussines for many years.
Thank you very much for this article! Just what I was looking for. Much appreciated.
One thing works for me is to never work up more than a rough sketch for the 2nd interview and as well never leave that with the prospective client. If they are responding on the positive then I offer a more detailed drawing but make it clear that this will cost them in advance but will be deducted from the final bid if mine is accepted. Also if they have paid for a detailed comprehensive drawing then they are not allowed to keep a copy of it unless they commit to ordering the mural. Reason is there are lots of customers out there showing around drawings made by some poor slob like me wanting to get the job……..I tell the potential customer up front I will not work from another artist’s drawing for this reason.
The way to avoid someone having you sketch the design and then have another artist “steal it” from you is this: Make sure that you copyright your designs as well as mark it “(c) Von frese Studio” so that the client knows they cannot use your art.
It should also be stated in your proposal that all artwork copyrights, even the mural painting, are owned by the Artist.
Thank you Maria. I will remember that. Copyright is marked on all my work.
Thank you for writing this article about pricing wall murals. i needed verification that my pricing is good and i found that I am right in line with you. I have been doing this for a few years and was afraid to be too expensive. i have a very large client that I have worked with for the last 3 years and now just acquire another. This new project is going to be my largest yet at close to 2000 sq ft. I like that you have discounts in the pricing at the larger areas. Very helpful to keep my clients from turning another way. Thank you again and I hope to hear more of your insight in the industry.
i letter walls just basic stuff but i was wondering how to price i just did a 4 x 10 on brick just said shoes all caps no serifs white black outline had to rent lift what would u charge ps im in pa not ur competition tony
To those of you complaining about the high prices on this article. All you have to do is Google cost of living calculator and put in the Brody’s prices and have them figured for your part of the country or world.
Then you can adjust them for your level of experience. That is what I have done.
I painted murals and faux-finishes for about 18 months right out of college and got burned so bad and jaded that I just closed up shop not wanting to deal with “clients”. I use quotes because there wasn’t a level of professionalism that they acted like a client or I acted like a business woman as well as an artist.
Now after completing a large mural for a friend, business done for free as a gift…I am getting calls. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue the headache of taking on clients. I now feel I have the tools to go into business and actually make a profit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thank you for sharing your experience in business.
With me it’s always been a roughly traveled road over time. Now I do not pursue murals unless the subject is something which I’m feeling personally connected to emotionally and politically.
Much thanks for the article / info Maria, I appreciate you and your efforts. Best Wishes to you.
Thanx 4 giving ,mural wall process start to end ,i need ur e-mail
Thank you so much for sharing your working process. I’d like to ask what is the best type of paint to use on an exterior metal fence?
Thank you for this article. I am an bouncy castle artist and have run my own business for three years the pricing has always stumped me but your advice will help alot. Cheers again .x
This was awesome! I am working to start my own mural business after doing a large mural project for a friends business. This was wonderfully simple to understand and gives an insight as to some of the obstacles i could potentially run into. You are an amazing person to share your insights and I truly aprreciate it. I look forward to reading more.
Wow, this was very helpful as I was creating my own proposal. Many factors that you covered didn’t even cross my mind. Thanks!
I was asking $28,000.00 not including scaffolding and other expenses such as motel and meals. The client countered with an offer of only 14,000.00 stating this was all their budget committee would approve for the mural project.
Should I accept or walk away?
I’ve been able to solve the funding shortfall by introducing corporate sponsors to not only make up the difference but add additional revenue to my project.
My husband has painted 3 murals in our house. All have been for our 2 son’s rooms. The first one was a beach theme on one wall for our first son’s baby room, the second was an underwater theme on all 4 walls for our second son’s baby room, and the third was a spiderman theme on three of the walls for our son’s 4th birthday. Every person that has seen them absolutely loves them. How do we get the word out that he is available to paint murals?
This has been extremely helpful. Thank you–it is so difficult to find info like this as a newcomer (professionally).
I am searching for advice on a new project: I was asked to paint 800sf of verbiage on an exterior wall of a restaurant ( think vintage hardware store with all products advertised on the outer walls). It will be black white, and gold, and a few different fonts in separate blocks, vertical and horizontal. Do I still use a pricing structure like this, by the square foot?
Thanks for any advice you can give!
Dear Jessica,
If you plan to use stencils, find out what it will cost to have the stencils made (probably from a sign company). Consider that when pricing it.
Or, if you are confident to paint the lettering on your own without stencils, that could be a lot more work to consider time-wise.
You are doing more of a sign painting project (technical) than an art project, but with different fonts it could be a lot of work.
In this case, you could charge by the square foot or you could charge by the letter. Either way, make sure you get paid enough, as this is going to be hard work!
You are a wonderful human being
Thanks a million for this post and for the whole blog! Tremendously helpful to an artist trying to really get started. Please keep blogging!!!
Thank you so much for the information. I have been painting fine art and murals since the late 80′s and looking at your pricing guide means I was giving away a lot of time and supplies. I have painted murals in large cities and small towns. People seek me out. And when we start talking about pricing they usually start telling me to be kind to them. That they don’t have much money. Very irritating to me. I usually tell them if they want to compare our checking and savings accounts. Ha! This makes them laugh! I have also told them to go on line and check out the murals and prices there. And compare my work with the other muralists. I do get really resentful sometimes. People expect you to paint a Leonardo or Michelangelo for under 500 dollars on a 90 square foot wall! And make changes constantly! Sorry for ranting! Just finished a mural today. The client calls me and texts me constantly, she loves the mural, now wants another. Embarrassed to tell you how much I charged her! Thank you again. Btw, it took me 22 hours to do this mural they wanted me to stop early, to ave money. Have you ever had that happen? I. The early years? And what can I do next time, to prevent this.
Kendra, thanks for the comment and for sharing your experiences!
Often, my conversations with a new client begin with the client saying “I don’t have a big budget…..” or “can you give me your best price, because I don’t have much money?”
My reaction when they do that? Nothing. I ignore it. I pretend I didn’t hear it at all. I give them a price quote that I would give anyone, a price that is fair to both me and them. And this is what you should do.
Recently we were offered $1,500 to paint a large wall, something we normally would charge $6,000 for.
When this happens, I say, “We charge $6,000 for this, however, if $1,500 is your budget, I can recommend a new artist still in school that might be willing to do it for that price.”
Please understand, people can’t take advantage of you unless you let them.
How to prevent the situation where you painted a mural for 22 hours and they asked you to cut it short? Very easy. Begin with a written price quote (see example above) and have your client sign it. Get 50% down before starting, and if you worry about the client not paying the full amount at completion, get a portion of the payment every few days or every week.
This will prevent most problems – a written agreement at the start and money down.
I hope this is helpful to you!
Thank you so much for your help! Really appreciate you knowledge and understanding. By the way I love the mural above, very creative and colorful! Thank you again Kendra
Awesome and SO helpful. We’re in the Olympia,wa area and have less experience but this is helpful as a bench mark! We’re starting with children’s themes!
Thank you so much for this article (and so many others). I’ve been trying to start up my own mural business and the information you’ve provided is invaluable. It’s made the process so much easier for me (pricing always gives me a headache). Thank you again for all your help.
Thanks so much for this information! My family and friends have been on me to start my own mural business however the pricing thing and terms and conditions part overwhelmed me! This has been a life saver and I greatly greatly appreciate it and all your hard work you’ve put in to make this assessable to me! Thanks so much again!
Thank you so much for sharing this info am in Canada just finishing a Mural on Concrete stucco wall had so many problems getting this surface to take a color hue I did pencil sketches first my design could not get flowers to look exactly like I wanted hard to blend and do brush strokes on stucco spent about 80 hours easy on it so far almost finished had some really great feedback from on line friends actually quite pleased with finished product Urn and flowers are big each section is approx 5′highx 3′ something wide, have been paid $400 so far for both have spent around $100 on supplies and all my good brushes are killed with the rough walls also painting outside has many challanges Im feeling like Im really ripped off if you have the time would appreciate some feeback thank you so much Muriel
Dear Muriel,
So glad you found me here! Here’s a few things for you to think about:
1 – Don’t look at this client as having “ripped you off” because YOU are in charge of making sure you get paid properly, not the client. YOU are the business person, so you have to lead the client from the beginning. I’ll further explain in a minute….
2 – Chalk this one up to experience, and don’t beat yourself up for letting this happen. We all learn through trial and error. The most important thing is that you learned from this, and the next mural you will handle perfectly from the beginning. Here’s how:
3 – Before buying paint for a mural, or doing any work, make sure you properly price it out, give the customer a written price quote, and get 50% up front.
To properly price it out, give it a lot of thought – take into consideration the condition of the wall (in this case it ruined your brushes) and anything else that you might come across.
Add something in the agreement that says “Price does not include: Unforeseen Complex painting design / design changes, Liability insurance, Unforeseen additional work due to adverse conditions on surface that may require extraneous labor.”
This way, the customer knows that if you run into problems, or if they make changes, you will add to the price.
4 – Congratulations on this mural that you are pleased with! Look at this one as a learning experience, and vow to handle all future mural projects professionally, and follow the steps that I lay out in this blog post.
5 – It’s not too late to ask the customer for more money on this one, and hopefully they will pay it. But if they don’t again, it’s a learning experience and next time will go much smoother!
I wish you the very best! I hope this is helpful.
Thank you so much for your reply Maria I appreciate your help but I will never do concrete stucco again with acrylic mediums and artist brushes lol It is very kind of you to help us all wishing you great success for being such a wonderful person.
This is truly brilliant…I am from India and have been painting murals for some time, but I have never really made any formal proposals….and yes have run into silly problems with clients not letting me sign after the murals done….however, have this big mural coming up and a proposal needs to be made…here i am on your site…really helped me a lot thanks….
Wonderfuly written, thanks so much for the the time and effort
Great article,Maria!
I have the same problem as Mike. I am a fine artist and I have painted a small mural for a friend and I really enjoyed it.I wish to reaffirm and improve my image as a mural artist, but I i’m having a really hard time getting things rolling,as Mike said.How do I find customers, should I contact local restaurants.I don’t really know how to promote my art..
Thank you
Maria,
THANK YOU for ALL THIS VALUABLE INFORMATION!!!!!
Thank you for the countless number of heartaches you
saved me! Please email me to verify your mailing address
so I can send you a check when I receive the balance of
my first mural. Yours immensely relieved and grateful,
Hil
awesome!!! thanks so much for providing this type of information.. what a great resource.
Your pricing sheet and sample mural proposal are just what I needed. I’ve been painting small and medium murals since ’99, but recently I have been asked to bid on a HUGE trompe l’oeil job for a client so important he remains anonymous even to us (the faux finishers and other artisans). I want to make sure we come across as the best suited for his project. Any other information you could provide on this topic would be awesome. Like, is it common practice to place a copyright watermark over a sketch given to the client (so he doesn’t get someone else to paint our design)? I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I work on the proposal.
Thanks!
Bea
Dear Bea,
Thanks for your comment and for reading my blog. Conrats on your new opportunity!
YES, put a watermark on the sketches, especially since you don’t even know who the client is. Make sure your sketches also have a copyright notice on the bottom that reads “Artwork (c) YOUR NAME HERE 2012, all rights reserved”
Let me know how it goes!
I am blown away by your willingness to share your prices and give all this wonderful advice. I have painted murals along with other projects and like many I have grossly underpriced myself. Your encouragement not to “bet oneself up” over what seems to be a loss is refreshing. Experience and a lesson learned is how I choose to view them from now on. I too, thank you for your article and help. After homeschooling two sons, I’m ready to get out there and make a living and be a blessing bringing joy through art. Thanks again!
I am just getting started in Southern Florida and found you blog very helpful. Thanks so much for your time,
Dorisann
Your blog has just freed me up. I have been asked to design for fabrics for run way and had no idea as an artist and an architect how to move forward.
Therefore I was lost.
Reading this has shown me that I need not fear using my design collections with a tight clear agreement, royalties with an advance sounds wise.
Pricing sheet is a little difficult as they will be computer designs done too.
But the architectural sketches are really the ones that differ, so I will focus on producing those and moving them forward for the fabric designs.
I guess royalties will be based on gross sales in all outlets and not net sales.
Kind regards,
And thank you for sharing.
Mubo.
Wow thank you for this. I have painted murals for some time now and I hate this part of the process. This has helped me a lot and I am certainly going to put it to use. Thank you so much for sharing!!
one greatful thank to u, ur sharing has helped a lot.
i am going to help my sister try to build up a business of mural.
she is really good at drawing and designing.
hopefully we will go well.
we r in sydney, australia. i think i will need to get some further info about price. cause diff country, right?
Thanks for the info you are awesome. Ive always had issues pricing on murals, this helped me so much thanks again
Hi Maria, Just wanted to let you know I found your article very informative an I feel it will help me greatly in starting my business. Your experience and advise is greatly appreciated and I look forward to reading other newsletters. Thank you again
I have been in the business for 17 years, and applaud your sound advice. It was also nice to hear my own business practices reaffirmed, too! Nicely done.
Thank you so much!
Thank you soooo very much! I’m starting an inner-city mural-making program and these are the exact questions that I struggled with answering. You are a saint!
Hi, I’m on the San Francisco Peninsula and looking to commission a very large mural on a retaining wall of one of our buildings. Was curious to price it out to tell my boss what we’re looking at price-wise so as not to get sticker shock later. This is so helpful! Now we can actually budget for it. Thank you very much! Cheers.
Hi, Thank you for this very detailed explanation for pricing. I have just started up and have a potential first client soon and I was really unsure of pricing. I’m not sure I would feel comfortable charging as much as you do as I am starting up but its a good base to go on. Also, your willingness to share your contracts on here is so so helpful. I dreaded trying to write up a contract with nothing to go off, this gives a really good basis to go on and adapt to my own skills and experience. Thanks again, Lisa (London based artist)
I AM STOKED! I just placed my first ad on CLto actually get PAID for mural painting. my wall are full and i’ve done much art, large art at our new baby, THE LUSTY AXLE bar and grill..I got an offer to bid almost immediately for a Thai restaurant and 2kids rooms. FREAKED OUT>>NO IDEA what to charge or say …absolutely NO clue and am now feeling on TOP OF THE WORLD! I love LOVE LOVE painting for my friends and family because of the sheer joy..the squeal …LOVE IT ..now I’m gonna get PAID to do that
THANK THAnK THANK YOU
This was very informative. I’m just starting out with this and that was my number one question: How do I know how much to charge? I will be following your Newsletter. Thanks again!
i do murals how can i get jobs
new to this trying to learn as much as possible. Have modeled much of my contracting after your s. I appreciate your willingness to help others.
Do you include the paint prices in your “flat fees” per foot,or are are they added later or separately?
I am just starting my 4th mural…so far, all have been community projects…this one is a gift…but I do plan to do them in the future.
Your BLOG is so incredibly helpful!!
Cheers, Carol
Carol, thanks for the comment! Yes, our prices include all materials. However, you can do it any way you wish. If you want to carve the prices out for materials and have the client pay for it separately, that works.
Thanks for your help….
I love your philosophy in sharing ideas. So many artists seem to hide away in fear of giving somebody else the advantage but I have long felt that the only way of getting along is by helping others, so thank you. This article has been very useful!
This was great thank you!
this is great information. Thank you!
I setting up the “Business” end of my business. I see your pricing does not include liability insurance. Dont you just carry an umbrella policy of a couple of million on your business? If not, now do you handle this? Thank you.
Great article, I been wondering about the liability insurance, last year I paid my own and is expensive, I only needed it for three month project but had to pay for one year! Who in these cases covers the liability insurance or do youz get it per job? Or does client pay for it? And then what about when you bring on other artists? How do they get it as well?
Thanks Maria for the information!! Please answer Martin´s Post. If the liability is not included in the price, how you charge it.
Martin, see this page: http://www.decorativeartisans.org/
http://www.decorativeartisans.org/?page=LiabilityInsurance
thank you so much for writing this and other posts! I’m a freelance artist just starting out having (sort of!) fallen into it, and I have been really fumbling about in the dark!
Found this article very helpful I am just starting out doing murals and was unsure about the process. It explains a lot and even confirmed some problems I had had with some clients with small web designs Thanks
I am a graphic designer and artist/painter as well. I will ne starting my first mural soon and this post was more then helpful!!! Thank you very much
O also on my first mural, i will be painting a very simple 2 color mural of the clients logo and then have a few walls with various sizes .. Should I charge a fixed price?? The other walls will be at my creative disposal to paint what ever i want.. Whats your advice on charging?? Tank you so much in advance!!!
Maria,
Thank you so Much!
I have been doing commision artwork for people for years and have always had a HELL of a time with pricing. I have recently been comissioned to do a 20′ x 60′ mural for our local soccer club. (it started out 40×80′!) After reading your blog (and a few other mural artists pages) I felt a lot more confident about the quoting process. I am going to be painting on MDO with house paint in the background (donated) and Golden Acrylics for the design and then installing it on the building. Unfortunatley our town is lower income so I will be charging less than you, but I figure this will be a great job to put in my portfolio. ( I am charging $25/sqft)
And it will give me a decent paycheck for doing something I love!
Thank you again!
Sandy
This site is excellent for me and you guys will be mentioned through my success, thank you much!
Thank you for helping other artists with your candor – pricing is one of the toughest choices to make as a creative!
very helpful. if a wall isn’t white, does drew prime it or paint it white before he starts his mural?
You have been sent from above, thank you thank you thank you!!
Thank you for being so open with your pricing structure! It’s fabulous to see all the comments posted and to know that others are experiencing exactly the same thing I am. I have been painting murals as a side job since the early 1990′s and have NEVER charged even close to what I should. I keep taking on jobs for clients that have a small budget thinking that I will get a “big” break and a mural business will take off. In some ways it has since I have been getting new and repeat clients by word of mouth only, but haven’t charged nearly enough to make it worth my while to quit my full time job. I’m finally to the point where I really would like to quit my full time job and start painting for a living. I believe that by using your pricing as a guideline and marketing myself through a website, I feel confident I could make things work. Thank you soooo much and I wish you all the best!
Very interesting. How did you go about getting your clientele?
Thanks you are very generous and kind for sharing
great advice
It is a kind and thoughful person who shares information without asking for anything in return; wishing you great success always!
THOUGHTFUL!!
HEY THATS NICE THANK U DO U HAVE OTHER PRICE QUALTS FOR A LESSER SQUAR FEET
PRICE
Thanks so much for sharing this information. I’m about to do my first mural (for a business owned by a friend) and I had no idea where to begin with baseline per sf pricing. I’m in Memphis, TN – a much more depressed economy than where you are – so I know my prices will have to be much, much lower. That said, I’m moving this winter to Austin, so now I know how to adjust my prices accordingly! Thanks again!
hello im zhayde and i would like to see if i can send you one of my wall murals that i did for my niece funny thing is it was just a project now people around the neighborhood want one and i just would like to know what you think i’m worth please and thank you
This is great advise, thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience.
I’m based in England but found your blog very useful as I am considering starting my own Art/Mural business. It has helped me to work out how to price without getting ripped off Thank you.
I really enjoyed reading this, thank you, and it was very good reading this after experiencing a client from hell! (Due to the urgency of their job I didn’t do my usual thing of taking a 50% deposit up front – etc.). My question is – what do you think it’s fair to pay an assistant given your pricing structure? I tried to get an assistant on my last job and the guy I asked wasn’t available, I had an idea of what to pay him but wonder how you price this?
Thanks!