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 my 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!
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR PRICE SHEET
Your mural 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. $25.00 – $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.
Giving a client a price sheet:
- Weeds out the people who can’t afford you (so you don’t waste your time or theirs); and
- 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.
HOW MUCH $$$ YOU CHARGE IS RELATIVE TO: your experience, where you are located (some places are cheaper to live than others) and supply and demand of your art.
You are welcome to copy and paste the form below and adjust it accordingly for your own use.
OR buy my Mural Pricing and Proposal Package HERE (it will save you years of agony having a TEMPLATE on a mural proposal!)
SAMPLE MURAL PRICING SHEET
Minimum Price: Murals sized 0 to 160 Square Feet: Price is $5,600
Pricing starts at $35 per square foot and decreases with increased size of mural; at 290 sf price drops to $32/sf – at 500 sf drops to $30/sf – at 900 sf price drops to $28/sf.
(Square Foot is determined by multiplying the height x width of the painting surface)
*Price per square foot may increase if design requested is complex. This will be indicated in price quote and determined at the time that the final sketch is approved.
SAMPLE PRICING, per square foot:
| Prices per Unit Size (sample sizes) | ||
| DIMENSIONS | ²AREA | PRICE |
| Up to 10ft. x 16ft. | 160ft. | $5,600.00 |
| 11ft. x 16ft. | 176ft. | $6,160.00 |
| 12ft. x 20ft. | 240ft. | $8,400.00 |
| 13ft. x 20ft. | 260ft. | $9,100.00 |
| 14ft. x 21ft. | 294ft. | $9,410.00 |
| 15ft. x 23ft. | 345ft. | $11,040.00 |
| 17ft. x 26ft. | 442ft. | $14,144.00 |
| 18ft. x 28ft. | 504ft. | $15,120.00 |
| 19ft. x 30ft. | 570ft. | $17,100.00 |
| 20ft. x 31ft. | 620ft. | $18,600.00 |
| 25ft. x 39ft. | 975ft. | $27,300.00 |
| 28ft. x 44ft. | 1232ft. | $34,500.00 |
Non-Refundable Design/Sketch Fee: $2500.00 – Includes up to 2 sets of changes by client (Additional sketches charged at $250/sketch)
In my Mural Pricing and Proposal Package I also tell you how to handle and what to charge $ for:
- Travel fees
- Liability Insurance
- Unexpected changes to the art
- Adverse conditions on the surface of the wall (i.e. it’s not “paint ready”)
- Payment terms: How much $$$ to ask for UP FRONT before starting the sketch process and when the balance is due
- MORE things you never thought of!
PRICE SHEET EXPLANATION
Every detail and *caveat on the price sheet is necessary and came from us learning the hard way. Below are a few points and for ALL of the info get my Proposal Package:
Pricing Structure: I’ve talked to mural artists who charge $40 – $50 a square foot. For us, a starting price of approx. $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. 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 the money they paid for the sketch fee 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, there are other ways to handle the deposit, and I tell you how in my Mural Pricing and Proposal Package.
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. (My Mural Proposal Template available HERE)
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 Sketch 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 sketch fee from the mural price. Basically I’m waiving the sketch fee, but I still require a payment prior to the sketch process.
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 TEMPLATE:
Artist’s Wall Mural Proposal Template Package
I hope this has been helpful to you. 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 art business strategy coaching – 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!
AND, IF YOU WANT A PROFESSIONAL PROPOSAL PROCESS and TEMPLATE, check out this awesome package I created that has helped hundreds of artists proposal and price out murals:
Artist’s Wall Mural Proposal Template and Price Sheet
Luv, Maria xxoo
517 Responses
Hello:
I came across this site of yours as I should of been doing my homework regarding painting mural cost. I really screwed mt self badly, luckily no contract was sign.
I was hired to do a series of murals for these people who recently opened up a new hair shop and a jewellery store side by side in a new building.
These people are so cheap and I had got my self caught up in charging nothing like I have been reading in your web site. Two 2×24 foot murals above display units were of mountains, sky with clouds and trees as well as a few butterflies was painted at a embarrassing cost of $400.00 and coming across your very informative site I now feel like a complete fool. I do believe in giving away art for causes MS and cancer research but upon doing this job as a new trade as I am slowly phasing out house painting. I am a senior last year and being in good health I remain work, just not wanting to continue house painting as you may know it can be very demanding.
I will no longer continue to do work for these ones as I will never get any where close to your prices. JPM
Don’t feel bad! I’ve been there as well. People think doing art is easy and ‘cheap’. It’s not true. I came across this article just like you — to research murals cost. This is definitely helpful!!
I wish you good luck on your future artistic endeavors!
Thats my modeling website but I figured I’d throw it up there cuz I don’t have my art one up yet.
Anyway. Just wanted to email you guys and tell you that I love you for making my life SOOOOO easy. This information is invaluable and I’m so happy you shared!
I just finished sketches for a product line and made some mistakes and now after someone inquiring about a mural job I knew I needed to do my research and correct them. This was exactly what I needed and I just really thankful !
Best!
Olena <3
Howdy could you give me some information about how to get started Please.As I have a great interest in wall murals. Anything would be helpful, as I’m just starting out.Thank you so much Melissa
Maria,
I am professional artist ( painter), and recently started to paint murals, I realy enjoy doing it but its a new field to me and lots of learnig is part of it. I find your articles very helpful, well written profesional., I say the best advise I could find available out there in art buisnes world.
I realy appreciate it !thanks a lot for sharing your experience !.R.Diana
I truly want to commend you for this very informative and helpful article. I am helping a very creative and artistic friend who wants to get started in the business. The information you provided will be invaluable to her in assuring she is professional while at the same time giving her work the value it deserves. I work in a different field, but your ideas for pricing, having clear verbal and written expectations/contracts, etc. is valuable to all business endeavors. Thank you for being open with pricing, as that is sometimes the most difficult thing to establish when you are just starting out. KUDOS!
Hey Maria,
This article was soooo very helpful! I’m preparing a quote for a mural and can now send it with confidence. My husband and I are designers (keskillc.com) and photographers (dustylenscap.us) so we’ve developed pricing sheets before but hand done art is tricky. Thanks for your honest advice! I really appreciate your transparency.
Holly
This is great advice. I really appreciate how candid and honest you are. The transparency is BEYOND refreshing. I’m an experienced jewelry maker but am branching out into other forms of art and creativity and finding people who aren’t intimidated by others and are willing to share valuable advice is just beyond awesome.
Thank you.
Hello Maria.
I am so happy to have found your information. I need to sit down and thoroughly read this info on pricing but it confirms a lot of what I had already believed from the small amount of experience that I so far have with painting murals.
I am frustrated because in the area where I live (Edmonton, Alberta Canada) there are mural artists that advertise and work for starting at $5 per square foot. Which then makes it difficult to compete with them as it seems most of the customers simply are looking for the cheapest rather than the best. Leaving many of us in the starving artist category! Every time that I have quoted what I felt would be fair to me for my time, which was at about half of what you are charging, the customers run and do not get back to me. Most of what I have painted to try to build my portfolio was severely too low.
I do appreciate the great information that you have been providing.
Also thank you for actually printing what your prices are, I have been searching for this type of info with no luck finding actual posted amounts. Anyone that I had spoken to who does paint murals is always avoiding saying exactly what they do charge.
Except the ones who like to advertise that they start at $5 per square foot!
This is amazing!! Thank you so much for your help!! I am new at this and have some mural design opportunities coming up and this is soooooo helpful! Thanks again!!
Thanks so much for this info, it’s the hardest part of my business, but the most important!,
There’s little info out there on the pricing of art/ mural work, been doing this a long time, specializing in large murals, and airbrush, I’m quick, and talented, but like a lot of artist, the business side of me lacks!, still learning after all these years, but we never stop learning and improving!/
I’ll continue to check with this, and your e- mails, again, thank you!-
I just recently got asked to do a job on a large dance studio where my daughter dances at I’m really confused on what to charge them because I’ve known them for so long last time I tried doing the price sheet for the doctors that my daughter goes to they never got back with me. Which means they didn’t want me because it was too high priced what do I do? what would be a fair price to charge for New York City skyline and Hollywood skyline.
on a concrete floor, at 600 sq feet
Dear Jessica,
Thanks for the question. I would never assume that someone didn’t get back to you because your price was too high. It’s not always that. Sometimes it’s because they got busy, or they didn’t understand the pricing you gave, or they were waiting for you to follow up.
Always take it upon yourself to follow up with a client at least 2 days after sending them pricing. Ask “Did you receive my Price quote” and “Do you have any questions” and “What day do you want me to get started?”
Pick up the phone and call your client today!
I understand the original art copyrights but if I am painting from a picture they took of themselves what would I say? Would I copyright that as well? Don’t they own the picture if they took it?
Hi Penny, great question! If you are painting from someone else’s photo, the person who took the photo owns the copyrights to the photo. In this case, you would both agree to whom owns the copyrights to the final painted art. Or you can both jointly own the copyrights.
At 50 years old I am just beginning a Muralist career and this has helped me so very, very much! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you sharing this important information! Tho experienced, much of my work was community/church volunteer so I will be starting at a low base payment until my reputation builds as a professional. You have helped me tremendously! Thank you!!
Yvonne, Thanks for commenting on my blog post! I’m glad the was helpful for you.
I would like to recommend my Artist Mural Proposal template; it helps you create a professional proposal for your clients.
Read more about it here: http://store.drewbrophy.com/artists-wall-mural-proposal-template-and-price-sheet/
Thanks, and I wish you the best with your career!
Hi, I paint murals using airbrush and charge £75 a day, a lot of people say my pricing is pretty low for the standard of my work, I really need to get a structure together that lets me charge more and helps the customer understand what the final price will be, I am very good at what I do but find it hard to understand a good way of pricing up jobs, ive never really been clever in that sort of thing, even your help on pricing jobs is confusing for me, but im going to revise it over a few times and hopefully get to understand it better, the last thing I want is to turn up to a client and hand them a price sheet that I dont understand lol. Its very frustrating for me because I am very good at what I do im just useless at making money from it.
Hello!
Could you think all that prices into a country like my country?
Portugal?
Here the people hasn’t too much mooney…
Thanks!
Angelo
I would like to have your point of view….?
Hello. Thanks for your helpful information. Does this pricing include materials, assistants and renting of ladders or special features for climbing high walls? Thank you, Priscilla
Deon O Kennedy
Hi Maria
Thank you for your advice on how to price a mural it will help us a lot we are from the west coast in South Africa thank you so much
Wow. Please look at my site older murals I’ve done I’ve now 100s of murals all over vancouver bc and all over British Columbia as far as North Carolina Texas Montana and Mexico I’ve always just basically looked at a wall I know how long it will take yes I give them what I refer to as a working drawing and will alter it if they want something changed my time works out to between 100.00and200.00 per hr most of the time .Ive worked with some amazing talent I am REALY impressed with what you are saying I feel I need to charge a lot more for my work which has realy come up in quality in recent years
Keep doing what you are doing. This totally helped me out! I’m bidding a job tomorrow and really need to be specific. Thank you soooooo much!! This is fantastic advise. Very professional and simple.
Hi Maria,
I came upon your site while I was helping out a friend who has been approached by another friend in the Middle East for some mural work for a new hotel. I absolutely loved your article. Amazingly helpful. Would you know an approximate pricing for mural projects in the Gulf and Middle East? Would truly appreciate some help on this to my email address. Thank you once again!
Warm regards,
Prema
Bangalore, India
Thank you for your honesty!!! I am an NYC based muralist and I’ve been doing this for over 15 years and I STILL panc when setting a price. You are a rock star.
Grazzi Grazzi for this article!!!! So helpful and awesome of you to share
I paint murals and am a ceramist. Love it. This was one of the best price & information breakdowns, that I have come across. Thank you so much. You validated that I am definitely worth so much more.
Wow! This is perfect! This saved me hours and hours of work. Thanks so much for sharing. We just finished a mural that was done as part of a project and have leads to paint more and had no idea how to price them.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!
…for being so so kind and sharing…
You have no idea how long I’ve been searching for such a helpful site RE: ALL this invaluable info…
Smiles,
Olenka
(teary eyed with excitement)
P.S. Good luck with all your projects and adventures!!!
Thank you so much for your transparent article with pricing points. I am new to the field and am still shy about asking for money. I’ve done murals for a couple hundred bucks in the past and I know I am worth much more than that. People around this area don’t have a high demand for this type of work, but it’s something that I love to create, so I tend to undercut myself. But in the end, I’m just insulting my own work. I am worried about people not being able to afford me if I went with your pricing structure. Even though the job I’m bidding on right now would be in a well-to-do area (by my standards anyway) and in a commercial place, I am worried about losing the job completely just because I ask for too much money. But since there isn’t a lot of competition out here for this type of work, I’m not really sure where to even begin with pricing. I also don’t know if I should make my business completely legit with EIN and insurance when I’ve only done a handful of jobs in the past few years. Again, not a high demand for this type of work where I live. I wish more people like you were around here to kind of help guide me as I get started. I am talented, I know this, but I am shy about the money aspect. I guess, in the end, I have to be sure I ask for the amount that I will feel proud of by the time the job is complete. Thank you again for your article. It validates that my work is worth much more than what I’m asking.
I must say when I came across this article I was pretty surprised. The info given in this article has always been information that you learned from trail and error and just lists of mistakes in the process. I cannot tell you how many times I shot myself in foot just to get the sell, or how many times I just mis calculated. As a big fan of both the Brophy’s art and culture I thank you for sharing such a valuable resource. It seems in today’s kustom art culture you must pay for just about any knowledge or training. I enjoyed the read and look forward to further articles. Keep paintin.
Thank you so MUCH. I have been trying to work out how to cost my paintings and you have made my life so much essay.
THANKS ONCE AGAIN.
HAVE A NICE DAY. 🙂
THANK YOU so MUCH. I have been trying to work out how to cost my paintings and your advice has been of great help.
THANKS ONCE AGAIN.
Thank you thank you! I’m an artist just starting to get into murals. I had no idea where to start and this is more than I could have imagined stumbling upon!
Nice weblog right here! Also your site rather a lot
up fast! What web host are you the use of? Can I am getting your affiliate hyperlink on your host?
I wish my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
Hi I’m wanting to get some wall art done in my bedroom and are a little confused with pricing my wall area is 80square ft. I want to use a costum design with a little bit of help from the artist regarding colour and shape overall this should be quite a easy straightforward job.
Plz contact me via email
MARIA,
YOU ARE AN INCREDIBLE HUMAN BEING. THE FACT THAT YOU TAKE THE TIME TO SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE WITH OTHER ARTISTS, ENABLING US TO REAP THE SAME BENEFITS THAT YOU’VE WORKED SO HARD FOR…
TRUE SELFLESSNESS. YOU JUST SAVED MY FREE-LANCING BUTT A LOT OF STRIFE.
NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD, SWEAR IT.
PLEASE ADD ME TO EMAIL LIST.
WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE,
MISS KRIS
I agree with miss kris. Its rare that artists will share their pricing or painting techniques, which if we all did, then the general public/client would value art as a profession and not a hobby (or that they are doing us a favor to have us paint for them) Anyway, thank you for your open heart and info.
Cheers, CC
This is all very helpful information, thanks for sharing. The question I have is ownership.
If the client wants to reproduce portions of the art and use it in other ways, perhaps on merchandise.
How is that handled?
What rights do they own?
Thank you
Hi Tim, great question.
We retain ownership to all copyrights of Drew’s artwork. So if someone hires him to paint a mural, we retain the rights to reproduction. If they want to reproduce the art in any way, we would work it out in a separate licensing deal. However, some murals are hard to reproduce, as it’s difficult to get a good enough photo/scan of the art.
excellent information! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with the rest of us! I agree with your thinking, but a shame that most agree with your friends. Art is a collaboration….and artists need to collaborate so that no one has to reinvent the wheel. I so appreciate you sharing what you have learned. I am now better prepared to discuss the value of creating my murals. I also, will feel much more confident in presenting the proposals. For those just starting, remember , it is easier to raise your prices, than to lower your prices, as this will give the idea that your work is not worth as much as it was prior. It’s ok to do a few beginning jobs and not make full value. There is so much to learn about the process…use those first few projects, or first few years to work out the kinks and gain confidence. Every mural you do, gets your name and work out there.
Again- your post has been invaluable. I will be a frequent flyer to your site! 🙂 Thank You
Thank you very much for this article. It’s exactly what I needed. I do portrait paintings and graphic designs mostly as volunteer work or side jobs to gain exposure. I was just recently asked by a large company to do a very large mural and had absolutely no idea how to bid the project. I’ll meet with them soon and they’ve seen my work through a friend. This article gave me clarity on what to expect and what to offer with absolute professionalism. Thanks a million!
Hi Maria!
This is an amazing article which I’m sure will help me a ton now that I’ve started getting client leads. I live in Mexico so I will have to adjust prices and I am not well know (yet) so I won’t be able to charge as much right away. Anyways, I love what you are doing. Your writing is clear and very friendly, thanks a lot!
A mexican word for having the same name as another person is “tocaya”…we are “tocayas”!
Hi Maria!
Thank you for all of your information. I am a former art teacher and I came across Drew’s work a few years ago and used him and his style in my classroom. My middle and high schoolers loved him!! Please know that I thank you both for the fun and growth my students achieved through our Drew inspired projects. And I’m so thankful again as I’m considering starting a mural business. It’s something I’ve done a bit over the years but never as income. My husband unfortunately had a work accident that may prevent him from ever going back and I left teaching to stay home with our now 9 month old baby. I’ve always wanted to start a mural business but honestly lacked time and courage. I have time now and I’m gaining situational courage and wondered about scheduling and the time line of ya’lls business. I read in your article that you plan for a 5-7 day work week from 9-5. While I would love to have a regular set schedule, I’m not sure if I will be able to b/c I care for my husband on his less functioning days. I am concerned it would seem unprofessional if I needed to block my schedule out over a week at different times. For ex Mon 9-12, tues 1-5 and so on. I know it would not be professional to make a time frame commitment and not keep it but if the painting is completed by promised date, do clients view this as unprofessional? Also, I am curious how the business started for you and how long did it take to grow before it was steady?
Again thank you both so much! I still have my Drew inspired example from my classes and I can’t tell you enough about the happy fun memories I have from those days. Young minds were inspired in SC!!!
Dear Sacha, thanks for the kind words, and for sharing Drew’s art with your students!
To answer your questions –
Re: Time frame/not sticking to a regular schedule of painting the mural: If you are painting a mural in a commercial space or public space, it’s very important to put in full days, consecutively, so that you can get the job done as quickly as possible. This way you won’t be disturbing the work space any more than you have to. Being efficient is crucial – otherwise you become a problem for your client, not an asset.
Also, by dragging it out, you are more likely to run into problems and in the long run, you’ll make less money due to the ineffeciency of it.
If you’re painting in people’s homes, in a room that they don’t use and don’t walk through, then pro-longing the project probably isn’t as big of a deal. But I personally wouldn’t want an artist coming in and out of my house for a long period of time. I’d want it started, worked on and finished quickly so I could get back to my life. I think most of your clients will feel this way.
A solution to your dilemma would be to get a babysitter or have someone help you with your child and husband when you have mural projects. Or, hire another artist to help you with the mural so you can knock it out efficiently.
How the biz started for us: Drew’s always earned a living by painting; he started as a young teen, painting surfboards and designing tee shirts. When I came along, he was 25 and had been earning a living from art for quite a few years. Having me work on the business side helped the business to expand. And here we are, all these years later!
I hope it works out great for you. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for my newsletters (at the top of my website page) and you’ll get free coaching for 2 months. I think you’ll like it.
Thanks again for the sweet words, we appreciate it!
Thanks so much for this info.. I found it just in time and created a proposal document based on your info and pricing. Question: Is the $1500 non-refundable design fee included in the price per square foot or is it a separate fee from the price per square foot ?
thank you !
-Katie.
Sometimes I include it in the overall fee. It just depends on the project, the client, etc.
Thank you!!!
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Hi!
How do you charge for unusual working conditions like odd hours? I just received my first mural commission. The mural is on a large set of security doors in a high traffic area of a residence home’s dementia unit. The best time for me to work without the doors constantly being opened/closed or the residents trying to help (or getting agitated) is after 9pm. I typically go in at that time and work until I get tired. Usually 1-2am. When we made the initial agreement, the client did not inform me of the possible issue with keeping normal hours. I don’t think they thought it through. Only after discussing with a nurse what she felt would be less disruptive did I find the late hours more suitable to the job. The up-side is many of the residents never see me working, and look forward to getting up in the morning to see the progress! The nurses tell me they are fascinated. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and information. I just subscribed to your emails and look forward to growing my business following your example!
OMG thank you so much for this. Super helpful!!!
Hello. As a high school student who’s good in art but has never done a wall painting, how much do you think I should charge for a simple scene on a wall of 60 sq ft. I have no idea but I don’t want to scare away a potential job! Any suggestion would be appreciated. Your web site has already helped a lot.
Perhaps it would be nice to have a price category for highly detailed work versus quicker basic projects.
That is an excellent article. Extremely detailed very nice! I have been burned a few times now on the preliminary designs and not charging enough.