Quick question…
On average, how much does a laminator get paid per board?
Guess I should add if it matters… does pay differ on poly vs epoxy?
anyone…?
That's a well kept secret.
lol, ok… dont know why…its a job/skill that someone is paid for just like any other job. Not looking for specific pay, just an average.
$100-250 per board? More…less?
When you say "laminator" , do you refer to the guy who only laminates the board or also does hot coats , fin installs and sanding.
I ask because I got the pricelict of "The Factory" (Wahiawa , northshore) with me.
they do the whole job and just for an example-
up to 6'5 boards - base price is 150$ for a sanded finish + 30$ fcs tri set . any extras such as glosscoats , tints and or extra glass layers
swallow tails/ channels etc. cost more $$$$ .
so the minimum price for a complete glass job would be 180-200$.
kapish?
Aloha
Lee
btw
if you need reference for a specific board, share some details and I'll check the pricelist for you.
Perfect Lee, thats exactly what I was looking for.
In my case, it would include hotcoat (not sure about fin/leash plug install), and NO sanding. I’m being asked by someone local who has started shaping to lam and hotcoat the boards for him and he’ll finish them off.
This could potentially turn into a consistant job for my business on top of the ding repair which is 95% of my work specifically.
The reason why I wanted to ask up front is I dont want to undercut or overprice myself based on the industry standard in pay for the guys who do it day in and day out for a living.
Laminate two sides and hotcoat one side; well below one hundred dollars $100.
for lam and hoatcoat with no hardware and no sanding i would say somewhere between $100 and $150. $175-$200 for total package.
Awesome. Appreciate the feedback guys!
Seems like the lamination/hotcoat part is the easiest part of glassing. The sanding and finishing is where you can mess things up, and you have to deal with the itchy sanding.
no fins and no sanding, at least $145. Anything lower and you’re undercutting everyone else.
Howzit surfboardmedic, The best I got was I think was $12 a side and that was quite a few yers ago and a hot coater got $ 3 a side so there was more love involved than money made but back then I was turning out around 12 to 20 sides a day when they were there to do so I was lucky. I think the least I madewas $8 a side. Aloha,Kokua
howzit kokua…
I gotta hand it to ya…you definitely do it more for the love than pay…no way I could even remotely do it that cheap. My business is mainly fixing boards at the moment. I’d have to make this worth my time and cover the extra expenses to set up for lam’ing and hotcoating boards constantly. I love doing the work, dont get me wrong… but in the end, I gotta be able to pay the bills somehow if someone is using my time/knowledge/skills to profit themselves.
If you are just the lam guy and hot coater and not paying for material IE you work for a glass house. 10-15 a side is pretty normal for clears plus another little bit for hotcoats. I don’t know anybody getting a 100 a board unless its something crazy. If you are supplying the material and space 250 sanded is a competitive price sanders prob make 30 of that. Thats why you have to be fast. You can’t charge 400 for a basic glass job unless you have been doing it for ever and are epic like Gary stubber or Vader
Are we trying to determine the current industry pay rate for a laminator or sander or the current rate for a lam job(labor and materials)? I think we are getting both answers. In my opinion for what laminators do they don't get paid enough. There is so much that could go wrong and mess things up royal. A good laminator has mastered the fine art and can control all the variables to complete a fine product.
Talked to the guy again… I will be installing fins/leash plug for him.
So its lam both sides, hotcoat and fin/leash install, NO sanding.
I gave the guy a deal (just under $100) just because he is still green and starting out with not a bunch of money yet…which is fine, I can relate since I know starting out is costly and it’s not huge money maker, especially when you are a no-name. Right now, Im only doing this one board for him.
If he continues and wants me to do all of his boards, I told him up front we’ll discuss something further which is somewhat why I wanted to dig deeper and get average pay for various work. I’m doing my homework. If this turns into something where I’m doing X amount of boards per week for him then I need to be sure my time is paid for accordingly so I can balance it with the pile of ding repairs I do weekly as well. I did let him know based on everyones response here the average pay of a laminator (with doing or not doing certain things… ie, fins, sanding, etc.)
You guys have been helpful. I appreciate it. Im open to any more input as well…
I agree, there is a mix of both answers, which is fine.
double post… sorry.