Need advice on Mural Pricing?

Question

Hello,
Im about to do several murals for a friend of a family members workspace and need some advice from other artists that have done murals. I haven't done this before and they feel confident with my art background that I will do a good job on them. The thing is I don't know what to charge for my services. Should I price each mural seperately or by the hour plus money for "supplies"? She wants 3 murals done and maybe even a sign painted. What should I charge?
Thank you for the help.

Answer 1

I have painted several murals for friends, for them I just charged them for the paint, and they always gave me a rather nice tip for my efforts. The ones I have done for others is based on how big and how detailed, and if you are painting the entire wall or just a partial wall. It is hard to give you what to charge considering I do not know the size or how much detail is to be involved. What you could do, since this is your first attempt. maybe you could charge like $100 per wall plus supplies and just asked for written approval to take photos and to use these to show to get future work

Answer 2

Over the years I have done four murals in the LA area (three of which are still there) and charged differently for each one.

How I decided what to charge depended on two things:

1. The cost of the materials involved.

2. More importantly, how long each mural was going to take to paint. The 40 foot long one I did along the sidewall of a greenhouse nursery took three weeks to paint. One I did of a floating angel on the wall of a gift shop at the beach took two days. So I charged like you would a normal for hire job. It's not really charging by the hour but by the time and effort required.

Answer 3

That was always the hardest thing for me to understand when I first started my career as a serious artist. The best advice was given to me by a teacher in college. He said when ever someone ask you how long it took you to paint a painting your response should be your age....The logic is that it took that many years experience to get to the level of an artist that you are and from there base your price. Don't under sale yourself if your good...It's that system that I use to price any work that I now do. Paintings that I did ten years ago would have sold for less. Now I price my work in the Thousands......If you really good your worth the price!
painters that just paint flat colors get alot of money so don't hesitate to put a great value on original art work.....If she really needs a sign have her call Fast Signs...That's what they are for ...leave the stuff that can be done on a computer to the sign companies.. Spend more time working on a great mural that you don't feel guilty for charging her for. Murals require a lot of time and talent....three should be worth at least a grand or even more..depending on you skill and talent. And the amount of detail she demands. Check out my stuff....

Answer 4

Charge for each mural separately. Give them the first one free. It will give you an opportunity to find out how long it will take you to work on it. Include the price of your materials into the price of each mural.
If you charge by the hour it may take you longer than you anticipated and they may not want to pay for a lot of hours..

And like Gary said, document all your work to use in your portfolio.

Answer 5

I just put mural painters in and did a search. There are many to find your answer from!