Our quote, production & design process

Free quotes: Generally, we can provide a quote based on the information we first receive.  We send quotes out by email to help prevent them ending up in junk mail which include details of the job with a breakdown of costs.   Complex quotes can take a while to work out due to the need for measurements and discussions with the team and customers before the job scope is settled.   Unless it is a paid site survey, we do not typically charge to measure up jobs, however will let you know if we need to do this. 

Artwork produced for jobs and quotes: Likewise for prepared artwork that we include with quotes, this is not charged for if a job doesn’t proceed, however we do reserve the right to issue and invoice in circumstances eg where our designs are taken to another business to copy.  All artwork that we create remains the property of Russell Sign & Print and is subject to copyright unless otherwise agreed or when a logo suite has been purchased.  Artwork requests by other businesses to create for shirts, caps etc will attract a $60 + GST fee.

Payment for jobs: We aim to work with customers regarding payment terms.  Our general terms are full payment on delivery or within 7 days as agreed – as detailed in the invoice.  For jobs over $500 in value, we generally require a 50% deposit and we will discuss this beforehand.

Regardless of our general quote terms, we may require a full payment before a job proceeds.  We can discuss special payment arrangements.  

We reserve the right to impose a monthly charge of $10 per month plus 10% of balance owning on invoices that become overdue.

Production turnaround times: We are able to provide same day service for smaller and urgent jobs.  Our printing service aims for same/next day delivery of standard products.  Our signage production turnaround time is between 5 working days to 3 weeks for most signage jobs after artwork is approved depending on if installation is required.  

Sometimes, we experience delays, quite often due to our excessive rainy season, but also the realities facing a small business where real life can happen.  Also timelines can be extended due to communication delays or complexities / multiple changes during the artwork process.  So we really appreciate the patience of our customers on those occasions.

Artwork terms:  We reserve the right to politely decline to use artwork created in Canva or Vistaprint or otherwise artwork supplied without meeting our print ready requirements.  Artwork surcharges may apply on supplied artwork.  ‘Print ready’ is a complex term as it can include great artwork that when enlarged looks terribly pixelated so a level of rebuilding is required or it can be artwork that simply won’t fit into the area required so it needs to be pulled apart or given bleeds.  On occasion we also discover invisible gremlins so elements are missing after we print and we are expected to the wear the cost of reprinting.  This can be a problem so for larger jobs we will do a test print first that will be included with the artwork charge.

Here are some suggestions to apply to your own artwork to help avoid you having to pay or minimise our artwork surcharge.

These are:
1) all layers to be flattened 
2) all content to be converted to curves
3) all lines to be converted to objects
4) typefaces and background images may be required or costs to purchase may apply
5) notes are required for all work that includes opacity percentages (transparencies)
6) for print artwork (business cards, flyers, etc) a 2mm bleed is required, with print and crop marks removed (we will provide links on the site for templates or measurements to assist customers
7) for Canva work that lets you create PDF’s please follow the above directions then save your PDF, then open the PDF as a word document and save that to give us, then save the word document as a PDF (version 2) and provide all 3 of these files
8) for Canva work where you have created a png or 2D image file, you will need to save it the largest possible with a 5mm bleed and we will do our best to print it as is
9) for Canva work that you want to be used for signage, please do 7) above plus provide background images.

Artwork charges:  Our artwork set up and design charges are set to suit the job.  Artwork charges from $40-$80 + GST or $80 per hour + GST will apply to artwork that requires reconfiguration, or when supplied artwork is discovered to be unusable after a quote is accepted and subsequently needs to fixed, rebuilt or substantially reworked.  We will discuss this situation with you so the cost is understood before a job proceeds further.