Why the unit price misleads
The unit price is the smallest line in most business logo projector budgets and the only one anybody quotes. Hardware, custom artwork, installation and the replacement cycle are the other three, and on a five-year view they routinely exceed the cost of the fixture. Price all four or you will be surprised twice.
Hardware
Hardware scales with output and rating. A business logo projector at the bottom of the 20–200 W range for a sheltered indoor position is a different product from one at the top of the range rated IP65 for an exposed facade — same category, very different bill. The jump is driven by the LED, the driver, the thermal design and the housing, in that order.
- Output, which sets the LED, driver and heatsink size
- Ingress rating, which sets the sealing and housing design
- Lens quality, which sets how much output reaches the wall
- Finish and hardware, which set how it survives the site
The recurring line
Custom artwork is the recurring line, and the one that gets forgotten. Every rebrand, every new branch, every seasonal change means another gobo; if you are running a business logo projector across several sites, that is a standing cost, not an one-off. Standardise the gobo size across the estate and reorders become cheap and quick.
- Engraving per unit, and any minimum quantity
- Artwork preparation if the supplied file needs work
- Shipping, especially on small reorders
- Lead time, and the cost of waiting
Installation, power and access
Installation is where budgets break, because it depends on the site rather than the product. Access equipment, a new power run, out-of-hours working and making good afterwards are all variable and none of them appear in a business logo projector quote. Survey before you commit, and price the access separately.
- Access equipment — ladder, scaffold or powered platform
- Power run and any making good afterwards
- Out-of-hours or trading-hours working
- Fixings, bracket and cable management
Running cost over three years
The three-year picture: hardware once, artwork a few times, cleaning twice a year, power continuously. Of these, the one buyers underestimate is cleaning — and the one that decides it is whether the unit can be reached with a ladder.
- Hardware, once
- Artwork reorders, every rebrand or new site
- Cleaning, twice a year
- Power, continuously
| Cost line | Frequency | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Once | Output and ingress rating |
| Artwork | Every rebrand or new site | Number of sites and change frequency |
| Cleaning | Twice a year | Access method, mostly |
| Power | Continuously | Wattage and daily run hours |
Cuts that cost you later
The false economies are the rating, the bracket and the artwork. A business logo projector with an under-specified IP65 rating fails in the first winter; a lightweight bracket drifts and needs re-aiming; a low-resolution artwork file produces an image you will not accept. Save elsewhere.
