Running a print job from enquiry to delivery
A print job loses money at the quote and the proof, long before the press runs. A printing press workflow from enquiry to delivery, with the checks that matter.
For printing presses and print shops handling commercial jobs · 3 min read · updated
In short
- A print job moves through enquiry, quotation, approval, production, completion, invoicing and delivery, and each stage is a gate.
- Quote from a written specification: finished size, paper and GSM, quantity, colours and every finishing operation.
- Paper is bought by weight, so its cost follows GSM and sheet size; allow for makeready spoilage.
- A signed proof before printing moves responsibility for its content to the customer.
- Track production as design, printing and finishing to see where time is actually spent.
- Invoice from the job, so the bill matches what was quoted and made.
Seven stages, and each one is a gate
A commercial print job moves through a fixed sequence. Each stage is a gate: a job should not reach the next one until the current one is genuinely finished.
- Enquiry: what, how many, on what paper, by when.
- Quotation: priced from the specification, not from memory.
- Approval: the customer accepts the price and signs off a proof.
- Production: design, then printing, then finishing.
- Completed: checked against the approved proof.
- Invoiced: billed from the job, so the invoice matches what was made.
- Delivered: handed over, with the quantity signed for.
Quote from the specification
Most print jobs that lose money lose it at the quote. Price from a written specification — finished size, paper and its GSM, quantity, colours and every finishing operation — rather than from a figure that feels right for a similar job last month.
Paper is bought by weight, so its cost follows GSM and sheet size. A heavier board costs more per sheet at the same size, and fitting more finished pieces onto a standard sheet such as 23 × 36 inches lowers the cost of each. Add an allowance for makeready spoilage — the sheets used up getting the press running — or the quantity delivered will fall short of the quantity ordered.
Price finishing separately. Lamination, binding, die-cutting and foiling each have their own setup and running cost, and folding them into a single printing line is how they end up being done for free.
The proof is the most important document you have
Before a sheet is printed, get the customer's sign-off on a proof: the exact layout, text, colours and size that will be produced. A signed proof moves responsibility for everything on it from you to the customer.
Without one, a spelling mistake in the customer's own copy becomes a reprint you pay for. With one, it becomes a new job they pay for. No other step in the workflow is worth as much for as little effort.
Allow cancellation freely until production starts, and not afterwards. Once plates are made and paper is cut the costs are real, and the quotation should say so.
Production, stage by stage
Split production into design, printing and finishing, and track which stage each job is in. A shop with twenty live jobs cannot run on 'in production'; it needs to know which are waiting for artwork, which are on the press and which are at the binder.
The stages also show where the time goes. A job that sits in design for three days and prints in an hour has a design bottleneck, not a press one — and that is invisible while production is a single status.
Invoice from the job, not from memory
Raise the invoice from the completed job, carrying its specification and quantity through, rather than typing a fresh one. The invoice then matches what was quoted and made, and any change — a bigger run, an extra finishing operation — shows up as a difference from the quote instead of disappearing.
Deliver against a signed delivery note that states the quantity. Print is counted by the piece, and a short delivery discovered a week later is a dispute, whereas one noted at handover is a correction.
Common questions
- How do you calculate the cost of a print job?
- Add paper (by weight, following GSM, sheet size and quantity, plus a spoilage allowance), plates or setup, printing, each finishing operation and labour, then your margin. Pricing each element separately stops finishing being given away inside a single printing line.
- Why does proof approval matter so much in printing?
- Because it fixes what the customer agreed to before any cost is incurred. With a signed proof, an error in the customer's own content becomes their reprint; without one, it becomes yours.
- When can a customer cancel a print order?
- Reasonably, until production begins. Once plates are made and paper is cut, real costs have been incurred, so the quotation's terms should say that cancelling from then on is chargeable.