Owner-operator
For sign shops, painters, print shops and new operators who print for clients. Walls, floors, glass and signs, printed on site or in the shop. And you're not alone with it.
Adding it to a business you already run? See the service add-on path.
What it looks like
Most owners start with one printer and one vehicle. The printer rides in cases, sets up at the wall or the floor in about twenty minutes, and prints 10 to 20 sq ft an hour.
The work
Every substrate on the list is a different kind of client. There are four walls to every room and only one floor, so most operators start vertical and add the Floor Series when the floor work shows up.
Signs, awnings and menu boards printed straight onto brick or block.
Feature walls in offices, restaurants and homes. A 120 sq ft wall is six to twelve hours of print time.
Building graphics printed on site. Outdoors, ask Jason about a clear coat for your surface.
Partitions, storefront windows and privacy graphics.
Team graphics, mascots and wayfinding.
Lobbies, courts, aisles and retail paths, printed with the Floor Series.
What comes with the machine
The tool
White ink and the UV ink system
Horizontal track, or drive wheels on the Floor Series
Customer care kit of spare parts
Starter ink, about 2,000 sq ft
RIP and layout software, no annual fee
The trade
One full day in Wilmington with the whole team, all recorded
Setup, surface prep and the maintenance routine
How to quote a job and where the work is
Hands on the machine before you leave. Gloves first.
The support
Phone, email, video or a help desk ticket with a photo
9am to 8pm ET, seven days a week
Hardware warranty up to five years
A yearly health check on video
In Jason's words
“We don't expect you to learn everything about these machines. We expect you to lean on us.”
Jason Ott · 910.679.0962
Training is one full day with the whole team in Wilmington, and it's all recorded. We've tried longer. It gets overwhelming. We'll put gloves on first, but you'll print before you leave, and most people leave with their printer.
Then you practice. You go home with a roll of coated, sticky practice paper. Tape a piece up and print on it, like a big roll of toilet paper on the wall. Some owners build a plywood false wall, or a clamp rig for canvases and metal signs.
Even a week of training couldn't cover every surface. We've been doing this six or seven years and we still run into new ones. That's where proactive support comes in.
We do sell a machine, but you do have to build a business around it. The good news is that once you print in your market, that's your living portfolio. Anybody can drive by and see it.
Charlie, Carolina Wallworks, Fayetteville, NC. Designed in AI, printed on wood slats.
AI graphics
A year ago we'd have told you no. AI images came out in RGB, made for a screen, and they came out small, because they were built to travel over the web. A wall needs more than that.
Now you can tell the image engine exactly what the printer needs:
“Make this 3 feet by 6 feet at 300 DPI in CMYK and export it as a large format file.”
Then bring it into Photoshop and finish it the way training shows you. Check the real file size before you print, because typing 300 DPI doesn’t make it so. We have documentation for that part too. The AI does the work that happens before Photoshop.
If you're building a brand, a logo and everything that goes with it, hire a designer. If you're creating an environment, a lot of what you need is in stock libraries, or you can make it with AI.
How a job runs
A 120 square foot feature wall is six to twelve hours of print time. Here's how it runs.
01
Measure, approve the design, price by the square foot.
02
Track up, power nearby, file loaded. About twenty minutes.
03
10 to 20 sq ft an hour.
04
Cured as it prints. Take your photos, add a small tag with a QR code at the bottom, and ask about the next surface. That job is your portfolio now.
Real jobs
Five job sizes from operators. Ink at about fifty cents a square foot. Print time at 10 to 20 sq ft an hour. Labor, travel and prep aren't included.
Ink cost
Print time, fast to fine
Job
Ink, $0 to $300
Print hours, 0 to 60
Gym wall
540 sq ft
Restaurant feature wall
300 sq ft
Commercial exterior
120 sq ft
Restaurant floral
100 sq ft
Brick branding, outdoors
90 sq ft
1,150 sq ft
printed across the five jobs
About $575
of ink, all five
58 to 115 h
of print time, fast to fine
What it costs to run
No royalties or fees on the work you do
No software subscription and no per-print fees
Ink runs about fifty cents a square foot
A print head is about $2,000 and wears out like any print head
Owners
“Our biggest focus was customer service. Yes, we spent a little more on the printer, but in turn, I have access to customer support within the hour or less.”
Terry B.
Owner, Viking Designs & Graphics, Lubbock, TX
“I had just hand painted our logo in our office lobby, and it took me a week. As soon as we saw the printer, I was like, my gosh, we could have done that in an hour.”
Kelly J.
Owner, Modrn Ink, Madison, AL
“It's rare these days to find a company that still answers the phone, follows up, and actually cares about customer success after the sale. The Wall Printer absolutely does.”
Ernie F.
Operator, Wilmington, NC
On video
A day in the life of an owner
Behind the scenes with an owner
Print showcase
Upgrading the walls
Owners on HGTV's 100 Day Dream Home
What owners have printed in their cities
Tell Jason Ott what you print today and who you print it for. You'll hear which machine fits, what training looks like, and what you'll want to practice first.
