Measure the panels, count the film, price the job
A wrap is priced from three numbers that are often confused: the coverage (the panel area actually wrapped), the film (always more than the coverage, because rolls are bought by length and panels never tile perfectly), and the labour (the hours of prep, fitting and finishing around the film). This page keeps them separate: enter each panel’s length and height in inches, or a total coverage figure; set the roll width and a waste allowance and it works out the film to buy, in square feet and in linear feet of roll. Then it prices film, installation, surface preparation, design, old wrap removal and extras at your rates, applies any minimum charge openly, adds contingency once and tax once, and reports the total, a range and the all-in cost per square foot of coverage, with a downloadable estimate.
Panels to wrap (inches)
Measure each panel at its widest length and height (compound curves are wrapped from a rectangle that covers them). Enter four identical doors as four panels, or one panel with the combined area in the shortcut below.
Film and installation
Preparation, design and extras
Minimum, contingency, tax and range
Disclaimer: This calculator gives estimates for general information only. It is not financial, medical or other professional advice. Film quantities depend on the installer’s layout and the vehicle’s shapes; the binding figures are those in a written agreement with your installer.
What this calculator does
It estimates a vehicle wrap from measurement to money without blurring the three quantities the trade keeps apart. Coverage comes from your panels (length times height, summed) or from a coverage figure you already trust. Film comes from the coverage grossed up by your waste and seams allowance, expressed both in square feet and in linear feet at your roll width, which is the unit film is actually ordered in. Money then attaches line by line: film per square foot bought, installation per square foot covered, removal by the hour, and preparation, design and extras flat. The familiar estimator discipline finishes the job: lines rounded to cents, minimum charge applied openly, contingency once, tax once, a range of your choosing, and an all-in cost per square foot of coverage for comparing a full wrap against partial coverage honestly.
How to use it
- Measure panels as rectangles that cover them. Film is cut from flat stock and worked into curves; the rectangle that would cover the panel at its widest and tallest is the quantity that matters, not the panel’s true surface measured with a tailor’s tape. Mirrors, handles and deep recesses argue for a larger waste allowance rather than larger measurements.
- Film bought is never film used. Between offcuts, seams, edge wrapping and mistakes, the roll consumed exceeds the coverage on every real job. The allowance is where experience hides: a flat-sided van needs little, a sculpted sports car needs plenty, and an installer quoting noticeably less film than your allowance produces is a conversation worth having before, not during, the install.
- Partial wraps price from the coverage shortcut. Hoods, roofs, stripes and lettering are usually quoted from a known coverage figure rather than a panel survey. Use the direct area field for those, and the per-square-foot results line still lets a partial be compared against a full wrap on one basis.
- Removal is its own job with its own clock. Old film, especially film that has baked on for years, can take longer to remove than the new wrap takes to fit, and it is priced by the hour here for that reason. A quote that bundles removal invisibly into installation deserves a question about what happens if the old film fights back.
- Design is a line, not a rounding error. A colour change needs no artwork; a commercial livery can need days of it. Keeping design as its own flat line stops a creative fee from being smeared across the film rate where it makes the materials look expensive.
How it is calculated
- Panel area = length (in) x height (in) / 144, in square feet. Coverage = the sum of the panel areas, or your direct coverage figure when no panels are entered.
- Film to buy = coverage x (1 + waste %). Linear feet of roll = film to buy / (roll width in inches / 12).
- Film cost = film to buy x price per square foot. Installation = coverage x installation rate. Removal = hours x hourly rate. Preparation, design and other charges enter flat.
- Subtotal = the sum of the line amounts. Minimum charge: if a minimum is entered and exceeds the subtotal, the minimum becomes the base and the results state that the minimum charge applied. Contingency applies once to the base; tax once to base plus contingency. Total = base + contingency + tax. Range = total less and plus your percentage. Per square foot = total / coverage.
Worked examples
A full wrap, panel by panel. Illustrative rates: hood 60 by 48 inches (20.00 sq ft), roof 72 by 48 (24.00), four doors at 48 by 36 (12.00 each, 48.00), and fenders and trunk together 16.00 give a coverage of 108.00 square feet. At a 15% waste allowance the film to buy is 124.20 square feet, which is 24.84 linear feet of a 60 inch roll. Film at $4.50 per square foot is $558.90; installation at $11 per square foot of coverage is $1,188.00; surface preparation $150; design $300; removing the old wrap, 3 hours at $65, is $195.00. Subtotal $2,391.90. Contingency at 5% adds $119.60 for a total of $2,511.50, or $23.25 per square foot of coverage, ranging from $2,260.35 to $2,762.65 at plus or minus 10%.
Where the money actually sits. On that job the film itself is $558.90 of a $2,511.50 total: about 22 cents of every dollar. Installation is nearly half the subtotal before design is counted. Quotes that advertise a film price are advertising the smallest part of a wrap; this breakdown is the corrective, and it is why installers are chosen on workmanship rather than on material.
A small partial wrap meets the floor. Ten square feet of coverage entered directly, a 10% allowance (11.00 square feet of film) at $4.50, gives $49.50 of film; against a shop minimum of $350 the estimate builds on the minimum, adds 5% contingency ($17.50) and totals $367.50, stating that the minimum charge applied. Stripes and lettering live at minimum-charge prices, not film prices.
Reading your results
Check the linear feet first against how film is sold: rolls and part-rolls come in set lengths, so a job needing 24.84 feet is really a conversation about the nearest orderable length and who keeps the remainder. Then read the installation share of the subtotal; on quality work it is the largest line, and a quote where it is suspiciously small is usually recovering the difference inside the film rate or skipping preparation, both visible if the same job is re-entered with the lines swapped. Finally, the per-square-foot figure is your comparison unit between full and partial coverage and between installers, provided the design and removal lines are treated the same way in both.
Limitations
- Layout is an installer’s art. How panels are nested on the roll, where seams are placed and how patterns are matched across panels decide real consumption. The allowance method on this page is the standard estimating approach, not a cutting plan.
- Film grades differ in more than price. Cast and calendered films, air-release liners, finishes and warranties differ, and the per-square-foot rate you enter is for the specific film chosen. The page carries no film prices of its own, deliberately.
- Paint condition governs outcomes. Film over failing clear coat, rust or fresh repaints can lift paint on removal and refuse to bond on fitting. Preparation here is priced as cleaning and decontamination; paint correction and repair are separate trades’ work.
- Removal time is the honest unknown. Aged or cheap film can take multiples of the estimated hours to strip. The contingency exists partly for this, and installers who have seen the vehicle will price removal more knowingly than any page can.
Frequently asked questions
How much film does a full wrap need?
Start from the coverage (the panel areas summed) and add a waste and seams allowance. On this page’s example, 108.00 square feet of coverage at a 15% allowance needs 124.20 square feet of film, or 24.84 linear feet from a 60 inch roll. Flatter vehicles need less allowance, heavily curved ones more, and the film figure (not the coverage) is what should be compared against how the installer proposes to buy.
Why is installation so much of the cost?
Because a wrap is skilled handwork: panels are cleaned, stripped of trim, fitted, stretched, squeegeed, post-heated and edge-sealed one at a time, and a full vehicle takes a professional days rather than hours. On the worked example, installation is $1,188.00 of a $2,391.90 subtotal while the film is $558.90. Labour, not vinyl, is what a wrap price mostly buys.
Does a partial wrap just cost the same per square foot?
Roughly, for the film and installation lines, which is why this page prices them per square foot and lets partial coverage be entered directly. What does not scale is everything else: design, preparation and minimum charges spread over fewer square feet raise the all-in per-foot figure on small jobs, which the results show openly rather than hiding in a single blended rate.
What does the roll width change?
How the film is bought and whether panels fit without seams. A 60 inch roll covers most panels in one piece; narrower stock forces seams on wide panels like hoods and roofs. The width does not change the square feet of film needed, only the linear feet to order and the seam plan, which is why the results report both units.
Related calculators
Method: coverage from panel dimensions or a direct figure; film from coverage and the entered waste allowance at the entered roll width; itemized lines at user-entered rates; minimum charge, contingency and tax as defined on this page. Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.