A showcase wall
Print one wall in your own shop, studio, home or a friend's café and bring prospects to see it. A printed sample board does the same job at meetings, on the surface the client has in mind: wood board, glass or advertising board.
Startup plan · a MAXWAVE brand
Start a Wall Printing Business: Your Plan, Your Machine and Our Support
Sell the walls our machines print: café murals, classroom walls, hotel corridors, living-room feature walls, shop interiors, office logo walls and gym graphics. This page is the plan behind them: business model, kit, costs and price per m², first clients, and our support from delivery day.
Four MAXWAVE seriesBasic print workflow in about 10 minutesRemote training from your first print2-year machine warranty
- Cafés and hotelsMurals and corridor walls
- SchoolsClassroom and learning walls
- Shops and officesLogo walls and shop interiors
- Homes and gymsFeature walls and gym graphics
Real prints from our machines
Walls You Sell from the First Month When You Start a Wall Printing Business
Each of these is a job a local client pays for by the square metre, sold by the people we equip to the businesses and homeowners around them.
Who we equip
- First-time founders
- Side-business owners
- Family businesses
- Sign shops
- Decorators
- Mural artists
Living room
Feature wall on a light painted surface, printed with a UP200P.
Classroom
A multiplication table in nine colour blocks.
Three paint colours
Icons printed across three different paint colours on one wall.
Alphabet wall
Letters over a green dado band.
Test print
A GP200B test print on a painted wall.
Plan 1 · Business model
Choose Your Business Model and Service Range
When you start a wall printing business, your plan starts from three facts about you: how much time you can give the business, who you already know locally, and whether you already run a business the walls can be added to.
- Starting from zero
One wall type, one kind of client
Feature walls for homes, or logo walls for shops and offices. Learn one surface, one set of file preparation steps and one price list before you add more.
- Running it on the side
Evening and weekend jobs
Residential rooms and small shop walls book into evenings and weekends. Keep the larger commercial walls that need several days on site for later.
- Adding it to a business you run
A new line on your price list
Sign, print, decoration and painting businesses already have the clients, and their teams already prepare walls or handle artwork files. Your existing clients are your first clients.
Then set your service range in four decisions
Each one changes the machine we recommend.
Surfaces
Painted walls, brick, metal, wood board, glass, canvas and advertising board. Start with painted interior walls, and add each further surface after a sample test.
Grow it later
Wall colours
Light walls take a CMYK ink setup. Dark walls take CMYK + W, and the ink setup is chosen when you order the machine.
Decide before you order
Indoor or outdoor
The machines work from 10 to 35 °C with wind up to force 5, so outdoor walls are booked for days inside that range.
Plan the calendar
Walls only, or walls and floors
Floors are sold with the GP200B, which switches between wall and floor printing in 2 minutes.
Decide before you order
Which series fits which business model is set out further down this page, and the full comparison is on our Compare Machines page.
Plan 2 · Space, staff, equipment
Space, Staff and Equipment to Start a Wall Printing Business
A wall printing business runs on the client's premises, so you need a place to keep the machine and consumables, a computer for artwork, a vehicle and one trained operator.
No shop front needed: one person sets up a GP200 and runs the print, so a one-person business can take its first jobs alone.
Storage
The machine, ink and printhead care liquids need a room of their own between jobs. How to store UV ink is covered on our Consumables and Replacement Maintenance page.
A computer for files
The control and colour software run on it, and client artwork is prepared on it. Design it yourself, work with a freelance designer, or print the client's files after you check the resolution.
One operator
A second pair of hands helps with wall preparation, carrying and talking to the client while the machine prints. A second operator learns from the same manual, colour settings, videos and engineer as you did.
A vehicle
The GP200B fits the boot of a car. The UP200, at 70 kg on a rigid column, suits a van and jobs where the machine stays on one site for days.
Small kit for site work
A tape measure, a spirit level, hex keys and a screwdriver, cleaning materials for wall preparation, the coating for smooth surfaces and a sample board you carry to meetings.
Plan 3 · Money per square metre
Budget, Running Costs and Your Price per Square Metre
The budget to start a wall printing business has four parts. The machine price comes from the quotation for your configuration: the series, printhead and ink setup.
- The machineFrom your quotation. The first ink set, ink bags, tubes, care liquids and suction tools come in the crate.
- ConsumablesInk, care liquids, coating and printheads you keep buying.
- Vehicle and siteTravel and wall preparation on each job.
- First marketingYour showcase wall and sample board.
Running costs to plan after the first jobs
Ink ≈ $0.40 per m²
Based on roughly 2 ml/m² in standard mode with CMYK. A white underbase or a full-coverage image raises it.
Printhead care and coating
Moisturising and cleaning liquids, plus the coating for smooth surfaces.
Printheads as wear parts
The DX10 costs less to replace and is replaced more often than the I1600 under heavy use.Your own time
Travel and wall preparation on each job.
Speed, price and payback
8 m²/hDraft or Standard mode, before setup and preparation
5 m²/hHigh resolution mode
A commonly quoted market range is USD 50–350 per m², and it varies by region, wall size, artwork and client. Set your own figure from what local painters and sign companies charge for a hand-painted mural or a printed wall graphic, what your clients' budgets look like, and how much design work you add to each wall.
The area that pays back the machine
machine price÷ (price per m²−ink per m²−other costs per m²) =m² that cover the machine
Put your own numbers into it before you order. It shows the area you need to sell; it does not predict how fast you sell it.
Plan 5 · Five ways to earn
Five Business Models You Can Build with One Machine
Each of these five models can be started with one machine and one operator.
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Model 01Event and seasonal walls
SuitsA founder who likes short, quick jobs. Backdrops for shop openings, holiday displays, pop-up stores and venue walls change every season, and the same client comes back for the next one.
- First jobs: event organisers, venues and shops preparing a seasonal window.
- Machine: the GP200 packs down small and one person sets it up at each venue.
- Pricing: per square metre plus a fixed setup and travel charge per visit, because these walls are often small.
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Model 02Shop and brand walls
SuitsSomeone with retail or design contacts: logo walls, product walls and brand graphics for shops, salons, cafés and offices.
- First jobs: walking into local businesses with your sample board.
- Machine: a GP200 or a UP200P covers most interior shop walls; brand colours on a dark wall need CMYK + W.
- Pricing: price close-up logo detail at high-resolution mode, which adds time on every square metre.
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Model 03Custom walls for homes
SuitsA side business or a family business: children's rooms, living-room feature walls and personal photographs.
- First jobs: your own home, friends, local parents' groups and interior designers.
- Machine: the UP200P is built for indoor rooms at standard ceiling height, prints 2 m high and packs into a trolley flight case.
- Pricing: check each client photo for resolution before you quote, and price personal artwork preparation separately.
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Model 04Subcontracting for decorators and sign companies
SuitsA founder who prefers steady trade work to finding end clients. You print the walls, and sometimes the floors, that contractors sell.
- First jobs: contractors you meet through partnership visits.
- Machine: the GP200B prints walls and floors on the same site and switches in 2 minutes.
- Pricing: a trade rate per square metre; the contractor handles wall preparation and the end client.
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Model 05Schools and institutions in batches
SuitsSomeone who can manage larger projects: classroom walls, corridor murals, maps and learning walls, often several in one building.
- First jobs: one school that sees your sample, such as a multiplication table or an alphabet wall.
- Machine: the UP200 holds the carriage steady over long runs and resumes a print after a power drop.
- Pricing: price the batch per square metre, since one setup visit covers several walls.
Tell us which of the five you plan to start with, and the reply names the series, printhead and ink setup for it, with a quotation. The startup stories of six buyer profiles are on our Success Stories page.
After the machine arrives · Week 1
Your First Week: From Delivery to Your Own Showcase Wall
The order in which a first-time owner goes from a delivered machine to a printed showcase wall, which is also your first sales sample. Shown on a GP200.
Unpack
A GP200 arrives as 7 small parcels and its printhead carriage weighs 6.9 kg, so one person carries every part in.
Assemble
Plugs and clips hold the parts together and the printhead goes on with hardly any screws: one person, about 10 minutes.
Remote check
Film the assembled machine and send us the video; an after-sales engineer reviews the setup. Keep the video as a reference for any later report.
Software
BetterPrinter and Ultraprint arrive installed and calibrated; a technician trains you remotely on your first prints.
Place the image
Red-light locator and digital positioning put the image on the wall; image partition printing runs a large design section by section.
Showcase wall
Load, line up, print. The wall is dry when the print ends, and its setup time, print time and ink replace the estimates in your pricing formula.
Because the upright rail sections are laser-cut, the quick-release parts seat in the same place each time you rebuild the machine at a new wall.
The full training programme and video library are on our Wall Printer Training page, and printhead care is on our Consumables and Maintenance page.
Plan 4 · Marketing
Marketing Your First Walls
Clients for printed walls are local, and they buy what they have seen with their own eyes. Your marketing starts with walls people can look at.
Short videos
The machine printing a wall pass by pass is your strongest content. Film every job, post short clips where your local clients are, and tag the location when the client agrees. A time-lapse shows a 15 m² wall in seconds.
Walking into local businesses
Cafés, restaurants, shops, offices, gyms and schools within your driving range pay for feature and logo walls. Visit with your sample board and offer to look at the wall they would print first. Which markets order which walls is on our Applications page.
Partnerships with decorators and sign companies
Renovation contractors, painting contractors and sign shops already meet clients who want a feature wall but do not own a wall printer. Their crews prepare the wall and you print it at a trade rate: Model 04 below.
Every finished wall is the next piece of marketing: photograph it, add it to your portfolio and ask the client whether you can post it.
Your first client job, step by step
How You Serve a Client: One 15 m² Wall, Enquiry to Handover
One standard wall followed from your client's first message to the finished print, with the arithmetic for each step.
The enquiry
The client sends a photo of the wall and its size. Ask what the wall is made of and its colour: both change your setup and your ink.2.5 m high × 6 m wideThe area
Matches the standard print area, so one rail setup covers it. For a wider wall, join more rail sections and the print width extends with them.2.5 × 6 = 15 m²The file
At least 300 dpi at wall size, in CMYK, as TIFF, PDF, JPEG or PNG. Send a proof of the design on a photo of the client's wall before you book the print day.≥ 300 dpi · CMYKOn site
Check the wall surface, prepare it where needed and set up the machine. Line up the image and choose the print mode.check · prepare · set upPrint time
Standard mode at 8 m²/h, high resolution at 5 m²/h. Setup, surface preparation and a white underbase not included.15 ÷ 8 ≈ 2 h · 15 ÷ 5 = 3 hInk
Standard mode with CMYK. Dark walls and dense artwork cost more: see the pricing table below.15 × $0.40 ≈ $6Curing and handover
The LED UV lamp cures as the printhead passes: a water- and UV-resistant finish. Walk the wall with the client, photograph it and ask for a review or a referral.dry at the last passInto your quotation
Print time, setup and preparation, ink and travel go against your price per m², wall by wall. Record them after every job, so your quotes rest on your own figures.your own figures
Tell us the wall sizes you quote most often, and we tell you how they fit the print area of each series. Send your wall sizes
Same area, different cost
Pricing a Wall Job: Height, Surface, Ink and Mode
Two walls with the same area can take very different time and ink. Price these variables in before you send a figure: tick what applies to the wall in front of you and see which costs it adds.
| This wall has… | What to price in | Time | Ink | Consumables |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard print height is 2.5 m, the UP200P prints 2 m, 3 m is available on the GP200B and UP200, and the GP200B and UP200P can be built with a custom column up to 4 m. Above your machine: a custom column on your next machine, or a design that leaves the top band unprinted. The client agrees which. | ● | – | – | |
| Every machine leaves an unprinted strip: only 20 cm at the bottom on the GP200 with a 3 m rail, 20 cm top plus 40 cm bottom on the others. Price how you finish it. | ● | – | – | |
| CMYK + W setup: a white underbase, then the colour image. Extra ink on every square metre. | – | ● | – | |
| Apply the matching coating first, or the print can come off over time. Coating is bought, applying it is time on site, so both go on the job. | ● | – | ● | |
| Far more ink than a logo on an open background. Price dense artwork above the standard-mode figure. | – | ● | – | |
| The extra hour of high-resolution mode on a 15 m² wall belongs in the price. | ● | – | – | |
| Run a sample test first and count it in your first quote on that material. | ● | ● | – |
Send us photos of the walls you expect to quote, and we set the printhead, ink setup and print height of your machine to those jobs.
Before you accept a job
Site Conditions, Power and Transport Between Jobs
Check these conditions on the client's premises before you accept a job.
Power
110–220 VSingle-phase AC, 50–60 Hz, 2000 W.Temperature and wind
10–35 °CWind up to force 5. Outside that, schedule a day or a time that falls inside it.Getting the file in
USB 3.0The GP200B also receives images over WiFi.
Net weight you move between jobs
- The GP200B control box weighs 10 kg and is carried by hand; without its upright rail the machine is 40 cm tall and rides standing up.
- The UP200P comes apart for transport and fits a trolley flight case.
Name your van or car and your usual wall heights, and we confirm how your series travels in it. Check my transport
WallPrintJet after-sales
On a client's wall now: test lines are missing. Photo and clip attached.Series, printhead, what happened and what I already tried
Got the test lines. Let's go through the fix together, step by step.
When a job goes wrong
Backup for Your New Business: How We Handle Problems on a Job
When something goes wrong in front of a client, you are not on your own: send photos or a short clip by email or WhatsApp, and an after-sales engineer guides you through it online.
The machine misbehaves at the wall
Missing lines, ink cutting out or soft edges usually trace back to printhead care or printhead-to-wall distance. The engineer reads your test lines and clip and takes you through the fix; each symptom is on our Wall Printer Troubleshooting page.The power drops mid-print
The UP200 resumes the print instead of starting again; the GP200, GP200B and UP200P can run from a UPS that keeps the print going. Tell us the sites you expect, and your quotation includes the right power-loss setup.The colour does not match the file
The engineer checks the ICC profile, print mode and ink with you, against the factory curves for your ink.A part is missing or worn
Send your series and a photo, and we match the UV lamp, ink tube, data cable or printhead to your machine. Parts reach you by the same route as the machine.The wall is not a standard wall
On brick and textured plaster the ultrasonic sensors follow up to 1.5 cm of relief. Send the wall photo before you quote, and we confirm the setup.
Faults outside the warranty still get online repair guidance. The 2-year warranty and how a claim runs through us are on our Wall Printer Training page.
From your plan to an order
Steps to Start a Wall Printing Business: Your Startup Quote
Send your plan
The business model you start with, your planned price per m², your usual wall sizes, the surfaces you print on and whether dark walls or floors are part of it.
Get a configured quotation
A series, a printhead and an ink setup for those jobs, quoted with its consumables. The certificate set comes with it.
Check your numbers
Put the quoted machine price and your own prices and costs into the payback formula before you order.
Order and receive
The machine ships with the configuration on the quotation; you assemble it from the manual and send us the setup video for the remote check.
Startup quote
Get Your Startup Quote
Send a photo of the first wall you want to sell, with its width and height and a line about your business. The answer is the machine that wall needs, configured, with its quotation.
- Your details reach the sales team the moment you press send.
- The recommendation comes back with a machine price you can put into the payback formula.
- The certificate set for that series comes with it.
Email [email protected]
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