pre-reno

iam going to bid a tile floor job 12x12 ceramic is there a standard price per sq foot for labor i do business in arkansas and i bid off of a means home interior improvement cost book but i am bidding alot of tile work and not getting much of it tile is not my strong point and i have a guy thats helps me do tile but he is not always around for the bid process and i would like to know if this book is worth using to bid with. i could really use you help thanks in advance

MattCoops

theres no real "standard prices" for labor, anywhere.
as far as a price book, make your own book.
you can do it on a piece of paper

first,

get this number:

number of closed sales, divided by, number of estimates = closing rate %
(if this number is over 70 than up your prices, you're missing out on dollars
and if it's below 30 than you may be bidding too high, or need to hire a pro sales guru)


then, out of those closed estimates, what did you charge per square foot, do your math, add your overhead, come up with YOUR OWN decision for YOUR OWN price.


put it like this,
when you go out to eat and it comes time to the bill, do they ask you:
"hey, how much should I charge you for this?"


plus,
we don't know the job.
what kind of substrate is it on?
is there surface preperation involved?
how much sq ft? are there a ton of cuts?
just a few factors. there are tons of others

for instance, we did a tile job that was on 12th floor of building
there were a bunch of angles and a few doorways
and we had to take an elevator to top floor and access roof to do cuts on top
and there was no real place to clean out buckets of thinset, so we just trashed em
and we had to lug down barrels of old tile
and we had to find place to park, and 2 days we were there we go $400 in parking tickets

each job is different, so really, there's no set price

__________________
Matt; tile contractor in Charlotte, NC
704-605-0907
Tweeting @MattCupan | read my articles

dougchips

Reno, if you don't take Matt's advice, this might help you. Ask your clients if you can look at their other bids, everyone prices every job differently. You can also call the home centers and see what they are offering. With these figures in mind, does your company deliver more or less of a service? If you offer more of a service can you prove this to your clients? If you offer less, how are you going to improve?

Offer more --deliver more =charge more

Ted W

Tile is one of the most difficult jobs to price by the foot, as there are so many factors that come into play. Floor leveling, installing substrate, type of tile, whether you have to cut it outside, how many angles, patterns... the list goes on. Your best bet is to figure your time and materials. If they really need a square-foot price, do the math based on your T&M and make sure it is based on minimal changes. For instance, if they decide not to tile about half what your bid was based on, that may be the half your profit was in. Your price must be based on minimal changes of plan.

Also, if you're looking at doing floor tile you have to consider that other trades might make your life difficult as they want to walk on that floor. A friend of mine took a big loss due to other trades because he didn't take that into consideration when he placed his bid, and the job ended up taking twice as long as it should have.

Figure your T&M, divide it by the foot, and write into the contract that it is contingent on minimal changes.

__________________
Carpentry and Woodworking - Chicago / North Shore - Ted's Carpentry

"I don't know everything but at least I think I do, and that's what really matters."

all-state

I always figure a cost of every material and labor, per man hour. and a sell per materials and man hours, depending on your overhead, you multiply a percentage for your sell prices i try around 40% and then check how long you think it will take to do the job,add up manhours and compare to percentage you came up with and see which is better good luck

all-state

we operate out of flushing, michigan we are a local 9 of michigan contractor

thom

pre-reno. Here's the problem with bidding by the square foot. I do my own tile on spec houses, about 1000 sq ft of tile per house, 2 to 4 houses a year.

If you have 2 guys out to do a bathroom, by the time they set up, tile, and clean up, they've spent half a day on 40 square feet of tile. If things are prepped and ready in a large area, those same two guys can do 800 square feet in a day.

J&J Home Imp.

I do all my tile by the ft. I have different rates for different things. I also know what my crew can do in a day and what I need to make a day minimum. I have a $350 minimum. If I can't make that it ain't worth me coming to your house no matter what it is. Anything less than 100 sq. ft. gets the minimum charge at least. you just have to figure it out. I have been trying for about 2 yrs and just starting to get somewhere.

MattCoops

thom,

sounds like you need better gophers is all

__________________
Matt; tile contractor in Charlotte, NC
704-605-0907
Tweeting @MattCupan | read my articles

J&J Home Imp.

I agree. Your crew is only as good as your slowest man.

turner flooring

Price it to where you profit. If you don't get the job for being to high then it probably wouldn't help you anyhow.