premierpainter

I am a painting contractor. I bidded a house last week to paint. The substrate was aluminum siding. My price was $13,500. He said that he got a price to rip off the old siding (23 squares) all gutters and all soffits...then replace all 23 squares with vinyl, all soffits, fascia and gutters, leaders for $11,500.
Is this crazy or is this what is going on in that industry? That seams like it is half of what I would think it would cost.
Please, w/o needing a price for new siding, is this in the right ballpark...or way low.
Thanks.

precisionbuild

Sounds about right to me. You wouldn't get much more than that. It all depends on the details though I guess.

Jake Stevens

I quoted a job last week that was 23sq's $16,000 and that's a discounted price if they do it this winter.

I do think your price is high for painting. I find that in most jobs I quote they can get it painted for a little more then 1/2 my price. So maybe $10,000 or $11,000.

ModernStyle

Maybe I am the dreaded lowballer, but i have never come close to that price for spraying aluminum siding. Most of the folks around here who could afford a $13,000 paint job replaced their aluminum with something else long ago. Maybe it is just my location and it is diffent elsewhere.

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precisionbuild

No disrespect Jake, but his price for painting is what it is.

I would say your price for siding is high too on the same note. I mean, that's 700/sq (I don't know all the details of what you bid, but then I don't know the details of what the siders bid the OP's job at).

I'm NOT saying you're high. I'm saying your prices are what they are too.

precisionbuild

Good point. It's hard to compete paint for vinyl on price alone, especially when they make their sales pitch.

Bill Z

Yeah, but you live in the arm pit of America where a huge house sells for $150k, the average wage is $35k, and vinyl siding sells for $250 per square.

Patrick

Our pricing is in line with Jakes, and I am by NOOOOOOOO means getting rich. And even at that, we are the high bidder, there are guys bidding at around $300/sq

And to the painters, I love quality painters that charge what they are worth, because it makes my sale that much easier. Its when the HO's get bids from hacks that I have a hard time selling new siding

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Originally Posted by Celtic
Like I said...I'm sure you are very good at what you do ~ whatever that is and where ever it happens.

ModernStyle

Yeah it is a little hard to tell a guy that he needs to give me 10% of what he payed for his house just to have the exterior repainted.

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Grumpy

I'd be about $400 a square before all the trim, just to R&R the siding with a tyvek & .042. Add on soffit at $8 a foot and gutter at $7 a foot... I'd think I'd be near to the $600 mark for sure. Pretty much I'd be the same for the siding, what you'd be for the painting.

Most painters I've seen are about half my price too. Easy selling pitch actually. "You can paint it now if you can't afford to do the siding, and just give me a call in 3 years... but I doubt I'll be able to hold my price that long. Or you can do the siding now and forget about it."

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-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

BEI

With that being said... I am appalled at the quantity of s**t out there lowballing every opportunity they get. How low can they go? I can tell you how cheap I'm dealing with in new construction... I'm competeing with $50 a square "sub-contractors" working for my competition who have the contracts with the builder. Subs my arse. They both are just ripping off the system.. no PR taxes, subs are insuranced by the Shifting Sands of "Omaha", you know the routine. I know y'all think there's no money in new, but let me tell you it's very lucrative if priced right. Imagine the ability to hang 6-10 square a day times x # of employees. Very lucrative. $50 a square is nuts. My competition gets his cut per square for NOTHING, and I seriously mean "nothing"/ no quality, no liability, no speak english. I laugh when I think how many nails get unused LOL. To think I'm killing myself paying my men proper and trying to deliver a quality job for a very reasonable profit. Currently, I am working my way back into remodelling, but not before I gather my evidence so I can contact the IRS and get the 10% FF when they bust the hack GC's hiring these morons. Or maybe immigration No offense intended, I'm just flustered.

ModernStyle

I dont know about the IRS, but I can tell you that you have a better chance of winning the lottery then you do of having immigration do anything about illegals. Its not even the illegals fault that they charge so little, the guys who hire them pay them next to nothing so once the illegal learns a little english he decides to do his own thing. Now if the illegal has been getting by on $8 an hour working for somebody else then $16 an hour sounds like a dream come true. So here comes Juan asking for $16 an hour, he hurts the whole trade, but he doesnt understand that because he is blinded by the $600 a week he is pulling down now. Then you have Juans former employer who is crying that Juan stole all his customers, which is his own fault since he got all of his customers used to lowball pricing by using Juan in the first place. I hate illegals, but I hate the guys who hire them even more.

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premierpainter

Thanks for all of your input. Yes my price is high, but it a different product that we would be using, not just paint. That is another story, but the jist of the question was I thought that his price was way low. The house next to mine is an old, small ranch. A sider gave a price of $15,500 to replace all of the alum. siding with vinyl. My price was $7500 to coat it. Then I go to a house which is two times the size and its $11,500. It just does not make sense.
These are houses in NJ btw.
Thanks for your helo thusfar.