Bidding Trim Job

AlohaCustom

My partner and I have about five years experience apiece in carpentry and flooring but have always done remodeling and usually bid per hour as we do alot of different things. Now, I am bidding a job for a big GC in a fairly high end new custom home and he might want per linear foot bid for crown, base, door and window trim. Any ideas? We are in Florida.

mdshunk

My immediate thought is to very strongly resist itemizing unit labor costs. That being said, perhaps this is normal for your trade. I hope not.

AlohaCustom

well we usually install tile which is easy to quote by sf we get $2.75-$4.00 depending and then combined hourly rate. I haven't bit the bullet yet and don't want to start now.

King of Crown

in arizona and in utah, I know that per foot is the way too go with base and door case. I would charge a seperate price for the crown, as you will be doing extra ladder work, and that really adds up, especially with tall walls. It also makes a difference if the door casing is pre cut. I know they do that in az. that saves a ton of time. I would charge a seperate fee for the window casing, especially if you are doing a sill, or any type of router work.

pscarpentry

I am wondering what would be the price per square foot as well for 3.5" colonial casing around the whole house. I am in the same situation, The home owner is looking for a price per linear foot and I usually charge by the hour or day. He has other linear foot quotes and I want to compare. I'm in MA.

King of Crown

3.5" casing is the standard here in az. and there is allot of cheap labor and competition. so for that size of casing here it is about .33 cents a linear foot for paint grade. with that said.... this job is going to look like poo. those who do it at this price wont mitre th inside corners, let a lone coping, they just slap them together and let the painters caulk the seam. if you are going to use a coping saw, and you do not have as cheap labor as we do here, i would definitely charge more than here.

AlohaCustom

oh well forget about the per ft bid I got my hourly on this one thanks for the info. Where's my pencil?

Mike Finley

Well, take advantage of this job to help you determine your LN ft pricing.

When it's all done, take the total fee and divide it by the ln ft of what you did and you will have your pricing.

kchr

I am replacing 240 sf of soffit. This is inside a sun deck room for its ceiling. What is a reasonable rate without scaring the customer away. I was thinking about 775.00 labor only. was I cheating myself or not. Any advice will help.