Stair Tread Pricing?

THE HOUSE DR.

Need some help pricing a stair trim install (treads, risers,skirt,handrail) . The job consists of 19 stain grade treads 42" closed both sides, 3 treads 48" open 1 side w/mitered returns, 2 landings 42" x 42" stain grade, paint grade skirt board 12", and stain grade, plain, to code railing. FYI, I'm located in Baton Rouge, LA. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

TNGHomes

He who knows how to install open and closed carriage stair cases should know what to charge......

THE HOUSE DR.

I have only installed a few staircases and they were done by the hour. How did you know what to bid your first remodel? Did you guess at it and learn the hard way, or did you ask educated questions to those who were knowledgable and could give you an educated answer? I'm guessing you learned the hard way judging from your raspy response. I thought that was what this forum was for, to learn from others with more expertise. I do quality work, and want to keep my pricing in line with others that do quality work. I am not trying to give the lowest bid and mess up the pricing structure for the rest of the subs that do quality work. I see from your other threads that you are just getting started GC'ing. Getting your pricing competitive with others takes knowledge of the trades. I have found that most craftsmen on this forum will be very helpful with educated and experienced answers....some not!

send_it_all

There have been tons of pricing questions on this site and I don't think I have ver seen someone get an answer that contained an actual dollar figure. The best advice I can give you is that it doesnt matter what someone else charges. Think back to when you did the other stair jobs...how long did they take?.....use that info to figure out hoe long this one will take, multiply it by the hourly rate you want to make, add in your overhead and a profit and that is your price.

TNGHomes

Sorry House DR. my first reply was a bit rude......I typically charge 125 a stair for labor plus material and markup. That is a number that works for me, it is based on my time and overhead and other things considered. Like send it all stated.

jvsloan

I'd be around $4500 for labor for that stair. I'm in Western North Carolina.

skarrlette

I am glad someone actually gave a price to someone, I asked a question a while ago about stair pricing and just got the run around and honestly I don't understand why. We are not direct competitors here and this forum is for help and pricing can be hard, and I think it stinks that no one will give a price when half the time they are in another state!!

we are not competing for the same job give a guy or girl a break!! The best way sometimes for someone to figure out what to charge is to hear a bunch of different prices from different people and come to an educated guess.

KMac

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to business myself and I really don't understand why people ask pricing questions in the first place. I bid on stuff all the time - whats the mystery? You figure out how much the materials are going to cost and you should already know what you need to make per day. Figure out how long the job should take - look at your number - maybe adjust a little - add a little C.Y.A. and your done. Then you SELL the job. Sometimes the job takes longer and I don't make as much and sometimes I get the job done sooner and I make more. Is there something I'm missing?

Meetre

One, this is an open forum on the internet. ANYONE CAN COME HERE AND READ!! most of us just aren't comfortable telling the whole world our prices, because they can very, GREATLY, depending on location, over-head costs, materials used, etc.

Two, Do I know you? Look at your post count. I don't know you from adam. Some guys here get a pass on the "iffy" questions because we know them, they have contributed to this site as a whole. You haven't. Do you tell any kid off the street how to do your job, just to be nice? stick around, use the search button, and pay some dues here, we'll be nicer then.

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skarrlette

I do I hear ya, I understand that totally but you can't find any pricing anywhere on the internet I have tried looking everywhere and they all want money for books and software. It can be scary giving prices sometimes you are off and you realize you need help.

If you haven't been in the biz that long and you have nothing to compare it to sometimes you think your right but 5 to 10k off and thats scary with what everything costs today.

rbsremodeling

We can not give you pricing it is impossible. We know absolutely nothing about your company or how you operate, too many variables.

This board is about educating and sharing knowledge and hanging out to shoot the crap.

If we gave you pricing for anything it would be the most irresponsible thing any of us can do to another contractor.

What we can do is tell you and try to help show you how to arrive at your own cost that's it, the rest is up to you.

It took me 20 years to come up with my pricing so to speak. you want me to give it away to my internet friends

If you ask specific questions,that helps you to arrive at your price that's a whole nother story

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silvertree

When it comes to pricing I remember what my estimating Guru told me.
His name was Yakimama Sangria and he said.
"Sawdust", he always called me sawdust except on my bad days when he called me "Sliver" and that's why I almost called my company Slivertree Construction. Ooops! I digress.

When you whistle when you work
And Hitler is a jerk
Sangria on some ice
And soon will come a price-------

Anybody else have a question?

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SLSTech

Yeah, a little to much Sangria tonight SILVER? Of course sliver has such a nice ring to it...

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Burby

There is a good reason why you cannot find "pricing" on the internet. And we all know you can find just about anything on the net, from things that go bump in the night, to, well, even things that will keep you warm in the night
But not pricing...
It takes experience, experience takes time, trial & error to equal pricing.
If pricing was so easy to find, we would have more jack legs out here than we do. Is it fair for a guy with basic tools to recieve the same as one with a truck load of tools? Is it fair for one starting a year ago in a trade to recieve what another charges after 20 years in a trade?
One of the best ways to determine trades you want to hire is by their prices. 3 estimates should all be within 15% of each other, (overhead making up the difference). If 30 to 40% difference, this one goes to the files under garbage.
Each starts at what they know, (experience), works up from there.
Make a business about you & yor customers and you will do well in life.
Always try to charge what "he" charges & you may just find yourself asking him for a job.
Pricing is one of the most simplist tools of any trade. Providing one is indeed a tradesman. I've built in Maine, NH, Fla, & SC, moved to each place without knowing a soul in any of the states, Other than Maine & I am still self employed, even though now it is only partial, because of being at a point in my career I can work only when I choose instead of the 7 day work weeks, 12 to 16 hr days of the past.
Asking what do I charge, is that not for a customer to ask?

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mullaman

Good answer^^. I agree

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SNC

There are books you can buy on cost estimates. I hate estimating costs myself, always afraid I will be to low.

MBS

Thats interesting. But..... if a bunch of contractors can't tell you what to charge, how can a book do it?

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jiju1943

Back when I was building stairs I would charge different cost for different types of stairs. In the 70s my base price was $20 for each part of the stairs unless it was a specialized part such as a fitting or starter tread with a monkey tail etc, and the rail was per running foot. It would take way too much time to price each part for every type of stairs here. It took a good while to get the costs right for each part.

Keep notes of how much time it takes you to do each part and adjust your costs. The $20 per part was back in the 70s and the cost of living has gone up a lot since then. When building stairs when someone else cuts and installs the stringers, be prepared to charge to modify their install as there were very few times the stringers or other things were completely right. I hope this helps in a small way.

Deadhead Derek

225 a tread.

Sidenote, Jiju, what is a monkeytail? I have been stupid enough to play with wood for the last 30 years, though haven't heard that term. I assume it is a regionalism, or I am a moron...

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jiju1943

LOL Derek, a monkey tail is a volute. It is just easier to call it a monkeytail and keep a little humor going.
Jim