First Time Bidding, Does This Sound Right?

ableart2000

This is my first time bidding a framing job. The house is pretty much a soap box with a few minor shifts in the roof, where some windows are, but nothing of great signifigance. It's a two story house, two car garage, and 3 exterior doors, and 10 windows. On the first story there's 1248 sq/f, and 632 sq/ft of living space downstairs, the rest is the garage. They're are paying for all the lumber, and I came up with $7000, that's a little more then $3 a sq/ft. Does this seem like an appropriate bid?

wallmaxx

Pre-ignition sequence started....5....4....3....2....1


(its going to get a little warm in here)

MALCO.New.York

That is where I was going to go but I decided to let it rest.

You did a much better job of explaining the "what is to come" sequence!

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

wallmaxx

$7000 would cover a 2 man crew with an all-terrain forklift for about 50 hours. Can you frame it in 6 and 1/2 days?

Snobnd

My Turn -
First lesson - Dont ask a question like that in here! .

My labor price (knowledge and experience + speed) is deferent then yours.
what do you want to make, what is your overhead? is it 10 miles from your home or 75? Do you have kids, mortgage, labor rate? I can go on....

You should look to yourself for those answers! "Not others"
Some pricings are closely guarded secrets.
Some are from years of experience (some are pricing out of their arse)

Start here and learn:
You can find out more info here: http://www.contractortalk.com/resources/workshops.php

Or do the first house for free then you will know what to charge the next time.

Nail banger

Just sit down and break the whole house down into small tasks. example. attach sill plate, first floor framing, 1st floor sheeting, walls, 2nd floor framing. pretty easy

wizendwizard

If you are still in doubt after following all advice given before now..... Purchase an estimation program.
Learn to use it ...properly.
Then come back here again and these guy's won't thrash you so badly.
Advice is free... opinions will cost you an arm and leg!

__________________
"If you start the grout process over, you too could use sparkly grout!"
There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant, they are either illegal or immigrants.
I'm Retired, or a student, don't really know anymore.

rbsremodeling

add another 7k to you bid there is at least another 100 things you missed

__________________

Celtic

I'm at $2.75 ³ft ...or is it ft³

__________________

silvertree

I remember asking a contractor how to price a job. He told me labor is materials X 3.
He went out of business, and I never used his tip although I did consider it. I think that type of advice is still floating around out there. Contractors raise the bar every year, but there will always be "how much" questions.

__________________
Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

Celtic

I was at the local building dept. to get some permits for a job at my own home ...
I asked the desk jockey: How much such I put for the cost of this job, I'm doing it myself under a Home Owner's Permit?
DJ: 3x the material cost
I put the value of the material down as the job cost.

__________________

dlcj

well said

dlcj

On our small jobs it seams like it always comes out that the labor is close to the same as the materials. Even if i dont intentionally figure it that way.
Im starting to think thats too low

rbsremodeling

Ok before this gets out of hand. There is no formula of labor to materials that can be used to calculate a job.

If you have been winning bids this way with a formula disregard this post

__________________

thom

able, even if you could get that kind of information on this board, you didn't give enough information. You will need a lot more to use the bidding programs.

Start with, are you building the first (ground) floor or is it a slab?

Are you using floor trusses, dimension lumber, or tji's? for the floor(s)?

Are you cutting the roof or using manufactured trusses? If trusses, how much fill is needed?

Are you expected to install any beams that are more than your crew can handle by hand?

Fur downs? Additional blocking? Architectural details?

Framing is one of the tougher trades to use a ball park on. The variables can easily go to 5X for a complex house.

NYBuilder

$3 a ft this is what kills the industry .No offense bro I know times are tough and a lot guys at least around here are throwing cheap #'s at people. Like 1 of the other guys said you have to adjust your price according to over head. I'd charge sub $8/ft +$2 rip as long as it's not a tricked out build. Retail charge $25-$35 a ft

KES

Here is the easy way to figure a job.....

1. Add up all of the studs.
2. Then add the subfloor square footage divided by the roof pitch.
3. Take stud count multiply it by the answer of number 2. (above)
4. Then take the number of nails you plan to use and add it to the number you get in #3.

This will get you in the ballpark +/- $50 of where you need to be.


Peter

john5mt

why does no one come on to the site asking about manhours? Its always $$$

Tell you what bid it .50 a sq ft

Youll have a happy customer!

__________________
1st Gen tradesman
My summer job in college became my profession

Celtic

Obviously, everything costs the same.

__________________

rbsremodeling

How many hours will it take before he goes broke?

__________________