Question About Estimating Tools...

shazamyman

i saw a couple questions on the forum, that i have as well regarding JOB PRICING

ive been self employed for about 2 years, my first year wasnt all bad, but i had to take time off work for someone else and start again, due to rookie mistakes

I learned what not to do, by charging too little, not following "standard proticol" etc etc etc

There were times at first when i made $12 an hour from improprely bidding a job, of corse i want to make money, but i dont want to charge too little because this will obviously, ultimatly hurt my buisness, either through scaring potentioal customers away by charging to little or running myself into the poor house by taking on jobs underbid and not making no dead prez.


A rule of thumb i have gathered of corse is to figure out the material cost, add misc. expense as well as a % for a buffer, i seem to be able to figure how long a job will take me and a helper.

But because i am shooting from the hip, if you will, my confidence in my descion is shot, not sure in comparison if my estimate is sound.

so here is my question.

Where can i find a book perhaps where it will outline reginoal standard cost, and take me step by step through the procedure of estimation and bidding.

Are there any pointers you vets can offer me relating to the process .

Iunderstand that this is a very important part of owning and running a buisness, customer realtion and pr are key...the work isnt a problem ive been hands on for 10 years, normaly i never had to deal with customers, but i do ok with, i would like to excel and do better of corse, as i am sure all of you here can relate to....


so what of it...any advice, or refrence you can give me

and thanks in advance, not only for your advice, but for this web site , i have used it as a tool in the past and it has been usuful/.

Lumpy

Lots of good suggestions Here: http://www.contractortalk.com/f16/any-suggestions-34382/

Sounds similar.

__________________
Fran Yetso Construction
professional remodeling

Grumpy

RS Means

Grumpy

Seriously though if you know your material costs and you know your labor hours, do you know your labor costs? Do you know your overhead? Do you know what an hour REALLY costs?

Pricing by the national average is pricing by my price, by Lumpy's price, not by your price. Ask your accountant what you need to do to markup jobs for profit. He will either give you a % to markup across the board or a % to apply just to labor... but ask him.

Another thing I encourage is collecting as many estimators bids as you can get your hands on. This will tell you how much $$$ youa re leaving on the table and how much you should raise your prices since new businesses tend to be too cheap. Simply asking your customers to see the cometitors bids is usuallya ll you need to do to see them.

DavidC

I have an opinion on estimating books. We use two RSMeans books, one is interior work the other is exterior. But these are directed more at the homeowners to tell them how much the project will cost. I can open the book to a project similar to what the customer wants and use it to evaluate the reaction. If they don't fall off the chair we can proceed.

IMO that is all they are good for.

Your prices should reflect what you want to earn for a wage + a calculated and monitered % to recoup your overhead + everything that will go into the job costs + your desired profit. The end result is what it costs to hire your company, not anyone else's.

Try reading Michael Stone's book, Markup & Profit, A Contractors Guide. Not necessarily and end all be all, but a good place to start.

Good Luck
Dave

shazamyman

this is a good point, yes i think i have a pretty good idea what it cost me an hour for my employee, as well as my overhead, i am now setting up the equation as suggested tro figure my cost overhead etc.

thank you