Bidding It Right

lowell5slide

hey guys I got a background in painting moving into basements I was wondering do u guys price a basement per square foot or take every item (sheetrock, framing, drop ceiling) and charge it on ite own merit might be easy to you guys but just getting started thanks for reply

Grumpy

Your breaking the law! Collusion! Collusion!

Or so I am told in another thread. You're going to have to bury your head in the sand and hope for the best, ebcause asking your colleagues for help is against the law.
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Ok I was just poking fun at another active thread regarding price fixing.

I don't really do basements, but I don't price anything by the square foot. I find that to be a quick yet very inaccurate method of pricing anything. My mantra: faster and easier isn't always better. My advice: Put together an elaborate spreadsheet breaking everything down piece by piece. Think through the job phase by phase.

Demo x$
Furring and framing the walls x$
Insulation x$
Drywall x$
Rough Electric x$
Rough piping (plumbing) x$
Finsih plumbing fixtures $x
finish electrical fixtures x$.

I specialize in roofing so let's just compare how I arrive at an estimate for example... I literally make up a detailed material list down to the last nail.

Shingles
Hip & ridge shingles.
Starters
Ice shield
Felt
Nails hand/gun
Trim coil
Caulk
Baby tins
Ventilation (ridge mushroom)
Bathroom/kitchen vents
Lead soil pipe flashing
dumpster
Permit

I then add on my labor and labor burdens. Finally I calculate how long the job will take in days and I add on my daily overhead variable. I have made a spreadsheet that calculates the price for me, just by filling in some blanks.

Unfortunately this is the only way to arrive at an accurate pricing for every job.

Tscarborough

Not even, Grumpy, unless you talk about your specific price for a job. There is nothing in there about education as to how to arrive at a price, only about sharing that price once you arrive at it.

I also break it down to the the materials and figure my hard costs, then add estimated labor and P&OH. Until you have a large amount of personal data on past jobs, that is the only way to do it: the hard way. Once you have an idea of what it will cost you based on historical data, then you can build a spreadsheet and plug in less refined data and get an accurate estimate.

lowell5slide

thats kool thanks ill be playin gc on the jobs so do u price it then call in the subs or have your subs price it and add ur mark up man ineed to go back to paint and get paid lol help welcome

Tscarborough

Most GC's I deal with do an estimate on their own, then get bids from subs. If the sub beats their estimate, they use them, if not they either use their own forces, or beat the sub down to their own price. I do not see the advantage to taking a "buy out" from a GC unless we do some VE on the project.

Grumpy

Lowell if you are using subs, ask them if they have a price sheet. Man this makes things soooo much easier for you. Just ask them to bid it and throw on your markup. Ask lots of questions about their pricing and explain that next time you don't want to waste their time and you want to bid it on your own. After you bid the first few you'll really get the hang of it... but still pricing by the square foot is not a good idea IMO.

I have a good relationship with my subs. For the standard every day in-and-out kind of BS we have negotiated a price sheet. When things get quirky or unusual we deviate from the price sheet to cover their added labor costs accordingly. In addition when something is just too strange to bid without their input I involve them, however I try not to involve the subs if at all possible, until the job is ready to go.

lowell5slide

well that helps want to thank you now for the biggie what if your experince doesnt give you the background on the cost of say installing a bathroom where do u get your answers alot of research or guessing

Grumpy

Research is better than guessing, however I will state that guesses are the mortar and research are the brick