Opinion About Material Pricing

eXpatRioteX

Tomorrow i'm going to go pick up the take off for the house i'm starting in 2 months. My chosen supplier is the only game in town and i'd like an opinion on the material costs.

2800 sqft 2 story home
-Framing lumber,osb,trusses (6/12)
-joists mixed about 60% 2x10, 40% TJI
-30 year timberline shingles, 15lb felt
-beaded siding 6" GP
-hangers,bolts,tyvek

No hardware, windows, doors, steel beams, block, insulation, sheetrock

Price quoted is around 8.50 sq/ft for the material. Should i bite or look for the next supplier about 45 minutes away. I've already had a few headaches with their salesman, namely being 4 weeks overdue with the takeoff. Price is within budget for the job, but i wanna know if i can do better.

Rollo

I used to sell lumber. A customer once told me he didn't mind being screwed, so long as he knew how badly.

Price isn't everything. How is the service? Are the deliveries made on a timely basis? Are back orders ever a problem? Do they react quickly when you have a problem? Are they "easy to do business with?" All these things, IMO, are as important as price. Your true 'cost' is more than just 'price.'

If both yards are doing their own takeoff, are you prepared to make a true comparison, or do you just go to the last page and compare the totals. I always do my own takeoff and give the list out to prospective suppliers. You'll never have to wait four weeks if you submit your own list.

Bob Kovacs

That number doesn't surprise me at all. Before I got to the bottom of the post, I was thinking it'd be on the $10-12/SF range with the roofing and siding materials. If it's within budget and you're happy with the yard's service, go for it. There's nothing worse than dealing with a yard thats 45 minutes away- especially when you need three 2x4's.......

Bob

eXpatRioteX

Exactly, i know the guy doing the take off is making comission, fine , thats fair, i just need to know if i'm being robbed.

Like the mason gave me an estimate yesterday. His "price" is $7 per block, and apparantly that included block at 2.50 per. I couldn't do anything but stare at the guy. The job is a mile from his home. the walls are only 8' high, 8" block, for a crawl space with a grade level slab. The footers are only 24" deep from existing grade. I had to drive 3 hours to meet him so he could give me a price like that.

I must have one of those faces.

thom

I do my own take-offs. No exceptions. I fax the complete take off to the suppliers then compare, line by line to insure apples to apples. Even with me doing the take-off it's not unusual for something to be missing so a suppliers tortal price is lower even though it's not.

If you do your own take-offs you should be able to get 24 hour pricing turn around. If not, look for a different supplier.

Earlier comments about price not being the only issue are correct. Lumber disappears if left overnight. My lumber package take-offs are split into categories: first floor walls, first floor sheathing, second floor framing, second floor decking, second floor walls, second floor sheathing, roof framing including fascia and soffits, roof decking. I can then order the package(s) as needed to be delivered before 8:00 AM and completed that day.

Drywall takeoffs separate first floor and second floor because second story delivery is more expensive and may come on a different truck.

Joe Carola

Around here it would cost you more than 8.50 s/f just for framing material. Your saying that includes all of the above? Doesn't make sense.

Why can't you do your own material list and then fax it to the lumberyard. What happens if they made a mistake and under estimated. Who pays, you do.

__________________
Joe Carola

Mud Master

I do all my own take-off's. For all commercial I figure how many studs,sheetrock,compound,ceiling grid and ceiling tile based on the square footage..type it up and fax it to my supplier. If it's a custom or addition and the builder dosen't know the total inside square footage(I know,they should but they don't always) than I just do a board count by hand, counting them all one by one, and once I have the board count I know how much compound to get accordingly.

You can't trust a supplier or your builder all the time, cause like Joe said, if thier wrong, than not only is it out of your pocket..but your employees or subs are sitting there with a finger up thier ass waiting on the rest of the material. Always best to do it yourself.

__________________

concretemasonry

If a contractor does not do takeoffs he is really not much more than labor supplier.

Takeoffs allow you to understand and price a job for profit, so you can let the others take the bad jobs and keep busy with them.

__________________
Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

Joe Carola

You would be surprised to read on other forums how contractors like framers, trim carpenters, siders, roofers ......etc can't even do their own lists. I can't believe this when I read it. If someone in their own business doesn't know how to do their own material lists then they should pack it it.

I do all my lumber lists no matter if I supply material or it's being supplied. I wont have it any other way. If builder wants to do it and he screws up, he's paying for it because my time is worth money and I'm not going to let anyone else cost me money but myself.

__________________
Joe Carola

Bob Kovacs

As someone else has already said, the majority of these guys are just labor brokers- they haven't got a clue on how to figure material- they just know how to nail it up. The siding crew comes in, sets up their pump jacks, and at the end of the day they count up how many empty siding boxes there are x2, and thats how many square they charge the builder for. Same goes for trim- I hung 10 doors x "X" per door- pay me.

I guess if it works for them, more power to 'em.

Bob