Man/hrs To Do Specific Jobs

mdcorreia

I am a small operator so that I keep the stress to a minimum.
I notice that many have no clue on how long it takes to do electrical work - they bid blindly then what? Working with the tools is usually 3/4 of the time. How about sitting at home and doing the books? Travelling across the city to give out a free estimate - it could take 2 - 3 hrs - who is going to pay for all that? It also takes longer to do a better job - probably 20% longer - or what - calls back to correct defficiencies? How about collecting - that takes time including waiting in lines at the banks -
There are thousands of small details to account for. I loose a lot of work to people who don`t know how to estimate, However I try to get them too busy doing crappy work so that they interfere less. I tell the customer (who I might not be interested) call ..so and so..he may be able to give you a good price. I do the same with handypeople.
Now to those who I like to do the job for I tell them if they want more estimates call - I give them references to bigger outfits who charge extraordinary prices.
Also look up the work ESTIMATE in the dictionary - It means very different
than A QUOTATION!

Here is an example of my man/hrs that I use. Rough in a box (opening?) in a rec room, new home etc = 22 minutes. When it is all finished = 50 minutes.
Physically it only takes 35 minutes but other time used for set up, running around etc = 50m. Therefore, a new house with 100 items (sws, rec`s, light outlets (not connecting the fixtures etc) = 100 x 55min= 5,500 min : 60 = 92 man/hrs.

Remeber that I worked for housing contractors before and have experience on this. I am an average speed worker but don`t compete
for speed as do these younger workers and the boss laughs around the corner and collects all that extra money to go to Mexico for the winter and the workers can`t go anywhere but keep struggling to get more work to survive.

Speedy Petey

**I retract my post as I misread the OP.**

I am NO different from you in as far as business type. I am small and do not work over my head to keep stress levels managable. I make plenty of money for myself as well.

__________________

fridaymean

You're going to rough and trim a house in 92 man/hours?

Sparky Joe

I don't think he was refferring to anyone here, was he handing out any of your numbers?

Though it raises a question for me; I of course plan to open my own shop in four years when I can take my masters test(which is required by state for contractors), question is how much do you guys make a year(profit) and how many guys do you employ. Of course this is very varied by region, but just out of curiosity, oh and how much time do you spend with tools on?