Contractor Talk - Construction and Remodeling Site
CLICK HERE AND JOIN OUR COMMUNITY TODAY...IT'S FREE!
Go Back   Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum > Trade Talk > Carpentry > Decks & Fencing

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 04-20-2008, 08:56 PM   #1
Registered User
 
hammerwhipped's Avatar
Trade: General Contractor
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
Is this too expensive?

I am a gc in san francisco and I charge 45-70 per running foot of fence which includes removal, all redwood materials, labor, and disposal. The reason for the big price gap is based on the factors:

Style of fence (plain 1x6 to 1x6 wrapped with 1x and lattice on top or other designs)

Ease of work surrondings -lots of plants, no plants, lots of weeds

Accessability- front yard , backyard, trafficthrough house or garage and so on

I also set all of my posts with cb44 and concrete and guarantee my work from rot for 10 years

Please respond try to respond with a price, a certain scenario, and what county you're located in . THANKS

hammerwhipped is offline   Reply With Quote
Warning: The topics covered on this site include activities in which there exists the potential for serious injury or death. ContractorTalk.com DOES NOT guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information contained on this site. Always use proper safety precaution and reference reliable outside sources before attempting any construction or remodeling task!

Join Contractor Talk

Join the #1 Contractor Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

ContractorTalk.com - Are you a Professional Contractor? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's the leading place for contractors to meet online. No homeowners asking DIY questions. Just fellow tradesmen who enjoy talking about their business, their trade, and anything else that comes up. No matter what your trade is you'll find that ContractorTalk.com is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally free!

Join ContractorTalk.com - Click Here JOIN FOR FREE

Old 04-21-2008, 05:58 AM   #2
Pro
 
Danno6102's Avatar
Trade: Deck Builder
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 312
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
I am a gc in san francisco and I charge 45-70 per running foot of fence which includes removal, all redwood materials, labor, and disposal. The reason for the big price gap is based on the factors:

Style of fence (plain 1x6 to 1x6 wrapped with 1x and lattice on top or other designs)

Ease of work surrondings -lots of plants, no plants, lots of weeds

Accessability- front yard , backyard, trafficthrough house or garage and so on

I also set all of my posts with cb44 and concrete and guarantee my work from rot for 10 years

Please respond try to respond with a price, a certain scenario, and what county you're located in . THANKS
45-70 is exactly the going rate. Good job, sounds like you're right on the money.
Danno6102 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2008, 09:40 PM   #3
Deck Designer/Builder
 
DecksEtc's Avatar
Trade: Deck Design & Construction
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 2,168
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
Please respond try to respond with a price, a certain scenario, and what county you're located in . THANKS
Your pricing sounds WAY too high - I only charge $10 per linear foot, no matter what type of fence the customer wants.
__________________
It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear - Norm Peterson

www.decksetc.ca
DecksEtc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2008, 10:05 PM   #4
Charitable animal
 
Bone Saw's Avatar
Trade: decks
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: SE PA
Posts: 2,440
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
I
Please respond try to respond with a price, a certain scenario, and what county you're located in . THANKS
$10

standing on the beach in jericoacoara getting sandblasted on my shins, adrenaline pumping, good waves, launching our kites and hit the ground running, POW good stuff good stuff

Chester co, pa

hope that helps
__________________
Custom Decks & Carpentry LLC.
play
more play
raped ape

Quote:
Originally Posted by nilscraft View Post
I'm doing a bid for a homeowners ass
Bone Saw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2008, 11:02 PM   #5
John Hyatt
 
John Hyatt's Avatar
Trade: out door areas, decks,spa room additions,fire pits
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Oklahoma City
Posts: 1,074
John<<< geting major big YUCKS:laug hing:
John Hyatt is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 01:29 AM   #6
Member
Trade: home improvements and renovations
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: BC , Canada
Posts: 78
cedar panel fence here for 18-25/ ft. supply and install
Stewy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 08:49 PM   #7
Registered User
 
hammerwhipped's Avatar
Trade: General Contractor
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
wow $10. There's no way i can do it for that 1x8x6 redwood fence board costs $4.97 where I'm at.
hammerwhipped is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 10:42 PM   #8
Handle It!
 
MALCO.New.York's Avatar
Trade: Everything The Union Guys Do Not Want To Do
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Brooklyn, NY ~ Haverford, PA
Posts: 8,050
The answer is NO. If you can get the customer to agree to it while smiling!
__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k1Ug...ture=rec-HM-r2
MALCO.New.York is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 11:07 PM   #9
Deck Designer/Builder
 
DecksEtc's Avatar
Trade: Deck Design & Construction
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 2,168
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
wow $10. There's no way i can do it for that 1x8x6 redwood fence board costs $4.97 where I'm at.
You asked
__________________
It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear - Norm Peterson

www.decksetc.ca
DecksEtc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 11:17 PM   #10
Pro
Trade: Painting
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Florence, Alabama
Posts: 2,267
Send a message via AIM to boman47k
My youngest just got a fence installed. Cypress dogeared 1x6 supplied by the contractor. He said it was around $11 per foot. Two double gates and one single. Glad I saw this as I was wondering about if he did okay on it. It was an easy install, nothing in the way. Set post one day, fence the next.

$4100 total.
boman47k is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 11:28 PM   #11
Registered User
 
hammerwhipped's Avatar
Trade: General Contractor
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by boman47k View Post
My youngest just got a fence installed. Cypress dogeared 1x6 supplied by the contractor. He said it was around $11 per foot. Two double gates and one single. Glad I saw this as I was wondering about if he did okay on it. It was an easy install, nothing in the way. Set post one day, fence the next.

$4100 total.
Wow that's 327 feet of fence and over 40 posts. Is that correct? How many days did it take this contractor?
hammerwhipped is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-22-2008, 11:30 PM   #12
Registered User
 
hammerwhipped's Avatar
Trade: General Contractor
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by DecksEtc View Post
You asked
What's your material cost on 30 feet of fence?
hammerwhipped is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 05:32 AM   #13
Pro
 
Danno6102's Avatar
Trade: Deck Builder
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 312
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
What's your material cost on 30 feet of fence?
$1,000,000.

Oh almost forgot, that's delivered.
Danno6102 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 10:51 AM   #14
Custom Deck Builder
 
BuiltByMAC's Avatar
Trade: Decks, patio roofs
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Eugene, OR
Posts: 2,555
Quote:
Originally Posted by boman47k View Post
He said it was around $11 per foot. Two double gates and one single. Glad I saw this as I was wondering about if he did okay on it.
$4100 total.
We'd have to see pictures of it to see if "he did okay on it."

$11/ft = $88/ 8 ft. section
Materials for an 8' section -
(1) 4x4 @ $10 = $10
(17) fence boards @ $2 = 34
(2) 2x4s @ $3 = $6
(2) bags 'crete @ $4 = $8
screws, hardware, etc = $6

That's $64 in materials, leaving $24 for labor, overhead and profit.
(2) laborers @ $10/ea leave you a whopping $4 for overhead and profit per 8' section.

$4100 / $11 = 372 ft.
372 / 8 = 46.5 sections @$4/section
Contractor made somewhere around $186 total for installing 372 ft. of fence.

wow. wonder if that's the going rate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
How many days did it take this contractor?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boman47k View Post
Set post one day, fence the next.
What exactly are you looking for, hammerwhipped? You start this thread asking if you're too expensive...why would we know? If you do kick ass work and you're getting high end fence jobs that agree to $5 redwood fence boards and you're making a decent profit after paying your overhead and expenses...I'd say NO, you're not too expensive. On the other hand, if you churn out your standard, boring fence and you're trying to charge those prices and NOBODY'S hiring you...then YES, you are too expensive.

Based on your other posts, you're new to this business of contracting and you're out here shopping for prices.

(and only you can decide whether being young and Asian affects your business. From what I've heard, San Fran and CA in general are fairly ethnically diverse - esp. Asian - so I wouldn't think that would be a negative factor for you)

Mac
BuiltByMAC is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 02:54 PM   #15
Pro
Trade: Painting
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Florence, Alabama
Posts: 2,267
Send a message via AIM to boman47k
Quote:
Set post one day, fence the next
I do not know how many actual hours was involved. My son said it after the posts were set, the fence went up very fast with them using nail guns. The contractor buys his boards direct from a place about 20 milew away. I also am not sure how deep the posts were set. My son said 2'. He also said they went around with a chainsaw and cut the excess off. Lets see, posts cut about 6" from top of dogear, 8' post? May be why the fence did not seem real sturdy when I pushed on it. I also do not know if cedar was not available or what for some reason they went with the cypress. It was little cheaper, not sure if that had anything to do with it on my son's part.

P.S. Part of the reason for having th efence installed is there is a city ball park next to the property line in the back and they have little ones. Not sure about the rest of the country, but here these places sometimes draw strange characters and the grandparents were somewhat concerned. That includes me.

Last edited by boman47k; 04-23-2008 at 03:00 PM.
boman47k is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 09:02 PM   #16
Deck Designer/Builder
 
DecksEtc's Avatar
Trade: Deck Design & Construction
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 2,168
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped View Post
What's your material cost on 30 feet of fence?
$50.

Why, what do you pay?
__________________
It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear - Norm Peterson

www.decksetc.ca
DecksEtc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 10:59 PM   #17
Registered User
 
hammerwhipped's Avatar
Trade: General Contractor
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by DecksEtc View Post
$50.

Why, what do you pay?
Based on an eight foot section:

2- 4x4 P.T. @ $10.00 ea. = $20.00
2- 2x4 P.T. @ $3.50 ea. = $ 7.00
13 1x8 RWD
Fencing @ $5.00 ea. = $65.00

4 bags concrete @2.50 80# bag = $10.00

That's $84.00 before sales tax Multipled by 4sections = 32ft. $336.00
hammerwhipped is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 11:11 PM   #18
Registered User
 
hammerwhipped's Avatar
Trade: General Contractor
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
[quote=BuiltByMAC;426973]We'd have to see pictures of it to see if "he did okay on it."

What exactly are you looking for, hammerwhipped? You start this thread asking if you're too expensive...why would we know? If you do kick ass work and you're getting high end fence jobs that agree to $5 redwood fence boards and you're making a decent profit after paying your overhead and expenses...I'd say NO, you're not too expensive. On the other hand, if you churn out your standard, boring fence and you're trying to charge those prices and NOBODY'S hiring you...then YES, you are too expensive.

Based on your other posts, you're new to this business of contracting and you're out here shopping for prices.

(and only you can decide whether being young and Asian affects your business. From what I've heard, San Fran and CA in general are fairly ethnically diverse - esp. Asian - so I wouldn't think that would be a negative factor for you)

Mac[/quote

This post was mostly to see if I get many responses within my reigon but it's amazing to see how it varies from state to state. I get about 2 out of 5 fence jobs priced the way I do and was just wanting to know if it's my sales skills or am I just expensive. Yes I am fairly new I'm 26yrs old I've been on my own for 2 years now but have been in the trade for 8 years now. And regarding the ethnic thing San francisco is too plentiful of asian contractor escpecially the bad ones. So I'm just seeing if it's a factor in other counties and if there's any advice on moving away from that stereotype.
hammerwhipped is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2008, 11:45 PM   #19
Pro
 
curapa's Avatar
Trade: carpentry / fencing / decks
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Savannah, Ga
Posts: 1,012
[quote=hammerwhipped;427342]
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuiltByMAC View Post
We'd have to see pictures of it to see if "he did okay on it."

What exactly are you looking for, hammerwhipped? You start this thread asking if you're too expensive...why would we know? If you do kick ass work and you're getting high end fence jobs that agree to $5 redwood fence boards and you're making a decent profit after paying your overhead and expenses...I'd say NO, you're not too expensive. On the other hand, if you churn out your standard, boring fence and you're trying to charge those prices and NOBODY'S hiring you...then YES, you are too expensive.

Based on your other posts, you're new to this business of contracting and you're out here shopping for prices.

(and only you can decide whether being young and Asian affects your business. From what I've heard, San Fran and CA in general are fairly ethnically diverse - esp. Asian - so I wouldn't think that would be a negative factor for you)

Mac[/quote

This post was mostly to see if I get many responses within my reigon but it's amazing to see how it varies from state to state. I get about 2 out of 5 fence jobs priced the way I do and was just wanting to know if it's my sales skills or am I just expensive. Yes I am fairly new I'm 26yrs old I've been on my own for 2 years now but have been in the trade for 8 years now. And regarding the ethnic thing San francisco is too plentiful of asian contractor escpecially the bad ones. So I'm just seeing if it's a factor in other counties and if there's any advice on moving away from that stereotype.
I will go ahead and fill you in.... Disregard any quotes you have seen in response to your thread, most are a joke. Break down your material costs, labor, overhead and profit. Determine your desired pay and base your cost from these things.

While one persons $75 dollar a foot which is good for them, another persons $35 works for them.

Do some searching on bidding or buy a few basic business books.

If you make your desired money then your good to go, If you feel you are losing potential clients then drop your prices or up your salesmanship. Find out what your competitors are charging.

The search function on this site can be very helpful.

Last edited by curapa; 04-24-2008 at 07:29 PM.
curapa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2008, 09:52 AM   #20
Pro
Trade: Painting
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Florence, Alabama
Posts: 2,267
Send a message via AIM to boman47k
After thinking about the price of mat's, I think I will ask my son about that price again. not sur ewhat those mat's cost, but am wondering how the fence can be done for that price with mat's included. I do suspect the posts are not set as deep he thinks.

I remeber once when we were next door to his old place with an 8' ( I think) fence between us and his house when we thought we heard his youngest son crying. My son ran around the fence to get back to his house to check on the baby. I went over the fence. He wondered how I got there so fast. Anyway, I do not remember this fence being as shakey as his new one seems to be.
boman47k is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Interior paint this expensive? metomeya Painting & Finish Work 20 03-20-2007 06:55 AM
Most Expensive Mistake denick Excavation & Site Work 12 04-30-2006 07:51 PM


Top of Page | View New Posts


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:40 AM.


Contractor Talk™ © 2003 - 2009 The Building Network LLC