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04-20-2008, 08:56 PM
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#1
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Registered User
Trade:
General Contractor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
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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
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04-21-2008, 05:58 AM
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#2
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Pro
Trade:
Deck Builder
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 312
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped
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
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45-70 is exactly the going rate. Good job, sounds like you're right on the money.
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04-21-2008, 09:40 PM
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#3
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Deck Designer/Builder
Trade:
Deck Design & Construction
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 2,168
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped
Please respond try to respond with a price, a certain scenario, and what county you're located in . THANKS
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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
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04-21-2008, 10:05 PM
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#4
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Charitable animal
Trade:
decks
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: SE PA
Posts: 2,440
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped
I
Please respond try to respond with a price, a certain scenario, and what county you're located in . THANKS
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$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
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04-21-2008, 11:02 PM
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#5
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John Hyatt
Trade:
out door areas, decks,spa room additions,fire pits
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Oklahoma City
Posts: 1,074
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04-22-2008, 01:29 AM
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#6
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Member
Trade:
home improvements and renovations
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: BC , Canada
Posts: 78
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cedar panel fence here for 18-25/ ft. supply and install
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04-22-2008, 08:49 PM
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#7
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Registered User
Trade:
General Contractor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
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wow $10. There's no way i can do it for that 1x8x6 redwood fence board costs $4.97 where I'm at.
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04-22-2008, 10:42 PM
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#8
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Handle It!
Trade:
Everything The Union Guys Do Not Want To Do
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Brooklyn, NY ~ Haverford, PA
Posts: 8,050
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The answer is NO. If you can get the customer to agree to it while smiling!
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04-22-2008, 11:07 PM
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#9
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Deck Designer/Builder
Trade:
Deck Design & Construction
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 2,168
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped
wow $10. There's no way i can do it for that 1x8x6 redwood fence board costs $4.97 where I'm at.
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You asked
__________________
It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear - Norm Peterson
www.decksetc.ca
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04-22-2008, 11:17 PM
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#10
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Pro
Trade:
Painting
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Florence, Alabama
Posts: 2,267
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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.
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04-22-2008, 11:28 PM
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#11
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Registered User
Trade:
General Contractor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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Wow that's 327 feet of fence and over 40 posts. Is that correct? How many days did it take this contractor?
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04-22-2008, 11:30 PM
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#12
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Registered User
Trade:
General Contractor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DecksEtc
You asked 
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What's your material cost on 30 feet of fence?
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04-23-2008, 05:32 AM
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#13
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Pro
Trade:
Deck Builder
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 312
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped
What's your material cost on 30 feet of fence?
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$1,000,000.
Oh almost forgot, that's delivered.
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04-23-2008, 10:51 AM
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#14
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Custom Deck Builder
Trade:
Decks, patio roofs
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Eugene, OR
Posts: 2,555
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boman47k
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.
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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
How many days did it take this contractor?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boman47k
Set post one day, fence the next.
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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
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04-23-2008, 02:54 PM
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#15
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Pro
Trade:
Painting
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Florence, Alabama
Posts: 2,267
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Quote:
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Set post one day, fence the next
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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.
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04-23-2008, 09:02 PM
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#16
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Deck Designer/Builder
Trade:
Deck Design & Construction
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 2,168
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammerwhipped
What's your material cost on 30 feet of fence?
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$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
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04-23-2008, 10:59 PM
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#17
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Registered User
Trade:
General Contractor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DecksEtc
$50.
Why, what do you pay?
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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
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04-23-2008, 11:11 PM
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#18
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Registered User
Trade:
General Contractor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 19
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[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.
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04-23-2008, 11:45 PM
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#19
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Pro
Trade:
carpentry / fencing / decks
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Savannah, Ga
Posts: 1,012
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[quote=hammerwhipped;427342]
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuiltByMAC
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.
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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.
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04-24-2008, 09:52 AM
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#20
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Pro
Trade:
Painting
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Florence, Alabama
Posts: 2,267
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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.
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