Tell Me What You Think Of These Rates

jojo

I should be able to get $55/hr for my dumptruck ,$55 for my backhoe (580 case), I can rent any piece of equipment I need,,so I worked out an estiment for a 30'x40' basement, this includes digging the footers, backfilling, and the excess dirt will be spread around the area,,
The ecxavator I need to rent will cost me about $700 a day(this includes delivery, fuel and pickup) Hired help will be about $120 a day, the estiment will be $3000,,,,,providing the soil to be moved is good,,no big rocks or mud,,,anything extra will be charged by the hour,,,

jmic

JoJo,
Not that I know the market where you live, but where are you from? 30'x40' whats the avg. depth. Just a level hole? No steps? Any walk out or garage under?

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Joe

rino1494

$700 a day plus mark-up, lets say 20% which is $840. You should be able to dig that in one day considering that you hit no rock or hard pan. You can back fill in one day. So right there is $1,680. Now, who will be operating ?? If you will be, you need to figure out your rate. Lets say $45 hr for 2 days is $720. Your hired help is $120 a day for 2 days which is $240.

$1,680 + $720 + $240 = $2,570

Now, you need to figure in mobilization to get yourself to the job. What about your laser or transit? What about stone for the footers, footer drains, shale sub-base for driveway. Is there a garage, what will you be filling it with ???

Is the $120 a day for your help cost or cost + profit ???

If you are not doing the stone for the footers, drains or driveway......then I say that your 3,000 bid is pretty good.

Also, in your bid put a rock clause and also state that any material that needs to be imported/exported will be billed as a extra item.

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jojo

the basement will be 8' deep,,I will be doing the digging, my hired help will be running the backhoe ,spreading ,stock pileing and helping shoot grades...any importing or exporting of material will be an extra charge. driveways ,walkways, stone in footers will be extra also,,,I think time and materals for some of this extra stuff might be the way to go,,,

jojo

one other thing,,,what is in your rock clause,,is there any place I can find a rock clause in print

jmic

Well of course ledge or excessive boulders approx. 3/4 cu.yd. and bigger. Don't have one with me but do have one at office if you need it might be able to get it to ya tomorrow. I figure $15.00/ft. for footing drains, but don't tell Rino

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Joe

PipeGuy

jojo-I can't encourage you enough to ( if you haven't already done so) sit down and accurately estimate how much it costs you each year just to open the doors every day before you get to far into pricing jobs. Look hard at all your fix costs and then, once you have a real good idea of what that number is, decide how many days each year you realistically have to recover those costs (the # of days you can work). Your annual costs divided by the number of days you can work each year is going to be your real daily cost. Until you've done that, you're just shooting in the dark when it comes to pricing jobs.

rino1494

Is that for all of the drains inlcuding the tail ditch to daylight ?

I am afraid to post our prices after hearing this .......lol

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jmic

Rino,
Going to Daylight and for leader drains I'll use $8/ft if I can run it around the foundation with the footing drains. Lots of times we have to put in gallies for detention for the leaders. If that being the case and the grades are against us and I have to dig trenches for the leader drain system then I figure $10/ft. I'm sure I pay a substancial amount more for stone products than you do.

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Joe

chrisherk

It will take a few days before you get to backfill, between the concrete work and the foundation paint, Are you going to backfill with your backhoe? will it reach in the middle of hole to place stone or gravel, for slab prep? ( must compact gravel too)

chris

redwing510

Don't backfill till us carpenters get a floor system on, we like our stuff plumb and level!

jojo

Thanks for your input guys,,,I agree on figuring costs and I'm doing the best I can,,but it's real hard with out experience,,,thats why I called on you guys,,it will help a ton,,I am doing this part time for now, but I'm hopeing to turn it into a full time biz,,,

jojo

as far as stone in the middle of the foundation, I figure on calling in a stone slinger,,,they are the cats ass for that kind if thing,,,,

rino1494

We use our dozer to put the stone in the footers. If the foundation is small enough and we have our dozers on different jobs, we will throw the stone in with the excavator and grab a rake and shovel.

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chrisherk

It will take a few days before you get to backfill, between the concrete work and the foundation paint, Are you going to backfill with your backhoe? will it reach in the middle of hole to place stone or gravel, for slab prep? ( must compact gravel too)

chris

rino1494

^ I've never seen any excavator compact the gravel for under the slab in a foundation. If there is basement service for the sanitary, then the plumber will have it all dug up anyways. I wouldn't waste my time compacting.

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jmic

If the weather is sub-freezing the foundation contr. will keep his forms on an extra day, other wise they come off the day after pour. Dutchboy (foundation waterproofing contr.) comes in within a day after the walls are striped, tie's broken, and waterplugged. Then we do our thing with drains. Once the drains are done and after we backfill foundation ( with excavator to sub grade ) I'll throw the stone into the basement and lower down my skid steer (three legged chain onto picking points of machine ) and spread stone for slab prep, or once in a while we're lucky enough to get one where we use the native material if it's suitable
I pretty much have this down to a science for myself so that if we're stretched out I can go and do all this work without breaking a sweat As you get older and hopefully wiser you learn to protect the old body ( work alittle smarter not harder ) and you still get the same things accomplished and sometimes more ( usually more! )

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Joe

jmic

Rino,
As a rule we usually always compact our slab preps ( even with stone ) it seems when we try to avoid this process we'll start to get some settling cracks in slab ( yes I know the dif. between shrinkage and settling cause I just know someone will come back with it's probably shrinkage ) Just my 2 cents on this matter if it matters at all! Besides I like seeing the plumber go in and have a hard time digging!

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Joe

Bob Kovacs

You let a guy who gets paid "$120 a day" run a backhoe that's worth probably $80,000???? There's something wrong with that picture.

Also, as Pipeguy said, you really need to evaluate your rates based on your actual costs of doing business. $55/hour sounds incredibly cheap for a machine- especially if that includes the operator. Do you have any ideas whether you're making money at those rates or not?

Bob

jojo

I know two guys where I work now that have operated equipment for the company for years and they are very good,,and they don't tear up machines from doing dumb stuff,,(I trust them),,,they will work 8 hours for $120 ,,it's just alittle side money for them,,,,
It seems that in this area a backhoe and operator gets $50 to $65 an hour,,what will a backhoe and operator bring in your area????
it seems that a guy would be better off doing jobs like a foundation for a house by charging by the job,,,because the better you get at moving the dirt the less $$ you would make if you charge by the hour...