Dumb Question

paint_booger

Dude ... keep it simple ... think about what you can do in one day by yourself, and how much paint you can put up per day.

A couple gallons with a brush in the sun, or inside ... a half a gallon with a brush.

Think about what you can do, and how much paint you can lay on in a day ... then realize that when you ask your buddies for help ... they will be slower!

Figure your time at $25 per hr ... and double it (GET LIABILITY INS!) + overhead ... advertisment, office suplies, and time spent reading this!

paint_booger

AND TAX! Schedude C!

Miller

I have all that and am doing fine with the bidding and getting jobs, just use to the simple repaints and exteriors here and there. Was just trying to get a lil more feedback on the bigger jobs and working for asoc. Also just trying to see if others have a simple formula for figuring the paint needed when doing exterior trim. I have learned a lot just reading this forum every day and asking questions, you can never stop learning even if you r doing well in your business. Just not use to dealing with jobs this big and don't want to get in over my head when things r going good. Thanks for all the feedback.

daArch

Miller,

Simple formulas are simple to set up, and work great if they are accurate. But they take time to adjust and fine tune. When you work on any project take notes of how long certain elements take you. Pretty soon you have data with which you can make your own formulas (or is that formulae). You will know that 100 LF of exterior trim takes xx minutes to scrape and sand and xx minutes to paint. Windows, doors, and siding all have there own values. Add up the elements, insert into your formulas and VOILA a rough estimate. Next add your difficulty factors, your shrubbery and other PIA factors. Remember that on multiple person crews each will produce about 15% less than what a single person will do. Pay your help by what they can produce based on a standard (you?).

As far as paint needed, use what the label says, 450 SF per gallon. You should always have enough

Take a digital camera and take pictures of the job, this will help refresh your memory when you're at your desk crunching numbers.

Don't forget you need to pay your estimator, your clerical staff, and your bookkeeper...even if you wear all those hats. Your time is not free. Your vehicle and depreciation of tools and equip need to come out of the business account. All these are paid from your productive work. Essentially, about 33% of invoiced money pays for overhead.

Remember when we were kids ? "Ah, sure Mrs Smith. We can paint your house. That will be $1200, paint and supplies included" And we made about $10.00 and hour (before subtracting for overhead) and were as happy as pigs in slop. No wonder we never had a healthy bank account until we realized the REAL cost of doing business.

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Wallcovering Installations by Bill Archibald|paperhanger|Eastern Mass|Greater Boston Area|Dover|Wellesley|Franklin|Sharon|MA