Painting Schools? Have An Estimate Tomorrow

flashme18

what type of paint would u suggest for a weightroom at a high school? The estimate is tomorrow and I am assuming the walls are cinder block. Anyone have experience painting schools? Im guessing an eggshell or semi gloss latex. Do you use something like super hyde from Benjamin Moore?

If they ask for the school name or mascot on the walls, how do i quote that. I have never done that and would have to outsource that part.


the dimensions are 60x36x14 for one weight room and 30x18x14 for the second room.

how many gallons do you estimate. I came up with 21 gallons at 400sq feet/gallon and 2 coats.

Am i accurate.

Based on those numbers what would u charge if no repairs. and daytime hours to do job. I live in NYC area.

Thanks!

genecarp

your a painter?

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flashme18

beginner to the biz and new to large scale jobs..have always done small residential interior on the side. Everyone has to start somewhere.

send_it_all

Your estimate for the number of gallons is good. I would probably round up to 25 gallons to be safer. You have a total square footage of 4,032. Do you have a usual square foot price? If, not, figure out how long the job will take you and multiply that by your hourly/daily rate, then add in over head and profit.
As far as the school logo...I would probably farm that out to a local sign shop...In fact, for such a small job (the logo) I would probably just tell the school to farm it out to a sign shop and not run the risk of a mistake costing you money. Although I am not a painter, this sounds like an easy job to estimate. If it is making you nervous, just break it down into small parts and estimate each part. Make sure you don't end up moving furniture/gym equipment for free, or working at odd hours for regular pay. Cover all of that in your proposal and don't do ANY work without a signed contract or change order. Also, expect to have to wait for your final payment. A school is probably not going to cut you a check 2 minutes after you finish.

Any Season

Are the walls already coated or not? If not you are best to first coat them with block fill if in fact they are cinderblock. As for sheen, you will know what to go with by what is on there already. The only thing to keep in mind is that you cannot go in reverse order of sheens (ex. semi to eggshell) bc you will have intercoat adhesion issues. Ben Moore super hide is a great product for you and should be in line pricewise. It covers very well and is relatively thick bc of the clay content. Good for commercial work. As for the murals, if any, just put an ad on craiglist for a muralist and you can sub it out. Good luck.

Danahy

There's some good advice already listed here, so I'll just add what comes to my head.... How I'd approach something like this....

What's there already? Can the show u the left over cans from before? Oil/Latex or Bare?... Either way I just want to know, to calculate my paint and number of coats. As for Sheen, I'm thinkin pearl or semi, cause I imagine everyone leaning/stretching/touching the walls, they'd need to be washable... Knowing this, I'm thinkin there's a good chance that oil may have been previously used...

I've done 3 schools in the past, 2 older schools were oil, 1 newer one was latex.

(Note: A few years ago I purchased this plastic tray holder thing with wheels on it. Very convient for hallways, large rooms to just push around ur paint... it was $20 at home hardware (Canada) )...

The mural personally for me, i'd do it... Cause I know I could get their logo, print it on transparancy paper, and borrow one of the school overhead projectors.... but since ur new, recommed they contact a sign shop sounds the better way to go.

Price...

Ideally (without prep), you could coat each room 1 coat per day, or if it's super huge, then 1 room, 1 coat per day... so 2 - 4 days worth of painting. The mural, if you had to do it, might take 2 days... Paint every 2nd colour the first day, then the inbetween colours the next...

So couple of numbers...

How many days X ur daily rate
+ Materials (Paint)
+ Supplies / Sundries
+ OH and Profit
= ur price + tax.

******** I can not express enough the importance of getting an understanding about "who's got to move the furniture". Alot of schools have maintenance crews, that could move this for you... But then again, most maintenance crews r Unionized, and may not be allowed... You may have to charge for this, if you have to do it... I hope you don't, for your back's sake - lol

Specify your terms to them: Although they may have their own standard way of doing things.

Good Luck