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donb1959

After reading the thread entitled "What % of sales do you close" I decided to start this thread. I think it would be interesting and maybe even informative, paticularly to those of us that have been in business less than 5 years.

Sometimes we as contractors doubt ourselves when giving bids. And although I know that every one has differant rates, we can use this thread to compare one to another.

Premise of the thread: Real life quotes that you have recently given, try being asdetailed as possible without it all becoming to laboreous.

For example: 10x12x7 room no ceiling, walls minimal prep 2 coats, trim minimal prep 1 coat. Bid $950.00 plus materials. Bid won or Bid lost.

Something similar to that.

I will start:

Staining bar- Bar front 4'x10' Bar cabinants- 7 doors, 6 drawers
Clean all wood to remove pencil marks etc
Stain outside of bar, and cabinants with semi trans
Apply sanding sealer
Sand and tack
Apply 2 coats Poly
Apply 1 coat ploy to inside cabs

3 men 3 days 2100.00 plus materials.
Bid lost Reason- To high

So, that's the idea, let try this and see how it works.

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pitbull

so after being knocked back, whats your thinking. Are you too expensive or is the client too cheap. Was that quote cheap for you and because you wanted the job, or was it a bit higher than you would normally because you have enough work, and if you get it, it has to be worth the extra hassle.?

Traditions

10x12 room 950 bucks. THere is no way i could bid that. It would be a lost job. It would take about 4 hours to roll and cut that room out. Max. If there is no prep on the trim that wouldn't take much time either. Prep and cleanup and hour tops. This is a one day job? AM i missing something? 350-400 bucks labor. Am i to cheap?

donb1959

Traditions,
That was just an example.
Pitbull,
It was a little expensive for her I guess, but it's alot of work involved. I figured someone else probably bid it at about $1500.00

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donb1959

Traditions, even though that was just an example, I have two guys working for me, theres no way I can go to a home and do one room for less than $600.00 labor.

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Traditions

If it would really take three men three days then I don't think that is off at all. Cabinetry has to be bid higher. Those things take a ton of abuse and neet to be done correctly. 3 men 3days is appx. 75 hours. THat comes out to right around 30 bucks per man hour.

Traditions

Dnb- I understood it was just an estimate on the first one. I like this thread. How many hours does everyone else thing the 10x12 room scenario would take. Bidding is the worst part about running a business. I like to hear others ideas.

donb1959

Kitchen- 350 sq ft remove paper (moderate)- prime/repair walls-paint walls 2 coats- paint trim 1 coat (3 windows, 2doors/casings, base, crown)

Master bath- 420 sq ft remove paper (moderate)-prime/repair walls- paint 2 coats on walls- paint trim (2 windows, 2doors, base/shoe mold, crown.

Bid- 2800.00
Lost- reason to high

Figured 3 men 3-4 days

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Traditions

Traditions scenario:
1800 sq ft house. (new construction) 8 ft ceilings. except in dininf room(10ft) 9 interior doors(sprayed) 3 bi fold doors. 3 exterior doors. prime all walls two coats off white eggshell on whole house,ceilings sprayed white, all trim, primed, sanded, nail holes filled, 2 coats paint.(sprayed) 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. $4,500. Lost bid. too high.

PlainPainter

You lost that bid at $4500?!?!?! Too high? Remind me to never move where you are.

Here is one for ya:

Living room - 12x24 feet 7 foot celings. Has chair rail - lower portion is painted, upper part is wall paper. Ceiling has dimples where it was nailed, two doorways - no doors, 4 windows - 8 over 8 lights.

So I have to remove wallpaper - tape all cracks behind wallpaper and mud 3 times, sand and then prime upper wall part. All the dimples in ceilings need to filled twice, sanded then spot primed. All trim - the doorways, baseboard, windows and saches, chair rail, will be sanded. And the lower wall part will be poll sanded. After sanding and vaccumed - the upper wall will be washed with tsp and water to get rid of wallpaper glue - as well as all the trim and lower wall will be washed and rinsed.

Now trim will receive two coats of paint - with a fine sanding in between coats, ceiling will receive a coat of ceiling paint, upper wall will receive two coats of one color, the lower part will receive 2 coats.

Cost $2,100 bid won.

-plainpainter

AAPaint

Okie dokie....2,500 sq. ft. house. brick with wood soffits. Color change exterior. 1,200 sq. ft. of soffit to be painted, garage door, front door, caulk windows and doors, pw house, two coats of paint.

Price = $2,600

Lost, price too high.

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Exroadog

Note to self.....dont move to IL, NC, or Jacksonville.

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Traditions

4500 is based off of about 2.50 square foot of floor space. Material included. There are people areound here that do it for 2 bucks a square foot with all material included.

birdog

Here's one Commercial job

14,700 sq.ft of drywall 1.Prime coat plus 2 topcoats eggshell 3 colors.
20ft long metal staircase needs sanding of old paint and repaint gloss black.
Paint 2 new metal doors 2 coats oil.
Stain and apply two topcoat poly 1500 ft.of base and 27 soild wood doors. sand and tack between coats

Bid $19,000 lost to a bid of 11,000.
Any ideas am I to high, GC really likes my quality on any work I do for him.

donb1959

bird,
I just ran some numbers ans without actually looking at the job I came up with about 17,500.00. I'm loving this thread.

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MakDeco

Where are you in IL, sq ft price in Chicago is 3.75 to 4.5 depending on scope of work, and how close or far you are from downtown. That is new construction floor space. Thats is how 90% of new construction is bid on in Chicago, I am not a fan of that method that is why I stick to re paints and besides I get my money sooner

Traditions

14,700 square feet of drywall. I am assuming that is wall square footage right? You don't sound too high to me. Especially if your GC likes your work. He knows what he is getting with you. That is worth the extra money.

PlainPainter

You know what - we should specify one room, one set of dimensions, certain amount of doors and windows - and type. And then we should all bid on it and give explanations to why it costs a certain amount. As for me - typical homeowners think a bedroom should only cost $500, and this includes painting their closet - which hasn't been painted in 30 years along with their sliding doors that need to be primed - cracks mudded. Heck I have been in some 13'x13' bedrooms that needed all sorts of work done one them - that I needed $1500! The only nice repaints I ever get - is when I visit a home I painted 6-7 years earlier - and for some reason the paint job goes like a dream! But when I follow every other painter around here - their cutting corners rears it's ugly head in terms of how many things you need fixing. So yeah - I could easily paint a room for $450-$550 if it was a room I had painted previously - because the trim will still be flawless - and the ceilings will still be bright - total dream job.

-plainpainter

birdog

yes that's right sq.ft. of wall. Thanks for the replies great thread.

donb1959

Plainpainter,
Good idea Im going to open another thread to do that so that thisone can stay open to post a quote.

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