410tip

I have 10 years of painting experience. I'm a teacher and did a job this spring break that was time/material. Going rates are $35-40 hr. I charged the lady $28.
She had a stained tongue and groove cedar ceiling(in a 600 sq. ft room), 8 millwork windows(normal size), 1 entry door, 5 sliding doors.

Stained(natural gloss stain)Ceiling- Sanded, spackled, primed, sanded, red puttied, sanded, primed, sanded, top coated w/proclassic.

Windows- Caulked, brushed edges, taped up, sanded, primed, sanded, red puttied, sanded, primed, sanded,finaled, top coated w/proclassic.

Doors- Entry door -sanded, primed, red puttied, primed, sanded, top coated
Sliding doors-sanded/top coated
Vaccumed upon finishing/cleaned up.

Total bill came out to $2,900. I had 63 man hours, 1,100 in supplies/gas after a 15% mark up. The lady felt I ripped her off, I felt I did top level quality at a very very reasonable rate. This is in the Seattle area at an upscale home, am I right or am I off base?
*All work was immaculate and looked brand new. None of the work done was new construction. All previously painted/stained surfaces. Roll paper, tarps, plastic draped over walls to hand masker.
Am I right or off base?

Mr. Mike

That is one of the many problems with not charging upfront, you could of charged double and she would of been happier knowing the price upfront. Also you are taking food off people's employees tables by charging $28.00 per hour, I could not do a job for that. See folks this takes me back to the us pro's can not do a job for as cheap as the weekend warriors. This school teacher is getting the $28.00 plus the money from the school and painting a job for half the money we would charge. Guy wanted proof earlier about a cash theory, I knew it would present itself on it's own.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

Chris Johnson

Are you registered? Are you licensed? Are you insured?

Why are you moonlighting?

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Chris

Mr. Mike

Because his overhead is so low, he actually still makes $28.00 per hour.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

410tip

I am licensed/bonded/insured. I do about $120,000 in total sales a year. Summer months are when I'm busy. I have the same bills as you guys, insurance, L&I, income tax, sales tax, wages, etc.
All my stuff is legit. I just wanted to verify that I wasn't losing my mind, 28 hr on the books is low. I just wanted to earn a little money instead of idly enjoying my break.

Handymanservice

No. No. No.
Why is he moonlighting?
He's a teacher!
Have you seen what teachers earn? Man, he probably has to moonlight just to have groceries.
Just curious, is he off base on the price?

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"You can shear a sheep every year, but you can only skin him once!" Remember that when dealing with your customers and pricing.

http://www.yourhandymansite.com

NAV

if you are bidding a job at Time and Material why dont you include a not to exceed price? you should know how long it will take and it will prevent situations like the one you are in now.

genecarp

Your numbers look fine, she should be thanking you. Some people you just cant make happy, G

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Jesse Kirchhoff

It does not matter how little you charge hourly - someone will always tell you that you are to expensive

Look into FLAT RATE PRICING - there are plenty of good production rate books that you can study and even some free downloads online. Even if you do not use their recommended rates the production numbers are good to go by.

Good luck

silvertree

T & M always has this issue come up.
I did a job ( prefinished wainscot) that was nuts on for a real fuss budget, oh and he was a school teacher. Can you say irony.

I told him it would take 16 hrs, he sat in the room and read a book while I worked, I got done in about 15 1/2 hours, good guess on my part.
He approved the work and generously gave me a $10 tip. LOL!
He was satisfied and comfortable.

Then I tell someone else for another trim job $860 and when asked I said it was about 12 hours work, it took about 8, plus travel time and cleanup (another couple hours). She called me a crook and wanted a refund which I did not give her. So although the work was well done, I got a bad rap for being good at what I do.

The best story though is a stair repair for a set price, I said would take 2 days, it took 5, the HO when paying me said " I guess you lost your ass on this one" and started laughing.
Welcome to our world.

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Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Remodeler Minnesota

Frankawitz

Your number look fine to me, but I'm in Michigan and we have been seeing this for 4 years, I have a rate of $25.00 an hour for painting and $40.00 an hour for plaster work. I hear it all the time, "Boy you charge a lot!" So I guess when you see Help Wanted for Painters in the classified ads, and they are paying $8.00 to $12.00 I guess I'm over priced, But yet I have to pay for Insurance, all other expences to be ligit,
People just want it for cheap,


www.frankawitz.net

Steve Richards

$25 an hour?

How do you survive on that?

"know what you're worth because no one is going to tell you"~ some guy

(probably some old guy)
(He probably wasn't worth much either, but at least he knew it.)

Steve Richards

I either give them a T&M rate, or a bid.

I don't give both.

The only reason I'd do T&M is because I'm not sure (for any number of reasons) how long something is going to take.
If I'm not sure of that...how can I give them a "not to exceed" figure?

waynec

I think it's high. Based on the rooms specs I feel I could have cut your hours in half. I also don't charge a high hourly rate (35 ) but with materials that you stated plus my labor charge I could have been around 2200. I personally can't figure how people around the country are charging 50. plus an hour and stay busy.

Dorman Painting

It sounds like you did a great job and are professional in your routines. Everybody has a different hourly working rate, according to their personal finances/bills etc. As long as you feel good about the outcome and let's be frank, you DID make money, don't worry about some wealthy penny pincher.

I live in the Louisville area, close to Mr. Mike and charge more than 28 an hour. I'm trying to get 40 an hour on all jobs, obviously when the situation presents itself, I charge more...this spring so far isn't producing those kinds of numbers. I feel like I'm giving out ten year old quotes just to get work.

410tip

Too high?
13 gallons Bin Shellac primer= @25g $325
8 gallons Proclassic= @28g $224
Thinner- 2 Gallons Denatured alcohol $26
Paper/tape Blue and pg 5/plastic/roll paper-$85
Bridge tolls-$32
Gas-$75
Sanding sponges $25
Total: 792
15%markup=$1056

Labor
63 man hours @28hr=$1764
Wages: 32 hours @15.00=480
My Labor net=$1284


Throw taxes and insurance, etc. I busted my ass to make a thousand bucks. To do the job for less, would be pointless. If you could do it for less and still make money, then you're a better businessman than I. I'm fast, effecient, and have my systems down. I felt I left money on the table, she felt I ripped her off. It's life, but I'm a professional and don't work for nickels and dimes.

Steve Richards

Just curious...did the lady actually say "I think you ripped me off"?

or did she just seem unhappy with the total?

410tip

Words were along these lines....."I had the exterior of my house painted for $5,500 with two coats. I can't understand how painting a room can cost 3,000. Doesn't seem right to me."

Obviously, I could have painted the exterior of her house in a week and made a killing for $6,000. The inside work was labor intensive and took close to the same amount of time as the exterior(a couple days less). I tried to explain the labor process, it was even detailed on the bill and estimate. Some people don't get it, which is fine. I got paid, so no real complaints, just always looking to improve my business. Only had 1 complaint out of 104 jobs I've done, so obviously it's an isolated incident.

WarnerConstInc.

Did you get paid? If so screw her, and never answer the phone when she calls. I have been selectively firing customers this year because I am tired of some of the same crap that gets pulled time and time again. I had a couple people that ended up pleading with me to come back and do some more things. Guess what? I charged even more and not one peep.

Some times people just need to be put in their place.

Steve Richards

That same lady would probably go into a Lexus dealer and say "$60,000!...I could buy a 64' Rambler for $125.00...just don't seem right to me."

I say F-her. She was trying to make you feel guilty in hopes you'd give her some money back.

She's a cheapskate..just be glad you're done and gone.

If she ever calls you back...tell her you're too busy to even come over and look.[/my .02]