Too Much Math!! What Would You Do?

outsidethelines

Has anyone else ever come across this dilemma:

I am working on a bid where the HO is choosing between Aura and Regal. She wants to see cost for both and also wants the amounts broken down per room.

Let’s say for example sake that I am charging $200.00 for labor and the Regal paint is $50.00 and the Aura is $60.00 (not real prices obviously). And then let’s say my P&O is 50%. Using the following usual formula:

Labor + materials divided by P&O = bid price

Regal: $200.00 + $50.00 / .5 = $500.00
Aura: $200.00 + $60.00 / .5 = $520.00 ß

This little discrepancy is not so obvious here, but once it adds up for many gallons of paint, it becomes an issue of over-charging. So, would you just go ahead and tack onto the $500.00 the extra cost to YOU of the next brand up, i.e. in this case $10.00? Usually, the client is not aware how the calculations affect the final cost. In this case she has it all right in front of her.
More importantly, how can I avoid this happening in the future? What would you say to the client to dissuade them from asking for a break down? This was too much work and a real headache. I had to break it down into like 5 different categories and then about 3 different subcategories. I’m asking myself now which one of us needs their head examined?
Also, do you use your paint store contractor discount when calculating your bids or do you use the retail price?

Mike(VA)

This little discrepancy is not so obvious here, but once it adds up for many gallons of paint, it becomes an issue of over-charging

How does it become an issue of overcharging? She wants a more expensive paint, she pays more. Simple. Your OH&P is attached to your costs. What if the paint were $100 a gallon? Are you going to only add $250 to you costs, just like the Regal?

I don't see that is unreasonable for her to ask for the breakdown for rooms and paint. I bet she wants to see how far she can go on her budget, and is just comparing costs of one paint over another. With all your subcategories, is it possible you overcomplicated things?

Room 1: Regal, $500, Aura, $520
Room 2: Regal, $475, Aura, $495
etc

I'm not giving them a breakdown for labor and materials. That's a death blow for your estimate.

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I EXPECT THAT SOMEDAY I WILL SEE THE FRUITS OF MY LABOR. IS IT SOMEDAY YET?
Clifton, Great Falls, McLean, Fairfax Station, Manassas, Virginia Renovation Contractor

NAV

when i owned a residential painting company i would break down the materials separate giving a not to exceed price and would use the price on the shelf plus tax - not what i was paying. I would want the HO to use the more expencive materials because it made my job easier - SuperPaint covers better than ProMar.

your material price reads:

1) not to exceed 10 to 12 gallons @ $60 per gallon

or

2) materials $500 - $720

#2 using the cheaper material at the lower number of gallons vs the more expensive material at the higher number of gallons. You just have to explain that paint covers between 175 to 250 square feet per gallon so if they want a hard number on material it will be the higher number.

EricTheHandyman

Exactly--you are not a labor monkey, you are a pro (right?). When I am asked to break down labor vs material, I explain to the client that I am here to solve this problem for this much money. I'm not quite that blunt with it, but you get the idea.

Also make sure to tell them that the price may be higher if they choose to do one room at a time due to the extra costs involved in setting up equipment over and over again.

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outsidethelines

Yes, you are right about that. I forgot to tell her that too. Fortunately, she called me today to say she has decided to accept the entire bid. Yep

THINKPAINTING

First off we markup all our material, 15-25% just like any other real business. You picking up paint at paint store, handling the product getting the product to the job etc etc....time is money that is unless you work for free allot of painters do work for free thats why they are out of business in less than 3-5 yrs..............

Even if the paint is dropped shipped to the job or delivered it gets marked up............

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