Your Billable Hourly Rate

mahlere

nah...i'm full of **** about the house with trim and the painters

but Celtic posted a $700k house in your neck of the woods...far from a mansion...nothing wrong with that, but can your employees ever hope to buy half of that house?

and I'd bet you didn't buy that house on the money left over from your 4 painters...my original post wasn't even to bash you...it was to ask how you could afford to live in that area on those rates...you still haven't answered that question...

vandyandsons

dude...truce,

i think you have me confused with another guy

i am in Chicago and not NJ....thank God

is said $45 not $25,

at that rate, I can pay a guy $20/hr and take care of most of his health benes. after insurances and some shop costs, that leaves me $10 per hr, per guy, plus what I make...not a bad haul

no, they can't buy an expensive house on their income alone but 20/hr + benefits is a lot better than what the avg non-union guy gets in this area which is $14/ hr and no benefits. i sleep OK.

if they want a better package they can join the Union. that is the only way to go if you are going to work for someone else anyway.

anyway, i am not the guy charging $25/hr. that guy lives in his moms basement in NJ.

mahlere

oops...my bad...Happy New Year

vandyandsons

God bless you and yours in 09

Wolfgang

Sheesh....next some of you will be laying your D**ks on the table to see who has the biggest.

Have a Happy, Safe, and Profitable New Year everyone...(even my fellow painters!)

Frankawitz

I live outside of Detroit in the suburbs and all I charge for painting is $25.00 an hour plus materials and travel. and for plaster repairs I charge $45.00 an hour and materials and travel. I have to compete with all the laid off auto workers who all become paint contractors when the plants close down. These next few years your going to see prices come down, look at what Congress and the Senate are trying to do to the UAW as for wages. and let me tell you a painters job aint that hard to do.
The thing that gets me is the economy is in a place because people lived over and above their means. So I would says theres going to be adjustments coming.


www.frankawitz.net

cutnut

And he complains constantly on every bb about how the paint industry has been whored out.

TBFGhost

?!?!! Can you tell us more about your company? I am curious as to what you do and you experiance levels and what not...

I just started my LLC and I am more or less a 3rd year Carpenter's apprentice and the majority of my business is being a Punch List Carpenter for one GC I work for....I will admit I am walking a fine line of Employee with him, but I do have contracts, my own tools, my own insurance and buy my own material...I bill him hourly at $30 (or at least that I was I am currently working out with him). I am also working on hooking up with another GC in the area. I bill what I feel my experiance is worth...as I get more I will be charging more. However, I also work on the side and I bill hourly anywhere from $18-(Friend) to $45. Altho I am not undertaking anything large...Most of my side jobs take a day or two and range from replacing a small set of entrence stairs, to triming out the second story of a new home(friend...@ $18/hr)




As I sit right now, I am just a guy with a truck and tools. But this is the plan stan....

"Try this:
Place a different ad that grabs attention.
Wear shirts with a logo on them.
Wash the truck.
Call every one back that calls you.

All small low ticket items that will set you apart from the "man with a van" painting.

Up your prices a small percentage for 1st qtr. of '09.

See what happens.
The worst that happens is you wind up with some new shirts and you drop your prices back to what they were."

I have been spending the past few days re-formatting my contracts, change orders, and completion agreements etc. to all be based off the same format so when you place them side by side they look very professional, easy to read/fill out and it looks like they belong with each other, as in, one is just an extention of the other. My truck had a sqeeking belt...not horriable, but none the less making noise...went out and fixed that even though it was 18 degrees...I HATE pulling up to a house when my truck is making a noise it should not be...first impressions....

EDIT: FYI, I am from Clinton, NJ in Hunterdon County. I just worked up by you, ripped out moldy sheet rock and framing in a 'Curves' for some mold "specialist" to come in and do this thing.

Damon T

a business consultant once told me you need to charge at least double your employees wages just to meet overhead, 2-1/2 times would give you some profit, and 3 times is doing good. While that's just a snapshot, and you should actually go through your true overhead expenses for a year etc. to see how your own business adds up, I've found it to be pretty true over the years. BTW I try to charge at least 3 times my top guys wage, at least on T&M. Bid jobs seem to come in around 2.5 plus or minus.
Happy New years y'all.

TBFGhost

DELETED, for my own moral reasons...

DVWayne

I propose by day, break it into hours, $50-$65. I charge by the job though. We are business owners, not hourly workers. No offense to those that do it. I just think that if I charged by the hour my clients would be wondering why I am taking lunch and bathroom breaks. I like to be on a set schedule - but it has to be my own.

world llc

[QUOTE=TBFGhost;569208]?!?!! Can you tell us more about your company? I am curious as to what you do and you experiance levels and what not...


i have it posted in a few spots on this thread (i know this thread has gotten out of hand) my company started as me painting alone 7 years ago and has grown to all phases of general contracting (alot of it sub work)

the thing with the variation in price depends on the client... there is a friend and family rate as well as people who just cannot afford the work but need it for various reasons... i have even written off a hand full of jobs as losses for a couple of clients for personal reasons (they are old and have nothing) and through all that i have gained invaluable referrals to which i have bid large jobs and profited well. we rarely do t&m, our work is almost always a bid out of a formula for whatever the job requires (simple new construction 3 color 2 sheen $2.50 to $3.25 /sf or paint grade raised panel wainscot $72/lin. ft or drop ceiling $5 to $8.50/sf etc.)

in house we do all finish trades: paint, trim (our specialty), tile, rock, drop ceilings, and i got the sub for any other need

i sure someone has something negative to say, but that's a bit about us.

base

Some here are business owners and some are not.
Some work by the hour and some do not.
Some make 25 an hour and some make 125 an hour.
Some can pay the bills with 25 an hour and some can not.
Some can sell a 125 an hour job to a 25 an hour client and some can not.
Some have overhead and some do not.
Some have employees and some do not.
Some have a 5 year plan and some do not.

**Some here know what a business is and some do not.


Guess the point is everyone is different.

hoya

1 fish
2 fish
red fish
blue fish

TBFGhost

[quote=world llc;569573]
Sounds like you are in similar "trades" as myself, however, I don't really do much painting. I try to get away with just priming my work and letting someone else come in after. Alot of times, if it is residential work, the homeowner ends up painting. I only prefer to prime b/c it allows me to go over all my work one last time before I call that job complete.

BryanG

Charlotte N.C.
I bill $35 hr./per man

Handymanservice

If I read this right, you started your own business, right? How can you have "side Jobs?"
If you own a business, you don't do side jobs, you just do jobs.

I charge $69.99/hr, minimum 2 hours. 1 hour from San Jose, San Francisco or Sarcramento.

__________________
"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

BryanG

I'm a painting contractor.I've got 18 years painting experience! I use to be a superintendant for the third biggest contractor in the country! I got tired of the travel and the hours and wanted to spend more time with my family! So I started my own little residential paint company! I will say that being self employed does give me alot more free time(to go fishing)!!

perfect

WHAT TYPE OF PAINT DOES A REAL PAINTER USE?

loneframer

I've spent 90% of my career working on homes along the coast that short of me hitting the lottery, I'll never have a chance to own. Lucky for me I spent most of my waking/working hours living Beachfront or close to it. Most of the people that own these homes rarely get to spend much time there.

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"Walking the fine line between production and perfection"



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