Dump Trailer Bed

gran_national

One of my best friends is the plant manager of a trailer manufacturer. He called me today and said someone was playing a joke on of their customers and started a fire in the bed of his trailer and it was still under warranty. Long story short, the paint is peeling and it needs blasted. It's 12' X 6' with 2' sides. It would need blasted inside and out. It's just the bed though, not the whole frame of the trailer. The warranty guy from the trailer mfg. is supposed to be sending me pictures. I'll post them as soon as I can. I'm thinking I can just use sand for this one and it'll be in the afternoon so I won't have to worry about it being 100 degrees I want to give him a good deal, but not do it for free. Once I get pics posted, I'd appreciate any input...or even before.

Sandblastdude

Why ever use just "sand"?
It is bad for you, it does not cut as well as other materials and requires a lot more media to get the job done. Like 4 times more abrasive is necessary when comparing Starblast to regular silica "sand".
Plus you are risking possible lawsuits, etc.
I'd suggest using another media such as coal slag or Starblast.

I'll wait for your pictures to post...

gran_national

Would this work? It's $7.99 a bag.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...g=true&cFlag=1

Sandblastdude

Yes.
But Tractor Supply is a bit expensive.
It would be fine though. Back Beauty, Coal Slag, Black Diamond, & Black Magnum are all pretty much the same.

Sizes 12/40 (Coarse), 20/40 (Medium) & 30/60 (Fine)

Relativly inexpensive abrasive that is cheap enough to just leave on the ground and not try to use more than once.

gran_national

Below is the picture of what I'll be blasting. The one I'm doing is fire damaged. They will seperate the bed for me and take off the accessories so that all I have to do is blast the inside floor, inside sides and outside sides of the bed. They do NOT want the underneath blasted. They'll also have it sitting up on sawhorses for me. I see it being much easier than the deck. Let me know what you think. Here are my thoughts:

$90 - Rent and refill diesel compressor (necessary evil until I get my own)
$90 - 10 bags (50lb each = 500lbs) of coal slag from Tractor Supply??
$10 - Gas in my truck for running around
$85 - Profit for 1.5 hours blasting
--------
$275




Remember, it's just the bed, not the whole trailer, and it's not the underneath of the bed. Just what's up in the air. If it was the underneath as well, I'd probably double the price.

MALCO.New.York

You are NOT. ARE NOT. ARE NOT. Making enough money to even consider this as a viable job.

$85.00 for 1.5 hours is low. Then there is the other four to five hours (or more) or "running around". That is billable time that you are not getting paid for.

1.5 hours of blasting plus at least 2-3 for set up/breakdown/clean up.

$10.00 in GAS???? How about $20.00-$40.00.(cost) Gas is something that is billed out at a profit.

You will actually lose money on this job.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
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joeslob

Your labour is low in my books. You may only be sandblasting for 1.5hrs, however there is still drive to rental (unless delivered), drive to site, set-up, blast, clean-up and drive home/rental store. Basically you're putting in an entire days work for $85 dollars in your pocket. I don't know too many people who would be happy with that.

Also remember, you're not doing this for your friend. You're doing this for the company your friend works for. It's not like he's paying you from his pocket. I say treat it like any other contract, do a good job and start a good BUSINESS relationship with the COMPANY.

gran_national

I guess I sound like a "rookie" when I say this, but he's a good friend and I want to hook him up so they give me some more work. Malco, what do you suggest as a price that I should charge? As far as running around, I see myself going from my house to TSC (2 miles ROUND TRIP) in one night. The day of blasting, going from my house to rental place (10 miles). Rental place to blast site (12 miles round trip). Rental place to home (10 mi). That's about 34miles round trip. My truck gets around 20mpg. That's about 1.5 gallons at $4/gal = 6$ in gas. I'm not arguing with you about it, I just thought $10 would cover me. I never thought to make money on gas.

It's funny you're telling me this because I remember reading over some of Killzone's first posts and what he thought he should charge and what everyone else thought he should charge was way off. He wasn't charging enough and I thought to myself...hmmm, I'll make sure to charge enough. Maybe I'm not. What do you think I should charge and why?

gran_national

joeslob, one of my other good friends is the president of the company...I know, I know, I'm not out to "hook up my buddies". I see where you're coming from. What do you think I should charge and why?

joeslob

I'm still trying to figure out quoting myself, but I've had good help from a couple friends who are in sales. All of them tell me to set up a spreadsheet and try to keep it as consistent as possible from job to job. You can always make adjustments, but it will make quoting quicker and easier in the future once you get used to it. Factor in wear and tear on equipment, misc supplies (duct tape, brushes, etc...).

My estimate would be...

$90 - materials
$50 - minimum charge for misc supplies and wear and tear
$50 - minimum mobilization
$120 - 3 hrs @ $40 per hour (which is probably low)
$310 - subtotal
$62 - 20% markup (which you could omit because of the relationship)

Then add the rental of the compressor. I was told it was unprofessional to mark-up a rental cost. Would you be able to get away with using plant air? Not sure if they'd have a compressor big enough, but it might be worth asking. Final quote would be $400 without markup or $462 with markup.

At the bottom of the spreadsheet will be the price of the quote with different mark-up percentages. This is where you choose which price, never change the hourly wage to determine a quote. That's when you will get yourself into trouble and end up losing $$ on a job. If it's a PITA job go with a higher markup, if it's a cake job that you're doing for a buddy (like this one) go with low or no markup.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what you charge. Somebody will say you're too high and another person will say you're too low. As long as both you and the customer are happy that's all that matters. There is no shame in doing lower priced jobs to get your name out there. Everyone has done it at one point in their career. You'll learn from every job and that is the most important thing.

Like I said, I am by no means a pro. I'm just starting into industrial blasting myself. But I will pass on what I know and if anyone has anything to add or change I am all ears.

wes schaff

I would and do charge $250 to $600 for every hour the compressor runs on a blast job your average should be $450 per hour less $50 abrasive and $10 fuel with $800 job minimum or stay home.Sand is fine just wear a respirator when blasting and cleaning up,the only one the silica will hurt is you or your helper.The beach and desert are full of sand!

mdshunk

Gran National... if you work that cheap, I've got some park benches and a building facade to talk to you about. Dead serious about that, because you're in my town. PM me.

MALCO.New.York

That is all the more reason to make BIG dollars here. Create a rapport that benefits the both of you!!!! Wink, Wink. Nudge, Nudge.

That is how "BUSINESS IS DONE". SERIOUSLY!!!!

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

gran_national

Well, I responded and told him I'd do it for $400. We'll see how it goes. It's in the back of my head that they'll think I'm nuts, but I have to listen to you guys with all of the experience. I read over the posts and you guys brought up some good points, there would be more running around involved than I thought about. Thanks for the input.

MALCO.New.York

The moment you received a request for services is the moment that billable hours began!!!!

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Greg Di

I just spent $85 reading through this thread....

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gran_national

I got the job for $400!

joeslob

Congrats man! Now just for sh!ts and giggles, show up with a palm sander and ask where you can plug in!

As far as not leaving the house unless it's a job above $800...i don't see how that is going to work for a guy who is trying to get started in the business (like myself). I don't see the harm in doing a job like this one for $200~ profit and making a good impression on the company. Next time they call there might be 3 or 4 trailers waiting to be blasted. Not everyone is running 3 ton pots, 800 CFM compressors and blasting bridges all day. You have to start somewhere and from what I've seen, there's money to be made doing smaller jobs like this. Also a lot less paperwork/headaches to deal with.

killzoneq2

Congrads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was going to say 400. I find that when I do small jobs like this I charge by the job. Larger jobs I charge by the hour. It just seems to work out that way. I lost money when I started out being foolish just trying to get my name out there. I found out that when you are the only guy in town mobile blasting you can afford to loose a job because the guy is to cheap to pay the going rate.


Silica sand or Coal Slag?? Its your choice do you want black lung or silicosis? IMO they are both equally dangerous. Ill leave it at that. Just make sure that you are hooked up to your fresh air system, point and blast. Check local and state laws on Silica.

blastserv

i also agree what killzone said...use what you want but before you know it you will justify it being o.k. for all jobs.i think you wll find that sand is not cool with the city you live in.

i also agree that small jobs are a good source of money makers to start up.i think the 400 dollar quote is very spot on and you will make good money because it will take you 30 min to blast that inside bed and when your done you will think"i really like this career path".

i just cold called a bunch of business's around my shop and pulled a lead on a guy that had two things for me to look at
1st was he had a 1935 city of new yorlk lamp post in his front yard and wanted it blasted to repaint
2nd was a big pile of what looked like 70 camaro parts(support brackets and front end parts no sheet metal except for the cowl and lower valance)

i drove to his house and looked at his lamp pole it was 12 or 13 feet high and it was in the middle of a typical golden girls front yard.it was definatley going to have to be cleaned up when i was done.the pole was cemented down also there was no taking it down and bringing it with me.not too ornate pretty simple and just paint flaking off with a little rust.

i got back to his shop and looked at his pile of parts and quoted him cheep to do the parts 250.00 and 400.00 to do the lamp pole.he quickly told me he wanted to hold off on the pole but wanted the parts done right away.i explained that the pole although simple and one peice compared to about 25 it was gonna take more time because i really wanted him to be happy with the cleanliness of the job when i was done.

in the end the customer wont really understand the qoute unless they really want the job done and then they really will not care if it is a little high or not.this guy could care less about the lamp pole but really wants his car done so if i was to reverse the prices he would have still had me do the car parts for 400.00 but still would have had said it was too much at 250 for the lamp pole.

keep this in mind when you qoute.the customer needs to be happy with the work and you need to be happy whats in your front pocket when you or he leaves...

todd