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Staining 1,212' of 6' High Wood Fence. How Much?

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itsnevereasy

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
In the zip code 86046 I need to stain both sides of 1,212 linear feet of 6' high wood fence at 9 different properties, the owner wants a "linear foot" price but everybody I talk to says charge by the "square foot". The average price per linear foot is $3.25 to $5.75, me being a nice guy I figure I'll charge $4.50 a linear foot which is $5,454. Not sure what the average square foot price is?

BUT! I'm staining both sides so should it be 2,424 linear feet x $4.50 which is $10,908. That seems awful high to me or am I calculating this all wrong? I'm about ready to pull out my last few remaining hairs so anyone who has experience in pricing by the linear foot or square foot please share your knowledge. Thanks.
 
#11 ·
itsnevereasy said:
. Not sure what the average square foot price is?

BUT! I'm staining both sides so should it be 2,424 linear feet x $4.50 which is $10,908. That seems awful high to me or am I calculating this all wrong? I'm about ready to pull out my last few remaining hairs so anyone who has experience in pricing by the linear foot or square foot please share your knowledge. Thanks.
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Who gives a cr@p what the “average square foot“ price is, what is important is what your price is, others have said how to figure that.

once you have a price figured out break it down to square feet or linear feet or whatever they want.

It cost twice as much to paint two sides of a fence vs one side of a fence, that should be straight forward enough.

For fence painting you need to be thinking all about efficiency, I have seen guys with paint sloshing in wheel barrows, sprayers in truck beds etc etc.
 
#12 ·
The reason he wants a foot price is to have a means of shopping it for a better number. And if he doesn't know the total footage yet, I wouldn't write it on the bid.
Let the next guy do his own measuring.

Btw, you should do your own measuring, too. Don't trust what they say in casual conversation.
 
#13 ·
itsnevereasy said:
In the zip code 86046 I need to stain both sides of 1,212 linear feet of 6' high wood fence at 9 different properties, the owner wants a "linear foot" price but everybody I talk to says charge by the "square foot". The average price per linear foot is $3.25 to $5.75, me being a nice guy I figure I'll charge $4.50 a linear foot which is $5,454. Not sure what the average square foot price is?

BUT! I'm staining both sides so should it be 2,424 linear feet x $4.50 which is $10,908. That seems awful high to me or am I calculating this all wrong? I'm about ready to pull out my last few remaining hairs so anyone who has experience in pricing by the linear foot or square foot please share your knowledge. Thanks.
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Obviously you don't have a clue I recommend passing on the job.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
MarkJames said:
Just to picture this...does each property have 1212 linear, or is it 9 properties with a little bit of fencing? All clean and ready?
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Each of the 9 properties has a little over 100 linear feet, one property has 136', one has 202', one has 140' and so on. The average price per linear for is $4.75 to $14.25 so I ended up charging him $9 per linear foot, for 202' it comes to $1,818 for one side but instead of doubling the price to stain the back side of the fence I charged him $1,818 for both sides, I thought he would appreciate that.

Well, he didn't appreciate that price, he is a house flipper, I think he flipped 23 houses last year plus he has a bunch of Airbnbs so he wants everything dirt cheap but I don't work because it's fun, I work to pay my bill and I'm not working for free so I basically bid myself out of a job! The thing is he paid for materials plus let us stay in one of his Airbnbs for 3 days so I think he was expecting to pay something like $500 for staining 202' of fence, not sure but the old saying "The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get "Poorer" definitely applies to this situation.
 
#16 ·
itsnevereasy said:
Each of the 9 properties has a little over 100 linear feet, one property has 136', one has 202', one has 140' and so on. The average price per linear for is $4.75 to $14.25 so I ended up charging him $9 per linear foot, for 202' it comes to $1,818 for one side but instead of doubling the price to stain the back side of the fence I charged him $1,818 for both sides, I thought he would appreciate that.

Well, he didn't appreciate that price, he is a house flipper, I think he flipped 23 houses last year plus he has a bunch of Airbnbs so he wants everything dirt cheap but I don't work because it's fun, I work to pay my bill and I'm not working for free so I basically bid myself out of a job! The thing is he paid for materials plus let us stay in one of his Airbnbs for 3 days so I think he was expecting to pay something like $500 for staining 202' of fence, not sure but the old saying "The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get "Poorer" definitely applies to this situation.
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Should have mentioned he was a flipper from the start. Don't allow the rich to get rich at your expense. We have the power to make a living on our terms not someone else's. You didn't bid yourself out of a job you will just starve not working rather than starve while working.
 
#18 ·
itsnevereasy said:
Well, he didn't appreciate that price, he is a house flipper, I think he flipped 23 houses last year plus he has a bunch of Airbnbs so he wants everything dirt cheap but I don't work because it's fun, I work to pay my bill and I'm not working for free so I basically bid myself out of a job! The thing is he paid for materials plus let us stay in one of his Airbnbs for 3 days so I think he was expecting to pay something like $500 for staining 202' of fence, not sure but the old saying "The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get "Poorer" definitely applies to this situation.
Click to expand...
Avoid flippers and Airbnb owners like the plague unless you can get your price and deal with the inevitable whining about it. They want to pay unlicensed handyman prices most of the time and DGAF about what your expenses (licensing, insurance, comp, and all the other stuff the fly by nights don't have) are. There are some exceptions, but major red flag if they call themselves investors in my experience.

I worked for flippers and an Airbnb manager for most of the first year I had my license while I built other contacts, it didn't make me much money and I ended up having to take the manager to small claims over a bunch of service call invoices, but I used it to hand out my card in the nicer neighborhoods I was in.

Just 2¢ from a recovering bottom feeder. I wish you luck in your business, get out there and get after it!
 
#19 ·
Focus on your intended target customers, sure you may have to take on less desirable jobs when you get hungry but don’t let them dictate your price.
Know your prices and don’t be ashamed of them, it costs what it costs.

you can’t loose money on a job you didn’t get. Read that on here years ago, I love that.
 
#20 ·
You could tell him you will give him a flippers job for a flippers price.

Get a big backpack sprayer, fill it with reddi-stain, walk along the fence, spray and walk away.

No pressure washing, no cleaning, no repairs, no wiping drips, just wet and go.

I could probably do the 404 feet of fence in an hour.

And it would look like it took an hour.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 
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