Author Topic: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs  (Read 181238 times)

Offline tallpaul

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Re: bidding interior paint jobs
« Reply #30 on: July 31, 2007, 08:36:48 PM »
Right on Michael I believe some of these guys are under valuing their skills.

(Thanks for including us ladies that are pro. painters.)

Lynjo


I absolutely agree with this statement!!

readaboutjc, I wasn't referring to that particular job. I understand helping people out. I recently did a job for an ederly lady and ended up making less than I have ever made per hour since I have been on my own. I've also done a number a jobs for little or no money. I was commenting about painting a 10 x 10 room 2 coats, walls and trim for $100. You sound like you are well experienced and I'm sure you do a great job. I would assume you are an honest & trustworthy man. I don't know where you live but you should be able to get way more than that.
I know we all do things differently and no one's way of estimating will work for everyone else. I just believe that if you have a lot of experience in a specialized trade you should be charging accordingly. I have recently started realizing that with my 16+ years experience (plus a business degree) that I am worth as much as people are willing to pay. And that figure has been going up dramatically in the past few years. And with those prices I have still been getting jobs, in fact July was my best month EVER!!!!!! Don't sell your self short!
I'm also glad you drummed up this old post b/c I think I am going to start figuring up what my prices are per sq/ft and maybe streamlining my estimates a little.

Offline readboutjc

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Re: bidding interior paint jobs
« Reply #31 on: August 01, 2007, 09:24:52 AM »
thanks for the input.  i believe i will raise my prices.  right now my customers are mostly very
wealthy and they're friends.  my wife and i owned a coffee shop at one time and i am trying to
reestablish connections with my old regular customers.  the intent is to create a network of
clientele that will keep my busy and won't haggle over money.  i figure if someone questions
how much i charge, then they will question everything.  i am not sure what locals charge for
the work they do here in the roxboro/durham north carolina area.

Offline MacPaint

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #32 on: February 16, 2008, 10:17:59 AM »
I just bid a new construction, commercial job for $.75 per sq. plus stock.

I can spray the ceilings, (some will not be sprayed as they are drop paneled) and the base will be vinyl cove. The building has no finished floors, furniture or fixtures at all.

I used .40 for the initial priming and .35 for finish, which goes on quicker.

I figure jobs this way, then go back and figure time + materials=total.

Although this somewhat doubles my quoting process time, if the numbers mesh, I normally feel good about the estimate.

In this case, I figured 2 days on ceilings, then 3.5 days on priming and 3.5 days finish. I always add a full day for t/u and clean-up.
10 days (7-hour days) @$30= $2,100.00 plus paints & primers.

This method worked well -- my sq. ft. price was identical.
 :o

BTW: I am currently out of work and have been for a few weeks. My town had a building boom from 2002-2006 and then the bottom fell out. So, the economy is tanked here.
I could travel into DC/Arlington/Alexandria and make great $$, but this job is 15-minutes away.
A few Gs will get me out of the hole I'm in!
« Last Edit: February 16, 2008, 10:22:23 AM by MacPaint »
The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.
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Offline Marion

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #33 on: February 23, 2008, 05:18:56 PM »
Mac,

That's bit low.  But considering your local economy, I understand.  Best of luck man!
Best,<br />Marion

Offline jmda

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #34 on: March 17, 2008, 11:01:49 AM »
I love this topic.  New to the site.  I started my company with a friend almost a year ago, and learned a lot about bidding through trial and error.  We lost a few bids by being almost double the competitors price on a couple jobs.  We got a lot better, but would usually walk in or around (if exterior) mentally measure the walls and judge how long to paint and how much paint then come up with a number.

That has changed now that I partnered with someone that has been in business 15 years.  We measure walls (using a laser measurement tool - impresses clients) and then using a dollar figure per coat on square footage and a dollar figure on linear foot of trim.  Openings get a fixed amount.  The numbers are not important because they work in Louisville, KY, but would be way low in say Chicago or maybe high in some other markets.  IMO it is still an art rather than a science - the measurements help, but every job is different.

Offline VancouverPainter

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #35 on: May 06, 2008, 07:45:30 PM »
On simple residential homes I figure out how many hours it will take to do each task and than multiply that by our hourly rate. Than add in materials and sales tax.  This is a very basic formula but the funny thing is I can cross reference my figures against other formula's and end up at nearly the same prices.

the PAINTSMITH

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #36 on: May 10, 2008, 06:27:53 AM »
On simple residential homes I figure out how many hours it will take to do each task and than multiply that by our hourly rate. Than add in materials and sales tax.  This is a very basic formula but the funny thing is I can cross reference my figures against other formula's and end up at nearly the same prices.

I use this method for prep phases and setup/teardown labor, but still use a price per square to estimate application.

Offline Frankie

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #37 on: May 21, 2008, 02:54:12 PM »
On simple residential homes I figure out how many hours it will take to do each task and than multiply that by our hourly rate. Than add in materials and sales tax.  This is a very basic formula but the funny thing is I can cross reference my figures against other formula's and end up at nearly the same prices.

I use this method for prep phases and setup/teardown labor, but still use a price per square to estimate application.
that's exactly what I do...Painting is incredibly hard to estimate. nothing is cut and dry like so many think .I usually do smaller jobs so it's kind of easy to figure out how long it's going to take me, and how much meterial I am going to need. sometimes I will have allot of the stuff already like caulk/plastic film/ceiling paint/tape & paper/dura-bond/ect. and I will forget to add for that and end up losing some money due to that...
 always make sure you add your inventory to the price. this stuff is costing more and more every day! man have you seen what places are asking for a roll of plastic!....Man!
« Last Edit: May 21, 2008, 02:55:58 PM by Frankie »

Offline Dmax Consulting

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #38 on: October 06, 2008, 08:13:52 PM »
You can go work part-time for a paint contractor and they will teach you how to estimate.  Once you learn, take the knowledge and do you own thing.  After you get the idea of how much paint something requires and how much time it will take to paint it, you will get a good idea of how to change stuff as needed.

the PAINTSMITH

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #39 on: October 09, 2008, 05:32:25 AM »
You can go work part-time for a paint contractor and they will teach you how to estimate. 

I've worked with and for a number of contractors. No two did their estimating the same. It is a severely confusing and scary process at first, some guys nitpicking every square inch of detail and coming up shorting themselves, some eyeballing the job for fifteen minutes and making out like bandidts. I've also seen the reverse.

But it is rare when a contractor will invite an employee, especially a PT, in to watch his method. Many have no intention of teaching the guy who may well cut his throat on a number of jobs down the line how to wield the knife...


Offline thebrushand

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #40 on: November 07, 2008, 02:34:53 PM »
I used to work as a building estimator working from plans (and site visits occasionally). It taught me how to break every job down to its constituent parts in terms of time and materials. It is actually very hard to be that honest!

By that I mean we all want to be faster than we actually are and skip over seemingly unimportant steps like setting up your paint kit, cleaning up etc, and just dream up "a day" or "4 hours" or whatever sounds good. Also, it is a pain to work out how much sandpaper you use, filler, caulk etc per sf or square metre, but if you want to make money, which is afterall the only reason for being a professional painter, you need to list exactly everything involved in a job and put a realistic labour and material rate against it. Better to estimate than guesstimate.


Offline Jake

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #41 on: November 07, 2008, 03:51:54 PM »
Better to estimate than guesstimate.

You give good advice.

Problem is there's always "this and that" that comes up sometimes (usualy) on a job.

For instance, the job we just finished today ended up costing us way more in materials than we had originaly anticipated in our bid. The clients were changing their minds, wanting to try different things, had us helping them do stuff, etc...

Luckily for us they were super appreciative and realized how much ass we kicked above and beyond for them.

The $500.00 tip they gave us went a long ways towards making up the balance.

They were cool though and so we didn't mind. Although on a lot of jobs before, I've had to tell them (clients) that we were there to paint... Not to do other stuff.

The moral of the story...

Be flex-able.
The only thing that separates Paint from Pain... Is a t.

Offline canadianpainter

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #42 on: November 27, 2008, 10:24:31 PM »
I price jobs as high as I think the customer is willing to pay.  Unfortunately, there's no set formula for figuring that out. lol 


Offline ronkuk

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #43 on: March 11, 2009, 09:14:15 PM »
hi from wisconsin .i need  some help with a bid . i recently looked at a motel/hotel that the owner wants me to recolor the hallways only .the walls are orange peel and in great condition .the walls will need two coats of eggshell, brush and roller . the floors are carpeted with a 4 "base cove on the wall . the doors and door jambs are not getting touched . .the hallways have the typical exit signage, room numbers glued to the walls, [ they cannot be removed ] and wall mounted light fuxtures that can get cut around . i have a helper to assist . the total of the three floors is 24,576 square feet , excluding the doors .the ceiling is suspended tile with a 8ft height.also i would like to know a rough sq .ft. dollar figure for the midwest if anyone can help . i am a small independent two man show , any help will be greatly appreciated. thank you very much for your time and thoughts ....ron            ps . he will furnish the material .

Offline jwzumwalt

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Re: Bidding Interior Paint Jobs
« Reply #44 on: May 12, 2009, 01:15:25 PM »
Seattle Area

Interior
It should always be remembered that local areas may have customs or habits that drastically effect a jobs outcome. I try to bid my first job with a customer at about cost + 25%. The quality speaks for itself. Word of mouth & referrals account for over half my work so the initial impression is necessary for the area I live.

The second job with the same customer is usually cost + 50%. After that I am usually able to use what ever the market will bare; which for me is about cost + 100-125%. Even if another bids matches or slightly beats my bid, the customer will almost always still go with me.

As a rule of thumb,  I use $250 for walls, and $200 for a ceiling; up to about a 15x15 room. Halls and bathrooms are smaller but require more cutting, so the rule still applies (ceiling perhaps $100). If the house is new remodel/construction or empty, a 25% lower adjustment is average. However, new remodel/construction may require one or more primer coats or other factors.

Exterior
As a rule of thumb multiply the living area sq/ft by $1.75. Don't forget to adjust car ports or garages which are not normally part of the square footage given by the realtor. So a ranch 1500sq/ft home would be about $2500.00. If it had a porch or several dormers, etc... It would come in at $3000. As the premium summer months (June -July) come, I find I am still competitive at about  $1.90. A 2300sq/ft two story with garage (few bushes, flat ground, little over spray exposure) would be about $4000.00 :-)

If a job is further than 5 miles from my shop, I add $150 for gas & time. What I consider a "perfect" job is were the material is about 40% the crew gets 25% and I (owner) get 35%. Perhaps 1/4 of my jobs meet ideal criteria.

I believe my prices are about right when I loose about 1 out of 4-5 bids!
« Last Edit: May 12, 2009, 02:33:20 PM by jwzumwalt »
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Thanks - JZ

 

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