Author Topic: Painitng costs  (Read 8080 times)

Brian Smith

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Painitng costs
« on: June 20, 2005, 12:49:19 AM »
Can somebody give me avg. LABOR costs or a link to same for exterior and or interior painting on 100 ft sq. basis? Thanks.

the PAINTSMITH

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Re:Painitng costs
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2005, 05:39:07 PM »
Brian, if you give this some thought you'll realize that there's only a few dozen answers, each variable by region.

Sq. footage costs vary depending on a lot of things including condition of substrate, materials to be applied, whether the contractor is doing the work himself or has a hired crew, and not the least, just how competitive the price needs to be. On some jobs I'm the only contractor called, on others (like commercial or civic work listed publicly) there can be untold numbers of competitors vying for the job.

I simply apply my proposals to the bottom line. I can take a job and lose money (it gets complicated), everybody does occasionally, but if my numbers come too close to the razor's edge just to be competitive, I'm bidding the wrong jobs...Some guys can afford higher job costs than others...

One idea is HomeTech, estimating and contractor accounting software that is designed with different states and regions. They've researched the average linear and sq. foot prices for specific areas of the country. It's more of a general contractor-style of software but has painting figures for both new construction and remodels. I use it occasionally as a guideline, but the numbers change per job...

Offline rmichael

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Re:Painitng costs
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2005, 06:21:52 PM »
Nice post paintsmith. We all have bid jobs that wound up taking the seat of our pants.  ???
Brian,
Time and Material might be the best way to go, at least until you learn the ropes. Sq. Ft. bids can burn you if you are just starting out. Set a "per man hour" cost for labor and give your customer and estimated completion cost. Rate X Estimated man hours for completion plus materials costs. Oh Yeah...Put it in writing!!

rmichael  pro painter
Pro Painter 30 years ~ Down East Coastal NC

"Hell Son, It's always been about the work."

the PAINTSMITH

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Re:Painitng costs
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2005, 07:05:26 PM »
...Hmmm, and another note (learned this the hard way)--Don't forget the overhead[/b]. I generally add 15-20% of the total proposal to the bid to cover the expenses--otherwise you're eating into your own business. There are a LOT of costs-of-doing-business involved, and if you don't charge for overhead (office costs, phone, gas, maintenance, etc.), you may very likely become disenchanted with the painting business (or any other) very quickly.

Jason

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Re:Painitng costs
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2005, 11:30:25 AM »
I have a question, I'm just starting in the business myself and was wondering if you charge by Time and Material what is a typical competitive hourly rate I could charge my customers?? :-\