estimating on percentage

[formula1]

has anyone ever heard of electrical being 10% of project total i work in an area where 90% of the work is high end second homes this economy is making me crazy with the damn low bidders doing work for nothing stay home or

[StreamlineGT]

has anyone ever heard of electrical being 10% of project total i work in an area where 90% of the work is high end second homes this economy is making me crazy with the damn low bidders doing work for nothing stay home or

I have heard that, but it's not always the case. I am doing a house right now that will be $615,000, but I am no where near $61,500 in electrical. Even with me supplying the entire lighting package, I am only around $40k. The price for this house has a lot to do with all the mill work, so doesn't effect me all that much. Each house should be given individual attention if you plan on being competitive. I realize there are plenty of people doing work right now for peanuts. People eventually realize that the work will be not to their liking, and stick with the reputable contractors. It's all a phase, and if you can make it through it, you can make it through almost anything. Keep your chin up.

[formula1]

i guess survival of the fitest

[AVD001]

In my area, the norm would be around 3% of the overall job goes to electrical. I too work in the high end custom homes 1M to 2.5M. I do not supply any of the fixtures so that my affect the overall percentage.

[hardworkingstiff]

i guess survival of the fitest

Or, ........ smartest? :smile:

[marcerrin]

In my area, the norm would be around 3% of the overall job goes to electrical. I too work in the high end custom homes 1M to 2.5M. I do not supply any of the fixtures so that my affect the overall percentage.

I agree. This is the number that I've heard, floated by more than one contractor in my area.

[ishium 80439]

This is an interesting question. Obviously it will vary from job to job and especially type of construction but I have often wondered what the break down is between trades. By definition there must be an "average", not one that I would generate estimates from but something for reference. Are there any cost books out there that will breakdown plumbing, electrical, HVAC, concrete, steel, carpentry etc etc as percentage of job cost for different types of construction- custom homes, tract homes, TI's, ground up commercial, remodels and so forth?

[CopperTone]

back 6-7 years ago when I worked for an EC - we did electrical jobs in the 2-3 mil range and my boss used to say - in general figure about 10% of the job is electrical.

But, I think you can only arrive at that percentage after you do a complete take off and find the percentage that way.

I have found in the past 2 years the electrical jobs we have been bidding has been running 4-8% of total job cost. Some of course run much higher depending on the scope of work but for a complete remodel with all trades I've seen the 4-8%. I also think this is a low pricing current market. when time are betting you will probably see the 10% average again.

Just my opinion.

[ishium 80439]

I've seen the 4-8%. I also think this is a low pricing current market. when time are betting you will probably see the 10% average again.

Just my opinion.

I'm not sure I follow that. If everyone is pricing low wouldn't the percentages stay the same with the actual numbers being lower? Do you feel it is just EC's that are lowering their prices? The relation in prices between trades should remain fairly steady as a percentage regardless of what the numbers are.

[CopperTone]

I do think that EC's have lowered their prices more than other trades - just my opinion though. Be careful what you read on the internet.

[electricguy61]

I do middle to high end remodels and additions, and 10% of overall cost of the project has been pretty consistent. That doesn't cover fixtures but does include under cabinet lights and recessed lighting.

I don't bid it that way, but that's how it's worked out.

[RonPecinaJr]

3%, 4-8%, 10%, what are those numbers based on?

The actual selling price of the home?

Or the cost to actually build the home?

[electricguy61]

3%, 4-8%, 10%, what are those numbers based on?

The actual selling price of the home?

Or the cost to actually build the home?

The amount charged to the customer for the remodel/addition.

For example: on a $100K addition, $10K would be electrical

Again, not the way I bid it, but if a general contractor is trying to put together a quick WAG for a customer, it will work.

[active1]

It's been some time but I believe I was about 10% of construction costs. Mabe a bit higher on some remodels.

[hardworkingstiff]

I fail to understand how the electrical work can be a given % of the cost to build a building due to the following:

Copper cost can go up while other building materials may actually go down (EC gets the shaft).

Fancy stuff that does not require electrical work could significantly increase the cost of the building, why is the EC entitled to a share of that?

I'm sure there are more.

[electricguy61]

Easy:

The overall job cost is $450,0000 (the cost the general charges the customer)

The electrical portion (what the EC charges the GC is $46,000)

That's roughly 10%.

I certainly don't bid this way, but just this morning, a GC called me about a 6 unit condo complex. He was trying to see if he could do the job for $100 per ft.

My extremely rough estimate helps him to see if the job can reasonably be done without either of us investing too much time in a job that either can be done or can't possibly come to fruition. If it's feasible, we'll get down to a real estimate.

[ohm]

has anyone ever heard of electrical being 10% of project total i work in an area where 90% of the work is high end second homes this economy is making me crazy with the damn low bidders doing work for nothing stay home or

I used to work for a large design/build company. When we had to do an estimate we labored long and hard to come up with a number but the piping design leader was pretty laid back.

After many years he developed a program where he could input, among other things, numbers from the other disciplines during the meeting, into his laptop and come real close to what his estimate should be.

[ceb58]

When my oldest son built him house I gave the contractor a normal price for the elect. so they could come up with a total for the bank. After every thing was settled the bank gave him a draw sheet with what % amount he could draw on each task. The electrical for rough and trim was 3% of total, fixtures were 2%. Lucky for him I gave him a discount on labor:D

[Mike Lang]

I have heard that, but it's not always the case. I am doing a house right now that will be $615,000, but I am no where near $61,500 in electrical. Even with me supplying the entire lighting package, I am only around $40k. The price for this house has a lot to do with all the mill work, so doesn't effect me all that much. Each house should be given individual attention if you plan on being competitive. I realize there are plenty of people doing work right now for peanuts. People eventually realize that the work will be not to their liking, and stick with the reputable contractors. It's all a phase, and if you can make it through it, you can make it through almost anything. Keep your chin up.

I'm just curious what is the total sq footage of this house your working on? I'm guessing around 7000-7500

I've heard of people doing $5 a sq foot in my area on average tohigh end homes to figure out the cost. When I add up all the outlets, lights , and switches it 's pretty close unless they are builders grade job.

[Engineer83]

Usually the 10% rule is a nice ball park for NEW commercial projects. Resi numbers vary quite a bit on the fixture packages and any automation systems.

[tyha]

That 10% is from commercial. We did a breakdown at the nd of last year just for our forcast and for fun basically. it actually took me and another guy about a month to compile all the info from the past 5 years but one of the things we found out was all of our projects from 1500 sq ft retail shops to a 4 story medical office buidling the final electrical number was between 8% and 13% for every project. we didn't include the ones that were strictly electrical or the few heavy type industrial projects we did.

[hardworkingstiff]

OK, so we have all this information.

Now, what are we going to do with it?

I believe no one in here will take a bid for a % of the project w/out 1st doing a take-off to insure they won't get hurt.

[Engineer83]

Exactly! In my experience, I use it to ball park a project and use that as one of several factors to gauge whether or not to bid the project (bonding, scheduling, manpower). Also, it is a good check afterward to see how your takeoff went.

[satcom]

What I find intresting is Insurance Underwriters us a percent to figure rebuilding costs, and a recent study showed that the actual cost of rebuilding far exceeded the percent estimates.

[formula1]

does anyone use the per box charge i believe this is a dollar amount per no matter what the box is for outlet, dimmer, fixture etc. and then a per high hat amount