help with pricing jobs ?

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patsy

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Location
new jersey
hello everyone been in buisnees a little over a year and my biggest struggle is pricing job. im in the north jersey area im conflicted on what my day rate should be does that change for residential and commercial what the hourly rates r just wondering where i could go to get some info im tired of hearing when i do jobs THATS ALL OK thanks for any info
 
RH1

RH1

Member
Location
Rick From Los Angeles
patsy said:
hello everyone been in buisnees a little over a year and my biggest struggle is pricing job. im in the north jersey area im conflicted on what my day rate should be does that change for residential and commercial what the hourly rates r just wondering where i could go to get some info im tired of hearing when i do jobs THATS ALL OK thanks for any info
Click to expand...

Start out cheap like you're doing, then slowly ramp up until you're getting 50% or fewer jobs. That will be the sweet spot.
 
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satcom

Senior Member
There are no set rates, you have to know all your costs of 0verhead, and operating expenses and then add to that your desired profit, and there you have your rate.

The so called going rates, will have you "going going gone!"
 
Len

Len

Senior Member
Location
Bucks County
rate

rate

You must first know you operating cost. Overhead, insurances, vehicle, etc...
Once you get all that then you can start putting together an hourly rate. Keep in mind your daily service rate will be much higher than your rate if you are bidding a job.
 
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patsy

Member
Location
new jersey
ok right now my buisness is just myself my overhead is small im going to work on figuring that out today, i got a job a commercial building theres 5 offices storage rm machine shop lights etc.there suppling all material so as a day rate what would be logical or is there some other way i should look at pricing this thanx
 
H

hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
patsy said:
ok right now my buisness is just myself my overhead is small im going to work on figuring that out today, i got a job a commercial building theres 5 offices storage rm machine shop lights etc.there suppling all material so as a day rate what would be logical or is there some other way i should look at pricing this thanx
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According to most here, I'm not a contractor but an electrician for hire. That's OK by me. The thing I do is charge what a "contractor" would charge. I see no reason for me to charge less because I have lower overhead.

A dock builder I've known for a while used to always (even in good times) give the lowest possible price he could (to the point if something went wrong he didn't make money). I asked him (more than once) how many jobs he's lost, and he said none. WOW, I asked him how he knew where the ceiling was if he didn't lose a job? Well, he's hanging on by a thread now and I don't believe he will be in business next year.

The thing I'm trying to say is don't get your prices too low, it's the best way to go out of business. This is the most difficult time a lot of us have been through. If you want to make it to the other side of this downturn, you must be lean and mean, but there is no way you will make it if you charge too little.
 
RH1

RH1

Member
Location
Rick From Los Angeles
patsy said:
ok right now my buisness is just myself my overhead is small im going to work on figuring that out today, i got a job a commercial building theres 5 offices storage rm machine shop lights etc.there suppling all material so as a day rate what would be logical or is there some other way i should look at pricing this thanx
Click to expand...

Well, a day rate approach is pretty logical, but anyone will tell you, when someone else is supplying the material, you'll have only problems.

Now, back to the day rate, it's good to have a day rate, but it's never good to tell anyone what it is. Even though you're only supplying labor, give them a lump sum bid for a given scope of work. Unless this job is so vague that you can only do it on a per hour basis, then you will have to divulge your per hour rate, and doing so has no upside, only down.

I never tell people the hourly rate I use to price work, if they knew, their head would explode. All the professional, commercial oriented shops here in Los Angeles are using about $80 - $85 an hour to bid work. The union guys, of course much more.

I charge less, because frankly, I'm worth less. I cannot throw 20 journeymen at a job and wrap it up in 2 days. Those guys can and that's why they make the big bucks, I respect that. I have 2 or 3 semi skilled helpers who will take a 2 day job for a big outfit and drag it out over 2 painful weeks. So I charge less....

Rick
 
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patsy

Member
Location
new jersey
ok so as far as setting up my overhead are there any spread sheets that i can find on the interenet and what goes into this calculation sry for being a pain seems this part of the buisness is way harder than doing the job
:confused:
 
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patsy

Member
Location
new jersey
ok thank u all could anyone give advise on starting a spread sheet, examples
of some sort to get my expense down and go from there it definately is eisier to do the job than doing this part:-?
 
K

Kdog76

Senior Member
Location
The Dairyland State
Keep your chin up & keep checking in on this forum. Most here will tell you (and I'm with 'em now) that when you let customers supply materials you are asking for problems (WILL not be the right stuff, WILL get you to try to make it work anyways, not on time, etc.)
As for not charging enough because you can't throw 20 J-men on the job, how do you think 20 J-men on a job is productive? It isn't. (unless your the J-man slacking off in the midst of it & still making a wage).
Timeless question and it will never be answered in full here (as for dollars & cents) "what should I charge?". My answer: I don't care just DO NOT UNDERCHARGE! Overhead & profit you bet, enough to pay the bills is NOT ENOUGH!.
Listen to the people here, they will get you in the right direction.
BTW: A Hardy welcome to the forum!
 
A

aline

Senior Member
Location
Utah
patsy said:
ok thank u all could anyone give advise on starting a spread sheet, examples
of some sort to get my expense down and go from there it definately is eisier to do the job than doing this part:-?
Click to expand...
I have a little Excel expense calculator spreadsheet I threw together.
I tried to attach it here but it doesn't look like I can attach an Excel file to my post.
 
K

Kdog76

Senior Member
Location
The Dairyland State
RH1 said:
I never said they were more productive, they just get the job done faster. Sometimes that's an important consideration.
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One job I was on, it was three of us, a master, me - the journeyman, and an apprentice. The three of us wired a 20,000+ sq.ft airplane hanger, it included a full size restaurant, full size bar, the hanger, a stage for bands, pilot's lounge, multiple data & office & conference rooms, elevator, overhead doors, exit & emergency lights, multiple outdoor lights & pole lights. Furnaces, boilers, "big ass fans" with variable speed drives. 6 rooftop units w/ a seperate wp panel up top. Also, a fueling station that served both self-serve pumps & a pumping service fueling both jets & planes. Most shops would have sent 10-20 guys on a job that size.
The three of us did that job from start to finish. Large numbers of guys on a job don't impress me.
Were we fast? - I don't know. Don't care. Did we keep up? Barely- but we did. Did we miss anything? nope. Have to redo anything? nope. Long hours & seven day work weeks, yep. IMO, Its not how many guys you can throw on a job, its more about making sure you can keep up with (and a little ahead of) the other trades.
 
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