The job is straight forward. The g.c. is a wall design company. The lights are provided by the owner w/lamps. All we have to do is take one down and put the new one up.
As to my company, it is a two man partnership (LLC) Class A in the state of Virginia. We have no employees at this time. We are both top notch installers, among the best.
well, if that is so, then you know how long it takes you to do something.
what it doesn't sound like you know is how much it costs you to be available to do it.
so, the material is provided. that eliminates both the profit on the material, and the risk
you don't say how high off the floor the lights are. rule of thumb with work off ladders,
every six feet higher off the floor doubles the time needed for any task.
'6 off floor takes an hour to do something? 12' takes two hours, 18' takes 4 hours.
if it can be reached off a 6' stepladder, i'd call it 3 or 4 an hour, by the time you clean up,
pick up your trash, shake out fixtures, and all the "nonproductive" parts of this.
how much do you have to charge an hour to be profitable?
look on your budget. don't have one yet?
here's the key numbers from mine. i honestly doubt your costs are less than mine.
if you use numbers less than this, you are probably not gonna do well.
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Cost of Service Labor and Operating Expenses Per Billable Hour $69
Cost/Break Even Per Billable Hour $106
Selling Price Per Billable Hour $124
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those numbers allow me a draw of $80,000 per year, about what
the manager in in and out burger makes, and 15% profit for the business.
so, allowing for 4 an hour, $31 each seems about right, for me.
can i do them faster than that? you betcha. should i bid it that way?
nope.
on one glorious day, i and a coworker set one 30' light pole in a parking lot
every six minutes, for 8 hours. and that average allowed us breaks and lunch.
were we impressed with ourselves? yep. we were god's gift to the electrical industry.
just ask us. i'm still bragging about it years later.
bragging about what you did has no place in bidding.
the great part about this is that you can learn your real productivity
without risking $100k in material.
the worst that happens is you work for free a bit, and learn something
very valuable. you don't have to pay $35,000 out of pocket and work
for two months for nothing, to learn what you don't know about bidding.
good luck.
