Bidding "Per Opening"

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DBoone

Senior Member
Location
Mississippi
Occupation
General Contractor
What does it mean when an EC bids per opening?

What all is considered an opening and what does the price per opening cover? Boxes, devices, wire, labor, profit ?
 

mopowr steve

Senior Member
Location
NW Ohio
Occupation
Electrical contractor
Just as you said, materials and labor per "opening" or "hole"
Single gang box=1 opening
Double gang box=2 openings
Three gang box=3 openings
Etc,Etc,Etc.
Then add for example a service, specialty equipment and any other mechanicals that need hooked up.
 
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LEO2854

Esteemed Member
Location
Ma
What does it mean when an EC bids per opening?

What all is considered an opening and what does the price per opening cover? Boxes, devices, wire, labor, profit ?

Bidding in such a way is a great way to lose work by not taking the time to come out with a full price for a project and selling why your firm is better than the next one.

To make money in this business you must know how to sell the work at the highest possible price, you must stand out and say you can deliver a better finished product and prove it by keeping your word.

Per hour.

Per opening.

T&M are all ways to keep you from making real money in this business.

Giving a grand total price with a detailed write up on what your firm will do will help sell the work.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Bidding in such a way is a great way to lose work by not taking the time to come out with a full price for a project and selling why your firm is better than the next one.

To make money in this business you must know how to sell the work at the highest possible price, you must stand out and say you can deliver a better finished product and prove it by keeping your word.

Per hour.

Per opening.

T&M are all ways to keep you from making real money in this business.

Giving a grand total price with a detailed write up on what your firm will do will help sell the work.

welll.... if the scope of work cannot be defined clearly enough to make a lump sum bid, time and
material are the only way to limit your exposure to loss.

but in the normal workday world where the scope of work is defined, flat rate is the only way to fly.
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
Bidding in such a way is a great way to lose work by not taking the time to come out with a full price for a project and selling why your firm is better than the next one.

To make money in this business you must know how to sell the work at the highest possible price, you must stand out and say you can deliver a better finished product and prove it by keeping your word.

Per hour.

Per opening.

T&M are all ways to keep you from making real money in this business.

Giving a grand total price with a detailed write up on what your firm will do will help sell the work.

Just curious as to how you deal with the new trend that requires a per unit pricing. Where the bid documents don't really allow for Lump sum costs.
 

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
I sub from a residential remodeling GC, and I use opening tiers

Tier 1 is a basic plug, switch, light (not incl fixture). It includes $ XX.XX for basic materials and one hour of labor

Tier 2 adds to cover additional materials like a can light, basic exhaust fan, smoke detector, etc

Tier 3 adds to cover extra labor for paddle fan, high chandelier, or something along those lines.

Then I have pricing for circuits, services, demo, etc.


I use a similar method for commercial work, too. But definitely more involved process
 

mshow1323

Member
Bidding in such a way is a great way to lose work by not taking the time to come out with a full price for a project and selling why your firm is better than the next one.

To make money in this business you must know how to sell the work at the highest possible price, you must stand out and say you can deliver a better finished product and prove it by keeping your word.

Per hour.

Per opening.

T&M are all ways to keep you from making real money in this business.

Giving a grand total price with a detailed write up on what your firm will do will help sell the work.

Nothing really wrong with bidding new work per opening The problem is when you disclose that information to the public. When I used to run new construction jobs, I was bidding per opening. It made estimating a snap, but no where in my bids or contracts did you see a dollar amount other than the total at the bottom. I don't need a direct comparison to another company. "Well ABC's price for a GFCI was $66 will your's is $168, while your can price is $100 and ABC's is $200, I want you to match the his price only when his is lower than yours." Devices had one cost, ceiling boxes, exhaust fans, cans, furnaces, all had different numbers, but it beat doing a take-off on each and every item.

And yes per opening would cover all of this " Boxes, devices, wire, labor, profit ?" at least it better
 

MHElectric

Member
Location
NC
Nothing really wrong with bidding new work per opening The problem is when you disclose that information to the public. When I used to run new construction jobs, I was bidding per opening. It made estimating a snap, but no where in my bids or contracts did you see a dollar amount other than the total at the bottom. I don't need a direct comparison to another company. "Well ABC's price for a GFCI was $66 will your's is $168, while your can price is $100 and ABC's is $200, I want you to match the his price only when his is lower than yours." Devices had one cost, ceiling boxes, exhaust fans, cans, furnaces, all had different numbers, but it beat doing a take-off on each and every item.

And yes per opening would cover all of this " Boxes, devices, wire, labor, profit ?" at least it better
:thumbsup:
 

mshow1323

Member
Gentlemen,

There is no reason not to put together a real estimate. Have you verified what are your true costs for the opening prices including your true overhead and burden? Guessing is very risky. PM me and I will show how to accomplish this.

Who said anything about guessing? I'm well aware of the cost of running my business. Did you think I came up with my numbers out of thin air? Careful of what you assume about others.
 
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