How long will it take?

[satcom]

Some of the fear of estimating work, is the question, of how long will all the tasks take, this can be easy to answer, if you have been keeping track of the actual time it took you to do a given task, and remember to note the job conditions at the time the task was done, you can keep all this information in a sprial notebook, after you build on this over a period of years, you will become an estimating guru, and have the ability to quote jobs that are on target, then you will still need to know all your costs to but the money numbers together, but you will have a head start, with your actuals data.

SAVE ENERGY TURN OFF THE COMPUTER and start writing in that sprial notebook.

 

[chris kennedy]

SAVE ENERGY TURN OFF THE COMPUTER

OK, you go first.

 

[satcom]

OK, you go first.

I see so many what should I charge questions, just wanted to note, you don't need a computer to do on target estimates, our first estimating book was all in sprial notebooks, and we still use some of the actuals with the data base to this day.

 

[milehiwire]

I am older than dirt and learned to estimate on a piece of paper. I still use a hand made excel spreadsheet for 95% of my bids but thank god for excel because it can quickly do all of the math.

I also keep three notebooks. One for takeoffs, one for a phone journal and one for a to-do..

 

[aline]

Most jobs will take at least 4-times the amount of time the customer thinks it will take and at least 2-times the amount of time the electrician thinks it will take.

That's why I usually hear from the customer "Wow that's a lot more than I thought it would be" when I quote the price.

The other day a customer called and said he already bought the materials and the job would take 2-hours to do.

He said he would do it himself but he didn't want to crawl around in the attic.

After another customer asked how long it would take for me to do the job and I told him, he said; "What are you handicapped or something. It shouldn't take that long to do the job."

I'm often hearing how it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to do that.

I love it. Not only does the customer know what materials to buy they also know how long it's going to take.

Makes me wonder why they're even calling me.

 

[LarryFine]

The other day a customer called and said he already bought the materials and the job would take 2-hours to do.

He said he would do it himself but he didn't want to crawl around in the attic.

"Neither do I. Attics and crawlspaces carry a 50% surcharge."

 

[jumper]

" Attics and crawlspaces carry a 50% surcharge."

Sounds good to me. Ever hear of a spider called a Brown Recluse. Makes a Black Widow childs play.

 

[chris kennedy]

SAVE ENERGY TURN OFF THE COMPUTER

OK, you go first.

Sorry Les, not trying to be smart. (OK, maybe a little:grin

Our shop still bids by 'the seat of our pants'. The only part of our bids done on the computer are the proposals.

 

[satcom]

Sorry Les, not trying to be smart. (OK, maybe a little:grin

Our shop still bids by 'the seat of our pants'. The only part of our bids done on the computer are the proposals.

having actuals sure makes life a lot easier.

 

[bikeindy]

A couple of years ago I invited a good friend of mine to come to work for me. He was not an electrician. Time after time while we worked together I would tell him oh this will take this long or that long. He called me the biggest sugar coater he ever met since every job took longer than I had expected it to take. I have been able to adjust and figure more time for jobs as I have educated myself over the years. It is most of the time true that a job will take you longer than you hope. With the type of work we do it can really be a hard task to judge the time since so much of our work is remodel stuff.

 

[zappy]

"Neither do I. Attics and crawlspaces carry a 50% surcharge."

Yeah anytime I know I got to crawl in dirt, or roll in insulation tack on extra for the PITA factor.

 

[MBLES]

Some of the fear of estimating work, is the question, of how long will all the tasks take, this can be easy to answer, if you have been keeping track of the actual time it took you to do a given task, and remember to note the job conditions at the time the task was done, you can keep all this information in a sprial notebook, after you build on this over a period of years, you will become an estimating guru, and have the ability to quote jobs that are on target, then you will still need to know all your costs to but the money numbers together, but you will have a head start, with your actuals data.

SAVE ENERGY TURN OFF THE COMPUTER and start writing in that sprial notebook.

I carry spiral and I still have the first spiral note book when i became a
service drivers 12 yrs ago with my first service call with task and times.
But I do also remember all the long breaks and slacking most of us did !
I think I will have to add a little more time to my bids.

 

[satcom]

I carry spiral and I still have the first spiral note book when i became a
service drivers 12 yrs ago with my first service call with task and times.
But I do also remember all the long breaks and slacking most of us did !
I think I will have to add a little more time to my bids.

If you have a book of actuals, then you have half of the estimating issue under control, and if you have all your overhead, and operating costs figured, and accurate, your ready to bid for profit.

 

[prh1700]

Sounds good to me. Ever hear of a spider called a Brown Recluse. Makes a Black Widow childs play.

I had one of my guys get bit by a Brown Recluse. It wasn't pretty what it did to his leg. The blessing was getting to the doctors quick as it could have been a lot worse. Even so, they had to do some cutting on him.

 

[Sparky555]

A couple of years ago I invited a good friend of mine to come to work for me. He was not an electrician. Time after time while we worked together I would tell him oh this will take this long or that long. He called me the biggest sugar coater he ever met since every job took longer than I had expected it to take. I have been able to adjust and figure more time for jobs as I have educated myself over the years. It is most of the time true that a job will take you longer than you hope. With the type of work we do it can really be a hard task to judge the time since so much of our work is remodel stuff.

I almost always underestimate the time it will take to complete tasks. Using a pricing manual and spreadsheet has saved me from myself. I never give ballpark estimates when asked. When I use the pricing manual or spreadsheet the markups and profit are in the quote. Paper and pencil or doing a ballpark in my head are a good ways for me to lose money.