estimating a commercial warehouse help

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gabe277

Member
Location
tx
Hi everybody Im new to the contractor business and i wanted to see if maybe some more experienced members can give me some advice or tell me if im over bidding or under or riht on the money

ok the job consist of a warehouse thats about 320 ft long , ok the warehouse has four main beams that run horizontal like 30 ft up high and theres 30 poles that go from the ground up to the beam , so he wants a circulation fan on each pole .
he wanted to add 30 receptacles, one for each fan each fan is a 120 volt single phase pug in fan that pulls 3 amps fla . the poles are spaced out 30 ft apart and thers 6 fans in 2 rows and 7 in the other 2 plus a back room that has 4 fns , plus installl a 125 amp panel offf the secondary tap of a 75 kva transformer that you can splice in a gutter box that is existing

its about 1300 ft of 1/2 conduit ,i was going to put a ckt for every row so four ckts plus voltage drop and the furthest fan is about 500 ft from my 125 amp panel so i went to a number 8 for power nuetral and used # 10 for ground .

please let me know what you would bid this job at because im thinking im bidding tooo high and maybe i need to bid lower i charge 35 $ an hour and my associate at 35$ too . I used to bid jobs when i was working for an industrial we based it on time and material i did the same and the customer freaked oh yeah and not to mention the siccor lift rental is 900$ a month please post your thoughts thank you .
 
J

JES2727

Senior Member
Location
NJ
You really think it's going to take two mechanics over a month to complete this job?
It should take maybe two to three weeks to do the job.
Run larger conduit, your wire pull will be easier.
Charge more for your labor.
Mark up the material and lift rental.
So all your numbers are too low, but your labor estimate is too high. The end result is probably close to where it should be.
 
iwire

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
I agree with the first two responses and will that this ...


gabe277 said:
i went to a number 8 for power nuetral and used # 10 for ground .
Click to expand...

... is a violation of 250.122(B), the EGC will have to be 8 AWG as well.

1/2" would be tight for three 10s, never mind 2 8s and a 10.
 
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gabe277

Member
Location
tx
thank you evrybody for your input yeah i agree about the time frame i think it can be done in about three weeks but . but some guy said he can do it for 5 thousand with material so my bid looked like sky high . and he likedd his proposal . and told me he didnt need a lift rental . that the other guy was going to do it with a forklift and a pallet . i said goood luck with that , then he called and asked me to let the guy borrow my license i said man goood luck with the job . lol thats crazy huh ?
 
K

ksmith846

Senior Member
Location
Port St Lucie, Florida
JES2727 said:
You really think it's going to take two mechanics over a month to complete this job?
It should take maybe two to three weeks to do the job.
Run larger conduit, your wire pull will be easier.
Charge more for your labor.
Mark up the material and lift rental.
So all your numbers are too low, but your labor estimate is too high. The end result is probably close to where it should be.
Click to expand...

FYI......171 hours/2 men/40 hours = 2.1375 weeks........so the labor is not high

I think you are close to what you should have bid. The lift should not cost you $900, so I assume that is what you are charging for it. $3500 for the material seems to be reasonable (without doing my own takeoff) and if $35 per hour is what you are acustom to getting then you are right where you want to be on your pricing. Remember that the customer will always think and say your price is too high.

$35 per hour would actually have my labor @ 17% profit and there's nothing wrong with getting 17% these days.:)
 
G

gabe277

Member
Location
tx
Yeah I mean I'm a ME and well I'm getting started here I want to start developing a line of clientel so I'm charging low on the labor I'm going to do the actual work with a buddy of mine . But everybody tells me I should be charging 60$ an hour but It's hard to get a job . Specially someone like me who's barely starting contracting business . I've been doing Elec work long enough but being a good contractor has very lil to do with being a good electrician I realize that already .
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
gabe277 said:
and told me he didnt need a lift rental . that the other guy was going to do it with a forklift and a pallet . then he called and asked me to let the guy borrow my license.
Click to expand...


These people ever here of OSHA. If this guy doesn't have a license then he doesn't have insurance and this is an accident waiting to happen.

These people don't want a bid on a job they just want some jack leg to give a labor price. Don't walk, run away.

You can't bid against people like this because any numbers are meaningless.

Call this business owner up and ask him what he intends to do if this guy is hurt on the job. No license, no business so he is an uninsured employee.
 
C

cdslotz

Senior Member
There is a big difference in service rates, which is where the guy charging $60/hr is probably used to charging, and construction rates.
Our construction rate is our average shop rate ($20) x 1.35 (burden cost) x 1.15 (since this will be done out of a van, with tools) = $31.05 COST. Again...COST.
Then ad OH&P based on your shop OH and job variables for profit.
So if I need 15% OH and 10% profit, that rate is $39.27.
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
gabe277 said:
ok the warehouse has four main beams that run horizontal like 30 ft up.
Click to expand...

gabe277 said:
the other guy was going to do it with a forklift and a pallet .
Click to expand...


Folks there is a guy out there somewhere that's going to try to run conduit 30 ft up useing a fork lift and a pallet.

They normally would consider this a death defying act and sell tickets because the crowd always likes a good "splat" and 30 ft is just enough to do it.
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
JES2727 said:
You really think it's going to take two mechanics over a month to complete this job?
Click to expand...

The most important bit of information to bid this job is missing. We don't know if the warehouse is empty and open or it there are storage racks, equipment and employees in the way to slow down progress.
 
G

guitarchris

Senior Member
Location
Central North Carolina
cdslotz said:
There is a big difference in service rates, which is where the guy charging $60/hr is probably used to charging, and construction rates.
Our construction rate is our average shop rate ($20) x 1.35 (burden cost) x 1.15 (since this will be done out of a van, with tools) = $31.05 COST. Again...COST.
Then ad OH&P based on your shop OH and job variables for profit.
So if I need 15% OH and 10% profit, that rate is $39.27.
Click to expand...

Is that 39.27 per man (/man hour) or 39.27 for both men/Hr?
 
H

hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
growler said:
The most important bit of information to bid this job is missing. We don't know if the warehouse is empty and open or it there are storage racks, equipment and employees in the way to slow down progress.
Click to expand...

Plus when will the fans be available for installation? (Have to get the lift out 2 different times?)

(The floor is concrete, not dirt or gravel, right?) Don't laugh, I've seen it happen.
 
G

gabe277

Member
Location
tx
cdslotz said:
There is a big difference in service rates, which is where the guy charging $60/hr is probably used to charging, and construction rates.
Our construction rate is our average shop rate ($20) x 1.35 (burden cost) x 1.15 (since this will be done out of a van, with tools) = $31.05 COST. Again...COST.
Then ad OH&P based on your shop OH and job variables for profit.
So if I need 15% OH and 10% profit, that rate is $39.27.
Click to expand...

that sounds very reasonable cdslotz and i will charge that high when my business starts getting bigger right now i operate from an office i have in my house and i use my truck to do the jobs and its me and my partner and we are doing the actual work . on the weekends cause we both work togetther for a company doing I and E maintnance work for a refinery plant . but i guess you have to get started somewhere right well this is the first year that i get completely bonded and everything legit . so well see how it goes , i just have to keep trying and not give up . and once my company gives more income thatn my 40 hr job then illl dedicate myself v100% to it . once again thanks fotr your advice everything has been very helpful for me guys thanks
 
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