Yup, it is a sad face needed, of the many guys, that have asked me to help, when their business starts to sink, a good percent of them, were bidding with out regard to the cost of bringing the job in, and clearing expenses, along with making a small profit, I could spend hours helping them understanding the practices they need to apply to bring in a job and end up with a profit, their urge to compete seems to overweigh the danger of sinking their own ship.
well, the bare bones business plan, mentioned in another thread, lets you work up a realistic labor number for bidding.
it's a two day weekend slam dunk buisness plan, by a business coach.
i'd put the excel spreadsheet up online, and a link to it, but i don't own it.... however, anyone can find it and download
it themselves from the owners of the sheet.
and after being on this forum a while, and hearing endless queries about pricing, and the same "do you know your cost
of doing business?" replies, i followed the suggestions to get my stuff in order, and then i don't need to come here
and ask "how much"?
there's a reason flat rate pricing works. you tell a customer your costs of making that billable hour available to them
costs you $91, or whatever your spreadsheet says it is, and they have a cow.
you tell them that whatever they want done costs whatever it does, and they can take or leave it. once you get
into a customer reviewing what you are charging them, on a per item basis, it gets ugly fast.
unless someone is a partner in my business, it's none of their business what's on my estimating sheet. i'm quoting
a price. take it or leave it.
