Ballpark the little jobs

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aline said:
Another thing to keep in mind is that not all customers are looking for the lowest price. The idea behind small service and repair jobs is not to be the lowest price but to provide the best value for the price you're charging.

It seems as if most electricians main goal is to be the lowest price. There's one electrician in my area that advertises he'll beat anyones price. Wouldn't it be better to advertise the professional and timely service you provide instead?
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Which is great, but the big question is how do you impart those values to a customer just looking to get a job done at the cheapest price? Or, alternatively, how can you target those customers who (bluntly) want to (or maybe are willing to) spend more than is strictly necessary??

Clearly, the Geek Squad have figured out one approach to the second part of that problem, by selling image, the sizzle rather than the steak, but is that the only way...?
 
Let those who are looking for the cheapest price go to those that are willing to work for nothing or those who will give them the shoddy job that they deserve. We aren't selling cars here where each dealer pays the same amount for the same car you could buy anywhere. Each company and even each worker is different. We should try to offer the best value, not the cheapest price. "Mr. Customer, I know my price is a little higher than the other quote that you have, but I will be there when I tell you I will be there, and the work will be done correctly using only the best materials that I can find. If that is not what you want, feel free to take your business elsewhere."

Marc,
I found that 1/2 day jobs were the hardest for me to price. Is there another 1/2 day job in the area that could be done with the remaining time? The first job taking just a little longer than expected means that there is not enough time to complete the second job, so now I have the schedule for two days screwed up. It is tough to figure how to make money on the small stuff.
 
Time and materials.. If you are low balling anyways you have nothing to gain by bidding. Stuff like this is a PIA. How about putting in that closet switch.. If its a double opening closet it's going to have a horizontal header about 1-2' down in the wall in the center right where the customer will want a switch. How's the attic look? Lot of variables.
 
mdshunk said:
I might be around 450 for that work, but I don't normally give a price ahead of time for piddly work like that.
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I think he sums it up pretty well with this statement.

I wouldn't normally give a price ahead of time for piddly work like that either for $450 but I would for $800.

I wouldn't expect this job to take me all day but I'm going to price it that way and if I can get another one done the same day that's even better.

If you feel it's a waste of time doing small jobs you're not charging enough for them. If you can't get any small jobs at a price worth doing them for then don't do them. I don't see any point in doing them if they're not profitable. If they are profitable why wouldn't you do them.

When doing small jobs there's a lot more to consider than just the actual time it takes to complete the work. The smaller the job the higher my hourly rate is. I don't have a fixed hourly rate for all jobs. That's why I avoid T&M.
 
BryanMD said:
The ideal situ is someone who knows and/or has reason to trust you...
which is why they called you in the first place.

EC:Yes ma'am we can take care of that for you tomorrow.

EC:We'll do what is needed to do it right (pause) so, is 8am good for you?
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That is the best advice I know of, sell them on when would be convienient, not the price.
 
haskindm said:
I found that 1/2 day jobs were the hardest for me to price. Is there another 1/2 day job in the area that could be done with the remaining time? The first job taking just a little longer than expected means that there is not enough time to complete the second job, so now I have the schedule for two days screwed up. It is tough to figure how to make money on the small stuff.
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So a job that was estimated at 4 hours takes 5 hours. The whole rest of the day is screwed up. I don't think so. If you are running a small shop then you had better forget about working standard 8 hour days. If you run an hour over some place then you had better plan on working an hour or two longer that day so as not to screw up the schedule for tomorrow. If you can bill for the extra hours then nothing is lost.

If anyone wants to work standard 8 hour days there are jobs out there that offer this but it's not electrical contracting doing these small jobs.

I don't know what this job would pay in New Jersey but he is in the ball park for this area so I suspect that he may be cheap for his area but that really doesn't matter because he will learn. A year from now he may price this same job at $900 and not $500.

The one thing I do know is that he will not get any experience doing and pricing these jobs if he doesn't get any of these jobs. It's a learning experience just like attending classes and it may even cost more.

That's life folks, you learned to crawl before you could walk and you learned to walk before you could run. :grin:
 
haskindm said:
I found that 1/2 day jobs were the hardest for me to price. Is there another 1/2 day job in the area that could be done with the remaining time? The first job taking just a little longer than expected means that there is not enough time to complete the second job, so now I have the schedule for two days screwed up. It is tough to figure how to make money on the small stuff.
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Small job work is a business category all it's own. It requires a VERY well stocked truck (like MDShunk and others have) and a competent tech able to juggle his workload on the fly (this is the tricky part).

The real answer to the Q is to have other small jobs for the tech to juggle with. Things like with other small jobs regular customers that aren't urgent or a larger project that could use an extra pair of hands for an afternoon.

Juggling. It's an art more than a science.
 
I don't think the hardest part is learning how to properly price jobs to make a profit. I think the hardest part is learning how to sell the jobs at a price that will make a profit.

It's easier to lower the price than learn how to sell your jobs at a higher price.

Electricians are poor salesmen. That's why we try to undercut each other all the time. It's easier than learning how to sell.

Often times people will price up a job and think wow that's higher than I expected. I don't think I'll be able to sell the job at that price, I'd better see if I can lower it some.

Do I really need to factor in all these overhead costs?
Which ones can I leave out?

Awhile back I read somewhere, I think it was in a EC&M magazine, that a lot of contractors purposely leave out known overhead when bidding a job for fear that if they include it they won't get the job. They hope to make up for it with change orders.
 
"Do I really need to factor in all these overhead costs? Which ones can I leave out?"

I did not read all of the previous posts, but my short answer is "None of 'em!"

"a lot of contractors purposely leave out known overhead when bidding a job for fear that if they include it they won't get the job. They hope to make up for it with change orders"

Want another toke?

Best Wishes Everyone in 2008
 
growler said:
So a job that was estimated at 4 hours takes 5 hours. The whole rest of the day is screwed up. I don't think so. If you are running a small shop then you had better forget about working standard 8 hour days. If you run an hour over some place then you had better plan on working an hour or two longer that day so as not to screw up the schedule for tomorrow. If you can bill for the extra hours then nothing is lost.:
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That is easy when you are a "one-man-show", but impossible when you have employees. Often they are unable or unwilling, to stay "a little late" to finish up a job. If they do, they will expect to be paid overtime. So now you are paying time and a half for a job that is already taking longer than you figured anyway. I am not saying it is impossible to manage these little jobs, just pointing out that there is an added layer of difficulty that many newbies have to learn about the hard (expensive) way.
 
That job is too small for me to quote, not really worth the time. For jobs like that, I just give a rough guess of time and let the customer know what my hourly rate is.
 
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