Builder Trickery need advise

[Jerseydaze]

Builder Ive done some work for big job for me says "he wants a daily price " says home will be block and log and will have a lot of components he cant explain and is unsure of .Okkk but wants to give Home owner a ball park and is asking me to give a price per item as its romex for reference . PS I need work

 

[qcroanoke]

Builder Ive done some work for big job for me says "he wants a daily price " says home will be block and log and will have a lot of components he cant explain and is unsure of .Okkk but wants to give Home owner a ball park and is asking me to give a price per item as its romex for reference . PS I need work

your hourly rate X 8hrs or whatever you work that day X number of days it takes to complete the job.
Builder is not giving enough info for you to give a ballpark.

 

[c2500]

Sounds like "Builder" wants a breakdown of what you will be doing so he can shop you with a nice breakdown you will provide. As I am also a "Builder" I would never do such a thing to myself.:grin: I also do not give specific breakdowns because I don't want to provide a material list to the guy that will ultimately get the job for being alot cheaper than me.

c2500

 

[AV ELECTRIC]

There already seems to be a problem with the builder as far as not understanding the intricacy's of the project. First ask him for a complete set of prints to look at see if its something you can bid off of. If you have any questions you might want to ask the engineer , architect or if it is some sort of manufactured design ask them . It almost sound like he wants you to do the project as a price per item and bill daily for that . If the price per item is for whats on the print you could do that but for additional items I would not at this time maybe when the project gets underway and you feel more comfortable and give a price for that . Remember desperation can breed disaster have good contracts I would try to get paid weekly on completion of what is done.

 

[ceb58]

Sounds like the builder doesn't have a clue as to what is going on. Unless you have prints to go by you are just as in the dark as he is. Just be aware of this, I have never wired a log home but, I have talked with some elect. who have done several. You will need to be there as the logs go up. Its not like traditional stick building where you go in after it is framed. A log home is a time consuming animal. From what they told me two years ago they were charging $100.00 per opening which is double compared to traditional framing.

 

[e57]

Builder Ive done some work for big job for me says "he wants a daily price " says home will be block and log and will have a lot of components he cant explain and is unsure of .Okkk but wants to give Home owner a ball park and is asking me to give a price per item as its romex for reference . PS I need work

The conflict sounds like one of those econmies of scale/scope trickery... Give a point price, but try to trick you up with providing some other price to pick and choose from... Or see if you'll fail to quanify...

 

[LarryFine]

As I am also a "Builder" I would never do such a thing to myself.:grin:

Not free, anyway.

 

[rodneee]

maybe not trickery

maybe not trickery

it could just be the builder is trying to get a feeling for how much it will cost him (per day) in the event things do not go as planned, ie job completion time..if you bill your 2 man crew at say 1000 per day and something unanticipated comes up which takes 3 extra days, he will know he is on the hook for $3000.

 

[Sparky555]

Working at a "Day Rate" seems like a perfect way to do a log home. You show up for work without concern for materials and a game plan. If a material list is needed you take care of it during the day. You get the materials if needed during the day. This is different from the usual business owner where you plan for work after hours and have materials available to have a full productive day.

A good business plan for Day Rate is payment at the end of every day with no collection issues. No pay for today and this GC is off your schedule for tomorrow.

Day Rate is similar to "skilled employee for hire". The problem is a normal skilled employee doesn't do estimates. If I were doing Day Rate I'd have an agreement that says something like "The Day Rate is $XXX.00 per day. Payment due at the end of the day. Non-payment stops work and work is rescheduled after payment".

If I gave an estimate I'd say something like "This estimate is the best-guess which will change with access, cooperation of trades, availability of materials in a timely fashion, weather (on & on with a long list). In much larger and bold font I'd include "THE DAY RATE APPLIES TO ALL WORK".

 

[K8MHZ]

Sounds like the builder doesn't have a clue as to what is going on. Unless you have prints to go by you are just as in the dark as he is. Just be aware of this, I have never wired a log home but, I have talked with some elect. who have done several. You will need to be there as the logs go up. Its not like traditional stick building where you go in after it is framed. A log home is a time consuming animal. From what they told me two years ago they were charging $100.00 per opening which is double compared to traditional framing.

No, you do not have to be there when the logs go up. I have done log homes, real ones not look alikes, and the holes for the wiring are pre-bored in the logs. Use of the inner walls and doing a lot of jumping over and under rooms is the norm for running the wiring. Count on about three times the length for a log home vs. a stick house.

 

[Jerseydaze]

it could just be the builder is trying to get a feeling for how much it will cost him (per day) in the event things do not go as planned, ie job completion time..if you bill your 2 man crew at say 1000 per day and something unanticipated comes up which takes 3 extra days, he will know he is on the hook for $3000.

To give you an idea where Im at im figuring $600 a day im a one man show and getting close to throwing in the towel

 

[LarryFine]

Count on about three times the length for a log home vs. a stick house.

Is that cabling or hours?

 

[220/221]

Tell him you will give him a daily price but you can't tell him how many days it will take. Hell, tell him a hundred bucks a day and only show up for an hour