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Contractor question?

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dave81

Member
I was asked by a builder to give a price list on a perticular house for the electrical system without even any prints. He had just given me a list of general appliances no specs on them and listed how many lights and fans and GFCIs and so forth were in this peticular house, and then he wanted me to break them down and price all these things out individually. I'm just starting out so I don't know if this is common or not but it seems pretty shotty, but I don't want to turn him away. My question is would it be bad to do this for him, and have you had to this before?
 
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luke warmwater

Senior Member
Re: Contractor question?

It is definately not the preferred method, but it can be done.
If you are just starting out and have little estimating experience, you can easily miss things that could end up costing you money.

If you decide to take on this task, make sure that your proposal is very thorough and precise.

I would not want to break it down, but rather give him a package price with a cost list of extras.

I hope that you have more info than what you have posted.
 
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jerryb

Senior Member
Re: Contractor question?

The pricing method is typical in the mid-west for residential construction. What you need is a "unit cost" price list for all possible items that might go into a house.

Normally you would not need to break out each individual item (that would be giving away your pricing). Beside the cost of installations change depending on the volume. Obviously one or two outlets would be much more expensive (cost per outlet) then if there were 100 outlets. Your pricing therefore would change depending on the size of the job.

As Luke mentioned, make sure that your proposal include everything that you are willing to do and exclude everything that is not your responsibility. Such things as who provides each light fixture, outside lighting, length of service conductors, type of lighting control, each dedicated circuit, etc. will all impact your price. Also the builder needs to let you know about telephone rough-ins & wiring and maybe even computer networking cables. Trenching and backfill is always a problem for a young company just getting started.

Good luck to you.
 
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