Estimate Help

[JOlinsk]

Good afternoon guys,

I’m curious if my thoughts are reasonable on this. I took a bid class back when I was in trade school. We made a bid up but in that bid, we’d charge for overhead and profit. It would be a percentage of the total of materials and labor. Is this something that is normal in the real world? I don’t know any contractors personally. I’m learning as I go for bidding. I currently charge around 100 an hour when doing work. Maybe even down to 90 an hour. I use mileage fees if it’s over 20 miles. Typically 50 dollars more. I’m seeking guidance on if I’m reasonable or if I’m selling myself short. I don’t charge for the trip there. I feel as if I’m not making as much money I should because I’ve been told other wise. I also do not mark up materials. I’m losing out there because I’m using my gas and time to get the parts.

My question is what are the typical hourly rates? How do you bid a job on how long it will take? And do you mark up materials or add any percentages on to that? Please give me honest feedback even if I am in the complete wrong. Thank you all greatly. God bless and be safe out there in the field!


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[AC\DC]

I used to keep my material mark up below in my labor high, which was fine but was a massive amount of inflation. It actually worked out better to mark my materials up a lot and keep my labor low so the customer doesn’t realize I’ve increased my labor rate because they wouldn’t wanna pay my hourly rate otherwise And with inflation they’re just now used to paying a lot for everything so it works out good..

Your hourly rate is low mine 150 for a dirty man and I’m kinda low. I’m high for this area but low for what I want. Did the best so I can talk people into doing TNM and I tell him it’s gonna save them a lot of money. All depends on if I want the job or not right now I’m two months booked out so I’m just bidding crap if I get it not oh well.

 

[JOlinsk]

I used to keep my material mark up below in my labor high, which was fine but was a massive amount of inflation. It actually worked out better to mark my materials up a lot and keep my labor low so the customer doesn’t realize I’ve increased my labor rate because they wouldn’t wanna pay my hourly rate otherwise And with inflation they’re just now used to paying a lot for everything so it works out good..

Your hourly rate is low mine 150 for a dirty man and I’m kinda low. I’m high for this area but low for what I want. Did the best so I can talk people into doing TNM and I tell him it’s gonna save them a lot of money. All depends on if I want the job or not right now I’m two months booked out so I’m just bidding crap if I get it not oh well.

I completely understand where you’re at. I search for my local region. I’m in south western PA. If there is a job that I don’t want or seems like a pain in the ass, I’ll bid it high as well. I ended up screwing myself cause I’ll do extra work or do so to keep things nice and neat then it will cost me more time. There are times I’ve ran into problems for simple jobs. They just take longer than expected. I screw my self with that.


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[marmathsen]

I completely understand where you’re at. I search for my local region. I’m in south western PA. If there is a job that I don’t want or seems like a pain in the ass, I’ll bid it high as well. I ended up screwing myself cause I’ll do extra work or do so to keep things nice and neat then it will cost me more time. There are times I’ve ran into problems for simple jobs. They just take longer than expected. I screw my self with that.


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Personally, I say take pride in your work and don't get too bent out of shape if you take a little extra time to do something right, it reflects well on you. Just take note of that and charge extra on the next one. For the record we only do time and materials anymore in part for this reason.

Rob G
Seattle

 

[AC\DC]

I have seen a lot of the guys just do TNM I thought about doing it but it’s nice when you get a job that score is a lot more than TNM—- I guess it’s all location based on what the preferred way is around here everyone estimate they even charge for it except me