Estimating New Home Wiring

[Ravenvalor]

Hello,

For the first time in about 15 - years I am estimating the wiring of a new 3,000 sq ft home (including garage, front porch and back porch). I have listed the quantity of every item that I have to install (receptacles, gfci receptacles, 1-pole switches, 3-way switches, recessed lights, ceiling fans, etc...) I can make an accurate material list from this list and then predict the required time for labor. However after all is said and done I still won't know whether or not I am even in the ball park. A builder once told me that electrical and concrete estimates are the most varied of all the sub contractors.
Is there software that I can plug in my item list and get an accurate quote base on my area (central NC)?

Thanks,

 

[hbiss]

Whos ball park? The GC? Sounds like you did an accurate take off. Now mark it up so you can make a fair profit and give it to him. Anything less and you will break even or lose money right? If the GC bangs on the woodwork and flushes out some EC that will do it for less (and they always do), let him have it- unless you want to live in the woodwork too. :thumbsdown:

-Hal

 

[Ravenvalor]

Whos ball park? The GC? Sounds like you did an accurate take off. Now mark it up so you can make a fair profit and give it to him. Anything less and you will break even or lose money right? If the GC bangs on the woodwork and flushes out some EC that will do it for less (and they always do), let him have it- unless you want to live in the woodwork too. :thumbsdown:

-Hal

Thats a good point Hal. I guess I was trying to justify working for less in order to keep the help busy. However I shouldn't go down that rabbit hole????

 

[ptonsparky]

Thats a good point Hal. I guese I was trying to justify working for less in order to keep the help busy. However I shouldn't go down that rabbit hole????

Best if you don't. Just give the guys the cash you would loose and send them home for a couple days. Less painful.

I have my slowest guy working on the smallest new house we have wired since the 80s for the most amount per opening I have ever bid. Hopefully its the last one this year.

 

[elf friend]

If I am just going to break even I would rather go fishing than spend weeks busting my hump. Sounds like you have a good plan and if the CG tells you "so and so" can do it for this much less, then tell him to have them do the job and walk away. Trust me on this one as I lost my butt once trying to match a so called lower offer.

 

[kwired]

Not every business has the same overhead costs, this includes the fact that direct materials costs are not always the same either, if they all did have the same overhead then only difference in sales prices of whatever the business sells is in the profit margins they desire to make.

If you want to lower the price just so you have something to do - that is your call, do it too often and it catches up with you. Retailers do that all the time with special sales events, but if they don't also get regular sales it catches up with them as well.

Some consumers only look at cost, you are going to have a hard time with those and can afford to lose those customers.

If you can sell yourself/your company as to why it is worth the price you offer, you will get better customers that keep asking you back when they have a need for what you do.

My biggest problem especially with new homes is not every price the customer gets is for the same final product - the low priced guy may be a good installer, but is possibly going to add on additional charges when they find out what was not included later on. The higher priced guy may have figured in things that the customer can live without, or has just doesn't want the job unless it meets a certain profit level and assumes his chances of landing the job are not that high to begin with.

 

[cdslotz]

A builder once told me that electrical and concrete estimates are the most varied of all the sub contractors.

I find that concrete as being one of the most varied pricing surprising, because they price by the cubic yard and the cost of concrete is consistent at any given time.

I do believe his statement about electrical pricing being all over the map.
Just read this forum regularly and you will see how many electrical estimating methods are used: Square foot, per opening unit pricing, hard takeoff and pricing, or just wild-ass guessing.
A lot of guys price jobs without any regard for what his "costs" are. The GC could care less if you have your costs covered. All he sees is your competition is a lot cheaper.

You already did a hard takeoff so you know the materials....if you have access to a labor unit book (or enter into a program), then apply a labor unit to each item, then extend to get your total labor hours.
This is exactly how your software would work, except a ton faster.

I used EBM for years....it's priced right, and it has modules for residential, commercial. When you have finished your estimate, you will have detail materials list, labor breakdowns by task, your estimated costs and OH&P values.
A great managing tool during the job, and a good tool to compare how you did when the dust settles.

 

[Ravenvalor]

I find that concrete as being one of the most varied pricing surprising, because they price by the cubic yard and the cost of concrete is consistent at any given time.

I do believe his statement about electrical pricing being all over the map.
Just read this forum regularly and you will see how many electrical estimating methods are used: Square foot, per opening unit pricing, hard takeoff and pricing, or just wild-ass guessing.
A lot of guys price jobs without any regard for what his "costs" are. The GC could care less if you have your costs covered. All he sees is your competition is a lot cheaper.

You already did a hard takeoff so you know the materials....if you have access to a labor unit book (or enter into a program), then apply a labor unit to each item, then extend to get your total labor hours.
This is exactly how your software would work, except a ton faster.

I used EBM for years....it's priced right, and it has modules for residential, commercial. When you have finished your estimate, you will have detail materials list, labor breakdowns by task, your estimated costs and OH&P values.
A great managing tool during the job, and a good tool to compare how you did when the dust settles.

Great suggestions, thanks. I use Accubid T&M Billing for my invoicing but not estimates. I should be able to do a search for every item and it will give me the labor unit per item. I have always been skeptical of this method but am going to give it a try. When I cannot find something in Accubid database like a siemens MC3040B1200SECW I will create it and add the labor.

Thanks A Bunch !!!