New resi pricing
- Thread starter nizak
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mcclary's electrical
Senior Member
- Location
- VA
For a cut and dry, cookie cutter house, with no extras, code minimum, that $2.50 is close or slightly below what similar houses are going for here. A sq ft price can vary alot with design, I've bid houses at $15.00 before
dnbob
Senior Member
- Location
- Rochester, MN
Ours are all priced by the opening. When we have done the math, the square foot number is within penny's of the per opening price. I don't bid the houses vey often, but I think between $2.50 and $3.00 /sq.ft. should be close.
Bob
Bob
CopperTone
Senior Member
- Location
- MetroWest, MA
how do you guys figure a sq ft price? I understand selling carpet or roofing by the sq ft but electrical? the only way you could is to figure out how much a job would be then divide that cost by the sq ft of the house. How do you account for basement work, attic work, outside lighting, recessed lights, under cabinet lights, cable, telephone, other data, smoke alarms. I've wired the same sq ft house that was 10k difference in price.
I hear GC's using that term all the time - how much per sq ft? in reality that number only comes from historical data of past projects. Hindsight almost - or really. I think most gc's don't know what they are talking about when they want a st ft price for electrical.
At what point does a bedroom increase in sq footage before another receptacle is required? does that price include closet lights and a switch, an overhead light or a switched outlet?
Where I live it isn't done like that at all - everyone would be fighting with each other about what is included in the sq ft price.
I hear GC's using that term all the time - how much per sq ft? in reality that number only comes from historical data of past projects. Hindsight almost - or really. I think most gc's don't know what they are talking about when they want a st ft price for electrical.
At what point does a bedroom increase in sq footage before another receptacle is required? does that price include closet lights and a switch, an overhead light or a switched outlet?
Where I live it isn't done like that at all - everyone would be fighting with each other about what is included in the sq ft price.
The guys giving a square foot price on electrical work, are usually still in the learning curve of job pricing, and some never learn.
do not fear sq ft pricing....it is god's gift to all EC's....it is a code minimum starting point....then all of the things the GC either forgot or now wants get sold by you ale carte.
growler
Senior Member
- Location
- Atlanta,GA
Could I get that price on say a 1200 sq ft Bungalow type house? We have total electric heat and tankless hot water so we would need that big of a service.
It may be possible on a 4000 sq ft code minimum but the smaller the house the harder it's going to be to use that price.
The next thing to consider is how many houses are they going to do for that price. If they do a hundred houses in the same neighborhood they have a much better chance of making money than if you tried to do one single house for anything close to that.
You can buy almost anything cheaper if you can buy in bulk.
mcclary's electrical
Senior Member
- Location
- VA
Outside floods, closet lights, recesed cans, over head light with switched outlet, data outlets, are all EXTRAS,,,not code minimum. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to get that. Every time this subjuect comes it smart remarks such as "how much is a sq ft. of romex" and things like that. The remark about people pricing by sq ft are "young and dumb",,,,that's the silliest thing I've EVER heard. In FACT,,,,it's THE OPPOSITE,,,,if you've roughed in (100) homes for a GC in the past, all under 2000 sq ft. Most GC only build a few different styles of homes, THERE IS NO REASON you cannot come up with a sq ft price that will allow you to throw a price at a house within minutes of looking at the plans. I think if you're one of those guys who wants to CRUNCH every number, every manhour, every receptacle, THAT is more of a sign of being green.
Just because it's not your style, don't act as if it's impossible, or silly.
That is funny, or you must have some really rare and nice GC's in your area, a GC that shops square foot pricing, on electrical work is usually looking for a new green guy ready to accept work at any price, and he may be depending on making up the loss on additional work, which even if it happens, good luck on getting paid for the additional work, chances are good, you may not get paid for it, new construction work, is a good workout, but it never was a money maker, the guys that loose the most are the ones that do the add on work and never get paid for it.
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It is not impossible, or silly, but it does have to be your style of operating, there could be pages on the history of tract contracting.
mcclary's electrical
Senior Member
- Location
- VA
It would take several years of tweaking it for each GC that you work for,,,,,so why do you imply it's a rookie thing? I call a rookie thing counting every switch and every inch of wire
Ft? pricing only works in tract housing.... cookie cutter jobs where they're all pretty much the same size. Every one has the same main service, the same number of devices, the same appliances, etc.
Once you get out of that type of housing, ft? pricing falls apart miserably. You end up doing little houses for a huge loss, and bigger houses you never get because you're too expensive.
I'll start doing ft? pricing once I can buy wire, devices, boxes, panels, breakers, etc. by the square foot.
frankft2000
Senior Member
- Location
- Maine
I'll start bidding by the opening as soon as I start getting blueprints for houses.
electricguy61
Senior Member
let's see: $2.50 per sq ft on a 2000ft house= $5000
Surely someone's pulling your leg
Surely someone's pulling your leg
stevenje
Senior Member
- Location
- Yachats Oregon
Are most of the prints that you bid show just the code minimum requirements?
electricmanscott
Senior Member
- Location
- Boston, MA
I don't think I have ever bid a new house with electrical prints.
It is pretty much standard operating procedure around here to bid minimum code sq foot price.
It is pretty much standard operating procedure around here to bid minimum code sq foot price.
mcclary's electrical
Senior Member
- Location
- VA
They wired a 3700 sq ft home down the road from me and the low bid was 49K which was not out of line considering last year they did a 4000 sq for 62K but these are not code min jobs, and you have to remember there are guys doing these jobs for min pay, so it is possible to find someone that likes to work like crazy, all day for min wages, and most don't worry about those things that increase job costs like taxes, insurance, and overhead, and saving for retirement, just pay me cash and will get my old beater truck off the job site.
mcclary's electrical
Senior Member
- Location
- VA
If the print has details, of course you bid to the print. But if a print shows no electrical details, only sq ft and framing details, I bid code minimum. I'm not gonna plan on can lights and such, that would allow someone to outbid me. If they want to add cans once we get going, that's certainly not a problem.
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