Price per sq. foot.

[JFletcher]

sq ft means little.

6000ft2 house, nothing fancy = ???
same house, add on demand water heater, spa, generator. now we're talking upping the service from 200/400 to 400/600amps, five figures for genny, two additional panels for heaters and spa, etc.

1 hr drive there and back, how many trips to complete? figuring a dozen, that's 24 hours over what a local project would require. billing at even 50 an hour, that's 1200$ more. if his house is 2400+ft2, then raising your rates 50c/foot will cover drive time.

and yes count the garage! receptacles, lights, garage door wiring, doorbell wiring, etc etc - it's not like the garage will have no electrical.

I liked doing estimates for hotels for the v/d/v. All i really needed was location of the property, # of drops, avg distance of home runs, metal boxes/ENT or free-run cable/plastic boxes, ceiling detail, # of cameras, and a few other things, and I could put together a very accurate bid site or prints unseen in a few hours.

 

[cdslotz]

i always bid by the square foot. i am trying to do so now myself. the trouble is trying to figure out How Much to charge per sq. ft!

Wait...what?

 

[jumper]

sq ft means little.

6000ft2 house, nothing fancy = ???
same house, add on demand water heater, spa, generator. now we're talking upping the service from 200/400 to 400/600amps, five figures for genny, two additional panels for heaters and spa, etc.
.

Um, you forgot my custom wood and metal workshop, in house theatre for 10 people, mega game room, and the pool cabana.

I thought we talked about this? It’s not gonna be extra is it?

 

[LarryFine]

I've never priced a job by footage.

 

[JFletcher]

Um, you forgot my custom wood and metal workshop, in house theatre for 10 people, mega game room, and the pool cabana.

I thought we talked about this? It’s not gonna be extra is it?

And mancave, double laundry and kitchens, wine/beer bar, and holiday lighting in 30 windows along with 25, no make that 125, LV landscaping lights. and all lights dimmable. of course that's included in my standard price, doesnt everyone have those things? :roll:

oh, and five figures worth of wainscoating and thick fancy backsplashes that ruins the wall detail. gets pricey and aggravating to use box extenders/inserts on half the boxes in the house. Next time any custom job is getting all adjustable boxes.

 

[cdslotz]

I've never priced a job by footage.

that's why you're still in business....

 

[KD4315]

I've never done residential, only commercial and industrial. The only time I've ever used square footage pricing for actual bid prices are conceptual budgets where we just have renderings or a narrative and no plans. That price is usually heavily inflated with exaggerated OH&P. I do use square footage pricing as an internal check though. It's a great tool to use as a check. Never a hard bid.