Quote too high?

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Matty

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I am a New York State electrical contractor in Westchester County. I recently installed four outdoor fixtures above four store fronts, one for each store. The fixtures were supplied by the owner. The job consisted of drilling through brick on front facade, snaking wire to inside store ceilings, which were closed sheet rocked ceilings above drop ceilings. I had to make a hole in the second closed ceiling big enough to peek in to see snake, pull wire, snake down wall to install and cut in a switch for the light. Each store was occupied so work had to be done cautiously and neatly during business hours. Three stores required a run of 25 feet of 12-2 BX and boxes, one required a further run of 75 feet and to pick up a feed in basement, and snake in wall to switch location. Fixtures required to be drilled and raw plugged for mounting, total hours 12, a day and a half, one man I charged $1600, $400 per store, was I too expensive??????????
 
It sounds reasonable to me. The building owner must have agreed to the price right? I am surprised you hung signs on your own I usually would have a second man but thats of no concern here.
 
You supplied 150' of 12-2 BX, 4 switches boxes, 4 switches & 4 plates. You didn't mention a permit or parking or any other costs. So would $200 be a fair retail price of your costs? Assuming so:

$1600 - $200 = $1400

$1400 / 12 (hours) = $116.67 per hour.

Is that about the going rate for an Electrician in your area?
 
quite fair.

my guess is you had 12 on site and min another 4 with travel, supply house, etc.

this is probably the only job you did for those 2 days (or 16 hours) correct?

which would actually put your hourly rate at $1400/16= $87.50

in central NJ and our goal is $1000/day + material for a service truck.

was the pricing given before the job or after? makes a big difference.
 
Matty said:
Was I too expensive??????????
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If there was a price quote up-front then it doesn't matter. Price Quote = invoice amount. End of story.

If the job was T&M, was the customer given your hourly rate up-front.
Hourly Rate X Man Hrs. + Materials + hidden fees = invoice amount.


I was kind of joking about the hidden fees. But these can include trip charge or travel if over 30 miles out, Admin. Fee ( I charge a small amount for having to bill and wait for the money, If they write a check upon completion there is no charge), Late fees ( if the bill is not paid within 30 days ),

The price sounds fair enough to me but if they can get someone to work cheaper they will next time. Would you rather do one job and make a thousand dollars or do two jobs to make a thousand dollars. Don't let anyone tell you that if you work cheap you will have a customer for life because they are always looking for a better deal.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Get what you can while the getting is good because you can lower your prices if times get tight.
 
Quote "Is that about the going rate for an Electrician in your area?"


Going rate, watching what the other guy's charge, so everyone can loose the same amount of money!

Quote "you can lower your prices if times get tight."

You can? If times get tight,

Will your phone bill get lowered?
Will your insurance payments decrease?
Will your truck overhead and operating cost change?
Will the state and federal taxes decrease?
Can you cut your wages in tight times?

Back in the 70's there was a slow period, that lasted for almost 2 years, the ones that survived, were the ones that increased their rates during the slow down.
 
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satcom said:
Back in the 70's there was a slow period, that lasted for almost 2 years, the ones that survived, were the ones that increased their rates during the slow down.
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Same thing happened in the early 90's and now the mid 00's.

If people simply lowered their prices when times were slow, we would still be charging 1970's rates (or less!).

I've asked a couple of guys what they charge for a typical 200A service...most say about $1600. That was my price in in 1993. Today's price is $2500....and heading towards $3000 before the end of the decade.

****

Getting back to the OP for the first time,
Matty said:
...work had to be done cautiously ...
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...speaks volumes.
Q: Why couldn't the work be performed during off hours?
A: Owner/s didn't want to pay premium time for the electrician and/or to keep an employee on the clock during the off time.


No price would have been "satisfactory" (cheap enough) for the client.
 
satcom said:
Quote "Is that about the going rate for an Electrician in your area?"


Going rate, watching what the other guy's charge, so everyone can loose the same amount of money!
Click to expand...

The beauty of a forum such as this, is, someone can always read into another persons post.

What I meant was. I am not the cheapest EC in town, nor do I care to be. However, I am not the most expensive EC around either. My rates are "average" or slightly higher.

I was only asking the OP about the market rates for his area. Not that it really matters much.

Customers can be fickle. There is no loyalty with many. If this job was a little high to them, the next might be the bargain that they are looking for.
 
Quote "Customers can be fickle. There is no loyalty with many. If this job was a little high to them, the next might be the bargain that they are looking for."

I understand, the words going rate, is what drives me nuts, the thinking alone that your costs, and anothers costs being even close to the same is scarry.


Quote "The beauty of a forum such as this, is, someone can always read into another persons post."

What I believe is there are a lot of guys posting, on business matters that are either not in business, or have day jobs, and do some work on the side, as you said; "someone can always read into another persons post." The guys that are in it, for the long haul already know the cost of doing business.
 
satcom said:
I understand, the words going rate, is what drives me nuts, the thinking alone that your costs, and anothers costs being even close to the same is scarry.
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When you go to buy a new truck do you check to see if they have gold plated uninals in their bathrooms ( overhead ) or do you see what kind of deal they offer. The guy comming in to buy a 300k Auto may be interested in the fancy heads but the average guy just wants a deal. If he can't get the deal he's looking for then he goes to the next dealer.

If he goes to three dealerships and the truck is selling for about the same money then he gives up and buys one. If the prices are all over the place then why not keep shopping ( It's what I would do, someone may be really cheap).

If your operating cost are low should you work cheaper or move that money over to the profit column. I vote for profit column.

The reason to know the "so called " going rate in your area is so that you get a certain percentage of the jobs that you bid. I bid a remodeling job about three years ago and won the job but there wasn't a $100 difference in the bids ( all three ). I would rather low bid $25 dollars than $2500 any day of the week. The GC thought there was some price fixing going on. I had no idea what the others were going to bid, just a good idea of what the job should pay. The other contractors had a higher overhead so I raised my price to where I had a chance of getting the job but close. ( all the advantage was mine, close to home, worked with GC before, know the homeowner) but I didn't see any reason to work cheap.

In a Free Market Economy the price of any service is whatever the market will bear. Operating cost have nothing to do with it. Just look at our auto industry, high overhead, fancy urinals, can't compete.

In my opinion knowing the rate for an area just keeps you in the ballpark. Keeps you from over bidding ( loseing to many jobs) and even worse under bidding ( not making any money ).
 
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growler said:
The reason to know the "so called " going rate in your area is so that you get a certain percentage of the jobs that you bid. I bid a remodeling job about three years ago and won the job but there wasn't a $100 difference in the bids ( all three ). I would rather low bid $25 dollars than $2500 any day of the week.

In my opinion knowing the rate for an area just keeps you in the ballpark. Keeps you from over bidding ( loseing to many jobs) and even worse under bidding ( not making any money ).
Click to expand...

That is correct, but some use the so called going rate to base their pricing, that is where it can go wrong.
 
The first time I do work for ANY customer I try to manage a fair price. I mean honestly fair. I will not rip off a customer and I also will not pay any attention to their claims that "they have some other work coming up" alluding to the possibility that you should drop your price in order to get the upcoming work.
However, I AM susceptible to accepting less than fair terms out of fear that I might lose the job altogether during the early part of each year when my wallet is looking thin. It's something I'd like to learn more about.
 
You got paid, right? If you had charged half as much, the customer might still complain. And you would be unhappy if you lost money. At least your happy. You have to decide what your investment in equipment, training and time are worth. I've found it's better to stay home than to lose money on any job. The value to his business added by your work was worth at least that much. He'll make money off of the work you did, it is the cost of doing business and a write off.
 
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