Pricing work

[J g Mason decorators]

people with several employees, when you are pricing work do you base that price on how long it would take 1 employee to complete that job. So say a job would would take 1 man 10 days to complete and you charge as a round figure £100 per day that job would cost £1000, and then part way through the job you send a second person onto that job, would you plan for that when pricing and work out before hand what each person should get done per day, or just base the job on how many days for 1 person. If that makes any sense ?

 

[elad]

Price based on how much work is required for said individual. If you have 2 men on a job, pay them equally, because they are doing equal amounts of work (in theory). If a job is £100/day per person, and you send a second person onto the job mid-way through, you pay both employees £100/day, and the job should theoretically be finished in half the time.

 

[Larry G. Maguire]

Price your jobs in man/days or man/hours. It doesn't matter if you have two guys on the job or twenty guys on the job. The more guys on the job the quicker it's done. Two guys in one day will likely give you better productivity than one guy in two days. Know what I mean?

You should price your work based on how many days will it take one man to complete the job. Or, you may feel that's it's more efficient to price your work based on one man + apprentice. Whatever base rate you choose to use doesn't matter as long as you remain consistent.

[Your cost to employ a man (base hourly rate + employers tax + holidays + all other expenses and costs) + profit (20% or 30% or whatever you choose) x 8 (hours per day)= Your day rate.]

 

[ZeroDouble]

In addition to the above, you need to factor in all other costs as well; fuel to get to the job, consumables, administration costs, % of annual vehicle repairs and maintenance, % of office rental costs, % of business rates, % of insurance costs, % of accountancy fees, etc, etc.

Also, bear in mind that having 2 men on a job doesn't always mean that it will be finished twice as quick, and always allocate a bit of extra time for unexpected occurrences.

 

[AllUpHere]

Price your jobs in man/days or man/hours. It doesn't matter if you have two guys on the job or twenty guys on the job. The more guys on the job the quicker it's done. Two guys in one day will likely give you better productivity than one guy in two days. Know what I mean?

I don't agree with that at all. There are all sorts of other things to be taken into account. Having 20 guys trying to paint the same house at the same time isn't going to get the job done 20 times quicker at all. The same is true for any trades type business; you can't put 20 sparks in the same house and expect to have them there for only 5 % of the time it would take 1 guy, that's ridiculous.

I'd even argue that often 1 guy in 2 days will do more than 2 guys in 1 day (with all other things being equal).

 

[J g Mason decorators]

AllupHere I tend to agree with you, if a job should take 1 man six days doesn't mean 2 men 3 days, this is where it becomes difficult pricing for 1 man and then bringing a second man onto the same job. If we price a job for 2 men it then works out more expensive than pricing for one.

 

[Richardveal]

I'm a roofer and I go by sq m prices, you can pick up a pricing book I got mine from the federation of roofing ( well nicked it off my brother ) but that's where he got his. There's a federation for every trade I believe

 

[Gecko001]

Have you thought of contacting a quantity surveyor who does work for the building trade? They should be able to help you get a price for the bigger jobs such as commercial work such as painting offices, shops, factories etc. The smaller jobs probably can be worked out on a per man/day rate as suggested. By the way I am not a quantity surveyor.

 

[Tom Smart]

Personally I think £100 is really low. You should be charging more than that for the first man, I think would be less of a dilemma for you if you were charging more in the first place, by all means break even on the second man to speed things up(obviously charge more if feasible) . Customers will prefer a job completed quickly.