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Bidding Jobs

2/23/17       
Michael A

I have been building and installing for others for 20+ years. I now am in the situation where I run my own shop, owned by another. I have never had to bid jobs or purchase material before. Purchasing will come in another post, for now, what would you bid this at? Corner cabinet allows for 50" tv, other cabinet is 4' wide. 8' ceiling. Wood is maple, stained and finished to match the kitchen cabinets. Doors and end panels solid wood, raised panel. Lighting with glass shelves. Base cabinet 21" deep, upper 12".

Click the link below to download the file included with this post.

Madlfamilyroom.skp

2/24/17       #2: Bidding Jobs ...
Family Man

Michael,
I can't seem to see the image without downloading it- something I don't do off the internet.

I'm afraid our advice will only confuse you as much as help you without knowing where you are located. I am always surprised how much custom cabinetry varies from one area of the country to another but it does and drastically.

See if you can find a way to post it without having to download it or email it to me and I will give you what I would bid it at if it would be helpful to you. Good luck-

2/24/17       #3: Bidding Jobs ...
Ledgy

Its really simple. This is how I would "bid" any job. Add cost of materials to estimated labor cost, then add markup. Markup is overhead AND a reasonable profit.

There's only one person who knows the labor and material cost and how much to markup for the shop - you.

2/24/17       #4: Bidding Jobs ...
Michael A

Ledgy - That's exactly what I did and got a number that is a little scary to this inexperienced bidder. Just looking for some 'experienced' opinions.


View higher quality, full size image (1920 X 883)

2/24/17       #5: Bidding Jobs ...
Family Man

3.8-4k uninstalled, but finished. No glass included. No pulls. Delivery included

2/24/17       #6: Bidding Jobs ...
Ledgy

Don't change your numbers because it's scary. You can't pay less on the insurance or electric because its scary. Call the materials supplier, offer him less, for the same reason.
Pay the help less... you see? If you change the numbers, it'll cost YOU more. Not only lose profit, but cost you something. It would be cheaper to pay the customer to walk away.

If you've done a good job figuring materials and labor, added the appropriate markup that covers your overhead and profit, then use that number!

If the customer walks away, no big deal.

If they sign the deal, they get what they wanted and you've done good business. You've sold a nice job, hold your head up, be proud of the work you've put into it and the shop has put out. You've covered your expenses and made a reasonable profit. That's good business. That's when business is fun and rewarding!

2/24/17       #7: Bidding Jobs ...
Alan F.

There are some rule of thumb checks on pricing
Ratio of materials to sales price
Ratio of labor to sales price.

Direct (no overhead) labor cost as a percentage of sales.

Big picture is sales dollars per production hour

if you want to sell $200,000 worth of work in a year and you have 1500 production hours then your going to average $133 per hour of production time.
If you think this project is 28 hours then your price would be $3,734.00 and that get oh and everything.
This is flawed method as it averages high and low cost materials and high and low labor sales but its a useful "first look" at a price from another angle

If you knew what your gross margin was or what tor target gross margin is you could also reverse it in.

At a minimum your gross margin should be in the 38% range, you could divide your direct cost by .62 (1-.38) and see how close that is your total price.

A-

2/26/17       #8: Bidding Jobs ...
Michael A

Thanks for the response guys. And also the encouragement. I can't believe I forgot about the having fun part. Going to have to work on that...

4/6/17       #9: Bidding Jobs ...
chris

I'm gonna say $7K finished and delivered
$1300 install
Bay area, CA in a fancy area


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