# What is the best way to determine labor costs?



## neo (Jan 18, 2006)

I am starting a job with my father-in-laws' masonry company. He wants me to start out by examining the business end of his compny and later move into estimating. One aspect I want to look at first is job costing. How do most of you estimate your labor costs? Is it an hourly wage times number of hours, or do you just use a daily rate? Any guidance would be most appreciated!

mike


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## Peladu (Jan 8, 2006)

I gave a bad answer (carpentry estimation differs from masonary).... so instead of leaving it, I deleted it.

Sorry.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

Im a relatively small masonry business. Me, another mason, and a tender. Generally for new construction I bit things out by the sq. ft. If its repair work I will do a daily rate that I would pay my workers and what I need to get myself.


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## two kids (Sep 17, 2004)

I price everything out , By the brick . Per thousand price for normal laying then so much for soldiers and arches, rollocks, steps, garage doors, any special agle, curved walls, retaining walls, etc...etc...etc..


What I usually try to do if someone want a simple price per thousand , is I will estimate how many my crew ( myself , apprentice , and a helper) can lay in a day due to the special walls or how cut up a house is , and I make sure that I can pay my men and make a min. of $ 450-500 a day. If you use this method then it wouldnt matter wether you go sq. ft. , per brick, or by the hour as long as it all adds up to the min. amount you want to make in a day. 

MOST OF THE WORK I DO IS CUSTOM, FANCY HOUSES WITH ALOT OF EXTRA FEATURES.....I dont get the chance to do too much straight work anymore. Its funny I have contractors who use bigger crews to lay their work , but if they get one of these " fancier" houses they will call me ( and my small crew), and now my average Job is about 30 thou. brick , with at least 2-3 thousand "saw" cuts.he one I am on now has 9 arches , 2 bays that are 16 ft wide and 25 feet high, which I am making special angles for, so there isnt One solid joint where the walls of the bay come together. Also this house has rought 30-35 corners in it......so pricing can vary from job to job, but if you always make the days profit work out it wont ever matter the method you use


HOPE THIS HELPS :thumbup:


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

*pricing*

on new construction,i bid it by the brick,block,or sq ft(stone).
on brick,i also have a set charge for gables,posts,planters,fireplaces,quions and such,which is all in addition to my per brick price.for instance,a customer has a 10,000 brick job with 2 gables,and a fireplace.i would charge .50cents per brick.150.00 per gable.and 2500.00 for the fireplace and chimmney.for a total of $7800.00
block is per block plus so much for grouting a cell.
repair work i generally charge by the hour.for myself and a laborer and equipment i charge $60 per hour.with a $150.00 minimum.


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