# How to price a commercial job



## Datbosnian (Aug 4, 2017)

Hi everyone!! I am fairly new in this business (4years) mostly I have priced out interior jobs. I got my 1st commercial job and the numbers I am coming up are BIG. So the square footage of the garage is 8550sqft. How much would any of you charge for a place that size? Please help!!!


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## kirkdc (Feb 16, 2017)

How long is it going to take you to do the job (man hours)?

What will be your cost in supplies? 

How much profit do you want to make ?


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

We dont do pricing here.

You need to bid it at what ever your numbers come out to.

Commercial painting is VERY COMPETITIVE...


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## Irishslave (Jun 20, 2010)

griz said:


> We dont do pricing here.
> 
> You need to bid it at what ever your numbers come out to.
> 
> Commercial painting is VERY COMPETITIVE...


Every upstart wants the big stuff thinkin the big money is there. Been there. Done that. It's there _sometimes_ but you'll earn it and most times you'll wait on your money. If it's government work yeah it's worth it otherwise....:no: too much skin in...too much stress 

I'd rather have 10 jobs I KNOW I'll make $1000 each on than one I THINK I'll make $10,000 on


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## Datbosnian (Aug 4, 2017)

kirkdc said:


> How long is it going to take you to do the job (man hours)?
> 
> What will be your cost in supplies?
> 
> How much profit do you want to make ?


Thank you very much for positive input! Not in it for the huge profit I look at it as a future business opportunity, place is privately owned and there is other property that needs to get painted.
I guess when I did the bid (since "we" don't do pricing here) including sqft, materials and labor the number was big. I just want to make sure I am not over charging. Like I said I am looking towards future opportunities


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## Irishslave (Jun 20, 2010)

I did some government work once for the state as a sub. I put in an outrageous bid many times what anyone else would pay. The general needed me as he couldn't find anyone else on short notice to make these repairs. He was a little perturbed at the price but he knew the state would pay. Nobody really checked on us and I knew we could make these repairs easy and quick so we did the preliminary stuff and then hid out for about a week...as long as they saw our trucks parked there they assumed we were hard at it..we finished up and waited....we got paid about 2 months later....when my wife found out how much money I made she wanted a new bedroom set...well she got it no problem 

Ah government work....nothing like it anywhere


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## Caslon (Dec 15, 2007)

Datbosnian said:


> Hi everyone!! I am fairly new in this business (4years) mostly I have priced out interior jobs. I got my 1st commercial job and the numbers I am coming up are BIG


Are the numbers too big for us? You may want to look elsewhare.


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## Marcus11 (Sep 18, 2017)

What's your hourly rate ?

How much cost of the supplies ?


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## Ohio painter (Dec 4, 2011)

Go back over your figures and make sure you have it right on how much materials and labor will take. Add in your overhead and profit. Then submit your bid. If you get it great if you don't then move on and sleep well that you didn't price it too low. Don't second guess yourself that you should have priced it lower as you will start down a slippery slope.
Forget square foot pricing.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

Datbosnian said:


> Thank you very much for positive input! *Not in it for the huge profit I look at it as a future business opportunity, *place is privately owned and there is other property that needs to get painted.
> I guess when I did the bid (since "we" don't do pricing here) including sqft, materials and labor the number was big. I just want to make sure I am not over charging. Like I said I am looking towards future opportunities


That is a dangerous siren song that can derail your business over time... how many times have you heard from customers "give me a good price on THIS job, and I have future work for you"... unless it's in writing, you have no guarantee of that future business, so stayed focused on the business at hand...

If you feel the numbers you ran for the project are in line with your pricing structure, and covers Labor (including yours and any helpers/employees plus loaded costs), Materials, Overhead (taxes, insurance, vehicle, vehicle maintenance, cell, etc.) AND Profit (which is what you pay your business not to be confused with what you pay yourself with whatever's leftover after everyone else is paid, then the number is what it is... it's what it costs YOU to be in business... 

Don't let a large number for a large project make you second guess what's apparently been working for you regarding pricing for four years...


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Irishslave said:


> Every upstart wants the big stuff thinkin the big money is there. Been there. Done that. It's there _sometimes_ but you'll earn it and most times you'll wait on your money. If it's government work yeah it's worth it otherwise....:no: too much skin in...too much stress
> 
> I'd rather have 10 jobs I KNOW I'll make $1000 each on than one I THINK I'll make $10,000 on


I'm quite the opposite. With 10 little jobs you have 10x the number of people to deal with, 10x the locations to go to for warranty work, 10x the amount of effort put into sales...the more work you can get on a single site the better off you are.


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Irishslave said:


> I did some government work once for the state as a sub. I put in an outrageous bid many times what anyone else would pay. The general needed me as he couldn't find anyone else on short notice to make these repairs. He was a little perturbed at the price but he knew the state would pay. Nobody really checked on us and I knew we could make these repairs easy and quick so we did the preliminary stuff and then hid out for about a week...as long as they saw our trucks parked there they assumed we were hard at it..we finished up and waited....we got paid about 2 months later....when my wife found out how much money I made she wanted a new bedroom set...well she got it no problem
> 
> Ah government work....nothing like it anywhere


I find the opposite. Must just be Texas, but state work doesn't seem to pay real well. My margin in private commercial is quite a bit higher than when I bid state work, and I usually don't get the state work because I get beat on price. 

Been a while since I did anything with the state but if it's anything like the county work it's probably still the same :laughing:


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Inner10 said:


> I'm quite the opposite. With 10 little jobs you have 10x the number of people to deal with, 10x the locations to go to for warranty work, 10x the amount of effort put into sales...the more work you can get on a single site the better off you are.


I would definitely rather build a house than remodel 10 bathrooms for the same money, but I think I was just saying that he would rather have 10 smaller jobs and not have to worry about getting paid or when he would get paid


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## Ohio painter (Dec 4, 2011)

I agree with KAP, the promise of future work is always a red flag. Price the job at what it costs you to do the job with a profit at the end. If you do a good job, price is what you said it was, done on time, then they will call you back for the future work. In the mean time put that out of your mind.


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## overanalyze (Dec 28, 2010)

I find running a large job affords me more flexibility to fit a few smaller jobs in to our schedule vs trying to schedule all smaller jobs. 

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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

Inner10 said:


> I'm quite the opposite. With 10 little jobs you have 10x the number of people to deal with, 10x the locations to go to for warranty work, 10x the amount of effort put into sales...the more work you can get on a single site the better off you are.




Try booking 30-40 jobs per month lol. Total rat race that burns me out a few times a year. 


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

If I only did one thing smaller jobs would be fine, but they are a pain for me. It involves too much time, scheduling the job, getting materials, gathering tools, etc.

The only thing that might be good about it is a constant flow of income rather than waiting for draws.


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## dbbii2 (Apr 27, 2017)

I always get a kick out of people who bid stuff by the square foot of floor area. Take the OP. You need to know how many SF of WALL area, how many doors, how much trim, etc. What products are you using? What kind of SF/gallon do YOU get? The data sheets on paint usually give you some kind of a crazy range; 200 to 400 SF/gal. 

Yeah after I do all the math for that, I usually keep an internal sheet that says this job was $x/SF. It's more a a final check than anything.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Jaws said:


> I would definitely rather build a house than remodel 10 bathrooms for the same money, but I think I was just saying that he would rather have 10 smaller jobs and not have to worry about getting paid or when he would get paid


That's good, it weeds out contractors without working capital, less competition.



NYgutterguy said:


> Try booking 30-40 jobs per month lol. Total rat race that burns me out a few times a year.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I feel your pain, I think 10% of my profit is from service calls, yet they eat up 70% of my time.


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## Irishslave (Jun 20, 2010)

Jaws said:


> I find the opposite. Must just be Texas, but state work doesn't seem to pay real well. My margin in private commercial is quite a bit higher than when I bid state work, and I usually don't get the state work because I get beat on price.
> 
> Been a while since I did anything with the state but if it's anything like the county work it's probably still the same :laughing:


I really do believe that was a one time shot for me. It was short notice and they needed it quick as the facility needed the area for immediate use. 

Thereafter I had three bids that were rejected....so I gave up....let the other schmucks lose their ass or work for wages...I'm not interested


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## Irishslave (Jun 20, 2010)

Inner10 said:


> That's good, it weeds out contractors without working capital, less competition.
> 
> 
> 
> .


You'd think. I'm not a finance company and if I am try getting interest from a commercial general on a 90 day net. This is my problem with long money....I do it but on my terms...not theirs..That was my point I'd rather make it in small increments where *I know* it's there. 

On large accounts I'd rather work escrowed funds....I've seen too many stings on large commercial jobs. I know a guy that's owed 190k....and he'll never get it because the company filed bankrupt


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Inner10 said:


> That's good, it weeds out contractors without working capital, less competition.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain, I think 10% of my profit is from service calls, yet they eat up 70% of my time.


Yep and so does the Bond, but if it's low end price what's the payoff?

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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Irishslave said:


> You'd think. I'm not a finance company and if I am try getting interest from a commercial general on a 90 day net. This is my problem with long money....I do it but on my terms...not theirs..That was my point I'd rather make it in small increments where *I know* it's there.
> 
> On large accounts I'd rather work escrowed funds....I've seen too many stings on large commercial jobs. I know a guy that's owed 190k....and he'll never get it because the company filed bankrupt


Now days being a commercial sub is risky. I haven't sub contracted anything since 2011. Enough risk as a General, adding another layer between me and the money is a no go.

The private commercial we do longer term payments with we charge compensation for it


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## Fishindude (Aug 15, 2017)

Datbosnian said:


> Hi everyone!! I am fairly new in this business (4years) mostly I have priced out interior jobs. I got my 1st commercial job and the numbers I am coming up are BIG. So the square footage of the garage is 8550sqft. How much would any of you charge for a place that size? Please help!!!


Pretty wide open question that can only be answered with a bunch of questions:

What type of construction is it?
How tall is it?
Ceilings too?
Floors?
What kind of paint job are they wanting?
How much cleaning required?
Interior doors, walls, etc.?
Are you color coding pipes?
Many obstructions to work around?
Are manlifts required?
Do we have to protect things?


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