# Square footage prices please --



## NSolano (Dec 16, 2004)

I am assuming you are going to be painting a big project. When it comes to these big ones, you don't estimate like you would for homeowners. I see how the people on this board estimate it, they are doing small ass jobs, such as one house or something, thats why they look at man hours and stuff like that. 
for big jobs, such as 140 townhouses in less than 9 months, which is what kind of contracts I do, you have to estimate by square foot, thats the easiest way around it, since the painting is not too delicate and you don't have to repair anything. You just come in, prime it, second coat, and finally third coat. This would usually include the caulking and preparing of the townhomes. For single homes the cost is different. 
Now I am going to throw a generic figure, this is not what I would charge becuase it also depends on the complexity and size of the project.
Genericly speaking you want to charge $1.25 to $1.30 per sq. foot when it comes to townhomes, for single homes the rate goes from $1.50 to $2.00.
now remember this all depends on the size of the project.
if you are painting, say only two single houses and thats it, you want to charge twice as much becuase now you have to go back to the hourly and labor method, hope this helps.


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## AAPaint (Apr 18, 2005)

I don't see it working out that way for me ever. I don't do just small ass jobs, as you put it, either. However, every single job I do is calculated by man hours, overhead, and profit regardless. I don't see how some cookie cutter $X.XX/sq. ft. will fit just anybody's business. I would never do 3 coats for 1.25-1.30 sq....I guarantee without breaking it down we'll be closer to $4 sq. ft. and that's just to stay alive and put a little change in the bank at the end. 

The point is really this. If you dont know what it costs you to operate for a full day with all of your costs added in, including profit...there's no way to bid a job. Now, you can come up with a price, and divide it by the sq. ft. to get what your sq ft. price would be....but I don't see how anyone runs a business just guessing generic numbers between $1.25-2.00/ft. 

We all know that doing new construction you get robbed because a lot of GC's aren't willing to pay for the quality...they just want cheap and fast. I say to hell with that. I'd rather do twenty small jobs (for more profit) than one big job for almost no margin. Just because they are a GC doesn't mean it's wholesale on my labor....I am a retail service based business and I expect to be paid as such. I guess I just don't like when someone thinks that all my expenses should be covered under the umbrella of what I consider "guesstimated" numbers.


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## ProWallGuy (Oct 17, 2003)

> I'd rather do twenty small jobs (for more profit) than one big job for almost no margin.


Wørd.


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

Mike Finley said:


> Come on now painters! Help me out here.
> 
> Let me try it this way.
> 
> ...


For a customer I'd charge for 12 hours, that'd give me a fudge factor
With your scenerio it doesn't look like much could crop up, it's just that's rarely the case lol
But with your scenerio I would be able to do it in 8 no problem
...no windows or doors, probably less


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

Whoa I just measured out 10 x 10 on the floor
That's pretty small
I was thinking more of a typical room size
That would be less than 8 of actual brush to wall time for sure

But there's no way I'd charge a customer less than 8 hours


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## AAPaint (Apr 18, 2005)

It would only take me about 6 hours by myself to do two top coats on a room that size, I think....but there's no way to prime, and put two top coats on in a day due to dry times for each coat. I would split the priming and painting into two days. Couple hours one day to prime. 5-6 hours the next day to paint. Of course then, I would have to add in for the extra trip back to the job.


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## BUCKHAVEN (Oct 17, 2005)

*small ass jobs*

agreed small jobs.... Multi-family you get from 450 -600 bucks PER UNIT (exterior). avg sq. ft might be 800 so your sq ft price is $1.52. So you ask how to make money at 1.52 for re-paints. Well while your getting 4 bucks a foot I can pay $180 a unit labor $95 a unit materials another 100 bucks overhead and still net $ 100 or better per unit.......well at a 450 unit property thats 45k in 3 months now add the four other jobs going on at the same time and TADA thats how you make money at sq. ft prices . If your not in that market no you should not even worry bout sq.ft. Your better off at your retail prices and estimating practices...................


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## Zatol (Dec 4, 2005)

My painters have always charged by the sf... Currently, we pay 1.65 per sf.


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

Zatol said:


> My painters have always charged by the sf... Currently, we pay 1.65 per sf.


...where are you at? I'm looking for work for next month


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