# How should I price YOUR work?



## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

I'm working on an estimate for a renovation project. I haven't dealt with alot of masons on my projects. The customer wants to tear off a small existing "addition". I need to price out infilling the area where the addition was. One course of non structural brick. Roughly 10'wx14' high. In the past I have made a separate site visit with subs if I need to, but I don't like wasting other peoples time if it's just an estimate.


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Throw in a number that you think covers it, just so you can give a quick estimate to see if the project is in range. If it is, I would then have a mason price it accurately, and then present the adjusted proposal. I just did this recently on a full bath addition. Put in price for plumbing, homeowner has expressed an interest in continuing, so Thursday I met with plumber on site to finalize numbers.


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

Warren said:


> Throw in a number that you think covers it, just so you can give a quick estimate to see if the project is in range. If it is, I would then have a mason price it accurately, and then present the adjusted proposal. I just did this recently on a full bath addition. Put in price for plumbing, homeowner has expressed in trestle in continuing, so Thursday I met with plumber on site to finalize numbers.


Thats what I was leaning towards. I told the customers I would come up with a price range, then if they want to move forward I would come up with a finalized price after that.


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## dkillianjr (Aug 28, 2006)

Hey Aaron, 

Yep I usually do exactly what Warren said. If you need a mason, I can give you a name of a guy. He's a real nice guy, does nice work, and is not crazy expensive:laughing:



Dave


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

Dave, that would be much appreciated! PM his contact when you get a chance.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

aaron_a said:


> I'm working on an estimate for a renovation project. I haven't dealt with alot of masons on my projects. The customer wants to tear off a small existing "addition". I need to price out infilling the area where the addition was. One course of non structural brick. Roughly 10'wx14' high. *In the past I have made a separate site visit with subs if I need to, but I don't like wasting other peoples time if it's just an estimate.*


How do think contractors get jobs? Estimating... a portion of that unfortunately is "wasted time"... If you don't get this job, more of the same...

Just keep in mind if you are going to "guesstimate" what the sub is going to charge, you take on the risk of being wrong and having to go to the customer for a "gimme" change order, or absorb the cost...

That said, I understand what's probably more on your mind... saving time and getting the proposal out without a bunch of site trips...

What we do is we have a list of subs we use and have incorporated their pricing into our pricing list. If there is something out of the ordinary that this does not cover, we make the customer know that we will have to get this quoted separately and is not included in the proposal. This is because the way we save time is doing the proposal same with the customer using a price list... if you don't have one of these, you'll have to add a step(s) and get it quoted...

But that is just reality for contracting...

Best of luck... 8^)

.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Jut for your edification. It's one wythe, or width, not one course.


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

dom-mas said:


> Jut for your edification. It's one wythe, or width, not one course.


I knew that:whistling


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

KAP said:


> How do think contractors get jobs? Estimating... a portion of that unfortunately is "wasted time"... If you don't get this job, more of the same...
> 
> Just keep in mind if you are going to "guesstimate" what the sub is going to charge, you take on the risk of being wrong and having to go to the customer for a "gimme" change order, or absorb the cost...
> 
> ...



I have my pricing lists for other trades that I use, and I have a good relationship with them. So I'm fine with pricing out their portion of the job, if I run into something weird, I will set up another visit and have them look. Although sometimes I can get by with a photo or something. 

Right now I'm just trying to see what I can fit into the budget they gave me, if I am on track, then I will get a mason out and talk about pricing and go from there.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

For a rough ballpark estimate I'll just ask a sub to take a look at the plan and tell me a number. For a written quote I will ask for a site visit with the sub. That's the only way to do my job properly. If the job is really tiny and the sub would only be doing a partial days work, I will occasionally use the first guesstimate as an allowance and explain why to the customer.


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## dkillianjr (Aug 28, 2006)

aaron_a said:


> Dave, that would be much appreciated! PM his contact when you get a chance.


No problem Aaron! I'll send it right over to you. 


Dave


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## dakzaag (Jan 6, 2009)

A really good way to get me not wanting to do work for you is to call me up and tell me what you have budgeted in the estimate for my work. 
I will talk or answer email regarding "ball park" estimates with another contractor because they usually understand the business enough to know that a ball park is just a ball park. 

Home owners generally remember the first thing out your mouth, so I usually give them the "let me take a look at it first" line, cause invariably something or five will be odd about the job and that first number is not close. 

You really need a mason to look at the job and see how much messing around it is going to be to get a good match. Half the time, I spend as much effort finding a good match as I do finishing the work.


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## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

Call a mason for a price, part of the game is going out and doing estimates on jobs we might not get, anybody reputable in the area will be more than happy to measure it up and give you their price, then you can do your markup for the HO and be as accurate as possible.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

And I spend all day telling people that they are out of luck trying to match an old brick, so don't plan on being able to match it.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Figure 8 brick per sq.ft. @ .55 each. Add some labor, plus some pia in there. Couple bags of something to stick them together.


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

Tscarborough said:


> And I spend all day telling people that they are out of luck trying to match an old brick, so don't plan on being able to match it.


I usually have something like "Closely match existing ______" and make it clear that because of age and patina, manufacturing variances, etc that it most likely wont be a 100% match.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

If contractors were smart they would exclude the match from their contract completely, i.e. "brick selection to be made by owner".


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

dakzaag said:


> A really good way to get me not wanting to do work for you is to call me up and tell me what you have budgeted in the estimate for my work.
> I will talk or answer email regarding "ball park" estimates with another contractor because they usually understand the business enough to know that a ball park is just a ball park.


I guess... 

One of the first thing I ask people is what their budget is. Lets me know if I need to spend anymore of my time on it, or if they need to go on craigslist...


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## Roofcheck (Dec 27, 2011)

dkillianjr said:


> Hey Aaron,
> 
> Yep I usually do exactly what Warren said. If you need a mason, I can give you a name of a guy. He's a real nice guy, does nice work, and is not crazy expensive:laughing:
> 
> ...


True networking. Love it and we should see more of this!:thumbsup:


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## Dave in Pa (Oct 10, 2009)

dkillianjr said:


> No problem Aaron! I'll send it right over to you.
> 
> 
> Dave


Aaron, I know this guy as well! You will not find a better guy to do your work, smaller jobs might be better for him? NOT sure, known him and his work for about 30 years + or -!


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