Residential Estimating Basics

[mike14mon1]

I am starting my electrical business in florida, however I am still very weak on estimating and my builder wants to put me to work next week. If possable please post some basic estimating methods that I can use untill I can do some more research on this area. This builder is helping me get my foot in the door so I can get this business off the ground and I do not want to loose him.

Job Types: Residential Addition, and Remodel
Area: Central Florida

Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[jim sutton]

Re: Residential Estimating Basics

Congrats on your business. Sounds like he has already given you the work, although I'm sure he wants a good price!

Here's my suggestion: A good electrician can make good wages working for an EC, a factory, etc. So don't sell yourself short. Keep in mind wages and benefits, truck, office, insurance etc. One big overhead cost is unbillable time. What about your time spent estimating, or time spent by you or your wife doing paperwork? Once you add all this up you will come up with your hourly rate. Keep up with your hours and material cost on the first job. Hours spent on job x hourly rate + material and misc cost= total prime cost. Take this number and divide into it the number of openings on the job. Over several jobs you can develop an average for similar jobs.

A big mistake is to let someone else tell you how much to charge. Electricians go broke every day by doing this.

I hope this helps.

 

[mike14mon1]

Re: Residential Estimating Basics

yes thank you very much

 

[charlie tuna]

Re: Residential Estimating Basics

mike,
central florida is hurting for electricians because of the hurricane damage from last year.
don't sell yourself cheap. that g.c. wants to make the most money with the least headaches! nothing wrong with that! the entire state is in an unreal property value increase--so the value of the construction work is increasing on a daily basis. i was here and in business for 25 years -- and i have worked for many g.c's! some of the smallest and a few of the largest in the nation! we provided an excellent product and top notch service ---- and for many years we could pick the contractors we wanted to work for. but in the early nineties this game of hold back money began--g.c's were hiring accountants to figure ways of holding back payments. i read an articling in a trade magazine that said eventually, there would be no g.c's and that trades would work together and directly for the owner.

i tried it ---stopped all g.c. work and only worked for building owners. it worked for me! no headaches---no hassles about money. soon i had enough money flowing in to invest in specialty stuff to bolster the owners dependency on my service. data loggers---metering---infrared scanning--building management systems ---security --- energy management. the last ten years we got it down to a nice even flow of work--constant---very little estimating---our relationships with these owners were high enough to where they would just tell us come do this and that!! thats the best nitch to be in. you have a business with happy and apprechiative customers and no worries about getting paid ---and alot of interesting work--a variety of work. we really never asked for but were told by many of our customers "if you ever run out of work, give us a call, we'll find something to work on"!
thats nice! never put all your eggs in one basket-- be independent--pay your bills on time as you expect your bills to be payed---maintain a good reputation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!