We do mostly interior painting and exterior carpentry. Several of my customers have asked us to do exterior painting. I have painted a few houses but I am not an expert by any means. Can someone out there tell me how to do exterior estimating. I am slowly learning how to do it right but would like to learn how to make money at it.
Estimating
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please use the search function, it is your friend.
Also referals and networking can be a wonderful thing. It may behoove you to find a reputable painter and work out a referal with him. I know that I have that with several contractors and it works back and forth great.
They may ultimately send you some good projects too.
JMO
They may ultimately send you some good projects too.
JMO
I think I have asked a very simple question to a very large group of painting professionals. My best friend bought an exterior painting franchise in Mass. and lost his ass. He sent me estimating forms he was using. I have used them and it seems that I am always over priced. I know there is money to be made here and I will find out how to do it with or without your help.
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Well now, thats a sure fire way to win friends and influence people.
Asking a group of painters how to estimate exterior painting is like asking a group of carpenters how to estimate framing or finish carpentry. The devil is in the details. Each house has different details and issues. There is no blanket answer. Many of us probably do it from production rates that we have tracked over the years. So, one company's pricing would be very different from the next. Perhaps if you gave more detail as to they types of exteriors you are looking to price, you would get more specific responses. And by the way, if you search for "estimating", you will find lots of great info about it in the archives here.
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absolutely. It really can be the best kind of advertising because its free, running all the time, and once you get your foot in the door, the sale is easier because it was usually someone they trust that got you there, so they trust you through association.
You guys are right about the networking. The funny thing is that alot of our exterior work comes from my power washing guy. We don't have the right sized equipment to power wash decks so I give him the whole job, house and all. We build decks and stain them to. Why would I pass up $600.00 to spray the deck I just built. I neeed to find a good exterior painter that I can trust not take my carpentry business and let the chips fall. With the way things are going when I see money on the table I think about now and not the future.
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If it was that simple, everybody would be doing it, and we'd all be very wealthy by now. :laughing:
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cant help but to laugh when reading that.
but I can't think of any painter that stole a carpenters work. Quite different skills and tools required for both. I mean I do replace the occasional rotten board, but that comes with part of the painting process and if I had to get a carpenter out every time I wanted to do something like this I would probably be out of business real soon. But realistically is this stealing work from a carpenter? I am a firm believer that a painters time is better spent painting and a carpenters time is better spend . . . carpenting??
Gotta agree with the guys. I'm sure you are a very good carpenter, and with the economy is right now and going to be, we all look for all we can do to make a buck.
I'll just sight an example. I just moved to this area little over a year ago.
My S/O had hailstorm damage her house. I went to a friend to find us a contractor to replace roof and windows.
He was referred to me by a friend, now I am his painter because of references he followed up on.
Networking is the cheapest advertising that we can buy.
Good Luck to you.
I'll just sight an example. I just moved to this area little over a year ago.
My S/O had hailstorm damage her house. I went to a friend to find us a contractor to replace roof and windows.
He was referred to me by a friend, now I am his painter because of references he followed up on.
Networking is the cheapest advertising that we can buy.
Good Luck to you.
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I thought "good carpenters" were always too busy to paint? Not a knock, but 30% of my referals come from a good carpenter. He does some of the small paint jobs to keep his guys busy, but the large stuff he refers to us.
That said, it will take time for you to develop the pricing that is right for you. You need to at least figure how much work you can turn out, how much it costs for you to do that work, and how much profit (if any) you want to make. Experiance is your best guide. Most people here spent a long time figuring how to do it in a way that works for them.
If you really have that much painting, why not sub the work out? Free's you up for your carpentry, and you can add a percentage on top. Most painters don't want to be carpenters and visa versa.
(I can't resist) A little bit of caulk...and a little bit of paint...hides the carpenter that ya ain't! (sorry...I tell that to my carpenter buddy all the time...and he hates it too)
That said, it will take time for you to develop the pricing that is right for you. You need to at least figure how much work you can turn out, how much it costs for you to do that work, and how much profit (if any) you want to make. Experiance is your best guide. Most people here spent a long time figuring how to do it in a way that works for them.
If you really have that much painting, why not sub the work out? Free's you up for your carpentry, and you can add a percentage on top. Most painters don't want to be carpenters and visa versa.
(I can't resist) A little bit of caulk...and a little bit of paint...hides the carpenter that ya ain't! (sorry...I tell that to my carpenter buddy all the time...and he hates it too)
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Sadly so many times this is true. Especially in new construction. :laughing:
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Your buddy had a failed painting business and you are using his estimating forms? Sounds like a recipe for success. Honestly, I don't look at you as a painter so it is difficult to answer your question.
Maybe you could help here... I would like to build a deck for one of my customers. I thought I might either charge a flat rate for the square footage 12x15 deck. It has 27' of ralings, 3 separate set of steps - one 4' wide and two 6' wide (36" off the ground). 14' of the railings are designed with a "sun ray" in the middle and they would like the deck to have a pattern of some kind. Now, I think I could probably do the floor and posts in about 10 hours, the steps I could probably do in about 20min per tread, and the standard railings could probably be done with an average of 10min per foot, and the design railing will probably take about 5hrs.
Now, I have never priced a deck before but I think I will use the average time to build the railings and apply that to the total. Same with the treads/steps. I will take my actual time that I think it will take and for the rest and add them together. After that I will multiply the total estimated production time by my hourly rate. Next I will add material costs and profit.
I would imagine the more decks I do the better idea I would have in estimating how long it would take for each part of the decks and be able to come up with some standard production times that I can base my estimates on.
Unless you could save me the time and trouble and tell me how long it would/should take to build each item in the building process. Thats fine if you don't - I WILL FIND OUT ON MY OWN WITH OR WITHOUT YOU!
Maybe I will go to the carpenters board and throw out the same question:huh:
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Tony I'll give you a good deal on that deck if you wanna sub it.:thumbup:
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stockcon1 said:
You should put that on the side of your truck
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