I have a price bassed on the wall sq footage. I don’t subtract for doors or windows. As those spaces require more cutting in than plain walls and the time spent rolling the missing area is minimal.
That is for 2 coats of paint (paint extra), filling nail holes with spacke and caulking minor cracks in the corners.
More repairs would be extra.
This seems to work fine for basic rooms for 8-9 ft ceilings.
But now I need to bid one with several twist.
Part of the area has 14 ft ceilings including and entry way and up the stairs.
While walls are almost double height without any extra cut-ins I that does reduce average work per sq ft. But on the other hand working off a tall ladder typically is much slower. And with that tall of wall the extension roller needs to be extended and retracted for each section.
I am think about adding 10% for those walls. Does that sound right.
As I said I normally don’t subtract for doors and windows. But I have a 6×6 fireplace and a 12 x 6-8 bay that won’t get painted. Since this is in the area that has high ceilings (or at least part is, the ceiling slopes) I would deduct for that part.
It is a open LR, DR, Kitchen with with the kitchen “fenced off” with 8ft walls with 6 ft and 12 ft openings in them. That leave me with 18 ft of where I just have a header with about 12″ of wall and I have to cut in againts a crown. For estimating I thought that I would treat that area as being 3ft tall.
Not sure about the kitchen.
I have one wall over uppers that goes from 7ft (above the cabinets) to 1 ft.
I thought that I would use the actual sq ft, but give it a 25% up charge because it is all from the ladder and reaching over cabinet uppers.
Any thoughts.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Replies
I don't base my prices on square feet. I try and figure out how long it will take and multiply by my daily rate. It's not very scientific, but I have a pretty good feel for how long it takes me to paint a room.
There are just too many variables for me to try and base it on square feet. Variables such as: furniture to be moved, curtains to come down & re-install, repair work, sashes with divided light, type of doors, etc. I include paint in the price since I figure what customers really want is the bottom line.
But if it works for you, more power to you. My gut reaction is that a 25% upcharge for the additional "twists" you described is not enough. I've painted kitchens with less than half the wall space of a bedroom which have taken me more time to paint.
I tend to think like DonCanDo. I try to get a close guess as to how long the job will take. And I think in terms of this potential job, in relation to other jobs.
For example, if the job I'm estimating will take about 6 hours including travel, then I have a choice. I can bid that as a full day's rate, or I can try to find something else to do four a couple of hours (not likely).
On the other hand, if I think it will take a day plus two hours, then I try to think of some other job in the que that will take uo the balance of the second day. If none, then this job gets bid at a day and a half.
The shape of this is just so much different than any I have done before that I can't make a guess of the days.Using the sq ft I came up with $900. But that sounded low. So I told them $1100..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.