Tough One To Price

[Doc Hudson]

.....Too many sparks here claiming to be fast and thorough, in my experience the two do not go hand in hand.

This is a very true observation Voltimax, the old phrase, "If it seems to good to be true it probably is to good to be true" comes to mind.

Doc H.

 

[Doc Hudson]

Yes because everyone undercuts each other. People don't seem to realize that if everyone undercuts by silly amounts the public will always expect it. Common sense really. Personally I haven't felt the recession at all.

Indeed, unless a business has very large cash reserve to call upon, it cannot keep on undercutting prices. Within retail certain products can be run at a loss to generate custom on other higher price products in the store. However I am not sure that business model works within the electrical contracting trades?

Doc H.

 

[Voltimax]

Well round here Electricians are trying to cut each others throats and I'm not being negative to the new electricians, but they are the biggest culprits. The heating and plumbing engineers however do not practice this, least not round here anyway, maybe there's something to be learned here?

 

[batty]

HiI am very grateful for you sheet and you kind advice. It really help me price up a job recently.

I am not sure that I have priced it correctly I used your timings BUT, because when I work there the walls will be back to brick (ie no chasing required) and that the floors/ceilings will be missing I reduce them by 0.8.

I hope I get the job, and will see if the timings are right.

I think the main problem is that we are all pricing each other out of work.

This job went out to 6 electricians, so a bit of a dutch auction.

I don't think it is over the top for 1.5 per FCU, I just wanted to gauge what others think. Especially you as it is your sheet that I am using.

I agree about the bits that cannot be priced, howabout the hours spent quoting and discussing jobs too.

Thanks

Martin

Pricing will come with experience some you lose some you win but with more experience you usually can price better.

 

[Voltimax]

Here's some more advice Martin.

If you get the job or for that matter any similar jobs, when you start the work keep a job sheet. This will help you when you price other jobs. Keep a list of every item of material you use and a log of the hours you spent there. What you can do afterwards is tally up all the labour and divide it by the number of points you installed, this will then give you a rough point time to use on similar jobs.

Once you have a few of these sheets, you will be able to average it out more.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Hi

Yes I keep a job card and log my hours and materials to each job as it is. The main problem I have is taking the time to revisits the job cards and do the analyse stuff you are alluding to. You make it sound simple points divided by time or the other way round more like. However when I look back at recent timesheets there are always some extraordinary circumstance that I think precludes me in treating them in that way. For example the if i am going back and forwards to a job; because the builder wants to finish this room, then he wants to finish that room, my time usage per point is going to be artificially high isn't it?

Or maybe i should just chuck it all in the mix and what comes out is the true time per point that I am achieving?

Martin

 

[Voltimax]

Like I said, there are always unforeseens on every job, but it sounds to me like you have to be tougher and make less trips to the site, that way your times will be less. Anyway you need to take the average of more than one job. There is no magic formula Martin, you need more experience that's all, only you know how you work.

 

[green-hornet]

After years and years of throwing away old cable, or giving it to the travellers who pass by, I started to take it and weigh it in.

First job doing this I got just over