Matt,
There is nothing wrong with adding profit to each item, I just happen to add profit after I know "all" my cost. I use a estimating program (Quick Estimator) which is very good at itemizing all your cost and then adding a profit. This software allows you to add separate profit and overhead percentage to labor, materials, subs, equipment and misc items. However, the real work of any estimating software is knowing where all the numbers come from, and I'm really talking about overhead.
But this discussion started with how do you charge for equipment. The method I believe in, as I stated, follows what Vander Kooi preaches. I have set up an elaborate spread sheet for each piece of equipment, then linked to another sheet that gives me a total annual cost for all my equipment, separated by departments, then divided by total labor hrs, in each department for the year, to come up with an average hourly rate. I know this may sound complicated, but for me, I feel as though I am charging out "all" my equipment, big and small, to each department which is tied to the number of hours estimated on any given project. Some might say that if a estimate does not use a skid steer, for example, you are still charging that customer for it and that is over charging. My opinion to that is it is much to time consuming to figure out what each estimate is going to use for equipment and have a separate line item for each, "forget 'bout it." In the heat of battle when estimates need to be fired out in rapid speed, my system works well for me.
If you would like a copy of my spread sheet email me at
tom@milestonelandscape.com and I will be happy to forward it onto you.
Tom