[fakie99]

We're looking to re-vamp our design/build estimating process for 2005. I am posting our current Excel spreadsheet and I am hoing to get some feedback on the processes you all use in estimating biuld jobs (our average job size is about 8K, and we bill at $43 per hour. Clients are given only a lump sum amount for the job - never itemized. SPecifically, i am hoping to get some feedback on materials markups, how estimates are generated, etc. Please fire away. Thanks!

[Stonehenge]

How did you come to your man-hour figure?

[CountyMaterials]

I just read this in a recent magazine - Fall 2004 and thought it was relevant to what you are asking.

"A few years ago, Mike was having cash flow problems when he heard Charles speaking about how most companies do their estimating. We would bid like all the "other guys" using sq. ft. pricing multiplying by 2.5 thinking, 'This guy's charging $17 a square foot, and that's where I should be.'

"Charles really opened my eyes that you need to throw out the entire bidding by square foot and by multiplying plants - even if you're working for a developer who wants a square foot price. He says you can qoute it that way, but you better be determining it by the man hours and by the trucking and bobcat hours. And then divide it by your square footage and that's your price."

Not sure if this answers what you are trying to get answered, but it made sense .

[fakie99]

the manhour figure was calcultated this way: we took all of our yearly indirect expenses as a lump sum and divided it by the number of production hours we expected to bill in a year (about 5000). we then took this hourly figure, added our average hourly wage and came up with $43. This ensures that our indirect expenses are covered with each production hour we bill for

(or at least that's the idea....)

[Stonehenge]

That's a good way to do it, but I wanted to find out how, in your example, you came up with 70 hours. There doesn't seem to be a formula to calculate the man-hours needed for each task. And that figure seems pretty low for what needs to get done.

For the rest of the sheet, I guess I'm not sure what to tell you about it. Does the customer see this sheet? Maybe just the gray sections? Everything is marked up at 115% - I would expect those markups to vary for some items or categories.

I also don't give the client an itemized price - when they ask why, I occassionally tell them the truth, that it's to save them from themselves (switch an expensive plant for a less expensive one, change materials to one that won't work with the design to save a few dollars).

I guess I'm not sure what input you're after - I will tell you that I've got some pricing spreadsheets in the Private Gardens area for download that might help galvanize what you're trying to do.

[P-Train]

I like the spread sheet. I use an Excel sheet, too.

I'll fiddle around with it a little and see what I think.

BTW, what's the 'Private Gardens'?

I couldn't find that area...

[Stonehenge]

Find this button on the Headlines page:



That's part of it. There are also additional forums that nobody else can view or participate in. Gives people a chance to share information they might not otherwise share with the general surfing public.

It's not free, but it's also not very expensive. That section is a little small right now, but we hope to add a lot to it this winter.