Price?

[ACSTravis 14]

Hello all,

I've only been in the business about 2 years now, but I know that I do better work than my competitors in this area. I use better products,(RS and WTW), better chemicals, have better training, and produce better results. I have been getting a lot of calls lately and have been bidding them accordingly, but I haven't been closing a lot of the deals. Am I charging too much? I know that prices vary from area to area, but I charge about $2 per square for a strip and seal and about $1.50 for a clean and seal. These prices are high for my area, but am I charging too much? Are there any contractors from the Greater Cincinnati area that are willing to volunteer what they charge, or any input at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,

[Grass Roots Events 14]

I get 1.50 / sq forr and 8.00 per step plus the stain ( this is for flat surface only - I dont measure railings and so forth - 20X20 deck with 6 steps = 648.00 plus the stain.

Look at your marketing and how you are selling the job - We use a professional brochure and professional computer generated quote. Close rate is >95 pecent

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I get 1.50 / sq forr and 8.00 per step plus the stain ( this is for flat surface only - I dont measure railings and so forth - 20X20 deck with 6 steps = 648.00 plus the stain.

Look at your marketing and how you are selling the job - We use a professional brochure and professional computer generated quote. Close rate is >95 pecent

Some might say with a closure rate that high, your prices must be too low. Not measuring is the kiss of death. Measure. Pure and simple, measure. No other way to learn your material costs accurately than to measure and calculate when you are new.

Beth

p.s. on a 20x20 deck, you will have a minimum of 60 feet of rails. Some would calculate them as linear, some as square, and you are omitting at least 180 sq ft worth of wood from your calculations. Rails can be 1/3 or MORE of your total sq footage. That's alot of money to leave behind. Our price ....would have been much higher for that job. Based upon our calculations for the wood given, and the wood omitted, you really made about $1.08 per square foot overall.

[Chappy 138]

Travis,

Obviously my market is different, but I have a hard time getting $1.25 or more for strip and stain. I have found the only people willing to pay better are the people who have moved from up north and know the value of their decks and professional work. Floridians are trained for cheap labor and my impression since Ive been pushing wood restoration, is that many would just as soon let the wood rot and pay a handyman to replace it. Or pay a painter $25/hr to slap Behr on it.

I have been closing more at a higher price since the wood course we went to in Orlando though. Knowledge sells, so does a professional presentation.

[PressurePros 248]

I get 1.50 / sq forr and 8.00 per step plus the stain ( this is for flat surface only - I dont measure railings and so forth - 20X20 deck with 6 steps = 648.00 plus the stain.

Look at your marketing and how you are selling the job - We use a professional brochure and professional computer generated quote. Close rate is >95 pecent

Price= too low

Closing rate= way too high

[Tegrey 121]

Travis,

We charge $1.50-2.00 per sq ft. We're in the Canton area. The main thing is you need to charge what your company needs to profit. If you get too many jobs, your too low. The rate we feel is about 35% of estimates to jobs. Don't sell yourself short. You only have so many hrs. to work. Make all you can. It's better to sit at home, then lose money on any job. The clients you previously worked for will be calling you back and refering you to others if you did the job right. A few years and you'll be very busy. Thank You.

[BobK 14]

My expierence is the general public needs to educated on why they need to pay these prices to get there wood done properly. To my experence most would rather get somebody to beat the wood up with pressure and water than pay 1.50 sq ft and i'm not stooping to that level.

[PressurePros 248]

I get closer to $3.75 per s/f (if you don't count rails) every day of the week. $1.50 should be an easy sell as I consider that a pretty lowball rate.

[bigchaz 157]

I just looked at the folders for my last few jobs. Looking just at the surface square footage my rates were 3.91, 3.48, 3.94, not including stain cost. I just divided my final bid by the surface square footage. I dont actually bid that way, but in the end thats what it would work out to. When I present the bid its usually 2.50 a square foot for surface plus my rate for railings and stairs

[Tmrrptr 164]

Charlie, how do you feel your rates compare in your area?

and is it your intention to be either high, or low?

Here, with an excess of immigrant labor, it would be difficult to get that price, including the product !

r

[bigchaz 157]

I always feel like im low compared to most guys on here, but no one really does wood in this area so Id say Im on the higher end locally

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Good golly guys..yer raking it in..right on!!... think we don't get them rates due to saturation of cheap labor in all three trades of cleaning, painting, and construction fields which lead to disposable attitude of both worker and product.

[jquick77 14]

I found it almost impossible to get $1.50 a square here in Northern GA. I think it may also be the high rate of cheap labor in the area. I did a bid the other day at $1.15 a square, (only because it was ground level, 8 month old wood, and small) and the womans reaction was, " I didn't think it would be that much" She then pointed out a neighbor that just had her 2nd story deck with a flight of stairs, done by a painter that was already doing some work at the house, for $150. (My bid for the woman was $400 for approx 300 sqft.) I walked over and looked at it, and it looked like they did a decent job. Told her it was so cheap because he was already there, and probablly just threw it on. To make a long story short, I wound up leaving, and nicely telling her to give the painter a jingle.