First real customer WTW job of the season

[plainpainter 217]

Here are some pics a customer sent to me through email, so I could give her quote. Let me know what you think in terms of estimating - and I will tell you how I fared plus the after photos. What I did was make one trip to do a test strip after I gave her an initial estimate that she was happy with. Second trip, I stripped the deck, third trip - sanded all the surfaces, stained, and collected my last check.

[seymore 90]

My guess is $2500? I'm that high considering you are in the NE

Did you not clean and seal the cedar shakes ?

[plainpainter 217]

Here are the last two photos my customer sent me through email of her deck.

[plainpainter 217]

No shane - that is New Englad traditional. That house is in Rockport, MA - right on the very tip of Cape Anne. If you go out of her driveway and turn left - you are a minute walk from the Beach - it's absolutely beautiful there.

[seymore 90]

Ohh cool i guess i could make a killing staining using my slate grey stain :D

am i close on my quote??

[plainpainter 217]

Shane - I want to hold off - so I can get more feedback as to what others think. Anyways - here are photos of the deck stripped, brightened, and sanded. I sanded all the railings, decking and outsides of the balustrades with my portercable in the picture with 40 grit pads - I hand sanded the inner parts of all the balustrades by hand with 40 grit sandpaper. Mind you - this deck work didn't include any of the trellis - she didn't want to pay for that.

[plainpainter 217]

Shane - if you did work in New England, you would have to trash the 'slate' gray stain. And tell bakers to come up with a 'Cape Cod' gray. That's the color we use around here for shakes. That and a product Cabot's makes called 'Bleaching' Oil. That is big time popular here. Only the front of the house is typically 'painted' with either paint or solid colored stain.

[seymore 90]

We had a version of the grey that was called Nantucket Grey I don't remember what the difference was tho.It may have been more bluish grey but it's been a while.

I understand you wanna wait on the contest so i'll wait ...:lglolly:

[plainpainter 217]

Here are 3 pics of the porch stained with WTW Wester Red Cedar. The homeowner didn't want to pay for the trellis to be worked on - thus I didn't do that work.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Now taking bets whether she'll step in and have you do the lattice...:deal:

[plainpainter 217]

Ok - to give the rundown, there was the initial time I spent over email with this lady. Then the first day to do a spot test, 1-1/4 hour commute each way plus an hour doing my strip test and selling to the customer. Day #1 hours spent, 3.5hrs. Second day, same commute, 3 hours stripping, cleaning, and brightening. Day #2 hours spent, 5.5 hrs. Day #3 - Sanded everything down - even sanded all the spindles by hand with 40 grit, and then brushed out the whole deck by hand - the remainder of my wtw container is 16lbs - either I have 2 gallons left or I subtract out 2 lbs for the container - since shipping weight is 42 lbs. So say - I used 3.25 gallons of stain - that was brushed, so no waste. That took 5.5 hrs to sand and stain, another half to clean up and collect check, same commute. So that was 8.5 hrs. A total of 17.5 hrs including commute dedicated to this project - or 18 hours factoring time spent over email and figuring a quote. I used Russel's method of estimating total sq. footage. And applied Fenner's pricing. So what y'all think?

[seymore 90]

How can you not do the lattice huh ? That must have been a PITA!

[plainpainter 217]

yeah it was - This lady had no idea the job was going to be so nice. I think if she had known - she probably would have done everything. I still think the job was super nice. I am hoping I can get a customer base there - so in the future I will be commuting for like 2-3 jobs not just 1. It's real nice to be working in those neck of the woods.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Umm err.. we would need sq.ft. of floor, ln.ft. of railing...yikes stairs is a whole other no fun issue...3.25 gal of stain only?. ahh let's see, Russel says 200-225 per and uses the 6' laydown rail method don't he?.. oohp too much math to figure...lol

I'll just get out easy and say $1250 without figuring in drive time and sanding.. :)

psst--two 3hr. days max

[plainpainter 217]

I think the main deck is something like 13x20 feet. I brushed everything, including the floors by hand. I didn't break out the sprayer - I always think it will be a pain - but maybe I should have. All surfaces got sanded.

[bigchaz 157]

Nice work but I couldnt give an estimate based on just a picture. Need specs man need specs

[rholman 14]

$1800 + $600= $2400?

[plainpainter 217]

That deck is 13 feet by 20 feet, along with that 4 x 4 area that precedes the stairway - with 7 steps each 4 feet long by a foot wide - didn't do all the skirts - perhaps about 24 feet worth of skirting. And about 70 feet worth or railing - and you have the pics to see what kind of balustrade. Anyways - I did that job for $1,200. What do you think?

[Dale 16]

Sounds about right to me.

[YVPW 20]

It seems for all the work you did it should be more than that. With what you gave us I came up with 626sq.ft. plus 7 steps. I think you could get a couple hundred more for what you did. A variable speed buffer and an Osborn would knock that sanding out a lot faster than a random orbit.

[Dale 16]

Thats a good point..but how much work was it? We don't know if the existing finish was a bear to get off etc. 1200 for a 'average' problemed deck with average elevation and access, seems decent to me.

Dan, what was the strip like?

[bigchaz 157]

1200 would be about right for me. No sanding though. That would be extra charge

[plainpainter 217]

It was an average strip - 5 year old cabots aussi oil finish - I made 2-1/4 gallons of my stripper - applied with pump up - let dwell for 15 minutes and went to town - then I downstreamed oxalic to brighten it. I can't just not sand these decks, well I have not sanded a new 1 year old deck. But I'd rather just make a bunch of decks look real nice - and then cherry pick customers a year from now with upselling and stuff. I think I could get more efficient with sanding with better tools - although that random orbital sander is no ordinary sander! That thing is heavy duty - it has a side handle, because you need two hands. As well I think I could get more efficient with a sprayer for all the railings. But I was by myself - and just wanted to see how much work I could get out of myself. Using a 6 inch staining brush was much faster on the spindles than using previous 2-1/2 inch cutting china brushes. And the sanding took sometime - but the railings were splintering - I figured I planted a 'seed' in another community for future jobs.

[Tmrrptr 164]

Nice job Daniel,

... and sounds like you did a very good job of developing your relationship with the client. A happy client is the best reward !

Sounds like a great place to work .

IMO, for the travel time and costs, I would have liked to see $1400-1600 for the job, to see that the client is paying for the overhead.

Since client IS happy, and you made wages, I would strongly ask her to make referrals for you and give her a small stack of cards.

r

[YVPW 20]

Dan I understand what you did with this customer. I've did the very same thing before. You did an excellent job with the deck, and I'm sure they're very happy with it. If you want a variable speed buffer go to Harbor Freight and get one for $30. Don't waste your money on the Makita's. You can get about 7 Harbor Freight buffers for the price of one Makita. Really I don't see why someone would wanna waste there money on the Dewalt's & Makita's. The buffers I have aren't junk either. I use the crap out of them had them to get wrapped up in cord and start smoking, rained on you name it. I've also used them with 7" sanding discs for 8 hours a day at times. They still work! I've only had one to ever stop on me and took it back and they replaced with a brand new one. You can't beat it. I've got 7 of those buffers all with Osborn's. I keep some for backup just in case it goes out.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Thaz good to hear Jason on the variable. I have one of them as well as their air orbital and hvlp. Stuff always goes on sale for big savings.

Question though.. what the best price and supplier for the osborne type cups you ever find? To me it seems a bit rediculous in having to pay twice as much as the machinery it going on. Even when I get a place like Osh to order they're like $70.