Pricing on Teak furniture

[ogetnom27 14]

Trying to get some info on refinishing teak furniture. Customer had placed an ad online looking for someone to stain his teak furniture so I picked up on it and e-mailed him. Went to see it yesterday. He had power washed everything (uugggh!) except for two pieces. Ended up with some furring and alot of stop marks, especially on the table. Since he originally e-mailed me back, I've been doing some research on teak and the furniture he has is a very good quality.(Kingsley-Bate) Which he paid $5000 for nine years ago. My plan is to clean with sodium percarbonate then neutralize with oxalic acid, sand where needed and then stain.

There are a total of six chairs, 8' table, two chaise lounges and two short directors chairs which fold. Trying to get some idea what to quote him and which stain to go with. I looked into a teak sealer from Semco. Very pricy.($80 gal.) Anyone with any experience with this product,or should I just go with something like AC, Ready Seal, WTW or Cabot ATO? Sorry for the long post. I will post some pics today if I get the job.

Edited May 31, 2009 by ogetnom27
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[RPetry 564]

Mike,

Your process for cleaning and staining sound good. We will only do furniture as part of a deck job. I really do not care for the work as it is quite time consuming, especially the cleaning. We use RS applied with lambswool pads.

Have one coming up in a week or so. $1100 deck restoration job, with a 4' diameter teak table and (4) simple armchairs. Add on labor cost to clean and stain is an additional $100 plus materials and tax.

Picture is my own teak set stained with RS light brown. Ipe' floor done with AC Rustic Brown.

Edited May 30, 2009 by RPetry

[ogetnom27 14]

Rick,

Any thoughts on what I should quote? I will be picking up the furniture (20 min.each way) and doing it at my place and delivering it back.

Thanks

[RPetry 564]

Mike,

That is a lot of teak, with sanding & pickup/delivery, maybe $500 plus materials?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We do all teak on site. We never move it. No need. We charge per piece, depending on if it is a chair, lounger, end table, dining table, bench, swing, etc....the larger the piece, the more it costs. Charis can be a pain, the often have lots of slats that need full coverage.

Beth

[ogetnom27 14]

Hi Beth,

The reason I'm picking it up is because I have a big garage and we are expecting rain on the Cape on and off all week. Also I go right by their place almost every day. They are moving to Maryland at the end of June and will be taking the furniture with them, so they said I can take my time with it. I know you do alot of teak work, so any input you give will be greatly appreciated. I listed the pieces they have. Any suggestions on pricing or stain?

Thanks, Mike

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Mike,

That is a lot of teak, with sanding & pickup/delivery, maybe $500 plus materials?

+1 on the pricing.

Beth

[ogetnom27 14]

Picked up the teak today. Got a bit of sanding to do now.Now I'm just stuck on which stain. From all I've read on this site, I've narrowed it down to Armstrong Clark, Ready Seal, Wood Tux or ATO. I haven't ordered stain online yet so if you have any suggestions on best places to purchase as well, please let me know.

Thanks, Mike

Will post before pics tommorrow

Edited May 31, 2009 by ogetnom27
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[RPetry 564]

Mike,

ACR Products or Sun Brite Supply for AC and Ready Seal. The Sealer Store for Wood Tux and AC. Contact info is on banner ads here or do a web search. You should be able to purchase ATO locally in a paint store or Home Depot.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We have 17 pieces of teak on our deck, all of them have Armstrong Clark Super Cedar on them, and they look fabulous.

Beth

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

The best information I can give on pricing is how to build your own price.

-How long does it take you to wash each piece according to what it is?

-How much to you charge per hour for labor?

-What is the cost of your cleaner and how much will you be using on each piece?

-What is the cost of your neutralizer and how much is needed for each piece?

-Are your sanding any of it?

-How much do you charge to for this service?

-How long will it take you for each piece?

-What is the cost of your sealer? What is the coverage rate? How much will be used on each piece?

-How long will it take to apply the sealer?

-What supplies and tools do you need?

-What are the costs of each item you need?

Here is a simple formula to figure your costs:

Wage per hour X hours required = Labor cost

Product cost / coverage rate (in sqft) X sqft required = actual product cost

Supplies needed for project (brushes, rollers, pads, tarps, plastic, cleaners, rags and any depletable items you may use which are required to be replaced for each job) = supplies cost

Travel time expenses; Wage per hour / travel time + fuel costs (mpg / miles X $ per gallon) and a % for insurances and vehicle maintenance (oil changes, tires, brakes, belts and fluids)

Now let's sum it up:

Labor cost + Actual product cost + Supplies + Travel = job cost

If you want to put it into a simpler form you can take job cost / sqft and get a price. But it will need to vary as the sqft goes up because it will not adjust for set up and breakdown times which on larger jobs vs small jobs could be more. Travel expenses can be made a basic formula add in for a service area and only increase if you go out of it and be based upon the increased time and costs.

If your state requires you to charge sales tax, you will need to account for that in the equation by charging a % based on what your states guidelines require.

We use a sliding scale which is more complicated than the formula above but it is based upon OUR specific business costs (marketing, advertising, office costs, staff wages, insurances such as business, vehicular[drivers and equipment], medical and workers comp., then there are license communications and utilitiy fees.) Safety equipment for employees (gloves, respirators, pvc rain gear, ear plugs, safety glasses etc), Replacement parts for equipment (seals, 'o' rings, QC's, hoses, tips etc), vehicles and equipment leases/purchases, licenses and inspection fees.

This represents the overhead of what goes into calculating business costs which ultimately end up in a spreadsheet which helps to maintain margins and in this economy some profit for re-investment in the business.

The formula above only represents direct costs to the consumer but without adding in all the rest, most companies go out of business because they do not account for them and when it comes time to pay taxes...oops! There is another one.

This is for your benefit and anyone who would read this thread. I would hope it will encourage others to sit down and seriously look at all business expenses and take them into account when making a bid for work and not just pulling a number out of their behinds.

I only wish the best for anyone trying to make it on their own in business since taking that first step is a daring one. I hope this helps to get people interested in educating themselves on how to run the business and not just the operation.

Rod!~

[PressurePros 249]

Good post, Rod!

Funny this thread is here. I have an ipe deck we are washing today that has about 20 pieces of teak furniture on it. No staining on this job, as people abandoning staining hard woods seems to be on the rise. I charged from $10 (for a small 2' high four leg table) to $35 for the main table. Again, that's just cleaning.

[Chappy 138]

It is going to be time consuming, as said before. lots of sanding. here are a teak table and chairs done with wood tux. Table has 6 coats on it, rubbed in like regular furniture stain. The table had an acrylic on it and needed serious sanding, the chairs just cleaning.

I havnt used RS but like the Wood Tux for ease of use.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

That table is not teak. The chairs are, but the table is not.

Beth

[PressurePros 249]

Pine.. yes?

[bigchaz 157]

You put six coats of woodtux on?? Or you stripped 6 coats?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Looks alot like cypress.....look around the knots.

Exotic Wood cypress

It could be pine, but there are more knots than you usually see with pine.

Beth

[ogetnom27 14]

It's Knotty Pine. Alot of folks used to use them alot making kitchen cabinets. My grandmother had them in her kitchen way back when I was a little kid still playing with my blocks. I wonder if I was thinking my blocks would look much better with a nice coat of stain on them! chuckle

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Ding ding ding...looks like a winner to me. Knotty pine! knotty pine wood photos - Google Image Search

Beth

[Chappy 138]

The customer told me it was Bali Teak. It was very, Very hard wood.

Six coats rubbed in to get the glossy finish.

I have pine floors in my house, They are very soft. Drop a quarter and it will leave a mark.

Edited June 3, 2009 by Chappy

[RPetry 564]

... It was very, Very hard wood. ...

That rules out pine!

[Cappspressurewashing 14]

Teak is one of the main things we do. What ever you do, don't sell yourself short. By the time you clean, dry, sand, and oil, you will have earned your money or be mad that you didn't charge more.