Bid question...opinions, everyones got one

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

Ok I have an apt communtiy that needs a bid on having their cedar shakes restored. Cleaned and restained- same color as before. I have included some pictures for your veiwing pleasure. Keep in mind there are a total of 24 buidlings all very similar ofcourse. But based on what you can see, how the buildings are covered with the cedar shakes...(its a lot of work I know)

How would you bid it? ...Whats a fair sq ft price?.. or would you even work it that way? ..Considering the hieght and working around the painted protions of the buildings... Would you do it all by hand?..How long would you estimate it would take you. And Ultimately what would you charge for the job like this (total price roughly).

Clean off the old stain best as possible using some wood cleaning chems with maybe some light pressure washing and then Neutralize, etc....then stain/seal. The product thats on their now is a "thin" semi-trans oil based. Looks very similar to a RS type product. Some areas are not as bad as other obviously.....so what do you think.

talk amoungst yourselves....

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

more pictures

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

some more pics

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

last few pics

[seymore 90]

Matt i take it you are going to use a lift?

That is a one big job to mask off the roof and a good bit of brushing in...Take God it's not a bid i have to give!!

You should be able to clean off the mildew and not have to strip it off completely.

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

Yeah, thats what I was thinking as well. But yeah definately a big one in the PITA area. :)

I'm curious to see what people think about $$$$ (price)

[Celeste 341]

Definitely a large charge for the PITA factor plus the cost of the lift. After that, your routine sq ft charge should do you nicely :)

Celeste

[seymore 90]

Ahhh i see...Well depending how many guys you have working on the project? By using one lift you could stain one maby 2 buildings in a day?

My ballpark figure $1500-$2000 for one building.You could even include and extra $500 for the lift??I'm not sure how much one of those rent for?

[Jarrod 22]

Just looking at all this work is stressing me out!:lgbugeyes

How many peaks on each bld?

I would charge by the peak plus the lift.

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

I'm thinking in the neighborhood of $77,000 - $82,000 for the whole thing. I dont know...maybe more...

what do you think? Shane's the only one throwing out numbers here.

Sure will look SUPER nice when its all finished.

Whats just considered outrageously to expensive for something like this?

I'd hate to underbid myself and then again I'd hate to overprice it as well.

I wonder what apt communties pay to have their buildings painted(when wood is not involved)...$100K? -200K?

And I'm thinking it will take about a month to do, weather pending. But then again it is Texas :D

[Jarrod 22]

How Many Peaks Per Bld?

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

I dont know exactly....I'd say ummm...about 10-14?

But some are bigger than others...

[seymore 90]

I'm thinking in the neighborhood of $77,000 - $82,000 for the whole thing.

And I'm thinking it will take about a month to do, weather pending. But then again it is Texas :D

Well Matt if you feel that is enough $$ to cover your expenses,labor,stain and is profitable enough to take the job then go for it.If it gets you in the door for more work down the road that's even better!

Everybody has a cerrtain profit margins they hope to meet...some are more than others depending on labor and stain cost.

[JFife 14]

....No way for someone to give you a logical price idea without knowing many, many, many more factors that what you've displayed. Obviuosly, every building is different in the number of gables, roof extensions, etc. that are covered in the shakes. If you are hoping poeple will look at this and start throwing out numbers just to get an idea of what your competition will be at, I don't blame you, but I'd put zero stock in it.

If you are asking because you truly don't have any idea of how to bid it, I'd go through with a fine-tooth comb and calculate expenses (should be easy) and then start calculating the man hours. If you have enough experience to do this job, then figuring the hours should be fairly easy. If you are still uncomfortable with your bid, based on the level of uncomfortable-ness, I'd then increase the final price by 10-25%. Other factors: do you get money up front?? Work on your schedule or theirs?? Do you have to deal with the tenants??

I know what you are going through--I've got a MONSTER to bid this spring, a cedar sided lodge/hotel, restraunt, etc. Bidding big jobs can get intimidating. My only advice would be, "the worst thing would be to under-bid:)"

[seymore 90]

That's well put Jon my thoughts exactly only you typed them... :cool:

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

I know how to bid it.

I'm not asking for you to give me your EXACT price on what you'd charge. If I did I would have included the address.

I figured people would be interested to see something like this. I think it can be educational for people out there as well. Especially with the colaboration here. I also figured people would have an OPINION, and I'd thought it would be interesting to see what people think.

sorta like this post - http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5319

[JFife 14]

I know how to bid it.

Post #10 by Matt: "I'd hate to underbid myself and then again I'd hate to overprice it as well."

[PressurePros 249]

Welcome to the world of either not getting the job because you're bid is ridiculously high or kicking yourself because your profit is non existant. I guess telling you to pass until you have more experience is not an option?

Being off even $500 per building could slaughter you. I am not trying to be negative, just know what you are getting into. If you are going to use a product that requires wood moisture to be below 15% you better pray the weather holds for you. Lifts are about $400 per day and you can't use ladders.

To me, it looks like a complete strip job. You're gonna liable for a ton of windows and I'm guessing some cars and various plant life. Take that all into consideration. You didn't give a square footage number. Without that you can't a) figure out your material cost and b) expect anyone to be able to give you a bid idea.

[Matt in Dallas TX 14]

I said "but based on what you see."

isnt this a board to educate, share ideas, and opinions or just ridicule and belittle?

I'm sure everyones bids are different, some high and some low, so people regardless of how much experience they have can still over or under bid a job at any point in their career.

not the first time I've seen these pissing matches and over inflated egos on here. Regardless of how many "posts" someone has. makes it hard to try and share ideas or scenarios with people on here.... If everything is going to come off as an attack or a "if you knew what you were doing, you'd do this..." attitude

I dont feel like I can get anything positive from this website anymore.

ejoys yourselves

[PressurePros 249]

Matt, don't be so damn sensitive. Intelligent people banter and either agree or disagree. If you're going to add your own negative inflection to someone's posts it is going to make it appear that the world is against you. Having polite debate on a message board is not a pissing contest.

You also have to understand that you leave yourself open when you make a post asking flat out for people to tell you what to bid, support it with as many pictures as possible but no measurements, then get a bit testy when someone doesn't come up with the answers you are looking for. It is a bit over inflated on your part to assume that everyone should play the game exactly as you wanted.

I'm sorry if my post offended you, but I stand by it because I meant no more than to offer you some advice.

[JFife 14]

Well, I consider myself to be a pretty sensitive guy. I cried in "Million Dollar Baby", and after various "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" episodes. But frankly Matt, I don't see anyone ridiculing you or belittling you. I don't see anyone really trying to help you that much either, since a) you've asked an impossible question, and b) you claim to not need help.

If you want HELP bidding a job, I'd be glad to do that. If you want me to spend a lot of time analyzing five pics that supposedly represent a 75K dollar job, and throw out a price just for kicks even though you already have a figure calculated, I'll pass. Right now I am watching a CSI dvd, and I'd prefer to relocate the time to that endeavor. You gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to sneak one past ole' Gil Grissom.

But why leave?? If someone is being a jerk to you, be a jerk back or ignore it. I, for one, would like for you to stay. Pretty please, with sugar and a cherry on top. .....and since this board is to educate (per your last post) start by telling us how you formulated a bid for this large project?? And what kind of stain will you be using??

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Matt,

Based upon what can be seen in the pics you posted I think the people who gave you quite a number of posts in just a couple of hours were doing the best they could and trying to be helpful. I don't know what your expectations were here but from what I have read to this point everyone has given much with limited information. I also have not noticed any belittling in this thread towards you personally otherwise Beth and I would be on top of it.

Realize, these people don't know you personally, your business or how long you have been doing it, so they postulate their answers with supposition trying to cover the bases as they go along. I wouldn't take it personally but understandingly that none of these people have any background on you and possibly are only being as thorough as they would be if they were training someone.

The posters here are also asking for information to aid in helping you with the question of "how much would you bid?" The link you posted was a pop quiz which unfolded into a troubleshooting situation unlike what you were trying to get to here according to your posts which is opinions on what to bid.

Perhaps at this point with all the questions and responses the posters have given, you can appreciate the involvement they are demonstrating to help you.

Respectfully, I myself would probably have a couple of dozen questions before I could come up with a respectable ball park figure. Also take into consideration if you will the prices some may give would not necessarily apply to your area where your local demographics might be different. At most the figures others may offer will give you some insight and help you to gauge your bid which perhaps is your intent, none of us know.

We wish you success.

Rod!~

[Ethan 14]

Whoa Matt! Big job. Hey you know TexSeal is here in Big D to help you out on that job if needed. :) Gallons and Manpower! Good luckon the bid. Sounds pretty fair pricing.

[Belmont 14]

back to his orginal question, I would bid it by square foot. and yes I would clean it. maybe some pressure washing in some areas as you mentioned. Yes, I would do the majority of it by hand and maybe spray some of the larger areas.

What would I charge? probably something along the lines you've mentioned as well. Perhaps a little more considering I'm dealing with so many obsticles. And I would definately use a lift like someone here has said. Big job but definately possible.

now, is that what you were wanting? I answered the questions.

[Belmont 14]

Also a buddy of mine owns a painting company and he says that apartment complexes pay well over 200K to have their properties painted. Depending on the size and stuff. but its not unrealistic to think they dont pay a lot for property maintaince such as this.

[Littlefield 65]

Big jobs are just little jobs all together. REally need a sq foot number on the job. On a public building like thisbiggest hangups are schedules and tenants. Make sure there are not other contractors there in your way, lot of times things are done at the same time, be sure to specify this in your bid. Try to stick them with the lift rental, if it breaks down its their problem to get you another one. Keep in mind you can only put one or two people in a lift. Plan on a ground man to gas the pw, move things, flag areas and people that walk under flagging, etc....I'll give you a bid when I get a sqft number. Remember triangles are base/two x height. Get the exposure on the shingles and use that to estimate a few gables, then you will be able to eyeball them from there...Now go measure, or PM me the number.