My bid made customer faint

[Coastal Painter 14]

man ole man, This is getting ridculous.. People down here in South Texas do NOT want to pay any good money for deck cleaning and staining. In my coastal area I am not regarded as a lowballer, (I hope) because I am the only deck contractor in a radius of say 25-40 miles.. I bid a deck earlier today at .85 cents a s.f. Bid included material, sealers, cleaners, (didnt need stripped) 2300 s.f total of deck and spindles, railings, all pilings(10x10 at 8 feet high 35 in all,) all 500 lin feet of stringers below, all fascia, total of 28 stairs, and to top it off, Outside of railing is 12 feet off the ground.. LOTS OF LADDER work. I told my wife, if he cant pay price of $1955.00 for all that work materials included, Than I will save money staying home and sipping beer all day rather than drive 35 miles to get there in the first place,, DID I mention??? IT IS A BEACH HOME.. 100 yards from the Gulf, Winds are steady at 15-25 knots all day long. Hence All work would have to be done with a weenee roller ,mitt on railings (DONT FORGET ALL THE LADDER WORK) AND A BRUSH as No way I could spray in that kind of wind..

Any comments feel free. :lgtear:

Later Guys and Gals

Mark w/ Coastal painting and Pressure Washing

[Greg R 82]

Nope - just 3.5 x's the actual linear foot. With an average 4 inch center and the gaps in railings it works out close enough. We also bid all sealer at 100 sq ft to the gallon so it all works out good. I've NEVER (okay in the last 5 years anyway) under estimated a deck for the amount of finish needed as I'm usually a gallon or two over. Fencing is another story though. I've missed a couple over the years by as much as 5 gallons (ugh) just because it kept soaking it in! :) No more though. If they look real dry I go 75 sq ft to the gallon.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

In regard to the pic Celeste posted with the sunburst spindles and to address anothers question also:

Yes, the chemicals help but usually any product residing in between at the closest points will be somewhat intact. On strip jobs, we have been known to take a sheet of sand paper to it to get the most off we can.

As far as measuring these styles of rails, the sqft of L X H is going to be sufficient although a short. Considering each spindle is 1 X 1 X 4 sides X 3' High you will have 1 sqft/spindle and in the pic there is approximately 24 sqft in the sunburst alone which is higher than are regular rail system at 3'H X 4'L which is standard code specs for a raised deck. Given that, it is 12sqft compared to the sunburst which is 24sqft.

Now, the reason why I say that the regular measure is sufficient is that spindles in general do not absorb much stain unlike horizontal surfaces which can take up to twice as much into the cellular structure due to weathering and so on. The biggest problem is going to be dealing with the drips and runs which are prominent in these configurations due to the inability to adequately brush or pad the confined surfaces where the spindles meet.

Rod!~

[yazbird8 17]

I personally break each job into 1/2 day increments. One 1/2 day equals 4 hours. If I think a strip/ seal job is going to take me 22 hours I round up to 24 hours. It's my job to get that part right through experience. I have a set fee per hour. I then simply tell my cusomer the price and let them know that the materials will be added to the bill. If the stripper/citrolic/stain costs me 200 dollars (guesstimate) I add 50 dollars to the bill for retail to customer. As long as I present myself well and show them my book of quality before and after photos most estimates should go smoothly...And I also believe the customer MUST be at every estimate I do.

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

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