Found a cheap way to bid jobs that actually works

I used to spend hours guessing labor costs and always ended up underbidding. Then an old electrician told me to time myself on three small jobs and use that average per square foot. It took me like 45 minutes of math in my truck, but now my bids are way closer to what I actually need to charge. Has anyone else tried tracking their time like this or do you just wing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_davis4713d ago

Did you track just the labor or did you throw materials and overhead into that average too? Because I've found the real trick is factoring in your drive time and cleanup on top of that square footage number.

the_joel13d ago

Haven't you ever just gotten a gut feeling for what a job's worth after doing it for a while? I mean, all that math in your truck sounds like overkill to me. Most of the time my first instinct is close enough, and I make up for it on the next bid if I'm wrong.