Bidding Jobs

[Wayne]

I have a mobile repair business ,general equipment repairs,welding,fabrication and in shop machine work and welding. Does any one have any suggestions or tips on bidding jobs? It seems every time I bid something I lose money. I usually work time and material but more and more poeple are wanting bids on everything.
Wayne.

[JTMcC]

Pay close attention to how long things take, time jobs/tasks and keep good records. It gets easier the more you do it.

JTMcCC

[HAWK]

Wayne,

That's tough. I am sure your location affects the price. I figure the number of hours required to do the job and add a 20% cushion. I multiply the total hours by my hourly rate ($75) for total labor charges. I take materials cost and divide by .60 to get a selling price. Then add the materials selling price to the total labor price to get the bid price. This may price you out of a job, but I cannot stand to work too cheap!

[Blondie_486]

Wayne,

What ever you do don't give your work away it'll just drive everyone's prices down, then nobody will be making any money. If you're good stick to your price, usually if they can get it done cheaper the quality will suffer and those guys won't be called back. Or they may have to end up calling you to come and fix it! Sometimes it's better to lose a job than to bid it too cheaply. I've been around that block too many times and I'm not going to go around it again.

Like HAWK said mark the materials up 60% this will give you a cushion in case your labor runs over. I know guys that are marking materials up 100% and higher. 60% is a fair rate, you're not hurting your customer and you're not hurting yourself either. Take into consideration also that you have to take your time to get the materials or order them and have them shipped. That time is worth something too!!

A lot of times it's hard to figure just how many hours you'll have into the project especially if you're new at this and have no past similar jobs to compare it to. You are the best judge of how much work you can accomplish in a hour and when you figure the hours don't figure them going full bore because at the end of the day it will be all you can do to drag your tail in the door. Also in the heat you can't work as fast either.

Bottom line is be fair to your customer and fair to YOURSELF. You have a lot of capital invested in your mobile rig make it work for you, don't be a slave to it.

Blondie

[HAWK]

Blondie,

You are right on the 60% mark up on materials. I meant to say divide by .40 which gives the 60%. It was a typo on my part. Thanks.

[Blondie_486]

HAWK,

I did the division and it comes up on 1.00 divided by .6 = 1.66666 which is actually 66%. I find it easier to multiply by 1.6. Say for instance a $2.00 item marked up 60% would be 2.00 times 1.6 = 3.2. Either way you end up in the same ball park. It's just a matter of preference as to which math you'd rather do. Multiply? or Divide?

Just for S & G I divided 1 by the .4 and came up with 2.5. Division has always been one of my weaknesses in math. If I can find a way to multiply and the the right answer I'll do it that way. But everyone has their own preference. Most of the time though I use my "hillbilly" math and it works for me!!

At any rate use the 60% markup rule of thumb on your materials. No matter which method you use to get it.

Blondie

P.S.
Oh and by the way I'm not meaning to start a Peeing contest either.

[HAWK]

Blondie,

I did not take it that way. I was only saying I thought I had made a typing error and was thanking you for correcting it. Yes. I try to get $2.50 for every dollar spent on material. It helps me cover my overruns if I am lucky. Thank you.

I went by the local machine shop where I used to do some work. The big gray box is still in the corner, Lincoln Ideal-Arc 300, and going strong. The little Cobra-Matic push/pull feeder for soft wires like aluminum is also still there attached to an old Miller variable slope machine. Those are three great pieces of older equipment that just keep right on welding.