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I’m a young carpenter/helper who is begining to feel comfortable enough to take on some work of my own.I can do the labor part of the jobs ,but i’m not sure how to go about figuring prices,so i don’t cheat myself or the customer.Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.
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Work by the hour. In many states you can get into serious trouble bidding jobs if you aren't licensed. Sue some one in California, the judge asks, "are you a licensed contractor". You answer "no." The judge says "case dismissed." They owe you nothing.
*Andrew,Price 'em high and make a few bucks.Make it worth "your" trouble.Ed. Williams
*Hello Andrew, The most important thing to remember when bidding jobs is this: How much is it going to COST me to do this job? You must know every dime of your expenses, from gasoline for your vehicle, to material costs, to any rental tools needed, to insurance, to fees, to anything else you could possibly think of. Once you have the costs figured, you can work on labor. You need to determine (within a close tolerance) how long the job will take (in man hours worked) and figure how much per hour would be reasonable for you to make. Then charge accordingly. While this method is very simplistic, you should stick to simplicity until you get the feel of how to bid, and get a few jobs under your belt. Experience is the only real factor in accurately bidding jobs. Once you have built a few decks (for example) then you pretty much know how long it takes, labor involved, material costs, etc... Another method is to let the customer buy all the necessary material, and then charge by the hour. Somethimes this works well, other times it can become a nightmare. Just a thought.James DuHamel (Owner, J & M Home Maintenance Service)
*Ouch! Of course, a debt is a debt, but many judges do what they like. Just cause you blew it doesn't mean the bum should get something for free.Know anyone fined for working without a license? How much?
*My recent experience is that people like the security of one fixed package price. Hourly rates kind of invite them to worry about how fast you work, and you may run into snags because of inexperience that are better written of as "education." It helps to point out that small jobs are disproportionately expensive because of overhead and such -- so $75 to put in a battery smoke detector IS outrageous, but not if you count travel time & wasted time & hassle. Really small stuff also seems unlikely to lead to larger more interesting jobs, as least not as quickly.
*That's not judges doing what they like, that's state law. Unlicensed contractors don't have to be paid. That's a pretty good fine.California is very aggressive about inforcement. After a major fire in San Diego County, that destroyed hundreds of homes, the board ran a sting opperation, on aggressive unlicensed contractors, who were trying to take advantage of the situation.
*Double ouch! I'd just like to see the penalty go to the state instead of a crooked homeowner. An arbitrary law -- yes, an incentive to get licensed, but...Wait until the next big earthquake. Then all the carpetbagger contractors will descend on Calif. like locusts. SO ... I guess that'll mean a lot of free repairs, right? Better than a gov't bailout.Do you use a lengthy contract required by CA state law? Virginia only mandates a brief warranty clause.
*In my state, Louisiana, you only have to be licensed if the job cost is over 50K dollars. Our parish (county) requires a license but it is only a 50 dollar deal and requires no test or anything. I always have a minimum for small jobs. The minimum depends on how far I have to travel, etc. I also shun hourly rates. Its hard to make money that way unless you will be on the job for several days. I have found the national estimator program to have some semi-reliable data about job costs. Some of the costs seem high and some low but it may give you a feel for what you should charge. Dont give yourself away. Work for what your worth....
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The minumum fine for getting caught by the inspector in Sheboygan, WI. is $ 500.00 plus costs and additional fees. An then it depends on what you did and how much you screwed it up.
*For a while, I did the handyman repair stuff between bigger jobs.The only way I could find to work it was an hourly rate with a minimum.At the time usually $15 to $20/hr. with a 3hr. min. Most people came up with a few additional repairs to fill the time.Alot came up with all day stuff once they had you in the house!A franchise "handyman connection" here in PA charges $50 per hour with a hour range.Say the job will take 3hrs.(you think)then you say $50 per hour with range of 2 to 4 hrs.They expect $100 to $200 for repair and are happy if you hit $150.See if there is one in your area.I did apply and was going to start with them when I slowed down, but haven't slowed yet!Good news either way.The company gets half and you get a check every day for half!
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I'm a young carpenter/helper who is begining to feel comfortable enough to take on some work of my own.I can do the labor part of the jobs ,but i'm not sure how to go about figuring prices,so i don't cheat myself or the customer.Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.