My buddy is an exterior trim carpenter and a good one at that. He has been working for the same general contractor for a long time, but he is not computer savvy and he wanted me to post this question to other trim carpenters.
He wants to know how much he should charge per square foot for installing Tyvek house wrap. Every edge will be taped, every window and door will have the rubber flashing around the perimeters and he will lace the Tyvek within the rubber flashing properly.
He is having a hard time formulating his bids and was hoping to see how other professionals like himself are doing this? Per square foot? And if so, how much? Of course, regional differences will adjust the cost. He is in Denver, CO.
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My cost guide lists "Housewrap, exterior, spun bonded polypropylene" as 1 carpenter installing up to 3800 sq ft per day at 27cents per sf. Cost adjusted for Denver = 26cents per sf. Disclaimer: just a guide. Better method: How much can he put on? What's the material cost? What does the treatment at the seams, windows, doors, add to the time? How much does he need to make to survive? The guide #'s come to $988 a day. Dunno how much of that is material in Denver. Their #'s say thats $600. $388 a day for one guy sounds pretty survivable.
Thanks RW,
He is telling me that the lacing of the Tyvek around the windows and doors properly is what's adding a lot of extra time to his jobs. He is presently trimming out very high end custom homes, ($1,000,000 plus). These homes have a lot of windows and his feeling is that he should probably raise the prices that he is charging the general contractor, but before he does, he was interested in getting some feed back from professionals such as your self.
By the way, this guide that you speak of, is this something that you created, or is it an industry book or pamphlet that he can purchase?
Thanks,
Miwuk
I was leery of commenting on pricing for something I haven't installed myself; Tyvek doesn't come into play in my world very often, but my cost guide seems to come close to accurate on most things. There are lots of estimating guides out there, but the one or the line I lean towards is put out by R S Means. You can look them up at http://www.rsmeans.com The particular book I'm citing is Repair & Remodeling Cost Data, 23rd ed, Commercial / Residential 2002. Their line is extensive. For example, if you're a GC, then Assemblies Cost Data might cater to you more, but there's books focusing on plumbing, electrical, site work, etc. The Assemblies book is pretty comprehensive and broad in scope. This remodeling guide is narrower (I'm not putting up any commercial buildings) but has a small section in the back that lists pricing on assemblies costs rather than line item costs. Most of this is also available on CD as well. If you or anyone else is interested, the best route before dropping $150 on a book is calling them (781) 585-7880 and telling them what you do, what you bid, and what you're looking for. Let the guys who put these together figure out which one fits your criteria. That being said, the best estimating guide in the world is no substitute for experience and common sense. I usually bid things at least two different ways before deciding. If I'm using guide provided numbers, I double check costs and availability. Good example - I commented on this in another thread. You can look up T1-11 siding and it ought to give you a materials price of about ten bucks a sheet, but I had to special order some a week ago to match what was on the house, and it was 12" spacing (rarer), 5/8" thickness, and 9' sheet lengths, and it had to be ordered and shipped in. They just don't use it around here and nobody carried it. My cost went to $57 a sheet. If you don't check your back, you can lose your shirt. Hope that was useful.
That's a lot of help RW. Thanks a bunch.
wrapped up the house house once, I'm loading my truck this old geezer dude walks up on the sidewalk, squints at the house, and says "Tyvek, .... what's he running for?"# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
Good advice so far. Make sure that you tell your buddy to compare his actual costs to his estimate. He won't lose much if he is off on the first time he uses a new estimate, but if he does it time after time, he really has only himself to blame.
Maybe cost of material equals cost of labor and adjust on next job until you're comfortable with price.
Good points schellingm and nails, I am gathering all of your input and I will present them to my buddy.
Thanks,