Replies

1. 
   DougU | Oct 31, 2005 02:33am | #1

   You have a little more details regarding the job?

   It'd be a bit easier to answer if you did.

   Doug

1. 
   Pgaski | Oct 31, 2005 02:58am | #2

   The room is 20 x 14 . The style of wainscot is almost the same as featured in FHB issue #165. In the article they used MDF for the center panel and I think clear pine for the boarder and trim. The whole thing is getting painted white. 

   I can do the job, I'm just not sure what to charge. Maybe just time and materials or  should I just bid the thing with some padding and hope that I'm not low balling myself.

   What are the hourly rates for trim carpenters these days in western Pennsylvania?

   Thanks.

   Pgaski

1. 
   DougU | Oct 31, 2005 03:23am | #3

   Pgaski

   Here is a link to a guy that did the wainscoting in his dinning room. I think he did it from the article that your referring to(Not 100% sure on that because their are two articles on wainscoting that I know of)

   I was going to do the job but ran out of time. I was going to bid it in the neighborhood of $1200, not counting material. I figured it to take 2 or 3 days.

   Your room is a bit bigger but not enough to make much of a diff.

   I don't know what the prices in Iowa are compared to those of western Penn. Hell I don't even know if I would have gotten the job at the $1200! Assuming that I would have its a good start for you.

   I think there was someone else on here that said to do that work they would have to have $100 per square ft. Don't know if that would have been with or without material.

   Figure out how long you think it will take you to do the job and how much you think you have to make and then add a little fudge factor in and your set.

   Doug

   Edit: just to add, Dennis did his with MDF panels and used popular for all the styles and rails. He ordered his moulding from the same place that the article had mentioned.

   62262.1  Forgot the link!

    

   Edited 10/30/2005 8:27 pm ET by DougU

1. 
   djj | Oct 31, 2005 04:48pm | #6

   Doug,

   As an FYI, one of the other trimmers I had bid the job including the wainscot and he said ~$2k (three days) for the wainscot w/o materials . His bid for the trimming the entire house was about 20% higher than you. And yes, if you had the time, and I had the extra cash you would have done the wainscot.

   Dennis

2. 
   Matt | Oct 31, 2005 04:44am | #4

   My somewhat educated guesstimate would be between $65 and $90 per rectangle.  Labor only.    That sounds somewhat in line for what Doug said.  Of course, I have no idea about labor rates where you live. 

   BTW- you can make the rails and styles out of MDF too, if you want to.

1. 
   IronDog | Oct 31, 2005 03:46pm | #5

   If I have the right article in my head one of the keys to his method of doing wainscoting was using bolection moulding to bridge the gap between panels and frames.Also, there are different grades of MDF, or you can use HDF ( high density fiberboard ) especially if you want to use if for the frames.
   Low grade MDF tends to have chipout at the edges.Good luck!TomYou Don't Know.

   You Don't Want to Know.

   You Aren't Going to Know.