Pricing jobs - How do you...........?????

[haggistini]

how would you go about pricing a patio with say a few aco drains raising a manhole cover and say about 30m2 of rustic stone imported stuff to be layed would £25 a m2 be about right???
p.s. id have to hire a whacker and what about material costs

[seanandruby]

Ok joke over Jeremy. R u sure you sure want to start up on your own?? do you know there are 40 shades of green (re; your post earlier). pricing takes time, money and a good knowledge of the cost of materials etc; look on the main site as all the info you need is there. ???

[haggistini]

i understand i need to research all the ins and out's but i tend to say approx £25 a m2 as a guide just to see if they are serious about having the job done and then go from there

[dig dug dan]

pricing any job per square m is foolish, and you will always get caught out.
For instance, have you lifted the manhole to see what its actually bedded on? sometimes the brickwork below is so poor it needs a lot of rebuilding before you can raise it. Then there is the groundworks and sub base to consider.
best to price per job.
It took me about 8 years to get estimating and quoting down to a tee. a mate who I work with still can't do it now, and so he gets me to price all his work, which we then do together.
some slabs can cost £25 per M before youve even started, so at your price, it will cost you! Beware!!!

[haggistini]

cheers dan! good advice any more about starting up.. slow and steady im thinking and what about garentee's or insurance ? oh yeah and getting the right qualification's

[seanandruby]

" http://www.hardlandscapetraininggroup.co.uk/ "
Start here hag. as i stated earlier " get into other trades IE bricklaying, chippying, steel fixing, setting out." The list is endless. After almost 40 years in the game, I'm still learning new things every day. The game changes almost daily with modern materials, plant, H & S even the thinking has changed. keep up to date and always look at the bigger picture. :;):

[lutonlagerlout]

at 25 per M2 you will be paying to lay the stuff
i have to say i think you are on a wind up,if you are going to give a speculative price start high and work done (which i dont and never will) work out how much the material costs then add the labour cost + profit
that is the price
LLL

[Rich H]

Very roughly, 2 man team.

day 1 - site setup and ground works
day 2 - laying acco and most of the slabs
day 3 - laying + cuts
day 4 - pointing & clear up.

It may be you don't need day 4 or all of it at least.

That'd be 32 man hours @ £?/hr =

Probably you'll also need
3t MOT
3t Sharp
9-15 OPC depending on how strong you like the muck
Building sand
Acco
Slabs

Rental
Skip
Disc cutter
Wacker
Digger or turf stripper?

Cost of all the above + 10-15% to cover yourself.

[lutonlagerlout]

i would say that you would be ok at about 2 to 2.5 k depending on variables
LLL

[haggistini]

im not on the wind up folks 25 per meter for laying not materials is what i meant..... anyway forget that idea "per meter" pricing the job as a whole thing sounds better!!! after taking all the costs in to consideration ,would you or should you give a break down of costs including your profit..gulp!
and how would you give them a contract of some kind or garentee of work?

[matt h]

ME THINKS YOU ARE RUSHING THINGS. CONTRACTS ARE A MINEFIELD IN THEMSELVES, MY ADVICE IS TO GET A COUPLE OF PROFESSIONAL OUTFITS TO QUOTE FOR ONE OR TWO OF YOUR JOBS AND THEN SEE WHAT I MEAN. You dont need to show your client what your profit is, but if you have the pricing right they will Know its 'ok. Mind you, some customers want blood and your cash to complete their projects, so beware!:(

[lutonlagerlout]

if its a PJ we would normally give the client an indication of the price in writing saying that materials are X and labour is Y inclusive
when you go shopping in sainsburys or wherever they dont tell you on the receipt that they made £4.38 out of you do they?
and tbh most people just want the total figure for completed job,guarantees are on the whole pretty much worthless,very hard to enforce,most people go by recommendation (this means you as well as the client)
i often get flash sods pulling up while we are working and saying "hey buddy,i have some work for you,and it will be pound notes wink"
now if its a stranger i am inclined to say "check the yellow pages" as we have said before ,you dont want to do the job then the client turns funny over money
much better if they just ask for a card or such,you need to smell the bad payers haggis
good luck
ps £25 a m for laying is fine but that doesnt include digging out

[haggistini]

sound advice from all will be with you all soon with more stupid questions cheers all!

[Rich H]

Bang on LLL.

All that clients really want to know is a) is the job going to be done properly and, b) how much will it cost?

Price on a fixed basis and do what you've said you'll do and there's no reason why everyone can't be happy.

PS £25/m is still too cheap!

[James.Q]

citb and lantra dont exist anymore