Sounds like you got a job on top of a job….....LOL I don't think I could begin to tell you how to bid on these. I do know we have a lot of LJ's here that do this type of refinishing so I will let them help you. Good luck on your refinishing endeavors.
bidding question
Hi as you may have already read in my profile I am graduating from a hobbiest into starting my own business in the near future. So here a little bit about how I came to ask this question. I am a waitress as my daily job and I work for a LARGE RESTAURANT CORP. located thru-out the usa RED ROBIN if you are familiar with the company. anyways I have worked there for over 5 years and one day I went to work and noticed (because I am a finatic about wood grain and how beautiful it is} that a couple of the tables were more shinny than the others and I knew that my boss had seen some of my finished peices of woodwork. So a little butt hurt I went to him and ask him why he didnt ask me to refinish the tables, well he told me it was some friend of one of the other managers and he said for me to come in and do a table and if he liked the results he would let me finish the job. Well first of all the 2 the other guy did were with a shellac and had already started to peel. So I did my one table and he was amazed at how good it looked. Well I had never takein on a job this big before and I kinda took the job from the other guy so I just told my boss he could pay me whatever he was paying the other guy which was 30 bucks a table and there are over 50 and the sizes are different there are square and round tables and even 2 that are I would guess over 8 feet long that seat a party of 8 at a booth. so I am not quite done with this job and my boss liked it so much he went to his regional and asked him to come and see what I had donel He loved it. So now to my question WHAT IS A GOOD BID THAT WOULD BE INCLUDING SUPPLIES AND LABOR TO SAND AND REFINISH SAY 55 TABLES LARGEST BEING A RECTANGLE TABLE THAT SEATS 8 TO 10 PEOPLE AND THERE IS 2 OF THOSE most seat 2 to 4 people. Like I said I am doing this for my boss at what he was gonna pay the other guy I wanted to get my work out there. So since then I now have people from corp coming next week to see my work and I may get offered to do all the older restaraunts here in AZ AND possible other states as well and yes I am in the process of getting a business license etc….....So if any one can give me a rough est or a ball park figure on even one table what u would charge I can go from there like I said I have no clue what the rate is these days for refinishing work at all thanks a bunch and I will put pic up of some of my other work as soon as I get them on my computer
sincerley DENISE A blonde with lots of moments lol
sincerley DENISE A blonde with lots of moments lol
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
thanks for the kudos and I will keep u all posted
hello and welcome ,
finishing used to be a trade in itself ,
but over the years ,more and more have dropped out of the business ,
( just look in the yellow pages , there are not very many left )
what ever you are getting , ad more ,
you already have thier attention , and as a business ,
you will have new expenses you havent seen yet .
i'm not much ov a finisher , but you should hear from more here that know more about this
as the day begins ,
don't sell your self short , you are about to step into a bigger world ,
and want to start ready , not over whelmed !
keep us posted .
finishing used to be a trade in itself ,
but over the years ,more and more have dropped out of the business ,
( just look in the yellow pages , there are not very many left )
what ever you are getting , ad more ,
you already have thier attention , and as a business ,
you will have new expenses you havent seen yet .
i'm not much ov a finisher , but you should hear from more here that know more about this
as the day begins ,
don't sell your self short , you are about to step into a bigger world ,
and want to start ready , not over whelmed !
keep us posted .
Time and materials is indeed the way to think about this job, since it is your first big job.
Here is how I go about it.
1. I determine how much materials will be needed. Paint brushes, tarps, the finish you choose, sandpaper, appropriate cleaner for your brushes or other tools, etc. Paint stores will usually give you a price discount if you tell them you are looking to buy 10 gallons of …, 10 tarps, 5 brushes, etc. They want your business and will give you a price break if you come back to their store on a regular basis.
2. Time needed to do the work. This is the hardest part. But you already have some experience, so just sit down and carefully think through the process of re-doing one small table. I have to put all other distractions aside and just think about the work at hand. If someone is waiting for me to give them a bid on painting a house for instance, I tell them it will take me 15-20 minutes to work up a price. They then leave me alone until I am ready to give them my bid.
So, after you have determined how much time one small table will take, use that information to determine your total time doing all of the tables. As has already been mentioned, do not sell your time short.
3. Allow some extra labor time for unexpected work.
4. If you have to start traveling to distant jobs, allow travel time, gasoline expenses, etc. A mileage rate here can be very helpful. 40 cents per mile is a good rule of thumb. This covers your gas and vehicle wear and tear.
5. Allow some time for clean up on the job site.
6. Advertising? You might want to think about adding a little to your bid to cover the cost of ordering business cards. Of course, there are also web sites where you can order free/very inexpensive business cards.
These are a few ideas. I hope this helps. Good luck.
And, of course, do your very best on this job and it will lead to other things.
Here is how I go about it.
1. I determine how much materials will be needed. Paint brushes, tarps, the finish you choose, sandpaper, appropriate cleaner for your brushes or other tools, etc. Paint stores will usually give you a price discount if you tell them you are looking to buy 10 gallons of …, 10 tarps, 5 brushes, etc. They want your business and will give you a price break if you come back to their store on a regular basis.
2. Time needed to do the work. This is the hardest part. But you already have some experience, so just sit down and carefully think through the process of re-doing one small table. I have to put all other distractions aside and just think about the work at hand. If someone is waiting for me to give them a bid on painting a house for instance, I tell them it will take me 15-20 minutes to work up a price. They then leave me alone until I am ready to give them my bid.
So, after you have determined how much time one small table will take, use that information to determine your total time doing all of the tables. As has already been mentioned, do not sell your time short.
3. Allow some extra labor time for unexpected work.
4. If you have to start traveling to distant jobs, allow travel time, gasoline expenses, etc. A mileage rate here can be very helpful. 40 cents per mile is a good rule of thumb. This covers your gas and vehicle wear and tear.
5. Allow some time for clean up on the job site.
6. Advertising? You might want to think about adding a little to your bid to cover the cost of ordering business cards. Of course, there are also web sites where you can order free/very inexpensive business cards.
These are a few ideas. I hope this helps. Good luck.
And, of course, do your very best on this job and it will lead to other things.
Oh, one last thing.
Ask lots of questions. This will help you determine exactly what the company is looking for in the job. It will help you to accurately determine you bid.
Ask lots of questions. This will help you determine exactly what the company is looking for in the job. It will help you to accurately determine you bid.
Besides time and material you have to come up with what your time is worth and material you may not think of like sand paper,thinner, also , If you need to buy a spray equipment to help expedite this job. For you to charge the same as the person that did a poor job seems strange,but it looks like it got your foot in the door. I would say that you do the first 10 of the 50 tables for the $30(but that seems very cheep) then see if its worth it to you, and put it to the restaurant that way also that you will have to check you cost after the first 10 tables.
thanks so much for your advice I have gained some insight already and will estimate this evening the time it takes to do just one table and some of the supplies you mentioned I didnt even think of adding to the cost thanks again Im gonna keep positive and Yes I always do my very best when ever I work with wood in any way. I was trying to upload some of my work to the sight here and I cant seem to get it to recognize my computer file any ideas
garyk posted a forum on this , look at his home page , and check it out .
when you try to dump pics into the project page , they need to be smaller than 3mb's
or take them to photobucket ( free ) and bring them back to project page .
this is frustrating until you get the hang of it .
when you bring them back , you need to
!httm/blah/blah /blah /themdirectlink with exclamation tight to both ends!
or they will not show as pictures , just as links .
i usualy edit to 4×6 before sending them out to pb. and bring them there (in thier place as "large")
drag back directlink to your
![]()
hope you are not totaly confused , in the posting format open minibrouser to find photobucket .
good luck ,we are anjious to see your work , and wish you well on your new venture !
when you try to dump pics into the project page , they need to be smaller than 3mb's
or take them to photobucket ( free ) and bring them back to project page .
this is frustrating until you get the hang of it .
when you bring them back , you need to
!httm/blah/blah /blah /themdirectlink with exclamation tight to both ends!
or they will not show as pictures , just as links .
i usualy edit to 4×6 before sending them out to pb. and bring them there (in thier place as "large")
drag back directlink to your
hope you are not totaly confused , in the posting format open minibrouser to find photobucket .
good luck ,we are anjious to see your work , and wish you well on your new venture !
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
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