Pricing jobs with eCabinets

Moderators: Jason Susnjara, Larry Epplin, Clint Buechlein, Scott G Vaal

Post Reply
Neal Reeves
Junior Member
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat, Aug 18 2007, 9:43PM
Location: Bonifay, FL

Pricing jobs with eCabinets

Post by Neal Reeves »

I haven't used eCabinets a lot yet. I am still mostly doing everything by hand. I am trying to make the transition, but haven't worked out all of the bugs yet. I have always priced my jobs out by footage plus accessories and unusual occurrances. I know that this can't be the most accurate way to estimate jobs, but I'm in a rut and need a little boost to get me out of it. I'm not trying to get anyone to tell me their private business tactics, but I need someone to share their private business tactics with me. I promise I won't bid against you on a real job if you will just tell me a better, more accurate way to estimate jobs.

Neal
Neal Reeves
Country Cabinets, Inc.
Bonifay, FL
Damon Nabors
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 923
Joined: Wed, Apr 05 2006, 5:50PM
Location: Marion, Ar.
Contact:

Re: Pricing jobs with eCabinets

Post by Damon Nabors »

Neal, for me I just build my kitchen or job and nest the project. I can then see how much material I will use and If the cost are entered correctly, it will give you a cost for your materials. I have not updated my cost lately because for me, it's a lot like buying diesel fuel for my truck, it changes every day. But, I can see how many sheets I am going to need and how much face frame material I am going to use and then get a current price based on that information. As for the hardware I usually just multiply my hardware by the number of doors and drawers I have x cost. I have been doing this long enough that I know about how long it is going to take to build each cabinet (router and Blind dado's = not very long). I use prefinished plywood so my finishing supplies has reduced dramatically. Once you have your material cost down and your approximate labor cost down, add in your overhead expense and as much profit as YOUR market will allow.

You need to keep good records on how long it takes in each phase of the building process for each job so you can get a feel for the amount of time required on each job. That is if you are not doing this already. After you have started keeping a journal on each project you will get a feel for how long the job is going to take. That was the Number 1 killer for me when I went full time building cabinets. I thought I could build most anything in a day or two (Superman syndrome, All I needed was a red cape). I found out real quick to double my time estimate until I got a little more accurate with estimating.

Good luck and price some jobs from your competitors to get a feel for what your market is allowing, Hell I had Home Depot and Lowe's come out and price my house just so I could get a feel for what they are charging. That way I could compare apples to apples when the local customers starts to say, "Well, H---D---- only charges this much". I found out in the beginning that I could hang out in the kitchen department and hand out cards as people looked at kitchens. I only got run off once or twice :D . You got to get started somewhere.
Damon Nabors
Post Reply