Here are some tips to help you when you are estimating a paint job. There definitely some things that others recommend you use to estimate by, and I will do my best to tell you why their ideas can be harmful. I have also included some tips that are not necessarily refuting bad ideas, but are info that you can use to help with your painting estimate.
1) Estimating by multiplying by three- This is an estimating idea that has been around for a while; the idea is to take the paint cost and multiply by three. This would make paint cost at around 25 to 33% of the job, and this is unreal. Why is this idea wrong? See the next tip.
2) Paint is almost always 10 to 12% of the cost of the paint job. In the 35 years that I have been painting and recording job costs, probably 95% of the time paint is 10 to 12% of the job. See yourself if this is true or not.
3) WAG- What do these initials stand for? Here is a clue: Wild A_ _ Guess. I have seen painters walk through a home in ten minutes and put a price on a piece of paper, sometimes the customer is impressed by this magician, mostly they think this is stupid. I count everything, doors, windows, square feet of ceiling and walls, everything.
4) Square footage estimate- What is the difference in price of a 16 x 16 room that has 8 french doors, crown molding, 8 panel doors, 10 windows, and a room 16 x 16 that has 3 flush doors, just baseboard, and 2 windows? They are both 256 square feet, but what a difference in the time it takes to finish each room. You understand, right?
5) Prep- Skip this part on your estimate or do not figure enough time and you might as well stay in bed. Often times the preparation of a job is way more than the actually painting is.
6) Overhead and markup- I get the question, "What is the going rate?" There is no such thing as the going rate. You need to know your going rate. This means knowing your overhead, fixed overhead and individual job overhead. And then marking it up or adding profit.
7) Job costs- You really need to keep track of the costs of each job. Job coasts are a big component of tip #6 Overhead and Markup. Plus you need to know from job to Job whether you are making money or not.
Lots of painters especially new ones tend to overlook these items, and the lose money because of it. The new painter is sometimes looking for a magic formula; there is no substitute for the thought process. This is why you hear so many painters asking for the GOING RATE, there is NO Going Rate, there is only YOUR RATE. Probably the single most important thing to know is your overhead; this is the way to arrive at your selling price.
Source : Ezinearticles
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