How to Bid Jobs for a House Painting Business
As the owner of a house painting business, one of the first things you'll need to learn how to do is bid jobs. Painting is a lot more than just dipping a brush in the can and slapping it onto the walls. You'll need to take many things into account, everything from the type of client to how many hours a job will take to complete.
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Instructions
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Measure the area you will be painting to arrive at a square footage. Subtract windows and doors, if any. This will give you an estimate of how much paint you will need. Double the area to figure in two coats of paint. Also determine if you will be using water-based or oil-based paint.
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Look at different sizes of paint cans (usually 1 gallon, though some come in 5-gallon buckets) and see what square footage they cover. Get prices from different locations, average them and multiply that by how many cans or buckets you would require.
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Get a measurement of all trim around windows and doors and determine how much paint you will need for these areas. Again, double the area to factor in two coats.
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Add in an estimated cost of supplies. Determine how many paint brushes, rollers, drop cloths and other items you will need to complete the job. All of these must be added in to arrive at a bid for a painting job.
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Determine the time it will take to complete painting. Set an hourly rate for yourself and any helpers. Factor in set-up time, painting time and clean-up. Take into account the difficulty of the job. Painting two-story entrance ways or walk-in closets that have a lot of shelves take more time than painting a small bedroom.
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Factor in other miscellaneous costs, such as fuel to drive to the job, taxes, possible client modifications and potential set-backs that can result in taking more time to complete the job.
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Add 10 percent to the final price before submitting a bid for your house painting business.
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Bid according to your market. You might want to bid high for larger residential painting jobs or commercial jobs and a little lower for smaller jobs.
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Tips & Warnings
Figure an estimate for different areas of what you will be painting; for instance, ceilings require flat paint, while walls are generally painted with semi-gloss or satin enamel.
Don't try to figure out a painting job by the hour. Determine how much you will charge per day and use that figure in your bid.
