Hello, Wasn't sure which section to put this under. A little background. I am a residential excavating contractor. Ive done commercial work in the past but was not the person doing the bidding. Lately Ive been getting some bid requests that call for per foot prices. Figuring materials per foot is no problem but the digging, time to do bedding, covering, labor is another story. Any one have experience in this. Is there something to start with like a base rate and add for more depth and width? IE... Water line, 4" sewer lines. thanks WScott
Over here most contractors and Quantity Surveyors use a book called "Spon's".there is some older versions on google books which are out of date but may help with expected meterage . http://www.routledge.com/books/Spons-Architects-and-Builders-Price-Book-2010-isbn9780415552561
There are some base publications out there but it really depends on your production and labor force. How many feet (units) of ditch can you dig in a work day, what crew size do you need to lay what you can dig, don't forget about backfilling, what equipment will you need. Once you have all this in place it is simple compute your daily cost for Equipment, Labor and Materials then add for contingency/overhead/profit I use between 2 & 4% for contingency, If you don't know your actual overhead cost use 8 to 10% as a baseline, as for profit that’s all up to you and what the market will bear which isn’t much in these conditions. Add it all up then divide by your daily production and you have cost per unit.
I use the Means book. It does a pretty good job, and can help you get the basic costs down. Some swear by it, others shun it. But it works for me.
So ie. 400 ft, dirt light clay, flat. what would you charge per foot? Do you supply wire, pipe, or line?
All depends on the spec,has it to be at a certain depth,what material for backfill,marker tape etc etc
tree fiddy, that's what i figger
I figured fo fiddy
Good one.
LOL. tree fiddy or fo fiddy for two feet wide two feet deep just to open the ditch. Materials and backfill on top of that.... right? Sounds like a decent place to start :beatsme
yeah, add another tree fiddy fide
we're all professionals here, no? Its not like your keeping some secret by not typing the price out.
well, i guess i "could" type my price out, but in reality....it wouldn't/shouldn't do him much good....you see, i feel it very important for him to figure out what his own costs are, what margin of profit HE wants...and bid/charge accordingly. he'll get some bumps and bruises along the way, all part of the experience....it does him no service for him to use, nor us to offer unit prices over the internet when no doubt his individual circumstances are totally different from ours.
It's called UNIT PRICE Please don't do anything like getting this out of a book, IT WILL BE WRONG, I can almost guarentee it. If you can't figure the work, you will loose money. Figure how much it's going to take to do the work, YOUR COST, equipment, labor, materials, then add it up. Now how many utilites are you crossing, like fiber optic add maybe $350 for each crossing, irrigation maybe $100 for each this just to cover your costs. Now, Add all your costs together and to that total add 15% onto that for profit and mark up. Now divide by lin. ft. That should be your bid and gives you 15% just in case something goes wrong. Along with all this you need to put down what you will be doing, and what you will not be doing and that any thing else add will be extra work and have to be signed for. There is a trend to get excavating contractors hood winked & locked into open ended contracts, with hold harmless and indemifcation. You need to develop your own purchase order for the work, That way you don't sign anyone's contract that you don't read every word and agree to every word. I will not sign a short or long form AGC contract, unless I cross out 99% of it. Remember you don't want to loose control.
Why teach someone that may be bidding against me. Why give him my numbers, that way he can bid below mine. His bid should be different than mine, even though the numbers should be close. This all depends on his equipment, how he bills it, his employees, and how many feet he can make in an hour. Not to mention his insurance costs. He needs to figure out what he needs to make per foot. Not have someone tell him what he needs to make per foot. If he wants that, then we go back to three fiddy
No it's not wise to tell other bidders what you are bidding I did not say, that you are going to tell an other bidder how you came up with the unit price. I said how to unit price, and the book price does not fit all jobs. The bidders will know as soon as the job is let what the unit price is . Insurance is a cost figured with the machine cost along with fuel is a cost, locator is a cost and so forth, concrete is a cost, bedding is a cost, compaction is a cost, off haul is a cost, it's all cost until you get a profit. Sorry I confused you?
WScott, I just bid a 700 linear foot, 12" storm sewer (plastic) with 10" of 1" clear bedding and 1' of 1" clear on top for $40.00 per foot. We will use a cat 320BL to trench and a 315 to compact. Stone picked up is $5.70 per ton. If I remember right I bid it for less than 105cu/yds of stone. 1 hoe operator (320BL), 1 compactor/backfill man (315 and D5G), 1 laborer and 1 foreman. When I first did this I took all my previous bids and figured how many feet we did on average per day and all costs per day and simply did the math. It gets much easier as time goes by. Good luck
well for sewer laying and water ive been charging $10' for the digging part for 5-6 years now without many complaints the materials usually run another $10' for plastic,water depends on copper pricing
what type/size pipe you laying, i'm assuming this is a residential installation....that sells for $10 a foot?
normally we run mostly 4" sdr 26 pipe for residential sewers and 1" water.for commercial we run mostly 6" sdr.i did a job a few years back for a low life general in bellevue with 6" transitioning into 8" for close to a 1/4 mile that i got burned on,so i dont do anymore big jobs .for the 6" i try to get closer to $ 30' including pipe
look at some of the city county or state bid letting ... find the awarded part... most of the time it breaks down each part of the job... like cost of pipe, backfill, restoration, silt fence or erosion control.. you will see a wide range of bid prices ...from the I need the work, to the I want to make alot. This should give you an idea of what the going price is in your area.
last I heard we were charging $45 an hour for 580's. but that's been a couple years since I've heard the price... the only reason I got that is a guy pulled up on the jobsite wanting to know. I called and that's what they said..
I don't like unit prices because each job is different. Depth, type of stone, pipe, haul distance from quarry, compaction specs, cross lines, etc... I figure each job by daily rates for all equipment and labor with a 4 hr minimum.
And then you divide it into the unit price.