Electrical Estimating/Tendering

[Neil Dodd]

Hi All,

New member here trying to pick you're brains if possible.

Ive been in a position of pricing jobs for around a year or so now and would like to see how my fellow electricians compile there tenders when bid for the larger scale jobs for maim contractors.

At present i have always done it the same way which is how my boss has showed me by costing materials and marking them up by around 20% and then apply the labour charge rate (what we charge the client).

However, after talking with the md of a building firm we work with he has informed me of how he costs jobs, by pricing materials and labour at cost (what he pays) and then putting a percentage on top to cover overheads and profits.

My question is, are these the only ways to price a job and if we base it on the second theory how do you work out a percentage to cover overheads and profits per job when you never know how many jobs you will win thus taking the percentage higher or lower.

I hope my query is understandable! Thank you for you're time.

Nod

 

[Octopus]

You can only use either method if you know your overheads ...... and work backwards from there ....

 

[Neil Dodd]

Hi Murdoch

Thanks for the reply. Can you give me som guidance on how i would go about finding all overheads?

Nod

 

[Octopus]

Ask the company accounts department ......

 

[Jason Philip]

I use a general rule of work out materials and labour cost, then add 10% for overheads, then mark up that by 10%, so your final figure will be 121% of time and labour cost. Our labour rate is higher than what we pay, so extra profit there serves as a contingency for people dragging their feet.... And if you want to go more competitive you can pass on your materials discounts. How to you work out time taken? For example I use Trimble software to input everything from database.

TL;DR: basically just add 21% to cost, and that will cover overheads and markup.