Estimating painting jobs can be a difficult task for someone who is just starting a painting business. In this article, I’ll show you the different ways to give your customers an accurate price for painting their homes. I will explain the different methods and you can choose the one that suites you best.
Hourly Rate Method
I don’t recommend that you give your customers an hourly rate for painting. Whenever someone hears an hourly rate, the first thing they do is compare that hourly rate to the hourly rate that they earn at their job. If you charge more than they currently make hourly you will have a hard time selling them on the job. This really shouldn’t be the case but it is the reality of the situation. Avoid charging an hourly rate and you will avoid this problem.
With that said, you should still know your hourly rate or your (Target Hourly Rate). That is the hourly rate that you would like to make on every job. You should know this but you should not tell you customers what this number is. This is for business purposes only.
Daily Rate Method
Many painters use this method for pricing out painting jobs because it’s an easy method to use. You simply tell the customer what your daily rate is and you complete as much painting as you can in a day. You then charge the customer for the number of days it takes you to complete the job.
This method is similar to the hourly rate method in that is also has a few drawbacks. The customer still hears how much to make a day and can easily compare it to how much they make in a day. No one wants to know that a painter makes more money than they do. Again, this is the wrong way of thinking about it but the reality is that people actually do think like this. You don’t want them comparing how much you make to how much they make. Unless it is one of your very affluent customers there is a very good chance that you could make more than they do per hour. We don’t want them knowing this though.
I don’t recommend you use the daily rate method for the reason above as well as the fact that you are still trading your time for a set amount of money. Whenever you trade 1 unit of your time for a set amount of money you lose motivation to complete the job quickly. After all, if you take longer to complete the job you will make more money on that job. This might sound good to you but it’s not the way to run an honest, respectful, painting business and it doesn’t have the customer’s best interest in mind. Also, you’re not setting yourself up to make the maximum hourly rate that you can possibly earn. Let me explain.
Flat Rate Method
Every painting job really should be estimated at a flat rate. The customer should know exactly how much they’re going to pay before you start painting their house. This method is best for the customer and best for you and your business. You’ll be able to maximize your true hourly rate the most with this method.
Your True Hourly Rate
Your true hourly rate is the amount you make per hour after everything is all said and done. So lets say you do a painting job that costs the customer $1000 and you have $200 in materials expense. You are able to complete the job in 2 days at 8 hours a day. Lets do some math:
$1000 – $200 = $800
$800/16 hours = $50 per hour
Your true hourly rate on this job is $50 per hour.
You’ll realize that very few customers would pay you $50 per hour to paint in their home if you were using the hourly rate method. After all, they make $25 an hour at their job and there’s no way they’re going to pay a painter twice that much. (This is how some customers think).
So, most of the time you would not be able to make that $50 per hour by using the hourly rate method. This is the main reason I recommend using the flat rate method. It allows you to make the most money possible per hour. It’s always nice to increase your true hourly rate. Chances are that the customer is not going to try and go back and calculate how much you made on the job so they’ll never realize that you made $50 per hour.
How To Estimate Jobs Using The Flat Rate Method
You can use a few different calculations to estimate a paint job using the flat rate method. You can multiply your hourly rate by the number of hours you think the job will take (Note: you do not tell them your hourly rate). You can also multiply your daily rate by the number of days you think the job will take. This is a very common method. You can also estimate the square footage of the walls and multiply that number by a set square footage charge.
All three of the methods above will give you a flat rate that you can charge a customer. The most accurate method of them all is using the square footage calculation. You will, however, need to find out what the market rate is for your area. Painting costs vary all across the country so you will need to do some research to find out the average rates in your area. To do this, you can call your competition and even invite them over for an estimate (Don’t tell them you are a painter), or you can ask your local paint stores. They might be able to give you a good idea of the going rates in the area.
Do your research and find out how much you can get for painting jobs in your area and use one of the methods above to bid your next paint job. Remember, your best bet is to use the flat rate method. It’s more difficult, but you can earn more money that way.
