Some painting projects can only be completed with scaffolding.
Estimating any painting job requires accurately measuring three expense categories. The costs involved in painting includes the cost of the paint products, which typically is the lowest expense in the job. Painters also must accurately estimate the amount of time required to initially set up the work and clean up when finished. Finally painters must estimate the amount of time to physically apply paint to the building, room or equipment.
Instructions
Estimating Setup and Cleanup Costs
1. Visualize the entire process of painting a light pole. Determine if the light pole can be removed from the ground, or if scaffolding must be built around the light pole to enable painters to reach the entire surface.
2. Estimate the amount of time required to remove and replace the light pole, or assemble and disassemble scaffolding.
3. Add into the setup costs any fees required if scaffolding will be rented, or if a crane is needed to remove and replace the light pole.
4. Estimate the amount of time required to clean up the job site and remove all equipment used during the process.
5. Add these estimated times together, and multiply them by the company's labor costs. Add to this amount the costs for any rental equipment in order to calculate the first one-third of the job expense.
Estimating Material Costs
6. Calculate the total surface area of the pole. A pole has very little actual surface area, and the formula for calculating the surface area of the cylinder is: diameter of the pole multiplied by 3.1416 multiplied by the height of the pole. The result is the surface square footage.
7. Divide the surface area of the pole into the coverage of a gallon of paint. Most paint products cover 350 square feet per gallon. This means that a flag pole that is 40-feet tall and has an average diameter of 1.2 feet has a total square footage of surface area of only 150 square feet; therefore, the flagpole could be painted with only 2 quarts of paint.
8. Choose the appropriate type of paint for the light pole, and add this cost to the figure calculated in Step 1.
9. Add to the cost of the paint an additional 8 to 10 percent to cover the cost of miscellaneous supplies such as masking tape, drop cloths and paintbrushes. For example, if the paint for the project cost $50, add an additional $5 to the material cost to cover miscellaneous expenses.
Estimating Labor Expense, and Creating a Final Estimate
10. Use a labor estimating resource, such as a handbook from the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA). to calculate the amount of time required for a painter to physically apply paint to the light pole's surface. The PDCA publishes labor production rates for all types of painting applications. For example, if the labor guide recommends that one painter can apply paint with a brush to any surface at 100 square feet per hour, a painter would be able to apply paint to the entire pole in 1.5 hours. This amount of time only refers to the time it takes to physically apply paint to the pole's surface.
11. Add to the labor estimate any time required for the painter to climb up and down the scaffolding and set up for painting work each day. When painters are working on an elevated platform, their production is slowed down by the time it takes to move, and adjusts their position during the day.
12. Multiply the amount of time required by the company's labor rate. Add this figure to the dollar cost calculated in the two previous sections. This labor and materials subtotal represents the total costs to the business to complete the requested work.
13. Multiply the business cost by any profit margin percent the business desires to make. For example, if the business costs calculated above totaled $850, and the business operated on a 25-percent margin in order to be profitable, the estimate for the job which would be submitted to the customer should be $1150.
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