How do I nail down pricing a job?

I am a contractor / Handyman . I mastered the work However I am Having a real Problem getting My Pricing in line. This Business is unlike service Businesses That have price lists. Every job is unique. Last week i gave a price to lay a floor of 700.00 and the cust said OK but My price was a bit high. Well I could not Do his floor due to I was too Busy. I was on the job site when the new Floor Guy cane to do it and He charged Him 1875.00 for what I was doing it for 700.00!!!! . When I go out to give a price The customers always say ( I am getting Many prices) I thank they just do this to Make me give a very low Price....How do I nail down pricing a job?
Figure out your break even. Remember that when pricing a job you want to cover the time you spent estimating it. You will also want to consider a truck charge to cover wear, tear and gas as well as your business insurance, rent or building payment and utilities. What is your time and efforts worth? If your break even is taking in $5,000 a month and this covers every expense and you work a 40 hour week, to break even you would need to be charging 28.85 per hour. But of course you cannot just break even. So far you have made zilch. I would add a minimum of $25 truck fee for each job. More if there will be some distance driving. If you would like to make $3000 a month you would need to add 17.00 an hour to the base price. You would need to charge approx. $46.00 per hour. Just an example.





There are some jobs that you will be able to get more $ for and some jobs less.





If your work is very good then most people will pay to have a good job done right the first time.





I would work on putting together a photo album with before and after pictures of your previous jobs. They will be able to see you do quality work. This will make you more valuable.





It would also pay you to find out what area contractors/handymen are getting per hour.





When there is material involved, be sure to mark it up at least 25% to cover your time involved in ordering and picking up.How do I nail down pricing a job?
hotsbs has some good info.one thing most contractors do not do is track their jobs.


all the things that you do must be logged to give you a better understanding of what you need to charge. not just a bid on jobs.
All customer always ask the lowest price and expect the contractor to provide the best services. What i suggest you to emphasis to your customer is that ';they get what they pay for';, educate them on value for money. The lowest of the highest price may not necessarily be best for them. So that when they compare prices, they wont compare your with other contractor apple to apple. This way you will have some leverage.


Always follow up on them... this help.

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