Hey I was checking a builders work the other day and I realized something – HEAPS of you price elementally when you are working on jobs yourself and you don’t even know it!
That being the case, I thought I’d give you some info about what pricing elementally actually means, when it should be used, and equally when it shouldn’t be used!
Here’s a scenario
So basically elemental pricing is when we use built up rates to price a job quickly, and these built up rates might be something along the lines of this;
That’s a pretty hefty description right? So the idea behind that, is you can measure up all the m2 of the external walls and apply whatever number relates to that description and BOOM, you have the $ for that work. Its quick, its not too painful, and it gives you a pretty reasonable value for the work to be completed.
YES. Its awesome. HOWEVER, there are risks you need to be really clear about.
Elemental Pricing traps
The one thing I see builders do with elemental pricing, is they can get caught out using the elemental price value for a fixed price contract. DON’T DO THAT. Elemental pricing is designed to give someone an estimate of cost for works, its usually used at concept stage prior to drawings being fully complete. The margin of error for elemental pricing is GREATER than that of a detailed pricing exercise, so if you are being asked to provide a fixed price, do the work, and count every single nut and bolt, because if you don’t then you are running the risk of having undercooked the dollars.
The other thing an elemental pricing exercise cannot do for you, is provide you with the roadmap I talk about so often….. it’s no good to you to have a document to use onsite that is full of built up rates when you are trying to figure out what your time budget is for putting up the skirting boards. You should know by now your road map is your path to profit, so make sure that you have it!