Blow-By-Blow
Just because we like lists… We thought we would give you guys our ultimate blow by blow of putting together a fixed price quote….. are you ready?!?!?!
1. Plans arrive. Set up a job file on your computer. Put in it you quote letter template, and ALL of the attachments you have received regarding the project.
2. Send out the plans to ALL required subcontractors, make sure you include a date as to when you need their price back by!!! Make it a few days before you need it.
3. Start working through the plans, highlight all of the carpentry work and associated works that your team will be doing. Measure the labour (how I have shown you) based on your material measures.
4. Apply the labour rate to all hours calculated using our labour charge out rate calculator (you can email us for this)
5. Make sure that all material measures include for waste!
6. Include time to attend upon subcontractors….
7. As you come across areas that are unclear, or where you have made a call on how you are going to approach something, WRITE IT DOWN IN YOUR QUOTE LETTER AS A TAG.
8. As your subcontractor and material quotes come back in, check them off against the plans and clarify if necessary. Pull through all tags and clarifications from the subcontractor quotes and add them to your tags and clarifications list on your quote letter.
9. Work on your P&G list using our templates…. Don’t forget to add any time needed for each item! Consider ALL aspects of the job, including access, site storage etc.
10. Clarify in your quote letter any Prov or PC Sums, AND how they will be dealt with.
11. Clarify how you will deal with all variations in your clarifications.
12. Really want to impress? Add a methodology statement to your quote letter… this is ESPECIALLY good when you are pricing up a renovation.
13. Add together your labour cost, material cost, subcontractor costs, and your P&G costs. Once you have this total, THEN add the margin you have worked out you need for your business. Search our infohub on how to do this….
14. Remember GST goes on top of all of this……
15. Include the must-haves in your quote letter….. the date, the name, the cost in both numbers and words (clarify the GST), the plans including any revisions received, then all your tags and clarifications beneath.
16. Don’t forget to clarify how long the quote lasts for.
17. Always remember to create a PDF copy of the quote letter to send… never send it in word format!
18. Another option that I know works well… is to have a meeting with the client to present the quote. This won’t work very often in commercial tendering situations, however, can be a nice touch for a homeowner!!!
Clients Don’t Need The Full Breakdown
Remember too as far as we are concerned, a client does not need a full breakdown of costs, a trade summary will do the job. Providing too much information to someone who doesn’t understand it all can create issues and is more useful in a charge up/open book type situation. A fixed price is a fixed price and should be accepted at face value. So unless you are the kind of person who goes to the supermarket and asks exactly how the cost of your 2L of milk was made up… then it helps to remember that! If a client would prefer charge up, then that is a whole different conversation!