any advise or check my math

[Carolina start up]

so been busy with the business already have been making more than last year. I've been contacted to do a french drain for a customer in what id call a higher-end neighborhood the guy has pooling in the back yard it's towards his patio coming off a hill. its 310 feet from the start of the problem to where the drain needs to come out. its a tight space and I really need a micro excavator and a little dingo for the gravel. the drain will have 5 catch basins at his request each 25 feet apart and the pipe will be wrapped in fabric. so i got about 1k in for pipe, catch basins, and the fabric then the gravel i did the math i need 8 yards of it, and priced out that would be 11.2 tons of gravel which will cost right around 1k. the local rental has a u17 and a dingo so imma adding those rental costs in which is about 1k. then my labor rate is 50 an hour i figured 8 hours which is 500 then a daily rate for the machines would be 1200. i figured after permits and fees and everything else it put my price right at 6k. i just wanna know if that sounds right or if I'm way off because I'm honestly just thinking about passing on this one and calling a buddy and let his company come do it for the guy.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

Eight times fifty is four hundred...

 

[cosmaar1]

$1,000 for gravel is awfully expensive stuff. Whoever is selling you gravel at $100 a ton is ripping you off by about 3-4x.

 

[AzIron]

Your labor rate is to cheap in my opinion should be up towards 70 an hour and you probably have more than one day involved and you didn't include a mobilization

 

[aighead]

I'd agree with cosmaar1, I've gotten several gravel shipments lately in the 100,000 lb. range and it's been in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 bucks.

 

[Carolina start up]

Eight times fifty is four hundred...

this is why I have people double-check my math my girlfriend said the same thing this morning.

 

[Carolina start up]

$1,000 for gravel is awfully expensive stuff. Whoever is selling you gravel at $100 a ton is ripping you off by about 3-4x.

the gravel is actually like 700 for gravel then the delivery where its coming from they charge 80 dollars flat fee then 3 dollars a mile it came out to 875 but I just rounded up

 

[Carolina start up]

Your labor rate is to cheap in my opinion should be up towards 70 an hour and you probably have more than one day involved and you didn't include a mobilization

girlfriend also said the same thing that my labor rate was too cheap and think so? if I rent a 302 and a dingo I figured an 8-10 hour day but two days would definitely be better and what do you charge for mobilization?

 

[Carolina start up]

I'd agree with cosmaar1, I've gotten several gravel shipments lately in the 100,000 lb. range and it's been in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 bucks.

this is all pea gravel a little higher but might get the math going for 57 stone because that would work just as good and I can get it way cheaper

 

[cuttin edge]

Can you waste the material you dig out on site? If you are putting 12 ton of material in, you have to take that out plus the pipe, so if you can't lose it on site, you will have to haul it away. If it is in a high end neighborhood, what about finishing? Is it a nice lawn, are you going to have to re-sod? Perhaps you can rent a sod cutter and lay it back down. Are you going to cover the stone around the pipe in fabric, to keep the fines from washing into the drain? Did you add 10% to your materials for waste?

 

[CM1995]

I'd agree with cosmaar1, I've gotten several gravel shipments lately in the 100,000 lb. range and it's been in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 bucks.

That's very, very cheap compared to here. Average price per TN delivered is +$25 per ton.

Carolina check and confirm your pipe prices. HDPE (ADS) pricing is all over the place.

I've got a couple more thoughts but gotta run at the moment.

 

[aighead]

We somehow lucked out and found what seems to be a high-volume rock place, I think usually used for commercial jobs, and it sounds like they slow down in the winter and have been, seemingly, thrilled with our orders. It could also be because my wife places those orders and they like to talk to her, not sure!

 

[cosmaar1]

#1 base stone for me is $27 per ton delivered. They can haul 24 ton at a time, so somewhere around $650. Still the price you are quoting is crazy high.

quarry is about 50 min away.

 

[skyking1]

That *sounds* like a $10,000 job to me.

 

[suladas]

Depends where the dirt is going, if it has to be hauled out, that sounds like 2-3 day job to me getting all the dirt out and rock in for 2 guys. Either way, I would price your own labour at least $1k a day after the equipment rentals and fuel and you have to make money on all the material too. I would say $10k sounds about right.

 

[skyking1]

OP, you are just getting going. Until you get a handle on this, bid it higher. Somebody with a really sharp pencil and lots of experience might underbid you, and that is OK. Don't lose money trying to buy work. It hurts everybody, especially you.

 

[suladas]

OP, you are just getting going. Until you get a handle on this, bid it higher. Somebody with a really sharp pencil and lots of experience might underbid you, and that is OK. Don't lose money trying to buy work. It hurts everybody, especially you.

Totally agree, a job like this is fairly easy to bid and the worst thing you should be off on is your time at least but still makes no sense to go really low. Also in the event you don't get it, I would ask what the price was of whoever did that way you know. I'd rather not get a job because I was too expensive then get a job because I was too cheap. Just because someone is cheaper doesn't mean you bid too high, there's plenty of guys around willing to work for little to nothing but I know i'm not one of them. I tell people if I can't make $1k for a 8 hour day regardless of what i'm doing i'm not doing it, I don't care if i'm running rented equipment, that's what my time is worth. Most days I make far more then that, but that's the minimum for me.

 

[Carolina start up]

Can you waste the material you dig out on site? If you are putting 12 ton of material in, you have to take that out plus the pipe, so if you can't lose it on site, you will have to haul it away. If it is in a high end neighborhood, what about finishing? Is it a nice lawn, are you going to have to re-sod? Perhaps you can rent a sod cutter and lay it back down. Are you going to cover the stone around the pipe in fabric, to keep the fines from washing into the drain? Did you add 10% to your materials for waste?

they have a few low spots I can keep the dirt at and the finishing I told him I don't do sod I haven't been able to figure it out yet anything I advertise I have done in my own yard to ensure that I can do it before I advertise it. i can do seed and straw though and yes imma dig the trench lay a bae of stone in the fabric pipe done then cover with stone then wrap it then cover then fill it back

 

[Carolina start up]

That's very, very cheap compared to here. Average price per TN delivered is +$25 per ton.

Carolina check and confirm your pipe prices. HDPE (ADS) pricing is all over the place.

I've got a couple more thoughts but gotta run at the moment.

yeah I been calling today everything is a pain

 

[Carolina start up]

OP, you are just getting going. Until you get a handle on this, bid it higher. Somebody with a really sharp pencil and lots of experience might underbid you, and that is OK. Don't lose money trying to buy work. It hurts everybody, especially you.

I actually sent him about 4 other companies and told him I'm still working on my price I'm hoping to god one of the other ones will do it