edgephoto
Senior Member
Any business that buys and sells materials marks them up. You don’t bring food to a restaurant and ask them to cook it.
I wouldn't itemize everything on a customer invoice. They don't need that information unless you are doing it time and materials.I'm glad you brought up material markup. I was curious what others do. My brother and i debated about material markup. I had actually typed up an invoice on the ditch job with markup on dirt, hay, and seed. Not quite 50% but enough to cover the setup and handling of the material to make a little extra for time since we had time in procuring the materials. But my brother said if he were a customer he'd rather know exactly what the item cost and itemize out handling separate if not just include it in labor. He said when building his house the concrete guy charged a mint for his services and up charged on concrete too. He said he felt he got reemed twice. I don't know. I guess most people who are hiring out wouldn't know what materials cost. He said it wasn't wrong, he just would rather pay more for labor than for making someone think you're paying X amount when it was Y.
I definitely think there needs to be markup. Especially when using my equipment, fuel and wear and tear to go get materials plus my time.
I wouldn't itemize everything on a customer invoice. They don't need that information unless you are doing it time and materials.
I just had two chimneys repaired on my house. The bricklayer said upfront, time ($150 @hour) and materials.
He had to rent a 50 foot lift ($400 @day) and $250 for the lowboy to move it, and pay a helper.
I got an invoice with no line items. Just a total for $4900. I have no problem with his invoice. I have been around long enough to know that was a fair price.
Your brother made a bad choice when he didn't get two or more bids for his concrete work.
Never mind nit-picking an invoice after it was submitted for payment. It is all about total cost.
I hope that stump didnt overwork your hydraulics Boone!! LOL!! Looks nice though!