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Painting Contractors: Using production rates for estimating projects

Name: Painting Contractors: Using production rates for estimating projects
Uploaded: 2023-05-12T12:35:44+00:00
Duration: 51 s
Channel: Daniel Honan
Description: Painting contractors often underbid because they skip production rates, which measure how much work a crew completes per hour. Track your team's actual…

12 May 2023 · 1 min

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Painting contractors often underbid because they skip production rates, which measure how much work a crew completes per hour. Track your team's actual time on tasks, convert it to rates, then use those numbers to estimate labor costs and project duration. The Painters Contractors Association publishes average rates if you need a starting point.

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One of the common mistakes newer painting businesses commit is not charging enough and not using production rates when doing their estimates. Production rates are the foundation of accurate estimating because they measure how much work your team can complete within a specific time frame. They help you account for labor costs, project duration, and overall efficiency, leading to more precise estimates and more profit. Ideally, you should develop your own production rates based on your team's performance and experience. You track how long it takes them to complete various tasks like painting a room or applying a coat of paint to a specific type of surface. Then you use that data to calculate your own production rates. If you don't have internal production rates yet, the Painters Contractors Association offers an estimating guide that provides production rates for an average painter. You can use this as a starting point as you collect data on your own team. Using production rates leads to more accurate estimates and more profitability.