# Help how to bid



## ptcass (Oct 17, 2016)

Hi, Im Cass. Ive been a plumber in the state of Washington (UPC) since 2004. The majority of my experience is in new commercial plumbing and the rest is in new residential with a little bit of service and a tiny bit of remodel. So Im bidding a bathroom remodel. The thing is I have a lot of knowledge but I have never bid a job for a remodel. I've bid flat rates for plumbing a whole house but that was for family. All I'm doing is moving a toilet from one side of the room to the other putting in a double vanity in place of a single vanity and moving a shower from one side of the room to the other pretty much switching the toilet and the shower. I was doing a lot of research about how much to charge and I'm even more confused than I was before. I know up in Seattle and Everett where the jobs going to be done seems to be a lot higher than the national average. But I was just wondering if there's an easy way to figure out, without doing a full take of, a way to come up with a number that will be fair for me and him?

CBB


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## ptcass (Oct 17, 2016)

ptcass said:


> Hi, Im Cass. Ive been a plumber in the state of Washington (UPC) since 2004. The majority of my experience is in new commercial plumbing and the rest is in new residential with a little bit of service and a tiny bit of remodel. So Im bidding a bathroom remodel. The thing is I have a lot of knowledge but I have never bid a job for a remodel. I've bid flat rates for plumbing a whole house but that was for family. All I'm doing is moving a toilet from one side of the room to the other putting in a double vanity in place of a single vanity and moving a shower from one side of the room to the other pretty much switching the toilet and the shower. I was doing a lot of research about how much to charge and I'm even more confused than I was before. I know up in Seattle and Everett where the jobs going to be done seems to be a lot higher than the national average. But I was just wondering if there's an easy way to figure out, without doing a full take of, a way to come up with a number that will be fair for me and him?
> 
> CBB












CBB


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

*bidding questions first*

Looking at your drawing where is the door into the room
Are there any windows?
Is this a 1 or 2 story house?
If 2 story how the hell will you relocate the toilet?
Have you considered the structural damage this job will create?
IMHO


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## ptcass (Oct 17, 2016)

The arrow is pointing right where the door is. One story, no windows. Crawl space.









CBB


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## MACPLUMB777 (Jun 18, 2008)

LEARN TO READ ENGLISH 


An intro is requested from all new members. In case you missed it, here is the link. http://www.plumbingzone.com/f3/.

The PZ is for Plumbing Professionals ( those engaged in the plumbing profession)

Post an intro and tell our members where you are from, yrs in the trade, and your area(s) of expertise in the plumbing field.

This info helps members who are waiting to welcome you to the best plumbing site there is.

We look forward to your valuable input.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Kinda an intro, just not in the place it’s supposed to be.

What is your hourly rate, markup? Obviously don’t post that. How long do you expect it to take you, add x amount of hours for unforeseen problems, we don’t have X-ray vision. With that said to the customer say between $x and $***xx. Figure easy, figure a pain in the pooper. Let them know you’ll treat them fair and accordingly. People love honesty.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Looking at the pictures again, between rough after demo and finish after reconstruction I’d loosely bid it at a day and a half... but that’s not seeing it in person.


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## goeswiththeflow (Feb 24, 2018)

I have no experience bidding jobs like this, so take this for what it is worth, but my boss tells me that in my area if you bid roughly 1500 per fixture that should about cover you. I would add some for the pain of dealing with that heavy cast and the difficulty of working in the crawl.

Like the man said, you could always be honest with the customer and tell him that you don't have a lot of experience bidding these things. Give him your high price and tell him that it may be lower if it takes you less time and aggravation than you thought. The potential down side to that is that customers are as unpredictable as all other animals, and you never know how they will react. Some, rather than appreciate your honesty may see it as lack of confidence and use that to further their sense of superiority and jump all over you in an attempt to bully you into a lower price. Either way you learn something, and you find out from the start what kind of guy he is and whether you want to do business with him or not. Like Hyman Roth said when Moe Green got shot, this is the life we've chosen.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

One thing I missed before... in the new layout I’d install a right hand t&s, not left hand.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

15 grand ought to cover it


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