# How do you bid plumbing



## truckman5000 (Jul 14, 2013)

I own and run a profitable plumbing company, 
We have spread sheet soft ware that has current stock prices and "industry" labor time factors for per foot of each pipe and fittings.
1-No one i know bids like this.
2- Dosnt help as bids are different wither way.
3- Dose help only in state work, as the big companies/ union actually do a material take off per plan.
4- Ill follow up on bids and im usually 20-30% high
5- The bids i do get are if i figure a 0%- 3% profit were i can see major change orders/ extra $$ This is tough as they make you itemize you overages with a time/ material rate.

Is there any money in commercial work?
I know residential is even lower bid...

I do HVAC also, this is more profitable as it seems like a 20-30% mark up material is standard that everyone dose.
Plumbing..for years 10% mark up on materials is all you could get away with..

I bought PPR/ water fusion tooling as i thought that would make a leading edge, but then now a 1/2in copper 90 is 28cent and a ppr is 98cent...


Ill start off 1,200 a day 2-men + 10% material mark up and or 3-20% job mark up profit. Usually cost plus 10% on the whole job. I have tons of work..doing 2 airports, air force base, hair salons, 3- huge 10-12 bath homes...the send out to bid commercial projects i rarely get..(i know why)


----------



## everlast (Feb 23, 2016)

We are a professional plumbing company at Sydney.We firstly calculate the working hours and cost for equipments depends on this cost we take bid.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

truckman5000 said:


> I own and run a profitable plumbing company,
> We have spread sheet soft ware that has current stock prices and "industry" labor time factors for per foot of each pipe and fittings.
> 1-No one i know bids like this.
> 2- Dosnt help as bids are different wither way.
> ...


whats your location??


----------



## newyorkcity (Nov 25, 2010)

Are you able to get the numbers to your competition's bids after the bid opening?
That is the proof of whether you are leaving money on the table.


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

its dog eat dog...in commercial work. no other way to say it.

others are using the same software you are but just cutting their own throats to keep work in the pipeline for their crews......

If you want to do commercial work just think of it as something to keep
your crews working ...basically churning numbers...

Just make one big mistake and then its the crying game.


----------



## newyorkcity (Nov 25, 2010)

Same here. I downsized a few years ago, and I am much happier.
I charge more, and only work on alterations, service work for two real estate managers, and select gc jobs where the job is critical and they are willing to pay more.
It gets tough trying to keep up with everything, but workmanship is never an issue.
Developing commercial contacts is key to getting jobs without being the low bidder.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

residential and service work are much more profitable, your dealing with much more than just numbers on a paper, customer service plays big on how you can charge more..


----------



## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

I use the wag and swag method.


----------



## bct p&h (Jan 19, 2013)

Pretty much the same as you. Price list of material and another of time it takes to install. Difference is I don't mark up time and material separately. I figure my total cost to do the job and mark up that number as a whole. I have 3 different margins. First one is what I would like to get. I use that one if I don't really want the job or I know it's going to be a pain in the ass and I want to make it worth it. Second is normal rate for us. The third bare minimum just to keep working. I don't like the third number.


----------



## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

I just add 5000 to whatever I thought was fair

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


----------



## Flyout95 (Apr 13, 2012)

We just had a $20,000,000 contract, it was bid way low, we lost on the plumbing, luckily we also had the fire protection, pipefitting, and sheetmetal and those estimators killed it, and they made buku on it.


----------



## rwh (Dec 17, 2014)

Flyout95 said:


> We just had a $20,000,000 contract, it was bid way low, we lost on the plumbing, luckily we also had the fire protection, pipefitting, and sheetmetal and those estimators killed it, and they made buku on it.


Been on a few of those!


----------



## rwh (Dec 17, 2014)

Not so much the $20,000,000.


----------



## Belknap (Apr 19, 2016)

I use Microsoft Excel for most of my estimating and bidding. Depending on the job and customer. 10-30% mark up of bigger items/equipment. Materials cost and labor. I created formulas in Excel that does all the math for me. I just punch in my numbers


----------



## Letterrip (Jul 28, 2013)

Hi Belknap. It's considered good etiquette here to give an introduction of yourself before you start posting. Not looking for a detailed autobiography. Just a little bit of your history in the plumbing field. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mccmech (Jul 6, 2011)

Letterrip said:


> Hi Belknap. It's considered good etiquette here to give an introduction of yourself before you start posting. Not looking for a detailed autobiography. Just a little bit of your history in the plumbing field.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Dude, I looked at his profile at least 2-3 hours ago, when I read his post. His intro was pretty detailed then. I can't imagine anything, short of time-zone diffs, that would lead ya to question his qualifications.


----------



## Letterrip (Jul 28, 2013)

Hmm. I'm looking through tapatalk and I only see one post even now. Must be a glitch. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## moonapprentice (Aug 23, 2012)

Same here....^^^^^


----------



## Letterrip (Jul 28, 2013)

I also lost all unread threads in tapatalk yesterday. You may also note that I didn't blast the poster. I'm really not into that. Seems like a genuine post and profile says the company was established in '44 I think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Belknap (Apr 19, 2016)

Letterrip said:


> Hi Belknap. It's considered good etiquette here to give an introduction of yourself before you start posting. Not looking for a detailed autobiography. Just a little bit of your history in the plumbing field.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Fair Enough


----------



## CT18 (Sep 18, 2012)

If your going to bid that way keep your profit numbers down and you will need to make it up on man hours. I did some estimating when i worked in Chicago for a Union shop and they bid the same, material take off and man hours. He always told me he keeps his profit between 2% and 5%. He said he will make or break on the man hours and beating up supply houses to drop pricing. They are a large outfit in Chicago.


----------



## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

I throw a number and see if it sticks


----------



## truckman5000 (Jul 14, 2013)

Thanks guys, the intro? i did one 4-6 years ago...But moved and changed my name. IDK my old name but ive been around along time...
I operate and own a 10 crew install plumbing crew..company dose service and hvac.
I hate my job.. rather be working lol. Today i piped a small commercial mechanical room to have "fun".

I appreciate the feed back. I know its competitive and i understand..At a point, the commercial stuff your doing cad drawings and meetings and everything to spec. Its only a small profit if you know you can get away with something. But then again...the engineer can come back and say i want this and that..I get it but i dont know why SOO may guys want to do these type of jobs..Like drive 3 hrs away stay in a hotel room for the week. None of my guys would do this...

I lost a huge job 1 mile away...the plumbing/ hvac crew started. I popped in to shoot the ****..Because they were based out of Connecticut witch is 150 miles away. The guys said they (4) had a hotel room and were to share the room until the job was done. The c.o. they work for is a big company....
Above..Is this how this industry works? I wouldnt want to be away for free just to have a 50 hr week..


----------



## CT18 (Sep 18, 2012)

The company i am working for has multiple jobs out of town. It is all union work so we only send supervision and hire local hands. The supervisors get lodging paid and per diem. Some guys thats all they do is on the road work. We are currently doing the Holland Energy Park in Holland Michigan and have around 100 guys working for us. I would say half of them are travelers.


----------



## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

truckman5000 said:


> Thanks guys, the intro? i did one 4-6 years ago...But moved and changed my name. IDK my old name but ive been around along time...
> I operate and own a 10 crew install plumbing crew..company dose service and hvac.
> I hate my job.. rather be working lol. Today i piped a small commercial mechanical room to have "fun".
> 
> ...


Out of town work ain't for me, but my boss is pretty generous. We get 1hr PTO for every night we spend out. Doesn't seem like much, but a few of the guys spent all year out of town and racked up about 250 hours which they then cashed in.


----------

