Commercial painting companies in Concord must be able to come up with an accurate cost estimate as it is one of the key factors to the overall success of a painting project. They should come up with a detailed and itemized list of all the expenses involved in the project – materials, labor, equipment, working hours, and other odds and ends. Reputable contractors should also be flexible and adaptable especially if there are modifications to be made in the project.
Since the sizes and scopes of many projects differ, there is no standard way as to how a cost estimate should be determined. That’s why precise calculations are necessary to arrive at an exact total cost of the project.
Cost estimation is important, even crucial, in project management especially if you’re on a budget. It is the key to successfully complete a painting project, finished on time, without going over the budget.
As said before, there is no standard way as to how a cost estimate should be determined. However, let us give you a sample on how painting contractors roughly estimate a project.
1) Calculate the size of an area to be painted
In a commercial painting project, the first thing you are most likely to wonder is: “How much do we need to paint?” The first attempt is to calculate the size of the area.
First, you need to multiply the height and the width of each of the outside walls, and then add them together to get the total square footage.
For example, you own a commercial building with four exterior walls. Each wall measures 30 feet wide and 20 feet high, so obtain the total square footage of the walls by following this computation:
4 x 30 x 20 = 2,400 sq. ft.
If your building has four windows measuring 5 feet wide and 6 feet high, and one door measuring 5 feet wide and 8 feet high, you need to subtract these factors from your total wall square footage:
Windows: 4 x 5 x 6 = 120 sq. ft.
Door: 5 x 8 = 40 sq. ft.
120 + 40 = 160 sq. ft. (the total square footage that you need to subtract from your wall square footage)
2,400 – 160 = 2,240 sq. ft. (the total square footage to be painted)
3) Determine how much paint is needed
Once you get the total square footage to be painted, now figure out how much paint you need for the project. One gallon of paint usually covers around 400 square feet of space if the walls are smooth, or 300 square feet of space if the walls are textured. So, using the total square footage from the above-mentioned calculations, you will need about 5.5 gallons of paint to cover 2,240 square feet of smooth surface or about 7.5 gallons of paint to cover 2,240 square feet of textured surface. If you need two coats of paint, you must double the amount of the total number of gallons determined earlier.
Professional painters prefer using premium-quality paints, which are usually expensive (around $25 to $40 per gallon). If you want to use quality paints, you need to set aside a budget for them between about $300 and $600, or more, depending on the size of your particular building.
3) Figure out the cost of the materials
If you decide to use premium quality paints, you might as well go for top-notch materials and tools such as brushes, rollers, paint trays, paint sprays, drop cloths, painters tape, and many others. They may be a bit more expensive, but they are guaranteed to last. Choosing excellent materials prevents you from spending more on defective and low-quality tools. You are likely to set aside a budget between $140 and $300 for the materials. Watch out though, for changes in the prices; increases in prices usually occur without prior notice.
4) Figure out the labor cost
The best commercial painting in East Bay and surrounding areas usually involve sizable labor, but then it depends on the scope of your business. In order to arrive at an exact labor cost, you will need to factor in the number of hours a worker will need in order to complete the job. Painters also do other work such as surface preparation, applying primer, caulking, repairing problem areas, clean-up and proper disposal of wastes.
For example, if a worker can do a prep work of 50 square feet of space and can paint about 150 square feet an hour, then figure out the hours that a worker will need to complete a job, using the total square footage from the aforementioned computation:
2,240 sq. ft. / 50 = 44.8 hours to prep the area
2,240 sq. ft. / 150 = 15 hours to paint the area
44.8 + 15 = about 60 hours a worker will need to complete the job.
Next, multiply the total of hours and the amount that you have to pay to arrive at a total labor cost. Thus, if you pay $15 per hour, multiply that amount by the total of hours:
$15 x 60 hours = $900 (total labor cost)
The more workers you employ, the bigger the total labor cost will be.
The examples above comprise of a rough estimate. If you need to get a more accurate and exact estimate, you may have to include other things such as overhead costs (like rentals for scaffolding, lifts, power washers, etc.) as well as miscellaneous expenses.
Commercial painting companies in Concord usually assess their projects by way of the square footage to be painted. However, you can expect other things which may further complicate the painting job and are likely to add to the overall cost of the project. These things may involve painting the trims and other details, safety measures and other outside obstacles that painters are likely to include in the project.
