Time Estimates

Douglas Hicks

New Member
I have noted with interest the various requests for help in pricing jobs. I do not care what the dollar figure is in pricing, just the estimated time to clean an exhaust system. I know my labor and material cost. What I have difficulty in figuring is the time to do a job. We need a discussion on figuring time to clean a hood.
1. Prep/set up time. Includes time to drape hood, ladder the building, mix chemical, connect water supply, move or cover appliances.
2. Clean fan. Includes tipping fan
3. Clean vertical duct.
4. time added to remove and replace access covers.
5. Clean horizontal ducts
6. Clean hood, based on length of hood, amount of grease, i.e. light, medium, heavy or chinese.
7. cleaning of the filters, time per each
8. Clean up. Includes removal of plastic, mopping floor, polishing metal, disposal of water. Cleaning of hoses & equipment used and putting back in the van.

My rough figures
1. 20 minutes to 30 minutes average.
2. 10 to 15 minutes average, if fan is tippable
3. Straight vertical duct, 10 to 15 minutes
4. Access panels, 15 minutes each
5. Horizontal ducts ?????
6. hood ????
7. Filters, with PW about 5 minutes each or in dishmachine, the inside man does this when duct is being cleaned, zero time
8. Clean up. at least 30 minutes

Of course, I notice that I can often do a hood by myself, in the same time that it takes 2 men to do the same job. That is, the same total man hours.

Maybe someone who is more computer literate than I am, can put this in a form with check marks. Please feel free to do so.

Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
 

Douglas Hicks

New Member
I have a chinese resturant that wants an estimate. The hood is 14 foot, 2 fans, 2 ducts, one verticle, the second is vertical 2 feet, horizontal 6 feet, vertical to the roof. The access panel is screwed down, not meeting NFPA 96-1998. The job has been done by a rag & Tag outfit, which means the ducts have not been done to bare metal for a long time. I do not figure to clean to bare metal

Set-up 45 minutes
Fans 1 hours
Vertical duct 30 minutes
Horizontal duct 1 hour + 15 minutes for duct access
Hose grease off roof and parking lot 1/2 hour
Clean up 1 hour.
total 5 hours X 2 = 10 hours + material of $50.00 =
I will add $100.00 as the job is out of town.Total job is $650.00

Any comments?

Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
 

David Saulque

<b>PWN TEAM - Hood Moderator</b><br<b><font color=
Doug

I use a basic rate of $20 per foot and $65 per fan and a initial charge based on type of cooking and general attitude of the customer. This charge could range up to $250. Lets see 20X14=$280 plus $65X2=$130 and initial of $225 and a grand total of $635. That is close and I would say that would be fair. Sometime I just tell them a basic price and $90 per hour-many time thing are hidden and I can't rip the system down just to give a estimate-thus there must be some good faith between both.

David
 

Douglas Hicks

New Member
well this has been my day to brighten the day for others. First I made Dan chuckle w/my comment about bird shit. (Listen, can you here him laugh?) then I presented my proposal to the chinese resturant. He had a quote from someone else, $480.00 every 6 months or $240 every 3 months. Lets see, $240.00 for 10 hours = $24.00 per hour, not figuring material. Been a long time since I was that stupid.

Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
 

reonz

New Member
Hi Douglas

After going through much dissapointment with rule of thumb pricing, I decided it was in my best interest to come up with a system that made sense to my customers, and made a profit for me. It looked like this:

equipment, chemicals and supplies...$110.00
labor (two man crew) $ 45.00 per hr.

If I estimated 5 hrs of work, that would be $335.00 from the customer. And I was out of there in 5 hrs.

When I first started in the business I would let customers control how much they would pay me, and the conditions were not always clear. If I agreed to do the job for lets say $300.00 I was kind of at the mercy of the customers idea of when the job was complete. Doing chinese restaurants, and after spending 6 or 8 hrs. I was sometimes invited back the next night to FINISH THE JOB. Was I taken advantage of? you bet. :)

After having situations like this happen to me more than once, actually a lot..hehe.. I decided I would not do this type of work if I could not make money doing it. Did I lose business to competition? Sure did. Did I care? Hell no. I was to busy making money on the customers that were willing to pay me for my professional service.

Those that wanted to pay me little as if I were some kid with a scraper in hand, and a lot of extra time, I simply waited till they where forced to use a professional service and then charged them heafty. Pay back is a bitch :)

Randy Bachman
 

reonz

New Member
Douglas

OOPS..Actually going back and reading your initial question, my last post did not address what you were asking.. How long does it take to finish a job.. When you think of the function of the hood system, the answer could actually be that you are never really finished.

Most jobs I've done, there has always been areas that I wish I had more time to work on. And I would always inform the customer of these areas, and note for the next cleaning. Also, with in a few days of use, there would definitly be more grease going up into the system.

The idea of an "free estimate" is just a phrase. What it does is gets you in front of the customer to let him/her know that you are a professional service. You use the proper equipment, chemicals and supplies and you have the knowlege to use them.

It all boils down to how much your time is worth, and how much of your time the customer is willing to pay for.

Randy Bachman
 

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