10 replies to this topic

[Michael Hand]

here is a building I measured. It is 66,923 square feet total. I was asked to just do floor plans

What is your guess for time spent measuring and drawing this

Winner gets a helmet sticker

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[Steve Haarmann]

I would guess 3 1/2 days to measure.interior and exterior (using a laser measuring device)

2 days to draw and confirm dimensions.

Possibly another day if any dimensions were "busted" and you had to go back to remeasure.

44 to 52 hours.

 

Tricky question because it is a large structure but there are also some very large rooms that will measure quickly.

[Michael Hand]

150 HOURS

[Mark Petri]

Cha-ching!

[randolph cohn]

nice to see people are more realistic with hours to do things.

 

I was beginning to think I was gouging my clients but my hours

are right in keeping with what I see above.

 

an i've done something very similar to what mike is doing.

[Keith Almond]

150 HOURS

 

Really ... 4 weeks!

 

That couldn't be cost effective! Did you charge 150 hrs for it?

[Ben Ginther]

Another valuable tool in measuring up; -- the camera. Back at your desk you'll be saying, "How was that again?"

[Keith Almond]

Another valuable tool in measuring up; -- the camera. Back at your desk you'll be saying, "How was that again?"

 

Yes ... How did we ever manage this without DIGITAL CAMERAS?

[Michael Hand]

Really ... 4 weeks!

 

That couldn't be cost effective! Did you charge 150 hrs for it?

it is over 66000 square feet... note, 6 6 0 0 0 square feet. 

A typical 2000 square foot house, to measure, takes about 4 hours +/-.

66000 / 2000 = 33 house measures x 4 hours = 132 hours

this project is not far off that mark.

This is business, not a race - rushing leads to mistakes.

I keep my pace along my standards alone

as for "did I charge for the hours" - your dam right I did!!!

MURICA

that job just paid for my next car!

I love this work and profit is the name of the game!

[Keith Almond]

Wasn't aiming the cost effective at you, more at the client. I did realise it's 66000 ft², but hadn't expected 150 hours - my estimate was nearer Steve's 50 ish hour guess, than your 150 hr actual. If we told a customer 150 hrs to measure and draw up the existing, they would walk away IMMEDIATELY, we just don't get those customers!

[Michael Hand]

Wasn't aiming the cost effective at you, more at the client. I did realise it's 66000 ft², but hadn't expected 150 hours - my estimate was nearer Steve's 50 ish hour guess, than your 150 hr actual. If we told a customer 150 hrs to measure and draw up the existing, they would walk away IMMEDIATELY, we just don't get those customers!

if a client walks away from that you would be better off considering the work involved in accurate drawings and time to measure. The cost to create a plan is undervalued - not by the clients but by those that underestimate themselves, selling the craft for bargain basement fees. I think that is a mistake - I use to be like that until a wise person told me a secret to making more money and for the past 10 years it has been very successful. I will tell you what he told me and it may seem crazy but it is the only way you will be respected, especially when you have the confidence to back it up; charge more until it hurts. thats it, simple and seemly illogical but it works. I see too many drafting people charging a pathetically low price to draw - I do not see them as equal, no matter what their quality is - I refuse to charge like a Walmart employee when the quality of work is top tier; yeah there are tons of walmarts but they are a dime a dozen - you are one of many and for walmart type pricing why bother drawing when you can make the same stocking shelves. This is not intended to be an insult to you but a general to others that charge so low that it forces everyone to work for peanuts. 

Softplan is high end and so should be the users and if your quality is in the top 10 in your area don't you think your price should reflect that as well?

If you want to charge as little as possible then that is a death spiral in which that mindset forces people to rush to the bottom rather than rise to the top.

As for time - time is time. 150 hours, 200 hours, whatever it is - it is what it is which is why with that specific thing I charge only hourly and when asked to give a approximate number I was actually pretty close to the 150 hour mark. I don't see how anyone can actually do it for much less quite honestly... I have all the gadgets like many others use and in some respect may have more than most.