ECN Electrical Forum - Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals

>> Home   >> Electrical-Photos   >> Classifieds   >> Subscribe to Newsletter   >> Store  
 

Photos of the Week:

Tiled Backsplash
Tiled Backsplash Devices

Random Gallery Image:
Recent Gallery Topics:
What in Tarnation?
What in Tarnation?
by timmp, September 10
Plumber meets Electrician
Plumber meets Electrician
by timmp, September 10
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 590 guests, and 16 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate Thread
#157352 10/17/05 05:11 PM
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 35
V
VinceR Offline OP
Member
I Thought I would ask if anyone else has noticed a rather sharp increase in prices of wire and PVC in recent weeks. Our suppliers tell us that it is due to recent hurricanes. Supposedly the damage done to oil refineries is causing plastic feedstock prices to rise and there is a lot of extra buying by folks in anticipation of a lot of rebuilding along the Gulf coast. I guess it makes sense and I am sure my suppliers would not ever tell me anything but the complete and whole truth.
Thanks

Horizontal Ad
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 36
D
Member
I was told 30 percent increase in PVC

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 717
M
Member
Buy high, sell higher. Make a profit. Simple. Now if you signed your contract a year ago, I am sorry for you. Mostly because you don't remember the last time copper did a big spike and lots of contractors got the hit in the wallet. I think it was about 1986 or 1987. Ever since then I have a price spike clause in any commercial contract I have done. Resi is a different story. Loose a little on the first house, make it back on the second. Keep smiling.

Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 197
L
Member
What is the average (if there is one) mark-up? We hove some contracts that specify cost plus 25%. Otherwise we use keystone mark-up. I know the local union shops use contractor net +50%.

Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 35
V
VinceR Offline OP
Member
Many thanks for the replys. Sounds like things are going up (again!!)

Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 39
B
Member
25 or 50% material markup? We charge a minimum of a 200% markup for all material. We do service work only.

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 717
M
Member
Bigventure, if you guys do only service work, charge 200 % markup, you should shoot for industrial service work. One or two huge xfmr jobs or a few dozen vfd's and you can just retire.

Horizontal Ad
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 39
B
Member
We do residental work only. If we did industrial we would have to wait the obligatory 90 to 120 days for payment which eats 50-75% of your markup. Not a very good formula in my book.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 272
A
Member
bigventure,

I also concentrate on residential service work. I had been using a sliding scale multiplier for parts markup. The multiplier ranged from 6.00 to 1.33. Recently I came accross an article at the link below. It talks about only marking up material costs 15% because you include all of your overhead costs in your hourly rate. It says to simply divide your materials costs by .85 to acheive your 15% net profit on materials. What do you think of setting up your price books using the method described in this article. http://www.hvacprofitboosters.com/Tips/Tip_Archive/tip_archive16.html

Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 35
V
VinceR Offline OP
Member
Interesting stuff, For the record, we mark things up 25% to home owners and 15% for contractors. We have average ratios for the amount of materials per hour of labor for each type of job. This allows us to calculate how much our labor rate needs to cover our overhead and hit our profit targets.

The article on pricing strategy for the HVAC business is interesting and I will think about applying some of his concepts. However, there is a maintenance component to HVAC that is lacking in the electrical service business.

VinceR


Link Copied to Clipboard
Advertisement:-Right


Tools for Electricians
Tools for Electricians
 

Member Spotlight
RH1
RH1
California
Posts: 22
Joined: August 2009
Top Posters(30 Days)
Popular Topics(Views)
363,487 Are you busy
286,303 Re: Forum
264,840 Need opinion
New Page 2
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5