# Bidding for New Construction Condo's



## Housepaintersottawa (Feb 5, 2012)

I have noticed quite a few small condo's coming up in my area.

I have personally have only done Residential repaints but I was wondering how one would bid for these contracts?


----------



## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

Get ready to be the lowest bidder, cut your materials down with water and hire illegal help. 

There's the start.


----------



## StripandCaulk (Dec 30, 2011)

i usually try and figure out my time, and then my materials. works really well, good luck!


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Housepaintersottawa said:


> I have noticed quite a few small condo's coming up in my area.
> 
> I have personally have only done Residential repaints but I was wondering how one would bid for these contracts?


 
Most people are charging per sq. ft. of either wall or floor space. It's good to do a little poking around to see what the going rate is these days.. Get ready for the cutthroat side of this business!


----------



## jack pauhl (Nov 10, 2008)

NEPS.US said:


> Get ready to be the lowest bidder, cut your materials down with water and hire illegal help.
> 
> There's the start.


I saw a guy mix 5 gal of water to a 5 of flat paint for ceilings. He sprayed them twice. Now does that make any sense.


----------



## StripandCaulk (Dec 30, 2011)

jack pauhl said:


> I saw a guy mix 5 gal of water to a 5 of flat paint for ceilings. He sprayed them twice. Now does that make any sense.


pretty sure you really dont have paint when you thin it to 50%, does not make any sense at all. Once saw a couple of guys that kept using salt water to mix up their mud(the spigot was a minute further than the ocean). funny part was it would harden up before they really even got any work time and then theyd be back out there mixing up a new batch. with salt water. again. make sure you know when your actually saving yourself time/money. moral of the story


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

StripandCaulk said:


> pretty sure you really dont have paint when you thin it to 50%, does not make any sense at all. Once saw a couple of guys that kept using salt water to mix up their mud(the spigot was a minute further than the ocean). funny part was it would harden up before they really even got any work time and then theyd be back out there mixing up a new batch. with salt water. again. make sure you know when your actually saving yourself time/money. moral of the story


 :blink: I'm not surprized. HAha!


----------



## Builtmany (Dec 5, 2009)

Cheapest guy usually wins. Do you want to be that guy?


----------



## Conley (Dec 6, 2010)

I have worked in new construction for the past 6 years. Before that exterior repaints. Now i am getting into more interior/exterior repaints. I still have about three custom new construction jobs a year. I just recently raised my bid with the GC i have been working with for 3 years. He said "I can't pay this" and threw the bid out to the lowest hack available. He helped me survive the down economy, but he got his houses painted. I can unfortunatly not make money doing it anymore. New constructed houses have to compete with forclosures, have to be painted twice, then please the home owner that buys them, tie you up for a month or better. etc... The GC does not get his big profit anymore so he is taking the subs profit. As far as condo's go i have never done them so I don't know, but i know that if I bid them i would bid them to profit and probably never get a call back. Then in the great words of Blaze Foley I would 
"Change the words to this song and start singing again."


----------



## Blueprint (Jan 27, 2012)

seems like to me that you need a quantity take-off of the surfaces that require painting (from the architectural drawings). Then sit down and decide how you will do each task and how much paint it will take.

When you get that far, send me a note and I continue guiding you through the steps.


----------



## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

Spam


----------



## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

Basically just ask them what the current guy is charging, and cut it by 10%, then lower it by 5% every 6 months even know you're fixing/finishing the other even lower guys crap but they just don't get the point. :thumbsup:


----------

