Intro to estimating:

When new contractors start a business, they often focus on finding a solution for labor and how to efficiently generate leads first. Even though it is fair to make those a priority, oftentimes they put estimating on the back burner. Inaccurate estimating can cause big problems in your business, because of this, you should work to develop this skill early on.

It is one thing to know how much paint it will take to cover a surface, and another to know how long it will take to cover that surface. While other industries, such as auto repair, are able to prepare accurate estimates because their work is always standardized and produced in controlled conditions such as a repair shop, the opposite is true for painting jobs. There are simply too many variables.

For instance, very few houses built in 2010 are the exact same, and the work is always completed on-site. This makes every paint job a custom or unique job. No single painting estimate will ever cover all cases, but that doesn’t mean an accurate estimate is impossible. It simply means you need to review and thoroughly understand the variables that go into each painting estimate. This is why we recommend you charge your customers by the hour rather than by square feet. A 1500 square foot home might actually take more time to complete than a 3000 square foot home depending on the variables of that job. In this playbook, we will dive into the step by step process to ensure you are accurately estimating both your interior and exterior projects.

Interior Estimating:

• Break up the estimate room by room
• Each room should be its own estimate to allow you to make adjustments easier later on if you need to
• Start with the biggest rooms first (living rooms, basements, dining rooms kitchens)
• Then move to hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms
• Focus on getting your measurements for each room/area before adding everything up.
• Calculating a room step by step - You want to put your estimate together in the same order you would paint the home.
• Always start with the prep
• Room prep - will include laying drop clothes, taking down outlet covers, any minor wall prep (spackle, caulking, washing)
• Moving furniture
• Removing fixtures
• Taping and masking (Linear and spot)
• Linear Masking is used on floors, crown molding, baseboards and trim
• Spot Masking is used on windows, doors and unremovable fixtures
• Major prep (drywall patch, wallpaper removal, scraping, replacements)
• Calculate Square Footage Items - Use Laser Measuring Tool
• Wall Square Footage (Length x Height)
• One Wall at a time, then add all wall space together
• 4 10x10 walls would equal 400 square feet in one room
• Wainscotting will also be considered wall square footage,but should be bid out separately due to it normally being a different color.
• Ceiling Square footage (Length x Width)
• Calculate linear feet items - Use Laser Measuring Tool
• Baseboards (should be equivalent to your length and width of the room)
• Crown Molding (should be equivalent to your length and width of the room)
• Additional horizontal or vertical trim boards (Picture or Chair Rail)
• Ceiling Beams and Boards
• Railings & Spindles
• Calculate Inventory Items - Simply count each item
• Doors - Specify how many panels are on the door
• Windows
• Door trim
• Window trim
• Basic Closets (Walk in Closets should be treated as another room)
• Cabinets & Drawers
• Shelving
• Pillars/Post
• Stairs/Steps
• Obstructions (Anything that will get in the way or make painting more difficult)
• Once you have calculated your square footage, linear footage, and inventory items for a specific room, you can move onto the next one.
• Your bigger rooms should take you 5 minutes, smaller rooms 3 minutes to get your measurements and counts.
• All you are doing in this portion of the estimate is getting the data you need to put an estimate together.
• Once you have measurements and counts for every room, then you move to the add it up portion of the estimate. This is where you input your data into your estimating software that will give you the price for your estimate.
• The software will have rates built in that will automatically convert your measurements into the labor hours needed. You can then adjust your per hour pricing and markup as you see fit to set your final price.
• As you get more confident with your measurements, you can input your measurements straight into the estimating tool as you go from room to room.
• Recommended Estimating Tools
• Estimate Engine - Free with a Hoist Subscription
• Paint Scout - Discounted with a Hoist Subscription
• Estimate Rocket

Exterior Estimating:

• Break up estimate by sides of the home
• Front, Right, Back, Left
• Start in the front of the house and work your way around.
• Finish all measurements and inventory counts before moving to the next side.
• Similar to estimating interior, get your calculations in the same order you would complete the project.
• Start with the prep work
• Prep Spots (6ft x 6ft area that needs to be scraped, sanded, and primed)
• Full Surface Scraping (Entire wall or surface that needs to be scraped, sanded and primed)
• Review Training for more details on prep spots and full scraping
• Caulking
• Masking
• Linear Masking for soffits, fascia, brick, or foundation
• Spot Masking for windows, doors or other items not being painted
• Lead Prep - Additional steps will need to be taken if a home contains lead based paint. (Most homes built before 1978)
• Calculate Square Footage - Use a laser or measuring wheel
• Power Washing - this should be priced by the total square footage of the homes exterior
• Siding Wall (Length x Height)
• If you have multiple walls on one side, include all walls that are on that side when estimating.
• If you have two separate substrates on one side, bid them out separately as you may be doing different colors/products on each substrate.
• Deck Floor (Length x Width)
• Fencing (Length x Height)
• Porch Ceiling (Length x Width)
• Calculate Linear Footage
• Soffits
• Ensure you note that soffits are either simple or complex, as this will affect the labor rates
• Ensure you note that soffits are 1st, 2nd or 3rd story, as this will affect the labor rates
• Fascia
• Ensure you not that fascia is simple or complex as this will affect the labor rates
• Horizontal and Vertical Trim Boards (Can be treated as additional fascia in the estimating tool)
• Deck Rail
• Gutters and Downspouts
• Calculate Inventory Items
• Windows
• Window Trim
• Storm Windows
• Doors - Specify how many panels are on the door
• Door Trim
• Shutters
• Steps/Stairs
• Garage Door
• Garage Door Frame
• Pillars/Post
• Obstructions and other challenges such as:
• Trees and bushes
• Sloped Sides
• High Ladder Work (Over 30ft)
• Once you have calculated your square footage, linear footage and inventory items, for a specific side, you can move onto the next one.
• Each side should take you roughly 5 minutes to get your measurements and counts.
• All you are doing in this portion of the estimate is getting the data you need to put an estimate together.
• Once you have measurements and counts for each side, then you move to the add it up portion of the estimate. This where you will input your data into your estimating software that will give you the price for your estimate.
• The software will have rates built in that will automatically convert your measurements into the labor hours needed. You can then adjust your per hour pricing and markup as you see fit to set your final price.
• As you get more confident with your measurements, you can input your measurements straight into the estimating tool as you go from side to side.

Calculating Paint:

The next aspect of putting an estimate together is calculating paint cost. Now most estimation softwares will have this included into their estimating tool, but it is important to understand how to calculate paint manually as well. Here are a few key things to remember when estimating how much paint you will need for a project.

• Different products will have different spread rates. Make sure you talk to your sherwin rep to get a good understanding of your product spread rate.
• Superpaint 300-400 square feet per gallon
• Duration 200-250 square feet per gallon
• Stains - 150 Square feet per gallon
• Different Substrates will have different spread rates. The more porous the surface, the more paint it will soak up. High porous substrates like these will nearly cut your spread rate in half. Make sure you are taking this into consideration when estimating paint cost.
• Stucco
• Older porous wood
• Popcorn Ceilings
• Brick
• When using a sprayer you will need to account for waste. Waste will include paint that remains in the sprayer lines and the paint that evaporates in the air. You will want to add about 20% more paint to your bid when doing exterior spray jobs to account for this.
• Linear feet paint calculations
• Soffits - 100 Linear Ft per gallon
• Fascia - 250 Linear Ft per gallon
• Inventory paint calculations
• Small Windows - 30 per gallon
• Medium Windows - 25 Per Gallon
• Large Windows - 20 Per Gallon
• Door Frames - 20 Per Gallon
• Doors - 5 Per Gallon
• Shutters - 20 Per Gallon
• Garage Doors - 3 Per Gallon
• Keep in mind these spread rates are for only 1 coat of paint. If you are doing 2 coats, multiply your 1 coat paint cost by 75% to get your 2nd coat paint cost. You will typically use less paint on the 2nd coat as the substrate will already be saturated, so it will soak up less paint then the first coat.

General Tips To Maximize Efficiency On Estimates:

• Your goal is to be able to put an estimate together for an averaged sized home in 30 minutes. This may not be the case for your first 5-10 estimates and that is ok.
• Have a Rough Estimate Form (REF) with you at your estimates to track your measurements and counts.
• You can find and print an REF from the Owners Resources section of the Hoist Painting Training.
• Practice estimating on your own house or a friend's house to get the process down before seeing a customer.
• Always estimate rooms and sides in the following order: Prep, Square Footage, Linear Footage, Inventory.
• Keep in mind the labor rates are for one coat, so if you are doing 2 coats on a project, you need to double your measurements to account for the labor on both coats.
• The more practice estimates you do, the faster you will be for your customers.
• Be methodical and ensure you have all the data you need, before moving onto the next room or side.
• If you are ever unsure of something, always err on the side of caution.
• Ensure you have pre-built templates for both interior and exterior estimates in your estimating tool.
• Try to get some of the estimate put together before going to the estimate.
• Oftentimes you can find pictures of a house online. Though you will not get the most accurate measurements from this, you can count some of your inventory items beforehand to speed up your estimating process.
• Schedule a few estimate deep dives your first few weeks with your Hoist Coach to get feedback on your estimates and to answer any questions you may have.
• Remember it is called an estimate for a reason. You do not have to be perfect, as long as your numbers are within 10% of the actual measurements you will be in good shape.

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