My first quote

[u/simonthelikeable]

After fifteen years of the service/tips industry, I'm new to the world of self employment. I've done a couple jobs for friends and family in handyman/carpentry/painting areas. Those have always been flat hourly rates+materials.

This is my first offer by an acquaintance, who met me in my other job and asked if I did some painting. He owns multiple properties and invited me by for a walkthrough.

The easy part is that it's empty, pretty clean, one color for walls, one color for trim, just wants one coat, and he has the paint. The hard part is that it's a whole house. A bungalow with finished basement. Two large living areas, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/dining, and a stairwell.

The bedrooms and living areas are all simple boxes, I'm not doing the ceiling. Paint trim, cut lines, roll big areas, stuff I've done before (but feel free to correct my order of operations).

The kitchen cabinets are not being painted, and there's a backsplash, so that area doesn't need much, but what it does need is small and slow.

The stairwell I'm not exactly sure how to do. I'd be bringing a ladder, assuming I can find a safe place to lean it, doing the tight spots, and then putting the ladder away to roll the rest.

I am confident in my ability to do a good job. I'm not confident in my ability to do it as quickly as an experienced painter would do it. I'm not confident in my ability to estimate how much time it should take.

I think I'm going to tell him an hourly rate with a projected ceiling cost, and that I'll tell him if it looks like I'm going to go over that ceiling. It seems safest, but I don't want to tie myself to a beginner rate with what might be a repeat customer.

The other option is to try to price the job. This is clearly more difficult for a beginner like myself. The benefits are that doing the job efficiently leads to a higher rate, and doing the job slow and meticulous can be chalked up to a justifiable beginner rate, the cost of education, I won't feel guilty about taking the time I need to do it well, and I can continue to price for work in the future with added knowledge of my own speed.

I think I go the hourly route, just to be safe, but I also want to be as professional as possible.

[u/Squatchbreath]

Property Management Companies usually want flat rates for budgetary purposes. It’s good repeat work, but not necessarily get rich from work. And they typically go with commercial grade paint, so don’t expect to be using top shelf products.

[u/Flimsy_Toe_2575]

Just take the square footage of the rooms and apply a rate. New construction is 7 or 8 per sq foot. Roughly 2 for trim, 2 for ceilings and 3 for walls if they're getting primer and two coats of paint. If this person just wants one coat then cut the rate in half.

I was painting for a lot of years before I had to start quoting my own jobs and it was definitely a learning curve. Will take you maybe 6 months of trial and error before you figure out what you should be charging.