Can anyone give me some insight on how to price cabinets more accurately? I seem to always be going off of other cabinet company's bids or just trying to figure time and materials for the job. I would like to grow and need to know how to more effectively price jobs and not rely on someone else's quote. There are so many variables, plywood drawer boxes vs dovetail boxes, soft close hinges vs regular hinges, 30" wall cabinets vs 42", etc. Look forward to hearing what you guys have to say. Thanks again!!
From contributor sa
It takes a lot of time to do it accurately and that`s why you asking about a different way. Take the time to do it and it will pay off.
From contributor Ra
Figure out what your "standard" price per foot is, then from there add material up charges. For example your base cabinet per foot price is X plus Y up charge for cherry upgrade plus Z upgrade for soft close plus A up charge for solid dovetail drawers. Build the formulas into an excel spreadsheet so all you're doing is keying in quantities and it can figure up your total. This may take a considerable amount of time. We spent about a year altering our lists while in the shop doing time studies to see how long processes take. Best advise I received is dissect your 10 most profitable jobs and use them as your base platform. My system may not work for everyone but it has allowed us steady sustainable growth. Good luck I hope this helped a bit
From contributor Ch
Here's a far out concept that works most of the time. $5-700 a foot for lowers, double it for for uppers. Meaning 10' of lowers=5-7k
10' of uppers would be another 5-7k
It's quick and dirty and I only use this to cross reference what I would charge using a cost breakdown. The figures above are finished/delivered/installed (assuming kitchen cabs/vanities and the like with no c.tops) I'm in northern California.
From contributor Ry
Buy some form of estimating software. I use Takeoff. I can price a job with unlimited variables in about 30 min and a big commercial job in less than a day. Well worth the money in the long run. This software is easy to use and will help you grow your business. By the way, I don't work for this company in any form but have been using the software since 2006. If it wasn't for the software I would have been out of business a long time ago due to improper bids.
Ryan
From contributor Ca
Thanks Ryan.... I'll check into that.
From contributor Ry
Here is the link:
From contributor Ca
Ok, cool.... I use a combination of Quickbooks and KCD right now to bid jobs. But, I'm just not sure since there are so many variables involved in bidding cabinets and we are still pretty new to the cabinet business. Thanks again!!
