JustJason
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2007
- Messages
- 5,321
I been doing some work on a buddys house the last couple of day for free. Not a huge deal but I definitely have some hours into it. He (or rather his wife) is now insisting on paying me?? She wants to know how much I want for my work. So I have to give her a number. I don't want to soak them. But i've got 20+ hours into it... and counting. So if you contracters were bidding this job what would you charge??
Here's what I did.
On the right, replace the vertical trim board, about 10ft long.
On the left, replace the mating vertical trim board.
On the bottom. Replace the horizontal trim board on the bottom of the house. 12 footer.
All of the wood was rotting. Whoever put the wood up put it up untreated and just top coated it. I ripped off the old wood, cut and tacked up the new wood to make sure I had it all fitted, then pulled it back down and put 2 coats of primer on both sides before I installed all the trim for good. I also siliconed all my joints to make them as water tight as possible.
None of the wood was standard sizes. IE in the first pic the board was 1x11x11 1/4. So I had to buy a 1x12x12 and rip it lenghwise before the crosscut. All of the boards were like that, so that ate up a bit of the time. I couldn't use off the shelf lumber.
I also had to break out the ladders and the pressure washer and clean the brick. It doesn't get direct sun and was covered in mold and moss. I bleached it all then pressure washed it. Another couple hours there.
I haven't got to this yet. But trim was rotted to the right of the hose spigot. I cut out a section and the Sill was damp but not rotted/soaked. They had a contracter replace the trim to the left of the chimney a few years ago with some plastic board but it looks like he never sealed it properly. It looks like i'm going to have to remove the spigot and the hose reel and work around the oil pipes because that board needs to be replaced. I asked them about how deep they wanted me to get as far as tearing off all the trim to find where the water is coming in and they said forget it. They are selling the house and only want to fix the obvious rotted wood. I may just cut a small board and nail it in there and bondo it or something to hide the seam instead of ripping that whole section out.
So for what i've done so far what would you guys charge? Just straight up by the hour? What would you have bid the job at? What does a carpenter get these days? (I'm in Mass). I can't charge them my mechanics rate of $70 hr for 20+ hours for woodwork and brick bleaching. But i've got to give them a fair number. What do ya think?
JJ
Here's what I did.

On the right, replace the vertical trim board, about 10ft long.

On the left, replace the mating vertical trim board.
On the bottom. Replace the horizontal trim board on the bottom of the house. 12 footer.
All of the wood was rotting. Whoever put the wood up put it up untreated and just top coated it. I ripped off the old wood, cut and tacked up the new wood to make sure I had it all fitted, then pulled it back down and put 2 coats of primer on both sides before I installed all the trim for good. I also siliconed all my joints to make them as water tight as possible.
None of the wood was standard sizes. IE in the first pic the board was 1x11x11 1/4. So I had to buy a 1x12x12 and rip it lenghwise before the crosscut. All of the boards were like that, so that ate up a bit of the time. I couldn't use off the shelf lumber.

I also had to break out the ladders and the pressure washer and clean the brick. It doesn't get direct sun and was covered in mold and moss. I bleached it all then pressure washed it. Another couple hours there.

I haven't got to this yet. But trim was rotted to the right of the hose spigot. I cut out a section and the Sill was damp but not rotted/soaked. They had a contracter replace the trim to the left of the chimney a few years ago with some plastic board but it looks like he never sealed it properly. It looks like i'm going to have to remove the spigot and the hose reel and work around the oil pipes because that board needs to be replaced. I asked them about how deep they wanted me to get as far as tearing off all the trim to find where the water is coming in and they said forget it. They are selling the house and only want to fix the obvious rotted wood. I may just cut a small board and nail it in there and bondo it or something to hide the seam instead of ripping that whole section out.
So for what i've done so far what would you guys charge? Just straight up by the hour? What would you have bid the job at? What does a carpenter get these days? (I'm in Mass). I can't charge them my mechanics rate of $70 hr for 20+ hours for woodwork and brick bleaching. But i've got to give them a fair number. What do ya think?
JJ