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When I order a half sheet my distributor charges me an $80 cut charge, I think that is standard in the industry. When you are selling a vanity top do you charge by the sq.ft. and also add the cut charge? Or do you buy a full sheet and hope you use the other piece on another job some day?
Norm,
A little of both, depending on the customer. For a one-off walk-in we probably would mark up the ($75.00 to us) cut charge, but not mark it up.Good remod. or builder? We’ll usually not mark that in, but it is definitely a loser.
Tom
We have a minimum on small installed vanity tops. If it is DIY then they pay for all the material and then we add labor. Never do a countertop that you loose money. Unless like Tom said you can make it up on another job.
I figure a 30% mark up on all my sheet material before I add labor. This gives me an allowance for some variables. Such as freight (depending on the size of the order. And fall off from the job.) This 30% also covers my labor cost associated with figuring amount of material to order and office personel to deal with bill paying and shop drawings. On small jobs I use a 12 Sq. Ft. min. If a customer does two tops and specs different material for both. I add a freight charge to the whole estimate to cover the additional freight charge that I will incur.
Johnny C.Yikes,
That seems way high, although I only have experience with two distributors to this point. Maybe it is a regional thing?
Chris
Norm:
If you buy a whole sheet hoping to use the other half someday, I can promise you all your profits will be leaning against the wall of your shop. The only exception would be a color which has been exceptionally popular for your area.
News Flash: Distributors are not your friend. Oh, they act like it, but I promise you if they could charge you $800.00 for cutting a sheet, they would do it in a heartbeat.
“Never do a countertop that you loose money.”-Andy
Andy, I must disagree. The marketplace will set the price of tops. If you refuse to do a small top at break even or a small loss to match a competitor, you’re handing your regular customer a perfect opportunity to stray. So you didn’t lose any money, but your regular customer now goes somewhere else for tops. I’ll take my beating on the front end, thank you.
Johnny:
I love fantasies. I will dream about a 30% markup tonight, but that is sooo not happening in Michigan.
Joe
Joe,
I am talking about the guy off the street that is looking for the best deal and says he has a bunch more if you just give him a great price on this one. You know the customer I am talking about.
Joe, alot of my work is refferals. If I give Martha a break even price on her vanity top, you can be sure she will tell Nancy how much she paid, who will then tell Cindy, see my point?
Norm and Andy:
Let’s say a half sheet of Corlettion costs $410.00 and you catch the distributor in the Christmas spirit and he sells you a bowl for $125.00. You’re in $535.00 and you haven’t even paid a delivery fee or turned on a light yet. Your customer can buy an equal 3′ vanity installed for $635.00 at Big Orange.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t start my car for a hundred bucks. If it’s a retail customer, let ’em go orange and tell all their friends. If it’s a repeat account, do what you gotta do.
Joe
Joe, in my neck of the woods, people are fed up with Big Orange, and most contractors all together. In Florida you only have to be good to be great.
JohnnyC,
Our standard m/u is 26% whole, 34% ret., then we add for shipping, cutting, etc.Joe,
When are you starting to market that Corelttion. Is it acrylic? Owing to it’s name, it must be some tough material.Tom
Tom M.
I am glad to see that I am not the only one in dreamland who thinks that material should be marked up. My hypothetical kitchen example follows and breaks down like this:Decks…………………………………………………………..61.25 Sq. Ft.
Splashes…………………………………………………………9.75
Total 71.00I use the 71 Sq ft. figure for bidding purposes. Additional material needed that is not included in the bid but needs to get paid for is as follows:
1″ Double stack edge………………………………………..6.00 Sq. Ft.
Cove build up strip……………………………………………2.25
Seam strap…………………………………………………….5.00
Total 13.25Minimum total material needed to fabricate 84.25 Sq. Ft.
I will figure my 30% mark up on 71 actual Sq. Ft in the job. That equals 92.3 Ft. That means that I have charges for aprox. 8 sq ft. of material extra. Oh yeah. Now I have to figure maybe 2 adhesive cartridges, sandpaper, tool maintanence and scrap fall off.
Is that fantasy land? Maybe in Wisconsin, but not out here.
There are as many ways to figure the final cost of a job as there are fabricators. Unless you know all the details it is hard to judge if one way is out of wack or not.Johnny C
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