Estimating Small Jobs

Small Job Unit Prices

Most unit prices are based on a 'reasonable' quantity-- usually enough to cover a 2 to 20 room project. As you get much smaller than that, unit prices become less accurate, since you obviously will take longer to do each square foot when there are only a few of them.

To adjust for small-job costs for a single construction project, add an additional line item to cover the extra cost for the small quantity. For example, if you only have 5 feet of wall to frame in a bathroom remodel, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Wall & Roof Framing card, and enter 5 feet of wall framing into the first blank line item under Interior Walls.
2. Click on the pop-up button for the next blank line item, and choose Other.
3. Enter 'add for small job' as an additional cost, and enter what you think it will cost in addition to the basic unit cost for framing.

If you do many small jobs, it's probably worth taking the time to create new unit prices for some items. That way you can save time when you use the BidMagic estimating software to estimate small construction projects.

In the previous example, you might follow these steps to create a new 'small job' unit cost for wall framing:

1. Click on the pop-up button for any item in Interior Walls, and choose Edit Unit Prices.
2. In the Unit Price Editor, click on 2x4 wood studs in the list at left, then click the Duplicate button.
3. Rename the new unit cost to '2x4 studs--small job,' and enter a cost higher than the basic framing unit cost. For example, you might want to double the existing labor costs to account for the extra labor, and increase the material cost slightly to account for extra waste.
4. Click Save and Return.
5. Click on one of the pop-up buttons, choose the new unit cost, then enter the appropriate quantity.

HINT: If you make this change on a template, the new unit price will also be available for all future projects (see page 71).

For more about the handling of small quantities of specific line items, see page 368.