[mustang07]

If you charge 100.00 to paint a ceiling for one coat, how much should you charge for the second coat?

[joanne 1986]

I think it should all be one price know matter how many coats especially if its price work

[KISS]

You could do a job cost analysis on the job.

You almost have to do things twice anyway because you may have to remove masking and re-apply (sometimes), clean up twice, use new rollers.

The only thing your losing is any prep like moving stuff to the center of the room and covering with a drop cloth.

It seems to be virtually no difference except paint quantities. If you bought a gallon of paint for the ceiling and you only used 1/4 of a gallon, you might be able to knock $10.00 off for that reason. But if ceilings are mostly white and you bought paint in 5 gal bulk buckets, then no discount.

Ceilings don't generally require masking. Occaisionally they do.

[joanne 1986]

Why do you disagree with my answer mustang? I am just trying to say that maybe you should just set a price so even if you did have to paint it once twice your not losing anything,if your work involved moving furniture you'd have to move that twice would you charge double for that? That's why I'm trying to say if you set a price to cover all

[KISS]

I agree your answers are essentially the same as mine and probably didn't warrant a disagree, so I balanced it. There just was no substance to back up the answer; e.g. no Why as in your post #4.

[joanne 1986]

I see that's what I meant is if he sets a price that will cover all then there will be no loss etc..
Thank you keep it simple

[hkstroud]

I take that the purpose of the question is to devise a fair and equitable way of costing out a job. You must first decide how much your time and work is worth. You then break down the work into phases or task in order to apply it to varying situations.

First consider the preparation, time and effort, to get to the job site. Then you have set up time at the job site, then clean up or packing up when the job is done. Then break down the actual task to be performed. If you analyze most tasks you will find that prep work is a large percentage of actually completing the task efficiently. If you break this $100 paint job down into percentages you are breaking it down into dollars.

Let's say that the material, the paint, is not included in the cost.

Let's also say that it cost you 10% or $10 to prepare and get to the job site.
It cost you $5 to get set up and $2 to clean and pack up when you are finished.
That leaves you $83 for painting the ceiling with one coat.
About 20% of that work or $17 will be preparatory, removal, covering of items and objects, masking, cleaning, filling or caulking minor holes, sanding.
That leaves $66 for actually paint the ceiling.

Now, if I am going to paint two coats I'm not going to be as concerned about missing a spot as I would if I were only going to paint one coat. The second coat will take care of that. The first coat is going to go on a lot faster. With the first coat I'm going to do all the edge work. The second coat, I'm going to come close and let it go at that. Therefore, the time and work to do two coats will not be twice the time and work to do a single coat. It would be more like 1 ½ the time and work.

With all of this, if I were charging $100 for a single coat I would probably charge $150 for a two-coat job.

That's costing out the job. Now you must factor in marketing, do I need the job, do I want the job, will the market allow me to charge that amount, will the market allow me to charge more? Do I, by my own standards, believe that this is a fair price

Then there are the personal things, is the customer a pleasant person to work for, does the customer work with you as far a scheduling. If this is my first experience with this customer, what are the chances the customer will be overly demanding? Does the customer provide the coffee? After all, I am independently wealthy and I don't have to do the job.

[Clough]

Some very fine discussion as answers happening above!

What I'm wondering from mustang07 is, how you are arriving at charging $100.00 to paint the ceiling in the first place?

When I bid on paint jobs, I always qualify in an Estimate and subsequently in a Contract based upon what I quote in the Estimate as to why I am charging what I am going to charge based upon set and consistent figures for every job, as to measurements per square foot, whether surface area is perfectly flat or textured in some way, how the paint is to be applied, any repairs that need to be done, the Customer's and the Contractor's responsibilities, etc. That way, other customers who hear about the good work from any customer for whom I have worked will know what to expect as far as my pricing is concerned.

Virtually all paint jobs, interior or exterior, are going to be requiring at least two coats for the paint job to last. The only exceptions would be if the new paint is being applied over exactly the same color and kind of paint that isn't very old, like less than a year. Or, if some apartment owner is just wanting a sort of quick "white-wash" with paint to just make things look a little better. I don't take those jobs usually. I spell out in person and in the Contract what needs to be done so that I can guarantee my work for a specified period.

Word does get around about the work that you do and how you conduct your business...

[Leeboy]

$100 per ceiling per room is perfect. Plus materials. I rarely have to 2nd coat them. I tint my flat white latex with 5 drops of raw umber tint. It takes about 20-30 minutes to do a average bedroom ceiling if it has never been done. 2nd coat, I would knock off $25-$50... take half the time on the 2nd coat. You have to be fair, if you want your name to get out there and get referred. Also, if your fair and pleasant, your lunch bill will go down...