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Bryan Tomczyk Posted: Feb 27, 2012 05:49 PM	Explain to me how to measure to bid a job? I am trying to get into SPF, and have a couple of builders interested in using me, but they all want to know what I am going to charge. I don't have the foggiest idea how to measure a job. Can someone explain to me how to measure a job. Also do you base your pricing of the square footage of the house or do you measure each wall, and the entire roof and add it all up. I am very excited about starting this business up, and was hoping for some helpful info. I am going to talk to the guys at dimelic tomorrow about a rig. Thanks in advanced.
Caleb DeFord Posted: Feb 27, 2012 09:58 PM	Well B&D, The first thing I would recommend is taking a day and reading old threads on this forum-lots of valuable information free for the digging. But to get you started: Most guys bid per sq.ft. measure up the sections you have to do hit the calculator. A competitive rate is $1.80 for 2 inches of closed cell foam or about the same for 5 inches (average) of open cell. That said, in an industry like this where any old Joe Dirt can finance a rig and "be his own boss" you get price choppers that will work for as low as $1.27-$1.50 per sq.ft. These guys aren't the ones who make it, and if you follow their example you won't make it either. At those rates, you might float the boat but the boat won't go very far. We do have to compete, but if the only way you can set yourself apart from your competition is moving the decimal sign, you will end up with a death-match between you and another price-chopper and he will only drop the price some more until you both croak. You have to find a way to set yourself apart by more than just prices. Any idiot can lower the price, but it takes a wise man to create added value that customers will pay extra money for. Do what you need to do and don't do what you don't have to do. At the end of the day, it all comes down to giving the customer what they need the best way you know how while keeping your costs under control. Create value, cut costs and establish good business relationships, then move on from there. -Foamilyman
Lynn Mether Posted: Feb 27, 2012 10:36 PM	Also keep in mind that demilec isnt the only company that makes trailers. They make a some nice ones but do your research. Check out posts about trailer builds. Everyone has an opinion, working on a gooseneck myself. If you do bumper hitch make sure its balanced right or it will sway like a mf unless you have a dually. Its also being independent to spray different foams(not sure if big d suckers you into a contract or not).
John Shockney Posted: Feb 28, 2012 09:34 AM	And remember spraying foam is not a get rich quick scheme, it is hot, dirty, hard work. It also requires good sales and marketing skills, along with the math and blueprint reading skils to do good estimates. Airpro
steven argus Posted: Feb 28, 2012 10:56 AM	Ditto... what they said. Shop around for your gear/ foam. The big D isn't the only supplier out there. Measure exactly where the foam is going. SF of walls x your price = wall price. SF of roof or ceiling x your price = roof price. Don't get suckered into "what's your SF price?" You will never close jobs that way, unless you're the cheapest. Look at the job/ prints and tell them, "this is what the job will cost" and "this is why you should hire our company"
Bryan Tomczyk Posted: Feb 28, 2012 07:01 PM	Thanks for all the info guys, i will have to look up trailer threads before i buy, dimelic was just the first company that offered to let me come buy and take a tour of their stuff and with them only being 2hrs away makes for a simple drive, i have also contacted lapolla and paratus. lapolla is about a 4hr drive from me and paratus well i guess they are in ohio i believe. any idea what kind of rig i should be looking for, hoping to do new construction and just found out i have an in with one of the major commercial builders here, so might be doing some commercial buildings also.
Brian Bothun Posted: Feb 28, 2012 09:47 PM	B&D, I bought my rig from Demilec and was far from pleased.. After driving 18 hours straight through the night to pick up my rig I opened up the doors to p*ss poor quality. There were numerous things wrong from simple things as over sinking screws into the paper thin luan board on the walls to missing pieces of trim to cut tail light wires. After a 30 minute "conversation" of me telling them my opinion on there construction quality and waiting on them to fix things I was given a set of foam to "satisfy" me. Personally I would look elsewhere..SPEC Technologies machine and rig have impressed me. Although I wouldnt buy one of there cookie cutter rigs. A custom rig from there is what I would go for if it was my first rig. After the fall of CPI Paratus popped up and have a hunch they are the same people just a new company..I called them on some equipment questions and was treated far from well. Of course these are just my opinions and you will make your own decision, but there are far better built rigs out there than Demilec. Before you buy anything you need to go to classes and learn how to actually foam and learn your new rig inside and out. Spraying foam isn't the hard part of this business. Keeping things running properly and having the know how to trouble shoot problems efficiently is the hard part.
mark moyer Posted: Feb 29, 2012 07:30 AM	(you put your left foot in,,you pull your right foot out) care to have a hillbilly foam rig built for you?? rigs that work built by people that work??? dont care what spray unit you prefer,,, or compressor,,or genset.. can custom build to your specs... imagine that,, 319.356.6500 32' gooseneck fully insulated h40 62kw 10hp on the slab being built as we type,,it could be yours ....lets talk... close your eyes and sing "cadillac,,cadillac,,long and lean,,long and well white,,," old song from way back somewhere.... burma shave...
Bryan Tomczyk Posted: Feb 29, 2012 08:03 AM	Brian B - thanks for the input will keep that in mind. foamdude - i wouldn't mind a hillbilly rig, but a gooseneck is a little bigger than what i was looking for, also i have had several people tell me that for my first rig it might be better to buy from a supplier because just starting out i would need the support that they are going to offer. any thoughts??
Dennis Davidson Posted: Feb 29, 2012 08:44 AM	B&D Sprayworks Equipment assisted in both design and installation of all my rigs. Give "Dave" a call 330-353-5822. Paratus IS CPI re-born and Demilec would not be my first choice.
Bob Silverman Posted: Feb 29, 2012 02:36 PM	This is an interesting industry. Lots of salesmen want to sell and promise you the world. You have no idea who is on the other end of the phone. Remember, the company you deal with is only as good as the person running the company and that companies vendors who are behind the company you're going to deal with. I am sure that the big D rep promises you the support, but once you have your rig, who knows. I have read about alot of issues in the foam world and alot of the issues have not been handles with the proper support for the homeowners. Unfortunately, I would like to tell more, but not in the public forum like this. Parratus is the same guy from cpi who screwed alot of people, closed his doors, filed bankruptcy and reopened a week later. If you are buying Graco equipment, make sure you call Graco and make sure they are an authorized distributor that will have parts in stock for you and be able to help you in the unlikely event that you have a warranty issue.

Author

Comments

Bryan Tomczyk

Posted: Feb 27, 2012 05:49 PM

Explain to me how to measure to bid a job?

I am trying to get into SPF, and have a couple of builders interested in using me, but they all want to know what I am going to charge. I don't have the foggiest idea how to measure a job. Can someone explain to me how to measure a job. Also do you base your pricing of the square footage of the house or do you measure each wall, and the entire roof and add it all up. I am very excited about starting this business up, and was hoping for some helpful info. I am going to talk to the guys at dimelic tomorrow about a rig. Thanks in advanced.

Caleb DeFord

Posted: Feb 27, 2012 09:58 PM

Well B&D, The first thing I would recommend is taking a day and reading old threads on this forum-lots of valuable information free for the digging.
But to get you started:
Most guys bid per sq.ft. measure up the sections you have to do hit the calculator. A competitive rate is $1.80 for 2 inches of closed cell foam or about the same for 5 inches (average) of open cell.
That said, in an industry like this where any old Joe Dirt can finance a rig and "be his own boss" you get price choppers that will work for as low as $1.27-$1.50 per sq.ft. These guys aren't the ones who make it, and if you follow their example you won't make it either. At those rates, you might float the boat but the boat won't go very far.
We do have to compete, but if the only way you can set yourself apart from your competition is moving the decimal sign, you will end up with a death-match between you and another price-chopper and he will only drop the price some more until you both croak.
You have to find a way to set yourself apart by more than just prices. Any idiot can lower the price, but it takes a wise man to create added value that customers will pay extra money for.
Do what you need to do and don't do what you don't have to do. At the end of the day, it all comes down to giving the customer what they need the best way you know how while keeping your costs under control. Create value, cut costs and establish good business relationships, then move on from there.
-Foamilyman

Lynn Mether

Posted: Feb 27, 2012 10:36 PM

Also keep in mind that demilec isnt the only company that makes trailers. They make a some nice ones but do your research. Check out posts about trailer builds. Everyone has an opinion, working on a gooseneck myself. If you do bumper hitch make sure its balanced right or it will sway like a mf unless you have a dually. Its also being independent to spray different foams(not sure if big d suckers you into a contract or not).

John Shockney

Posted: Feb 28, 2012 09:34 AM

And remember spraying foam is not a get rich quick scheme, it is hot, dirty, hard work.

It also requires good sales and marketing skills, along with the math and blueprint reading skils to do good estimates.

Airpro

steven argus

Posted: Feb 28, 2012 10:56 AM

Ditto... what they said.

Shop around for your gear/ foam. The big D isn't the only supplier out there.

Measure exactly where the foam is going. SF of walls x your price = wall price. SF of roof or ceiling x your price = roof price.

Don't get suckered into "what's your SF price?" You will never close jobs that way, unless you're the cheapest. Look at the job/ prints and tell them, "this is what the job will cost" and "this is why you should hire our company"

Bryan Tomczyk

Posted: Feb 28, 2012 07:01 PM

Thanks for all the info guys, i will have to look up trailer threads before i buy, dimelic was just the first company that offered to let me come buy and take a tour of their stuff and with them only being 2hrs away makes for a simple drive, i have also contacted lapolla and paratus. lapolla is about a 4hr drive from me and paratus well i guess they are in ohio i believe. any idea what kind of rig i should be looking for, hoping to do new construction and just found out i have an in with one of the major commercial builders here, so might be doing some commercial buildings also.

Brian Bothun

Posted: Feb 28, 2012 09:47 PM

B&D, I bought my rig from Demilec and was far from pleased..

After driving 18 hours straight through the night to pick up my rig I opened up the doors to p*ss poor quality. There were numerous things wrong from simple things as over sinking screws into the paper thin luan board on the walls to missing pieces of trim to cut tail light wires. After a 30 minute "conversation" of me telling them my opinion on there construction quality and waiting on them to fix things I was given a set of foam to "satisfy" me.

Personally I would look elsewhere..SPEC Technologies machine and rig have impressed me. Although I wouldnt buy one of there cookie cutter rigs. A custom rig from there is what I would go for if it was my first rig.

After the fall of CPI Paratus popped up and have a hunch they are the same people just a new company..I called them on some equipment questions and was treated far from well.

Of course these are just my opinions and you will make your own decision, but there are far better built rigs out there than Demilec.

Before you buy anything you need to go to classes and learn how to actually foam and learn your new rig inside and out. Spraying foam isn't the hard part of this business. Keeping things running properly and having the know how to trouble shoot problems efficiently is the hard part.

mark moyer

Posted: Feb 29, 2012 07:30 AM

(you put your left foot in,,you pull your right foot out)

care to have a hillbilly foam rig built for you??
rigs that work built by people that work???
dont care what spray unit you prefer,,,
or compressor,,or genset..
can custom build to your specs...
imagine that,,

319.356.6500

32' gooseneck fully insulated h40 62kw 10hp on the slab being built as we type,,it could be yours ....lets talk...

close your eyes and sing
"cadillac,,cadillac,,long and lean,,long and
well white,,," old song from way back somewhere....

burma shave...

Bryan Tomczyk

Posted: Feb 29, 2012 08:03 AM

Brian B - thanks for the input will keep that in mind.

foamdude - i wouldn't mind a hillbilly rig, but a gooseneck is a little bigger than what i was looking for, also i have had several people tell me that for my first rig it might be better to buy from a supplier because just starting out i would need the support that they are going to offer. any thoughts??

Dennis Davidson

Posted: Feb 29, 2012 08:44 AM

B&D Sprayworks Equipment assisted in both design and installation of all my rigs. Give "Dave" a call 330-353-5822.
Paratus IS CPI re-born and Demilec would not be my first choice.

Bob Silverman

Posted: Feb 29, 2012 02:36 PM

This is an interesting industry. Lots of salesmen want to sell and promise you the world. You have no idea who is on the other end of the phone. Remember, the company you deal with is only as good as the person running the company and that companies vendors who are behind the company you're going to deal with. I am sure that the big D rep promises you the support, but once you have your rig, who knows. I have read about alot of issues in the foam world and alot of the issues have not been handles with the proper support for the homeowners. Unfortunately, I would like to tell more, but not in the public forum like this. Parratus is the same guy from cpi who screwed alot of people, closed his doors, filed bankruptcy and reopened a week later. If you are buying Graco equipment, make sure you call Graco and make sure they are an authorized distributor that will have parts in stock for you and be able to help you in the unlikely event that you have a warranty issue.

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