Worked estimate example

Commercial painting estimate example for an occupied office

This example shows how FieldBid Tools expects a contractor to move from measured scope to labor hours, material quantities, equipment, overhead, margin, and customer-facing scope notes. The numbers are illustrative, but the review process is the point: every major assumption should be visible before the proposal is sent.

Project assumptions

The sample project is an occupied office repaint with 18,000 square feet of paintable wall area, standard eggshell finish, two finish coats, minor patching, and work scheduled after normal business hours. The customer wants halls, conference rooms, and open office areas repainted while the business remains open during the day. Doors, frames, and specialty coatings are excluded from the base scope.

Labor calculation

Start with area and coats: 18,000 square feet multiplied by two coats equals 36,000 coated square feet. At 300 square feet per labor hour, the painting portion begins at 120 labor hours. Add 28 prep hours for repairs, masking, daily protection, and closeout, creating a base of 148 labor hours. Because the work is scheduled after hours, the loaded labor rate is increased by 25 percent.

If the contractor's loaded hourly labor cost is $48, the after-hours loaded rate becomes $60. Labor cost is therefore 148 hours multiplied by $60, or $8,880. This is not the selling price yet. It is the direct labor cost before materials, equipment, overhead, contingency, and profit.

Material and equipment review

Assume 350 square feet per gallon and two coats. The job requires roughly 103 gallons before waste. A 10 percent waste and touchup allowance raises the order to about 114 gallons. At $42 per gallon, finish paint is estimated at $4,788. Add masking plastic, tape, roller covers, patch material, caulk, and cleanup supplies as a separate sundries allowance rather than pretending paint gallons cover every material cost.

For this sample, equipment and other job costs are budgeted at $1,800. That line includes lift or ladder staging, floor protection, mobilization, and small supplies not included in paint gallons. If the building requires lift certification, parking coordination, security access, or a badging process, those costs should be added before margin.

Pricing result

Proposal notes to include

The customer-facing proposal should list included areas, excluded doors and frames, assumed working hours, patching limits, number of coats, coating line, color count, protection requirements, and change-order triggers. Do not hide assumptions inside the total price. If the customer later adds stairwells, accent walls, weekend work, or heavy wall repair, those items should be priced as changes.

This example also shows why a square-foot price alone is risky. The final selling price is about $1.27 per coated wall square foot if measured against 18,000 paintable square feet, but the number is driven by labor hours, after-hours work, paint gallons, equipment, overhead, and profit. Another 18,000-square-foot project could price very differently if it had high ceilings, heavy patching, multiple colors, or unrestricted daytime access.