I have a retaining wall job i have to do in NJ for a low income housing project.
It about 10,000 S.F. total mostly 3 main walls long and tall and a couple smaller walls. Normally i get 20.00 a S.F. but this job somebody under bid so if i match the price it mine for 17.55 S.F. . The job calls for standard Versa-lock But I Can change it to Keystone if I want. I am thinking going with Keystone because it is 1 S.F. compared to Versa-lock at .75 S.F. so that a saving in labor. Also i believe i can get keystone delivered for about $5.00 ea and gravel for 13.00 /ton. So in the end material should cost about $6- $7 and labor is $11.55- $ 10.55 . I have a JD 250 skid steer, JD 160 excavator, Kom. PC45 Excavator and a large reversible plate compactor and unlimited use of the GC 5 Lulls on he job so i think there is money to be made. Any help will be appreciated
You didnt get underbid , someone may have bid less than you, now who that person is , that is the question. Did you see the other bid? Or is the contractor just telling you this. This is a common ploy among builders , lets see they are $ 2.45 per square foot less , times 10,000 sq feet , thats a $ 24,500.00 difference. Thats a lot to leave behind . I hear that someone is cheaper than me quite frequently , I simply tell the customer that if I was the lowest bidder , I wouldnt be in business long. There is a very good chance that the general contractor budgeted too low on his bid and needs the work done , he still wants to make his profit , he probably underbid a portion of the job and is trying to make it up somewhere .
Sounds like this project might be prevailing wage. I would make sure you ask that question up-front. And, do not let the GC set your pricing. You set your pricing.
Well figures someone would lowball like that 17.55 for this area. Anyways, if you think that you'll still come out on top doing it for 17.55 then I'd do it, but if your gonna be cutting it close or something I wouldn't chance the job, sure its a big job but why lose money. What town is the job in? Good luck with the job, tell me if you need any help.
Wow. I didn't realize retaining walls costs so much money/sq ft. Is $20.00/sf a common rate? If i remember right a drive or walkway is $2.50/sf am i correct on that or am I totally wrong??!
You way off BV, walls can go from $20-$25 per sqft. certain types of walls can be anywhere from $20-50 sqft. Walkways and patios go for aroun $12-15 sqft.
Wow, that seems cheap. I live in La. (not the best economy) and I just had estimates for a wooden fence installed, and I got prices from $11.50/sqft to $25.00/sqft. That's just boards and posts, not lugging stones or something around.
Around here pavers go for about 8$ psf. Walls are about 15-17 per foot. That included labor and all costs. Those are just rough numbers to figure bid easily though. I have yet to really get into this personally, but this is what i am told by other guys around here.
We are building a wall now using keystone blocks. The labor works out to be $7/ sqft and we are making out really well,,,over 30/man hour. Are you guys really getting as much as you say you are and do you know what your #s work out to be in terms of labor/man hour? I am really curious to see what other markets are like, ours is really tight/competetive but I thought we were doing really well at 7/sqft.
Wow, that seems cheap. I live in La. (not the best economy) and I just had estimates for a wooden fence installed, and I got prices from $11.50/sqft to $25.00/sqft. That's just boards and posts, not lugging stones or something around.
Possibly so. But someone saying good money is $30/man hour....I just don't get it. Can't you make more mowing? I sure can. I get $60./hour mowing, why would I work harder for less money? I know prices differ greatly, but you won't catch me doing anything harder than mowing for less than my stated prices.
Im in Lincoln Park, there is now ay you save money by using the keystone block. Dont forget about the pins, plus the extra gravel you have to put in all the voids. I just got done with a job like that that was 1,000 sq ft, If you under bid wall contruction you will get beat. Nasty weather is coming soon too. All in all with pins and gravel the key stone will still cost you around 9.75 - 10 a sqft just for the wall materials then you have drainage behind the wall plus gravel plus caps on average your material cost alone will be about 12 a sqft. so you will be only making $5 a sq ft - labor. If you want call me and ill help you bid and manage the job correctly. Im curious to know who the developer is too. Ive done work for a few guys around here.973 332 0734
Chuck
Take a look at this keystone wall. This was in montville 1000 sq fthttp://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=76911
How tall are these walls also? I wouldnt price it for less then $25 a sq ft. And I would use Unilock block also......I think the pisa or pisaII 1 1/2 is about $12 a sq ft and for a job that size i know i could get it way less.The blocks are smaller and actually build quicker because your not looking for pins and filling little voids in block. Plus I can get teh Unilock guys to place the blocks where you would need them or as close as access will allow. Anyways, if you honestly interested shoot me an email or call me at 973 332 0734 and maybe we can work something out.
Elephant Nest,
I was saying I get around 30/man hour but I wanted to know what others were getting. There are however differences in 30/man hour for mowing, and 30/man hour for landscaping. The biggest difference is that most of the time the 30/hr for mowing includes all of the equipment expenses i.e. mowers, trimmers, fuel, blades oil etc. #0/man hour for landscaping includes nothing but labor and the cost of shovels rakes, wheelbarrows etc. Skid steers, mini x's etc are not included in the labor price. Another thing to consider is that many times the owner is not the one doing the actual work so if you start pricing jobs on how hard you have to work it will make it tough to compete. (now that I think about it if it is a one man up to a 3man show you can probably pick and choose what you want so you wouldnt have to worry about keeping the board full for a bunch of guys).
For those solely interested in sq. foot pricing, I'm getting around $25 sf for most of my stuff I do (Allan Block), which is on the lower end of the pricing scale materialwise. When I first started, I took what an experienced mason friend said, ($20/sf), then also tried to figure it out manhours wise, did a few for this price, and found it to be too low for the hard work involved.
I will do walls for less if it is a smaller job, less easier excavation/job site, or something I can knock out myself without hiring help.
I did the math the keystone block delivered to the job site will cost 5.00 the pins 0.10 each gravel will cost on average 0.75 s.f. all that is left is geogrid and prepared pipe so so far I have 5.95 for block + 2 Pins + gravel Gives me 1 for pipe and geogrid. As for the walls i have to check the revised plan but mainly 3 8' high walls a couple hundred feet long so these are easy walls.
damn, those are some good looking walls. I'd say you have the experience to know what kinda time this will take you and your crew. If you own the machinery, then you know what the payments are and what they cost to operate, if these are realy easy walls to you, and you can make the ends meet then go for it. Who cares what everyone else is making?? I'm making over double that on a current wall, but I've messed up and made less as well. If you feel you can make money, then get er done.
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