Estimating Methods
Estimating By Time & Materials.
About Time & Materials
Read below to learn more about using T&M.
The way The Paint Estimator handles T&M methods is a little different than the other methods. T&M is basically for customers who you have had for a while and just calls you up and says they need you to do a job. They don’t ask for a price because they already know you are fair and they trust you. You just send them the invoice with the hours worked and materials purchased when you are finished. T&M can also be for those jobs where you just have no idea. Jobs like removing wallpaper where you have no idea on what kind of condition the walls are in after you have removed it.
So this is just one more method that The Paint Estimator can do. I have had some customers in the past try to get me by asking me for a set price but to charge them T&M. This is not good as the customer gets the best of both worlds. They know they won't have to spend over a certain dollar amount but if you do the job faster they get even a better price. Say it takes you longer then expected and you go over their set price, well they win as they get the cheaper price. So either it's one or the other. You give them a set price and add a little room for the unexpected or just give them T&M and it is what it is.
So when it comes to The Paint Estimator program and you want to use Time & Materials, you just need to create the estimate as normal, however you don't really need to enter each area you are painting and figuring out how much materials you will need on the main estimating grid. Remember in most cases, you are not even going to submit a proposal. You might give the customer an approximate time frame.
In general, you typically won’t even create the estimate for T&M jobs till you actually start working on them. So, let’s say you started a T&M job. Just create an estimate for the job. Again, do not worry about the pricing. It’s not needed as there really is no set price for this job.
Enter the hourly rate that you will be charging the customer and make sure that the enable toggle switch is on. This hourly rate is what you will be charging the customer for each employee that works on the job. All employees will earn the hourly rate you entered.
Next you will want to visit the Job Projections page. Here you will want to make sure the check box “This is a Time & Materials Job” is checked. This tells the program that this estimate is a T&M job.
As you move through the job by entering the employee’s hours each day, you will see on the Job Projections page will display your final numbers. Or the numbers of where you stand at the moment.
To see a summary, just click on the "View T&M Details" From here you can create a an invoice that will import all the information over to the invoice page.
That pretty much sums of the T&M method for this program. I don't do this method that often. Maybe 4-5 times a year and that's it. Not really a big fan of T&M as it can open the door for some issues during the job. Some customers might be watching the clock non stop, or question you if it really took that long and so on. But if you know the customer and have worked for them a long time, it can be good.