Average rates for painting - Resene

Resene Professional development programmeOverheadsThese are the costs used to run your business thatare separated from the costs of the function ofpainting (paint and accessories) and are recovered(hopefully) by including an average for theoverheads in prices you give customers for work.In some regards overheads can be included, forexample – a painter’s hourly rate for charging upwill include overheads which are in the order ofone third of the total cost of labour.Pretty well in every town there are two broadgroups of painters with their average prices andthe lower group consistently undervalues the costsof painting as a business while the others get itright. This despite the assertion from both groupsthat our industry is ultra price sensitive.Painting productivityfactors – LabouroverheadsSimilarly, the build up dollar rates for painting‘Average rates for painting’ also include anoverhead allowance, and a modest profit.Quite often the total of overheads, particularly withsmaller businesses, is rather more than the totalcosts of materials used by the business, and infact the overheads, as a percentage of productivitytends to be highest when the firm is smallest and ofcourse the percentage decreases as the productivitybase widens – a self employed painter running abusiness painting needs all the items listed andeconomies of scale would suggest that mostly theywill need for example a van and a phone, so toocould another painter employing four people – andthe same cost would be spread over the earningefforts of five people.• AREA X FACTOR = TIME in hours• AREA X FACTOR X RATE = Labour costFACTOR = Percentage of an hour (average) forpaintingAREARATE= Either square metres or metres run(lineal)= Cost per hour for painting, and can beset to include for overhead an/or profitrecoveryIt is a commonly expressed statement that paintingis so much more fun working away by oneself, butthese people need to be right at the high end withtheir prices to properly pay for everything.Very often painters can judge the time and materialsneeded for a job well enough and tend therefore toproduce quotes that cover the ‘time and materials’but overlook the standing overhead costs.Call 0800 RESENE (737 363), visit www.resene.co.nzor email us at advice@resene.co.nz10