Help on pricing a gate ASAP

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I am building a 25 foot long, 4 foot tall rolling gate for a customer and I have little ide what is a fair price to charge. It is made of an outer frame of 3''x3''x3/16'' wall square tube with 1x1x11ga bars on about 6'' centers(to keep the dogs in. iv come up with about $500 in materials(steel, wheels, paint, consumables) and I'm thinking in the $750 range for the quote. Am I in the ballpark or am I leaving some money on the table?Thanks,     ReedAlso I am new and would like to introduce myself as the Owner/operator of Infinity Ironworks in the Fort Worth, Texas area. Been welding for about 5-6 years now and I'm trying to start my own welding/fabrication company.
Reply:How many hours labor? How much is your overhead?  I think you are leaving $ on the table.  I cannot imagine being able to build and install a gate for 250 plus materials. Just sounds way low to me. Sent from my SPH-L900 using TapatalkMultimatic 200Ellis 1800Haberle S225 9" cold sawMM 300;  Spoolmate 30A w/ WC-24TB 302GDynasty 280 DX Tigrunner
Reply:Thanks Drooopy. That is for the gate only, no install.
Reply:Also I am working out my barn so there is no building overhead and I accounted for consumables in the materials price.
Reply:Clearing $250?  If you spent one day making it, you'd be making just over $30 per hour. That money goes to the cost of running your business first, then the emplyee (you) second.  If it took you 2 days to make it, you're making $15 per hour. You'd be better off working for someone else for that kind of money.Try something like 1.25 to 1.5 times the cost of materials plus $50 to 65 per hour labor to cover your time, consumables, wear and tear on equipment, insurance, phones, electricity, building up cash to replace equipment over time, advertising, fuel, employee benefits, rent, and all the other costs of owning a business.That might put you in the ballpark. Making that for $250 is charity.Where abouts in DFW are you?Last edited by jameslo; 04-22-2014 at 09:52 PM.
Reply:Two things, standard for construction projects on the small scale is you double the cost of materials and then add profit.  In construction the rule of thumb is the material cost will equal the labor cost.2nd and most important, price shoppers are pukes 99.9% of the time when it comes to ironwork.  The biggest mistake newbies make is believing that if they can get the work on price then later on their quality will allow them to raise their price.  Wrong!.  Price shopper will go out and find the next newbie and take advantage of them.life is good
Reply:I charge $125 per LF for rolling gates installed. Height doesn't really change the price that much, so 4' or 6' is the same price. Also, your verticals don't really need to be more than .065, and .095 to .125 would be fine for the 3".
Reply:Thanks for all y'alls input. I had no idea what these kind of gates ran in price and I knew there was bound to be someone here who was an expert. Yall have given me a lot more to take into account in the future.Jameslo I live in Halset witch is just north of Fort Worth on the west side of I-35w.Thank you walker on the material thickness suggestions. I had asked some fabricator friends of mine what they thought but only one had built one and he's a notorious over builder. glad to have some professional advice. haha How many hours do you think it should take an advanced fabricator to build this unit?
Reply:That's a $1000+ gate all day long, even when you drop it down to 3x3 11ga and 1x1 14/16 ga it needs to run in that ballpark.From another Texan! McKinney to be exact, not far from you at all
Reply:Oh and I would say probably 12 hours or so from start to finish including paint
Reply:Thanks Slump. how many wheels do yall suggest and where should I position them? the driveway has go a bit of a slope to it so its likely if I put three wheels on the gate the middle one would not be on the ground when closed.
Reply:You'd be better off working for someone else for that kind of money.
Reply:I could burn up $250 in labor just getting materials and figuring the layout/cut list.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Yea, I agree on the $1000.00 for sure. good luck too with the business !
Reply:Instead of asking what u should charge ask yourself what hourly rate you feel u , your equipment and shop is worth. Materials u buy should be marked up 10 to 20%. My shop here where I live is a 75 per hr rate. Covers my labor , power and building costs. So if u paid 500 for materials you should resale for 550 to 600. If you have 10 hrs ( hypothetical as u did not say how many hrs u have into this ) u should multiply this by your rate. At my rate you'll be 750 dollars labor.  Now u have a gate cost.
Reply:One more thing. If this is a new business u are starting u should look at all shops in your area and see what the comparable hourly rates are. U should be very close or the same rate. U will be doing yourself and everyone in that business by setting your hourly rate way cheaper then them driving profits down. You will only hurt yourself by doing this
Reply:double material cost,add 40% to your actual labor time for a contract price,otherwise your betting against your estimate.the idea here is that the cheapest price a customer can get is a time and material price,but for you to take any risk is ludicrous.you should never allow yourself to get beet out of a minute of your time..so, bet on your profit, not your hourly.  or kindly stay out of our trade!face all times with a positive mental attitude,then and only then will you have done your best.
Reply:I built/installed this one (posts were already in place) for $2,100.  It is 30' overall.  It was for a friend and he said it was still much cheaper than any others he had priced out.  Miller Dynasty 200DXMiller 252 Miller 250xMiller Syncrowave 250Miller AEAD200 LegendMiller 375 Xtreme plasmaLincoln WeldPak 100Victor O/A
Reply:look into your state laws for contractors and see if you need a contractors license to install gates on someone's property otherwise your profit could be eaten into by big brother when your fined. In my state I can build gates to my little hearts content but need a fencing license to install. Oh, and your leaving money on the table. you should be in the 1 grand range at least if your work is quality."I believe that our heavenly father invented man because his was disappointed with the monkey." -Samuel Clemens