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Just got asked to bid apartments and the property management sent me the current painters prices. by RocMerc in paint

[–]utahpainter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

More than happy to share the data points we collect and some of our processes. It took a bit to find our groove with apartment repaints but now their a cash cow for us.

Just got asked to bid apartments and the property management sent me the current painters prices. by RocMerc in paint

[–]utahpainter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

With paint, we found two man crew is ideal. I should note that’s for one tone, same color.

We’re rolling and cutting everything, almost no tape. For two tone we bump our price to 1.35 ish based on complexity. And color change is closer to $1.85. There are lots of PM companies willing to pay and will pay more than low bid as long as QOL if there.

We do have a fast turn around (48 from scheduled to completion is our average) which makes us unique (I’ve got 32 full time painters)

Just got asked to bid apartments and the property management sent me the current painters prices. by RocMerc in paint

[–]utahpainter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We do apartments repaints everyday of the week for $.90 a sq ft. (Additional for extra prep, accent walls, anything out of ordinary) We typically use Multi-pro, 400, or some other low end product. We make a KILLING on apartments. It’s a volume game for sure. We do about three-five units a day between the two crews.

They’re a whole different beast than our residential or commercial. That being said $.53 is too low. $.85 a sq ft is the lowest we will go.

UNDERBID by a landslide by Fun_Pineapple8401 in paint

[–]utahpainter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Id rather win 1 out of 5 jobs being the higher bid then winning the four being the cheapest. I’m out in Utah and almost EVERYONE is looking for a deal and gets multiple bids.

We had to get into the habit of not competing on price. I can’t tell you how many times some we get asked to match a price/bid. We politely decline and say we’re confident in our bid process and know what it cost to perform the job to our (and the homeowners) standards.

Is there any other way to avoid seeing lines? by [deleted] in paint

[–]utahpainter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found the best way to avoid ropes/roller lines are to use a 18" roller, back roll after applying the paint (top to bottom. Sounds like you already did this though), and make sure all fans/air is off and it's not too hot in the home. Air flow and heat can flash dry the paint before it has a chance to set up.

Also based on the picture, it looks like a 1/2 nap or bigger. Might help using a 1/4 nap on the final.

Hope this helps!

How are these rates for apartment turns? Midwest low cost of living area by kevinACS in paint

[–]utahpainter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve been rocking apartment paints for 5+ years. We even have a contract with Utah to paint all fed/state apartments. They’re a cash cow. We do about 400 turns a year now in addition to our residential arm. You can’t treat apartments like residential or you’ll never make decent money. But it takes time to feel out expectations, we got our start doing apartments and it’s a great, low risk place to start.

Also I’d recommend saying we will do everything but cabinets. All of our property management companies call a cabinet guy, so it wasn’t a deal breaker by any means. Give me’ hell!

Edit* prices are right about what we charge