Pricing a job you have never priced before

The first one is a guess. The third one is a number. Here is how to survive the first one without giving a year away.

October 5, 2026 · 2 min read · by Chasedirt

Sooner or later the notice is the right job and the wrong experience. Here is how to price it without lying to yourself.

1. Build it out of units, not feelings

Write the work down as items, and put a unit on each one — a square foot, a linear foot, each, a day. If you cannot put a unit on a line, you do not understand that line well enough to price it yet, and that is worth knowing before you are the low bidder.

2. Price the whole job, not the visible part

The lines that break first-timers, every time:

• Getting there and back: mobilization, fuel, trailer, equipment haul.
• What you tear out and where it goes — dump fees and haul distance, and whether it is hazardous.
• Permits, inspections and traffic control.
• Temporary power, water and toilets.
• Cleaning, and the punch list at the end.
• The thing you saw on the walkthrough and did not write down.

3. Do the labour honestly

Crew size times days times the real hourly cost — the wage plus the burden, not the amount on the cheque. Then ask the person who will actually run the work how many days it takes, and add the days you always lose to weather, access and waiting on somebody else's trade. Days are where the money goes; pad the days before you pad the rate.

4. Nail down materials and subs

Two supplier quotes, with freight and lead time in writing. A lead time longer than the job window kills you even when the price is right. Sub quotes in writing, scope-matched against your own list so you are not paying twice for the same work, and read their exclusions — that is where the surprise lives.

5. Name the risk, then price it

Ask the blunt question: what would have to go wrong for this job to lose money? Put a number on your answer. If you cannot name a risk, you have not read the packet properly.

6. Do not shave the margin to win the first one

Price it the way it needs to be priced, and let the market tell you. Losing teaches you the going rate for that work in that place, which is worth paying for once. Winning too cheap teaches you nothing except what the following year feels like.

Then go look at what it actually went for

After the award, look for the bid results — agencies commonly publish them or will tell you on the phone. Comparing your number to the winner's is the cheapest estimating lesson available anywhere. Then re-price it on paper, and see which line the difference lived on. That is how the third one becomes a number instead of a guess.