What is the Daily Painter Charge?
The daily painter charge on which your project 'all-in'painting rates will be based will vary from project to project and is the amount you need to charge per painter, per day to cover the following:
1. Prime Labour Cost (How much you are paying your employees or 'subbies' per day.
2. For direct employees only, an allowance for holiday pay, employers' national insurance, sick pay, CITB levy etc.
3. Allowance for company indirect overheads and profit.
4. Daily Travel time allowance (if applicable).
5. Daily Fuel Cost
6. Daily Parking Cost (if applicable)
7. Daily Accommodation Cost (if applicable)
8. Daily Food Allowance (if applicable)
How to Calculate Daily Painter Charge:
1. How much are you paying your employees/subbies per day?
This depends on where you are in the UK. Currently Subbie prime labour costs range from £100-£150/day
In this example, lets say we are paying our subbie £15/hr = £120/day
2. For direct employees only, an allowance for holiday pay, employers' national insurance, sick pay, CITB levy etc.
This is typically 24% of the prime labour cost. So, if you are paying your direct labour £100.00/day, you would need £100 x 24% = £24.00 per operative, per day to cover these costs.
In this example, we are basing our calculation on 'subbies', so NO cost to add.
3. Overheads and Profit Allowance
Within your rates you need to cover your company overheads and profit. This is normally factored onto the prime labour cost as a percentage addition. Normally this is 28%-30%. Do not add your OHP allowance to to the labour + materials value since high cost specification projects will result in an abnormally high 'daily painter charge' if you do this. The percentage you select, will really depend on how desperate you are to secure the tender. 30% OHP is the 'norm', but if you are keen to secure the project, you can drop to 28%. We would not recommend going any lower than this.
In this example we will add 30%. E.g. £120 x 30% = £36.00
4. Are you paying any extra per person per day for travel time?
Up to an hour, I would say no, but over an hour you may think of adding say £8-£10 for each hour of travel.
In this example, let’s say we are not paying our subbie any extra for travel.
5. Are you giving your subbie any extra for fuel?
Remember, this amount is per person, per day. So if giving a subbie £20/day for fuel, but there are two subbies in the van, the fuel per person, per day would be:
£20 divided by 2 = £10.00 per person per day.
6. Is there 'free' on site parking, or do you need to allow for car parking costs?
Normally, most projects have 'free' on-site parking. However, if you have to pay for car parking, to calculate how much you need to add to your project overall daily painter charge you divide the total daily car park cost by the number of operatives in the vehicle. So, if the daily car park charge was £20.00/day and there were TWO operatives in the vehicle, the amount you would need to add to the overall daily painter charge calculation would be:
£10.00 divided by TWO = £10.00 per operative, per day.
In this example, we will assume that there is 'free' on site parking at all times.
7. Accommodation Costs?
If your operatives are 'working away', you will need to add this cost into your overall daily painter charge. Remember, the overall daily painter charge is the charge per day, per painter. So, if it costs you £100.00 for a twin room, the amount you would need to add in this calculation would be:
£100.00 divided by TWO operatives = £50.00 per operative per day.
In this example, we will assume that there are NO accommodation costs and that the operatives are travelling each day to the project.
Example Calculation Summary:
1. Prime Labour Cost: £120.00
2. Overheads and Profit Allowance: £120.00 x 30% = £36.00
3. Daily Fuel Cost: £20.00 divided by TWO = £10.00
Total Daily Painter Charge £166.00 per operative, per day
For more detailed information, take a looking at our How to Price Painting Jobs: Estimating Training Video (1). Link shown below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGmXgOZXGWc
You can also take a look at our suggested daily painter rates shown below on which to base your unit rate calculations allow for labour costs, travel costs and overheads/profit (OHP). Note: These are only suggestions based on a standard 8hr. working day with no parking costs. Note: You can enter any value into Quick Paint Rate.
1. Projects within 30mins travel:
(a) If your basic labour cost is £110/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £146-£151/day
(b) If your basic labour cost is £120/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £160-£165/day
(c) If your basic labour cost is £130/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £175-£180/day
(d) If your basic labour cost is £140/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £185-£192/day
2. Projects approx 1hr. travel:
(a) If your basic labour cost is £110/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £160-£165/day
(b) If your basic labour cost is £120/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £175-£180/day
(c) If your basic labour cost is £130/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £185-£195/day
(d) If your basic labour cost is £140/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £200-£205/day
3. Projects approx 1.5hrs. travel:
(a) If your basic labour cost is £110/day, you would need to base your unit rates on:£170-£175/day
(b) If your basic labour cost is £120/day, you would need to base your unit rates on:£185-£190/day
(c) If your basic labour cost is £130/day, you would need to base your unit rates on:£198-£205/day
(d) If your basic labour cost is £140/day, you would need to base your unit rates on:£212-£220/day
4. Working Away (where painters require accommodation)
Note the basic labour costs shown here are typically based on 'shop fitting' type projects where painters are paid for a 12hr. working day with 10-10.5 production hrs. per day.
Daily labour rates shown here also allow for accommodation cost allowance; travel & fuel for the outward and return journeys and a food allowance (Assumed 'free' parking).
(a) If your basic labour cost is £150/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £295/day
(b) If your basic labour cost is £160/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £305/day
(c) If your basic labour cost is £170/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £319/day
(d) If your basic labour cost is £180/day, you would need to base your unit rates on: £332/day
If after reading this information, you are still unsure what charge to use, please give us a call on 01782 835764 where you can speak to one our specialist painting quantity surveyors for advice