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Paid for Design per boardfoot?

Paid for Design per boardfoot?

Paid for Design per boardfoot?

(OP)
Hi, I apologize if this is too off topic for this board, but it's one of the few I can find with a fair amount of truss designers on it.

I have a company who wants to pay me to do contract truss design for them.  They want to pay me per the board foot (5 cents/bft to be exact).  I have no problem getting paid by the job, I'd actually prefer it, but I'm unsure of the best way.  I've never heard of this, but they say a lot of companies do it this way.  It seems to me that this doesn't take a lot of things into account.  Has anyone heard of this or worked under this scenario?  Does it end up balancing out in the end?  

RE: Paid for Design per boardfoot?

I've never heard of this, but that is not to say it couldn't be done that way.  Here are a few things to consider:

1.  The larger the job the more you get paid.  However, the smaller the job, the less.  What is the typical job mix?  A lot of small houses could end up going pretty cheap for the amount of liability you encure.

2.  Figure out the bf of a number of truss designs and compare the time-cost/bf for each.

3.  Perhaps a sliding scale could work out better for both parties.  Something like, 10 cents/bf up to a certain size job, then 8 cents/bf to the next level and 5 cents/bf over a certain level.  Work out a few examples of the ranges so you have a feel for the size.

4.  The main reason for a pricing method like this is to take advantage of the repeditive nature of the design.  

5. I have seen the drafting of shop drawings, say for precast concrete, paid for on a per sf basis.  Basically, it is piece work.  However, drafting is a lot different than designing.  

RE: Paid for Design per boardfoot?

The only way this makes sense to me is if you can choose which jobs you design.

Go after all the rectangular buildings with triangular shape, gable ends, 16"oc, long-span 2x8/2x6 chorded designs.

Stay away from all the non-rectangular, 24"+oc, short span 2x4 designs with hips, vaults, & cathedrals.

The fabricator is probably trying to lock-in their costs so they know what jobs to bid before an expense is incurred.

A better approach is to base design costs on intensity of work... Number of unique designs.

RE: Paid for Design per boardfoot?

In my few short years of experience, Bf or Lineal feet of trusses actually levels out the prices. jheidt2543 is right. You will suffer a little in small jobs, but the big jobs will be sweet. So balance it out. It all comes down to economics of numbers. The more projects you do with a good mix of big and small the better leveling of your income to effort will be. The best way, which many of the designers and manufacturers use to throw up a quick number is SQ Ft. It is better than either Bf or Lf. Try it and revise it in a year or so.

RE: Paid for Design per boardfoot?

(OP)
Well, since I'll be doing contract work, I doubt I'll be getting many simple houses since those I'm sure he'll keep in house.  Just using a sq ft. price doesn't seem like it would work all that well.  I've had 8000 sq ft. jobs that take a couple of hours, and 3000 sq ft jobs that take days.

I'm thinking about some sort of combination of sq ft and and per design (number of different profiles) price.  This seems like a better estimation of my time that purely board ft or square ft.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, I appreciate the input.

RE: Paid for Design per boardfoot?

I would suggest pricing each job three ways, at least until you get a handle on the actual design time required for each type of project.

1.  Price based on SF of job

2.  Price based on BF of job

3.  Price based on the number of hours you estimate the job to take.

After pricing a few projects and actually comparing the estimated hours to your actual hours, you will have a much more accurate way of pricing the jobs.

Just a thought

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