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Building a small cabin for a customer...

Started by ChrisGermany, April 09, 2012, 04:00:36 PM

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ChrisGermany

I've read several topics about pricing on small cabins, whether kits or hand-crafted, and I have a question for you gents.

Got a call from a lady today asking what I'd charge to build a 20 X 20 cabin. She's getting the logs from a gentleman of her acquaintance who runs a sawmill. Looking at 6X8 or possibly 8X8 logs.

The foundation will likely be something simple, like stones or cinder blocks, maybe treated piers or skids. The price I'm trying to quote her is just for my work dressing and assembling the logs. Unless she specifies otherwise, I'm looking at about 10 logs per wall, and a 1-inch gap between them for either a spline or chinking.

So the quote would be for the log shell itself: floor, walls, and ceiling. Since the logs are already sawn, I was thinking about $2000. I don't want to overcharge and run her off ...but I don't want to sound like a "cheap" alternative, either. If they opt for pegs rather than metal fastenings, I'll tack on extra to cover the time spent making pegs.

I'll add in a gas allowance and any additional materials as needed. Anyone mind lending their opinion?
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." -- Matthew 6:34

beenthere

Chris
Sounds like an interesting project.
Do you have some pics of small cabins you've built so far?

Are you going to do the complete build?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

ChrisGermany

No sir, not yet. Hope to have some soon, though. My wife got a nice new camera for Christmas, so I'm going to see if she'll put it to use!  ;D

We haven't hashed out the total project yet, but I'm thinking it'll just be the log shell. Sills, floor joists, walls, and whatever type of roof skeleton we decide on.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." -- Matthew 6:34

LarryRB

Hi as a builder myself I think you will have more than 50 hr. in it at $40 per hr. 

ChrisGermany

I've never sold my services, so cost is something I've been mulling over for ages. Only just began advertising locally, hoping to start with small projects like this and work my way up.

Been trying to compare the price of a well-made hand hewn cabin with that of a ready-to-assemble kit, or based on the number of hours spent building, etc. There are so many factors, and I have such little experience with the business end of things.

I'm not sure if I should charge a set fee for the project and run the risk of trapping myself in a project that runs over schedule and costs me money, or charge by the hour and give them a ballpark figure of what the final budget will be.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." -- Matthew 6:34

beenthere

Chris
Right now, it seems to be fair to yourself and to your lady customer, that you should build the small cabin and then see if she wants to buy it.
From what I am hearing, you have very little experience to go on for figuring this out (hour-wise or job-wise). Don't want to see you get burned, nor your lady customer.
Would you have insurance? would you be bonded? would you be working every day? any time limit to finish the cabin?

?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

aliciabrooks

Hi,
I tend to agree that 2000 sounds very cheap for building a log cabin. I suppose you don't have to cut much for laterals,  if you are using alot of chinks.  Even so, do you have a crane for raising, getting those king posts or whatever up  there will be it's own job. A lot of timber framers price their work at 7 to 9 dollars a bd foot. I would think you should be making around 200 a day. A carpenter can charge 40 an hour around here, 25 an hour cash is pretty standard.  I would suggest  you tell her a day rate, work hard and do a quality job. How can you be assured that she won't stiff you? How can she be assured that  you wont have an enormous cost overrun?  Will you be peeling them by hand? That  would probably take a week right?  If you make enough profit, you will be able to get more tools to make your work more efficient, or other things you may need. If you underbid yourself you will be tempted to just get it done. In the end a customer will tend remember the quality longer than the cost.

Satamax

If you were in France, I'd say cube it.  Well to explain, the wood here is not sold in lengths most of the time, it's sold by cubic meter. Work out à price for a "cube" either foot or meter, see how many cubic units there is. multiply this by the price, and then by three. Other here we count like this, 1/3 material, 1/3 tax (sometimes goes over that  smiley_crying ) 1/3 in our pocket. That would be pretty ballpark imho.
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

ChrisGermany

Thanks for the good advice, folks.

We have a manual system of ropes and pulleys that we've used for personal projects in the past. And the logs she's getting are sawn flat on at least two sides, so I won't have to do much peeling. No time limit or anything, and I'd be working 7 out of every 14 days (as my shift cycles on and off at the "regular" job), 12-14 hours at a clip (however long I have between daylight and dark).

I'm doing the bulk of the labor, like the corner notching, openings/facings, and layout. Folks come in as needed to help with the raising. They usually won't let me pay them, so we trade. They'll help me for a day, and I'll spend a day or two picking peas for them later in the year.








"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." -- Matthew 6:34

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