How to Bid on Crown Molding Installation

Get your contact information included on a list of installers. Many home, garden and hardware stores that sell crown molding have lists of craftsmen looking to do finish-carpentry jobs. You can also get on a list for cabinet installation and other home-improvement tasks.

Get room dimensions from the customer. If your prospective client is calling you or emailing you with a job offer, ask the number of rooms in which he wishes to have crown molding installed. Ask how many feet of molding will be installed as well as how many corners and laps will be involved in the job. If you visit the job location before bidding, take accurate measurements of the job area before you put together a bid.

Add up costs of time and materials to create a bid. Call other crown molding installers in your area and ask about their rates so you can come up with a competitive fair estimate.

Consider the amount of time the job will demand. For example, corners and laps take more time to cut and install, so they affect your overall labor cost. In addition, some customers will want you to paint the crown molding before or after you install, which will add to the cost. Using a parabolic equation, if you were to charge $3 a foot (F), $20 dollars a lap (L), $30 per corner (C), and $2 a foot for painting (P) in a room that was 60 ft (x), 2 laps (y), 6 corners (z), and needed the molding painted (a) with money to be charged represented by M you would use the equation; (F * x)+(L *y)+(C * z)+(P * x) = M or (3.00 * 60)+( 20.00 * 2)+(30.00 * 6)+( 2.00 * 60) = $520, not including any money you may wish to charge for materials and gas.

Add any material or other charges and write down your results. Include the costs of fuel if the job is outside a certain-mile radius.

Develop a bid sheet. Use a word-processing program or an Excel spreadsheet to create a comprehensive bill for services. If you don't want the customer knowing how much you paid for the materials (if he has not already purchased them) add the material price into the cost of your itemized feet, laps, corners and paint prices before doing the math.

Include your contact information in your bid sheet. Email, fax, post or deliver your bid to the prospective customer.