math question?

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zippy955

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 29, 2008
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vancouver canada
hey guys. im bidding on this job. usually i have the time to measure each and every room out to see just how much base board i will need for the project but i just dont have the time on this one..So the entire job is

5161 sq/m or 6173 sq/yrds or 55555 sq/ft


There is about 478 rooms. i need to find a formula so that i can take the square meters/yards/ or foot of each room and figure out the perimeter so i can put in an estimate for the base....Any ideas?

the rooms very from about 3.2 sq/m to about 577 sq/m. there must be a way to do this??
 
There is no accurate way to estimate other than by measuring each room. The larger the room (and the more like a square), the less perimeter vs. the area.

If you take them at all the same size and square:
55,555 sq ft / 478 rooms = 116.2 sq ft / room

Square root of 116.2 sq ft / room = 10.8 ft

Perimeter = 10.8 ft X 4 = 43.2 ft / room

43.2 ft / room X 478 rooms = 20,650 ft of baseboard trim

That might be realistically way off though.....

Burt :)
 
If you do this for a living then you darn well know you need to measure each room.

I do quoting/estimating/sales for a living. Around here jobs that are put out to bid already have the quantity put on the job or have the plans made available to do estimates on.

Not all rooms are square, there are walkways, closets, tons of stuff to change the footage.

If you are doing a "lump sum" bid then you better cover your arse and measure it.
One 100 sqft room could have 37 linear feet of baseboard while the 100 sqft room next door could have 60 linear feet of baseboard.
 
Careful of internet advice!...
 
This is not an analytical math question. There is no unique formula for what you are asking for. You have to physically go and measure the rooms to get an accurate estimate. Then again you are saying there are 480 rooms. Are they all the same? Do you have floor plans of the rooms?

Since there are so many rooms I am sure there are going to be different types of this room. Sort of like the layout of an apartment where there are 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments.

Also, finding perimeter from a given area is just impossible. You have to know at least one of the lengths of the rooms (if it is rectangular). If not you can have infinite values for the length and width of the room.

Get floor plans, that would be much easier then physically measuring out each room.
 
The problem with estimating lineal footage of wall space is it doesn't take into account intrusive jogs or the actual size of the rooms. For example, a 10 x10 room has 40 LF of walls minus doors. A 4 x 25 hallway has 59 LF of walls minus doors. If you don't take it off the floor plan yourself and assume sizes, you will likely bid too low and end up losing money on the project.
 
There is a formula out there, i just cant get my hands on it. The old dogs in the trade wont hand it down....I cant go to the site and measure it because right now there is just a whole in the ground....Not a single room is like another. Very few of the rooms are square or rectangular, or something easy like that. and i didn't have the time to measure every room. i was sent these prints with a week to cover everything i could....14,000 sq ft ceramic tile, 10,000 yrds of heavy sheet goods, 16,000 yrds of carpet tile, 3000 sq ft of hardwood, 1000 lft of stair treads, 3000 lft of transitions, ect. Never mind calling 10 shops to get the best prices, delivery charges, setting up new accounts and finding a crew to install everything, slap a big price tag on it and send it in....was quite an ordeal.....I run these jobs all the time but from the construction point of view. now im being asked to do both side so im not up to speed just yet....Im thinking the guestemit of 20,000+ lft of baseboard will be close but i wont find out until i see who had the time to count it all out and won the bid. Sometimes they lay it all out for you, tell you exactly what you need for every material and other times they dont. I guess it would make things a lot more competitive if that was the case. less chance for errors. guys wouldnt lose there shirts at often, but not the case on this project.

thanks for everyone's input though...ill let you know when i know.
 
zippy955;2728228; said:
There is a formula out there, i just cant get my hands on it. The old dogs in the trade wont hand it down....I cant go to the site and measure it because right now there is just a whole in the ground....Not a single room is like another. Very few of the rooms are square or rectangular, or something easy like that. and i didn't have the time to measure every room. i was sent these prints with a week to cover everything i could....14,000 sq ft ceramic tile, 10,000 yrds of heavy sheet goods, 16,000 yrds of carpet tile, 3000 sq ft of hardwood, 1000 lft of stair treads, 3000 lft of transitions, ect. Never mind calling 10 shops to get the best prices, delivery charges, setting up new accounts and finding a crew to install everything, slap a big price tag on it and send it in....was quite an ordeal.....I run these jobs all the time but from the construction point of view. now im being asked to do both side so im not up to speed just yet....Im thinking the guestemit of 20,000+ lft of baseboard will be close but i wont find out until i see who had the time to count it all out and won the bid. Sometimes they lay it all out for you, tell you exactly what you need for every material and other times they dont. I guess it would make things a lot more competitive if that was the case. less chance for errors. guys wouldnt lose there shirts at often, but not the case on this project.

thanks for everyone's input though...ill let you know when i know.
Click to expand...

I guarantee you that "the old dogs" are not holding out on some magic formula. Trust me. There is no formula to do what you are asking. It simply does not exist, there is too many variables.
 
rmorse;2729005; said:
I guarantee you that "the old dogs" are not holding out on some magic formula. Trust me. There is no formula to do what you are asking. It simply does not exist, there is too many variables.
Click to expand...

I'll second that. I do a detailed take-off on EVERY job that I quote. If you don't you leave your self open to get burned. You can get burned in that you bid too high and lose the job or worse yet your "guess" causes you to bid too low, you get the job then lose money.

Spend the time and measure the prints. Your boss will thank you.
 
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