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Updated almost 12 years ago on . Most recent reply

Ratio of Labor Cost to Material Cost
I know overall costs vary widely depending on where you are in the country, but it seems like ratios would stay pretty much the same. I may be incorrect about that, so if I am, please let me know.
I just finished a renovation with the company I work for and we provided the majority of the labor for the project and bought all of that materials ourselves. The project budget ended up being 30% Sub Costs, 31% Materials, and 39% Labor. I subtracted soft costs, etc. for this analysis. The sub costs don't really play a role, but I'm interested to know what the members here think of my labor to materials ratio. It cost us $1.28 in labor for every $1.00 in materials. I think the labor was pretty high, but I don't know for sure. If there is a conclusion to be drawn, I would appreciate assistance from the membership.
Thanks,
Tyler
Most Popular Reply

It doesn't seem to me that there is any real correlation, or any benefit in trying to find one. Why would it cost more to install a $150 faucet than a $50 faucet? Or to install a $200 prefab slab vs. a $500 slab? As a flooring pro, I leave myself room to charge more for installing a cheap floor because they are usually harder to install, but generally my rates don't change based on the cost of the material. Also, consider that I had a client pay $5.50/sf for a floor that I could have sourced for him at $3.25/sf. Not that anyone around here would overpay like that.
In the end, your ratio might just be an indication of the quality of your finished products.