If you bid on jobs simply by taking all your materials, adding up your subs and labor and tacking on 15 percent to cover your overhead and profit, you aren't bidding your jobs right—and you probably aren't making any money, either. Take another look at your tax return— and don't be surprised if you find that you paid your foreman twice as much an hour as you actually ended up paying yourself. (The foreman, meanwhile, leaves at the end of the day, while you spend three more hours doing bids, the books and the working drawings!) Part of the problem is that most contractors and remodelers are basically honest and caring folks, and the help and the
