Hit 2,000 board feet of crown molding in one house, my shoulder filed a complaint

I wrapped up a trim job in a big colonial outside Columbus last Friday. The homeowner wanted crown in every room, even the laundry, so I counted up my cut list and it came to 2,001 board feet. That number hit me kind of hard because I usually do maybe 400 or 500 on a normal house. Most of it was poplar, so not crazy heavy, but doing all those coped inside corners and getting the spring angle right on every single joint took twice as long as I planned. Has anyone else had a single job that just dwarfed your usual scale like that, and did you change how you bid big trim work afterward?

1 comments

1 Comment

williams.amy28d ago

...and honestly that poplar thing is kind of what gets me. 2,000 feet of poplar is one thing, but was it all the same profile? Because if you had to switch bits or adjust the saw for like a different backcut on some sections, that would wreck your time even more than the sheer volume. What did your hourly rate actually shake out to on that job after you counted the extra trips up and down the ladder? I'm curious if you padded the bid enough to make it worth the hurt.