breakdown of costs and fees:

Estimate fee:

We charge an estimate fee of $150. Should you choose to book your project with us, this fee is deducted from the total cost of your project. If you choose not to book your project with us, this fee is added into our mutual aid pool and allows us to offer sliding scale pricing or free services for those who need it most. We choose to forgo the estimate fee for BIPOC and TMA clients because marginalization, as we know, is a layered construct. While we would love to literally work for free for all queer clients, we do have to make money to sustain a business. Simply put, our reasoning is that the majority of our clientele are queer, white, trans-misogyny-exempt (TME) people and, as a small business, we can not afford to give discounts to the majority of our clientele. Where we can afford to give discounts and make ourselves more accessible we do, to the most marginalized members of our community. The structural and interpersonal violences that people of color and TMA people face far exceed what TME white people face. As a business run by TME white trans non-binary people, this feels like the best practice for uplifting our community. We understand that not all remodel companies charge this fee, but not all remodel companies operate in the way we do.

Project Cost Breakdown:

• Labor: When you book a job with us, you are paying to have members of our labor team come to your home to complete the project. Labor costs in estimates and invoices reflect the number of hours the labor team takes to complete the project. We try to be as accurate as we can in our estimate, and work hard to track hours to stay within the estimate. Of course, there are times when part of a project is more challenging than anticipated or there is a change in scope of the job that requires more labor hours to complete the task. When this happen we do our best to communicate ahead of time with the client to ensure we are all on the same page, and no one is surprised by an overage.

• Materials: Often we need to purchase items to complete a project, whether that is lumber and screws for your deck, or tiles and grout for your kitchen, many of these items need to be purchased in advance or during the job. These items will be charged back to the client. In our estimate we include a section of how much we anticipate supplies to cost, and we are sure to return anything that is unused to not charge you for extra items.

• Operating Costs: Here at QRPDX, in addition to our labor team of 3 people, we have an admin team of 4 people. Our admin team is responsible for: scheduling; both with our clients and with subcontractors, creating quotes, bookkeeping, maintaining our website and social media, internal research, hiring, and a whole host of other tasks that take time and resources to make sure every job is completed efficiently, respectfully, and within budget. So, for every job we charge for the operating costs that require the job to be completed. Additionally we are well insured for our tools and our work, and insurance costs money. Operating costs cover the price of keeping ourselves insured to protect your home and our work.

Living Wages:

We know that we are not the cheapest remodeling service around. This is mostly due to our pay structure. Every member on our team makes a living wage and the same wage. No one is profiting from other’s work here and all employees, whether they are part of our labor crew, in our operations department, or the owner of the business, make $30.00/hr before taxes. The term “living wage” refers to  the minimum hourly wage a full-time employee needs to make to afford necessities. The hourly wage we offer is much higher than the federal minimum wage, and even higher than the local minimum wage. This number generally varies based on the number of people in a household and the cost of living in a particular area.. We do our best to stay up-to-date with changes in cost of living in our area, and have open communication with all our employees about their needs. We believe ensuring our employees have enough to be comfortable and not worrying about making ends meet is a crucial part of running a business.

Anti-Hustle Culture:

At Queers Remodel PDX, we are working to prevent burnout of our employees. One of the ways we do this is by paying at least a living wage, and providing our labor team ample time to complete projects. We do not want our labor team feeling rushed to complete a project. Feeling rushed can lead to reduced quality of work and puts unnecessary pressure on our team. We do not over-schedule our team, and instead schedule in break days where our team can reset before the next project. This gives time to complete returns, reorganize tools, prepare for the next job, and rest.