Question

You are a meeting planner who was just contacted by an out of town client to produce and “Indy 500” high roller party for 500 VIPs at the Sheraton Desert Inn. You are purchasing a band for $3,000. You are estimating your racing flag centerpiece cost (material and labor) to be $20 per table (50 tables). You are renting black and white checked scupltchair covers ($4.95) from a local linen company that will install the covers. You are estimating your dragster car rental fees to be $850.00. You estimate the lights will cost you $1,200, sound will cost you $1,500, and staging will cost you $700.00. All other pieces of the room décor will cost approximately $1,800 for the room décor. You are paying a cost of $400.00 for maintenance and storage for the décor. Your environmental entertainers include two Las Vegas showgirls, four roller blade girls and/or boys, and two pit-crew members, costing you $300.00 each. Each environmental performer will need to be costumed. You are renting the costumes from Williams Costume Shop at $65 per costume. You estimate your tech labor to cost $900.00 You are charging your client a markup of 20% of the estimated charges. After the event: The client had accepted estimated costs as well as your 20% markup. The client had paid you half of the bill as a deposit, and the other half the day of the event. It is now time for you to calculate how much profit you made and compare it to the amount of profit you originally estimated. As you can imagine, the actual profit is not going to be equal to the estimated profit because things change, and mistakes are made during the forecasting process. For instance, the following changes occurred after you submitted your bid to the CEO: The linen company neglected to inform you of the additional $1.50-per-chair installation cost The showgirls cost you $450 each The labor cost was $800. Williams costume shop raised the price of their costumes to $80 apiece However, the showgirl costumes are $150 apiece Lights were $1,100. A $100 pick-up and delivery fee was added to the dragster car rental cost. All other costs were as estimated. Use the following worksheet to calculate the: (B) markup based on estimated total client costs, (C) estimated total client costs, not including markup, (D) actual total client costs, including markup, and € the variance between the estimated total client costs plus markup and actual total clients costs,] including markup ([B+C] – D. Create a spreadsheet a spreadsheet for this analysis.)

A - Description

B- Markup

C- Estimated Total Client Cost

D- Actual Total Client Cost

E - Variance

102 Environmental (Need B, C, D, and E amounts)

200 Decor (Need B, C, D, and E amounts)

Answer 1

B. Mark up based on estimated total client costs:

	Estimate
	Price per unit/ Person	Units / Persons	Price
Racing flag center piece	20	50	1,000
Band			3,000
Chair covers	4.95	500	2,475
Dragster car rental			850
Lights			1,200
Sound			1,500
Staging			700
Other room décor			1,800
Maintenance and storage - décor			400
Environmental entertainers
Las Vegas showgirls	2	300	600
Roller blade girls	4	300	1,200
Pit crew members	2	300	600
Environmental entertainers costume	8	65	520
Tech Labor cost			900
Cost estimate			16,745
Mark up @20% of cost			3,349
Total			20,094

c. Estimated cost without mark up:

	Estimate
	Price per unit/ Person	Units / Persons	Price
Racing flag center piece	20	50	1,000
Band			3,000
Chair covers	4.95	500	2,475
Dragster car rental			850
Lights			1,200
Sound			1,500
Staging			700
Other room décor			1,800
Maintenance and storage - décor			400
Environmental entertainers
Las Vegas showgirls	2	300	600
Roller blade girls	4	300	1,200
Pit crew members	2	300	600
Environmental entertainers costume	8	65	520
Tech Labor cost			900
Cost estimate			16,745

D. Actual costs + markup

	Actual
	Price per unit/ Person	Units / Persons	Price
Racing flag center piece	20	50	1,000
Band			3,000
Chair covers	6.45	500	3,225
Dragster car rental			950
Lights			1,100
Sound			1,500
Staging			700
Other room décor			1,800
Maintenance and storage - décor			400
Environmental entertainers
Las Vegas showgirls	2	450	900
Roller blade girls	4	300	1,200
Pit crew members	2	300	600
Environmental entertainers costume	6	80	480
Environmental entertainers costume	2	150	300
Tech Labor cost			800
Cost estimate			17,955
Price paid by client			20,094
Mark up earned (Price - cost)			2,139

e. Variance:

Actual Cost	17,955
Estimated cost	16,745
Variance	1,210

The variance between the mark up estimated and actual mark up is also the same $1,210 since the client does not pay extra.