t-10yrs2retire
08-23-2012, 09:43 AM
2013 plan....Any input from the seasoned guys???
OK I have had a few pitfalls this year (my first year) that will leave me going into next year in the hole about $2000. I started this in May with one lawn and now have 6. I took a couple over from a friend of a friend at what he was charging and they are low but I agreed to finish them out this year but will send new quotes out for 2013 probably October or November. I was on track to break even this month till a leg injury put me out of work at my main job till October. I kept things small and manageable this year and glad I did and this was not devastating!!!
I was going through several sections of the board and trying to figure out where I wanted to be by the end of next year and how I was going to get there. There were several good articles there and one sentence out of all of it stuck in my mind. Plan and budget as if you were running where you want to be. Think that’s what it said anyway...:D...So I started listing out where I wanted to be. I have for this purpose 3 days off one week and 2 days off the next (Its actually 4/3 but left time for family and overflow work) so for the 3/2 with about 26 mowing weeks is about 520hrs/yr. Take about 25% of that out for travel and it leaves me with about 390 actual working hours per year that I have.
Next I listed out what hypothetical and actual expenses and equipment (+cost) I wanted to be at on Jan 1st 2013. Ones with a * were what I thought were hard numbers and couldn’t be lowered or changed. If anything would maybe be higher. This will be in 2 groups the WANT first and the NEED second. most is USED stuff
WANT:
Truck..................$10000
Trailer....................3000
ZRT mower..............5000
edger.......................250*
back pack blower.......250*
Insurance liab/equ....1000*
Advertising...............200
equipment maint.......1000*
Misc operating/fuel....1000*
roll over cost 2012....2000*
TOTAL................$23,700/390hryr = $59/hr
Now the way I have been figuring my quote has been to figure out how long it took me to mow 40,000sqft with moderate trimming and what I wanted to make an hour and I came up with a price per sq/ft of $.00115 so 40,000 x .00115 = $46.
I asked myself what I thought this area could handle from a part time guy who is serious as a heart attack and does a good job. (ME :cool:) I had a guy charge me $35 to do about 4000sqft once. (my front yard and was over grown last year.) So I don’t think $50-60/40000 would be too high or low balling in this area.
SOOOOOOO....if I want to pay cash and at a min break even by my last mow of 2013 here is my NEED list.
NEED:
Truck..................$5000
Trailer....................2000
ZRT mower..............2000
edger.......................250*
back pack blower.......250*
Insurance liab/equ....1000*
Advertising...............200
equipment maint.......1000*
Misc operating/fuel....1000*
roll over cost 2012....2000*
TOTAL ..................$14,700/390hryr = aprx$38/hr
I will continue to use $50/40000 it seems on par and that way I have some cushion, i'm sure some of my est are off such as insurance I think is low. The 6 lawns I have now when I do all of them on the same day take me 7hrs. so I will be working at filling 17 more hours/ week to make this work. At the $38 this only covers expenses.
These are a short term goal for the end of next year. I would have to readjust for my 5 year goal (2016) Newer truck, plow, sure I will need a mower or two in there somewhere.
Thanks for any input.
OK I have had a few pitfalls this year (my first year) that will leave me going into next year in the hole about $2000. I started this in May with one lawn and now have 6. I took a couple over from a friend of a friend at what he was charging and they are low but I agreed to finish them out this year but will send new quotes out for 2013 probably October or November. I was on track to break even this month till a leg injury put me out of work at my main job till October. I kept things small and manageable this year and glad I did and this was not devastating!!!
I was going through several sections of the board and trying to figure out where I wanted to be by the end of next year and how I was going to get there. There were several good articles there and one sentence out of all of it stuck in my mind. Plan and budget as if you were running where you want to be. Think that’s what it said anyway...:D...So I started listing out where I wanted to be. I have for this purpose 3 days off one week and 2 days off the next (Its actually 4/3 but left time for family and overflow work) so for the 3/2 with about 26 mowing weeks is about 520hrs/yr. Take about 25% of that out for travel and it leaves me with about 390 actual working hours per year that I have.
Next I listed out what hypothetical and actual expenses and equipment (+cost) I wanted to be at on Jan 1st 2013. Ones with a * were what I thought were hard numbers and couldn’t be lowered or changed. If anything would maybe be higher. This will be in 2 groups the WANT first and the NEED second. most is USED stuff
WANT:
Truck..................$10000
Trailer....................3000
ZRT mower..............5000
edger.......................250*
back pack blower.......250*
Insurance liab/equ....1000*
Advertising...............200
equipment maint.......1000*
Misc operating/fuel....1000*
roll over cost 2012....2000*
TOTAL................$23,700/390hryr = $59/hr
Now the way I have been figuring my quote has been to figure out how long it took me to mow 40,000sqft with moderate trimming and what I wanted to make an hour and I came up with a price per sq/ft of $.00115 so 40,000 x .00115 = $46.
I asked myself what I thought this area could handle from a part time guy who is serious as a heart attack and does a good job. (ME :cool:) I had a guy charge me $35 to do about 4000sqft once. (my front yard and was over grown last year.) So I don’t think $50-60/40000 would be too high or low balling in this area.
SOOOOOOO....if I want to pay cash and at a min break even by my last mow of 2013 here is my NEED list.
NEED:
Truck..................$5000
Trailer....................2000
ZRT mower..............2000
edger.......................250*
back pack blower.......250*
Insurance liab/equ....1000*
Advertising...............200
equipment maint.......1000*
Misc operating/fuel....1000*
roll over cost 2012....2000*
TOTAL ..................$14,700/390hryr = aprx$38/hr
I will continue to use $50/40000 it seems on par and that way I have some cushion, i'm sure some of my est are off such as insurance I think is low. The 6 lawns I have now when I do all of them on the same day take me 7hrs. so I will be working at filling 17 more hours/ week to make this work. At the $38 this only covers expenses.
These are a short term goal for the end of next year. I would have to readjust for my 5 year goal (2016) Newer truck, plow, sure I will need a mower or two in there somewhere.
Thanks for any input.