advice on pricing mulch jobs

[jsslawncare]

What ever I pay for for a yard I double it then add $10. The $10 is for spreading it. So, like right it's around $22, charge $44 add $10= $55 per yard. This is have most in my area do it. I have on lost only 2 jobs in 5 years.

[shibby53022]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by jsslawncare What ever I pay for for a yard I double it then add $10. The $10 is for spreading it. So, like right it's around $22, charge $44 add $10= $55 per yard. This is have most in my area do it. I have on lost only 2 jobs in 5 years. Wow if thats all you charge i will hire you and all your men and pay you that in cash no problem.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by shibby53022

Wow if thats all you charge i will hire you and all your men and pay you that in cash no problem.

Yeah thats crazy. If your charging less then a $100 a yard your leaving money on the table. Guys in FL that get mulch for $20 a yard I could see doing $80 a yard installed. This doesnt include delivery, edging, or prep work.

[jsslawncare]

I think you missed one very important phase I said "In my area".

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by jsslawncare

I have on lost only 2 jobs in 5 years.

That should tell you everything right there. Unless your the only service provider in the area. You should never get much more then 50% of what you bid on. If you do your prices are to low.

[Steve]

I have on lost only 2 jobs in 5 years.

After hearing some thoughts on the amount of jobs you win bidding on, does it make you reconsider your thoughts on pricing or no?

[ckilg008]

Originally Posted by boog

I need some serious advice on pricing mulch i have lost to 10 mulch jobs this year how do you guys charge for a much job by the hour- by the yard - by the foot ? im lost and im tired of not making any $$$

I was told by the guy i bought out to charge by the foot "$8 A foot if it is 3ft wide x the length im confused on that

So i came up with charging for regular mulch $65 a load delivered and install if local i can get a yard of reg for $20 then each step up is $20 more so for the red it would be $105 delivered and install i know it high but im not sure what else any suggestions ??

I charge 75.00 per cubic yard, I pay 28.00 per cubic yard. 75.00 includes hauling and spreading but any other labor such as deweeding/trenching etc. is sold separately. I always try to upsale when doing mulch to make more money but 75.00 is in my opinion a fair price for 1 cubic yard.

[shibby53022]

Originally Posted by jsslawncare

I think you missed one very important phase I said "In my area".

Unless your area is a third world country, $10.00 a yard is absurd. I get it you charge more for the mulch, but that is a given. You need to to compensate for waiting in the yard to get loaded, time gas etc. And to read in this forum and chime in and brag that you get $10.00 a yard installed is insane. You should have read this forum and said...hmmm..obviously I am charging to little of a price. You obviously are a very poor business man and need to seriously work on this aspect before anything else or you will not go very far at all in business or life.

I can read in this forum who is a professional and who is not, you can see that a mile away. Also I see a couple of people brag about how much mulch they can spread and how much money they can clean house with. I think a lot of people are losing site of what this business is about!

I own a nursery and get mulch by the semi load and I could wipe out my competition with one swoop if I wanted to. I have state of the art equipment and since I buy in huge volume I get mulch very low priced. I still charge industry standard because I am not a low baller and do not want to hurt the industry. What I focus on in this business is Quality, I didn't start the business saying I want to be ****y and only lose two jobs in five years, I do not want to get rich quick. I started this business because I like to create beautiful things and do nice landscapes. I brag about the before and after's, I like going to a property that is overgrown and has weeds and etc. I like after we leave the job site and the bushes and trees and shrubs are manicured and there is no mulch on the grass, or on the retaining walls. All the mulch is spread evenly. I have laid out two yards of mulch and took me a whole day, that is because of the landscape and the intricate of the landscape and also when we left the property looked like it could be in the a magazine.

If someone showed me an entire pick up bed full of mulch(which is about two yards depending on the truck) and said to me I will pay you $20.00 to unload this I would laugh in there face and walk away. My point to this is I would like to see people start bragging about quality of the job site which is what this business should be all about. If you are creating a beautiful landscape the price should reflect it. Case in point I can not imagine creating any beautiful landscape for ten dollars a yard, use this as advice and step your game up, good luck and thanks for your time reading this.

[GodsGreenEarth]

The first thing you must know in order to make an accurate estimate is how much mulch your getting/spreading if you don't have an accurate idea of how much mulch you are putting down how can you charge your customer accordingly. For instance lets look at the two popular ways of spreading mulch Bags and by the scoop.

Bags. Realize that bags usually come in 2 basic sizes at your Home Depot/Lowes/Local nursery. 3cu Ft and 2 Cubic Feet. A yard is a cubic yard or 3x3x3 or 27 cu Ft. So either 9 bags or 13 1/2 bags equal a yard depending on what you are using.

By the scoop. It is important to realize that there are more then one size scoop. A lot of these scoops are 3/4 yd scoops and some are full yard scoops. In practice a level scoop equals the bucket size and a heaping scoop is 25%-50% more depending on the scoop. Hence a heaping 3/4 scoop is close to a yard but a heaping yard scoop can be a yard and a third or more.....

I made a few mistakes early on not realizing the different size scoops. Because the local nursery is nice to you and gives you extra mulch because you do a lot of business with them, is that something you want to give to free for your customer?

The absolute best thing you can do for estimating mulch prices is get used to what a yard is. What it looks like on your vehicle in bags or bulk. Get used to what it looks like spread on the ground. Let it soak in how much time and effort it takes locate the mulch, pick it up, drive it to the job, and spread it. Once you start to do this your mulch charges will go up. At least mine have...I've increased my prices by as much as some are charging over the past 3 years and plan on increasing again this year.....and I still seldom loose jobs as the customers know it will look right.

[GROUNDHAWG]

Take whatever you pay for a scoop and double it. So if you pay $40 for a scoop and it takes you 5 scoops there's $200 so $400 for the job. This is just a rough estimate for a small job. If it's a big job and you have someone help you then you might go $45 per scoop and double that. That extra $5 will add at least $50 onto the total and that'll pay your worker or come pretty close. Ask around, mulching is not cheap.