13 acre lot.....Help please!!!!

[cuttingedgeron]

Originally Posted by SNethercutt

30 an acre?

If that's the going rate where you are stay away from where I'm at. You will bust all our nuts if you come down here with that :/

Who would really pay $45-60 an acre? That is $550-$700 +. I don't think some one will pay that a week here anyways. That would be well over $2,000+ a month.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by cuttingedgeron

Who would really pay $45-60 an acre? That is $550-$700 +. I don't think some one will pay that a week here anyways. That would be well over $2,000+ a month.

they shouldnt buy a property that big. I could say the same thing about who would buy a 5 br house that would be like 5,000 month mortgage or who would pay 3,000 a month in property taxes or a Bentley. People do because they can afford it.

[cuttingedgeron]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

they shouldnt buy a property that big. I could say the same thing about who would buy a 5 br house that would be like 5,000 month mortgage or who would pay 3,000 a month in property taxes or a Bentley. People do because they can afford it.

Well I decided to call the guy today right before 5, central time. He had two full days to look at the bid. So what he said was the my $425 for the 13.8 acres was a little high. I would be paying out over $1,600 a month. Yep, I knew that from the get go. He then also told me that the last guy was doing it for $225 and getting done in about 5 hours. I thought to myself, either he told me that number to get me down right there or the guy that he had it done, was some punk that was under charging him. There is no way I would touch it for that kind of money. I told my wife, this guy is nuts. So, I just told him most people are charging anywhere between $45-60 an acre here and I was only doing $30 an acre since he had over 10 acres. Then I just told him to think about, you have my number and to give me a call if you decide something different. He did say thanks for calling him and that I seemed pretty professional. Nice words from him , but Im not going to be the type to low ball myself to get a job, so I decided to stand firm. Maybe now he knows I mean business. I also told him my other option about mowing around the house a couple of acres every week and then the entire property every other week. That way it would of been a little cheaper, but not too much. He wanted everything mowed weekly though and didnt care for the other option.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by cuttingedgeron

Well I decided to call the guy today right before 5, central time. He had two full days to look at the bid. So what he said was the my $425 for the 13.8 acres was a little high. I would be paying out over $1,600 a month. Yep, I knew that from the get go. He then also told me that the last guy was doing it for $225 and getting done in about 5 hours. I thought to myself, either he told me that number to get me down right there or the guy that he had it done, was some punk that was under charging him. There is no way I would touch it for that kind of money. I told my wife, this guy is nuts. So, I just told him most people are charging anywhere between $45-60 an acre here and I was only doing $30 an acre since he had over 10 acres. Then I just told him to think about, you have my number and to give me a call if you decide something different. He did say thanks for calling him and that I seemed pretty professional. Nice words from him , but Im not going to be the type to low ball myself to get a job, so I decided to stand firm. Maybe now he knows I mean business. I also told him my other option about mowing around the house a couple of acres every week and then the entire property every other week. That way it would of been a little cheaper, but not too much. He wanted everything mowed weekly though and didnt care for the other option.

If this guy does quality work for $225 why is he talking to you?

If you needed the work you couldve countered him in the middle. What he is asking for is unreasonable. You would be giving up a almost a day of work to do it.

[cuttingedgeron]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

If this guy does quality work for $225 why is he talking to you?

If you needed the work you couldve countered him in the middle. What he is asking for is unreasonable. You would be giving up a almost a day of work to do it.

Not sure if its quality work or not, but the owner did mention whenever I asked him the first time I met him, Why are you looking for someone else to mow your lawn? He then told, well I wanted my yard mowed weekly, so sometimes the guy had excuses. At some occasions, he was suppose to stop by on a friday, but then plans came about. Then the next day, same thing happened. So, long story short, he wasnt very dependable in my opinion. Maybe he was getting the point that the yard was not worth the $225 every cut. lol

[warbuff]

I might have tried offering the same $425 but every 10 days, you get your price, and he saves $425

Just curious what size mower your using?

[SNethercutt]

I would run. I would have flat out said find someone else. I mow less than 4 acres for $300 no way I'm touching 13 for anything less than $500.

[cuttingedgeron]

Originally Posted by warbuff

I might have tried offering the same $425 but every 10 days, you get your price, and he saves $425

Just curious what size mower your using?

Toro 60 inch cut.

He said weekly though. Cant argue with that.

[cuttingedgeron]

Originally Posted by SNethercutt

I would run. I would have flat out said find someone else. I mow less than 4 acres for $300 no way I'm touching 13 for anything less than $500.

Well Im going to wait it out. I just told him to think about it and call me if interested. The ball is in his court now.

[warbuff]

Originally Posted by cuttingedgeron

Well I decided to call the guy today right before 5, central time. He had two full days to look at the bid. So what he said was the my $425 for the 13.8 acres was a little high. I would be paying out over $1,600 a month.

There is no way I would touch it for that kind of money.

He said weekly though. Cant argue with that.

Yes he did, he also said 1600 a month was too much but by offering to mow 3 times a month your able to give him a price reduction, while at the same time allowing you to have a price your comfortable with. Its a good compromise to consider for both sides...

Just because its not exactly what he wanted doesn't mean you might no be able to land it. 12 acre's with 60" mower takes me about 5-6 hours @ 80% efficiency, as long as the area is relatively flat. If you can group it in with another high acreage job that is near by and make a day of each time I don't see why you couldn't make $700-800 for the day that way.

Sounds to me like you want this account, so why not try the different approach?