Help on Neighborhood Bid

[DillonB92]

Hey I need help on this bid for my neighborhood association. I live in the neighborhood. There is currently a man doing the job that also lives here in the neighborhood. The annual cost came out the other day and it was $13,200 spent on lawn care. The first picture is the neighborhood from above. The rest are pictures of what is to be done. I will be mowing, edging, and trimming. Along with blowing everything off I will also be trimming the bushes. I may put down some mulch around the gazebo flowerbed. I may also once or twice a year have to cut a tree up that has fallen. I must also pick up any small dead limbs that have fallen. I don't think I will have to apply any chemicals to the lawn, however I may want to throw some seed down to try and get some grass growing. There isn't much in some spots. Yellow is bushes to be trimmed. orange is edging Red is the walkway in the park area.

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[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Can you break down each service and tell us how many man hours you expect it to take? How many linear feet of string trimming do you have to do? How many times throughout the season? How many linear feet of edging do you have to do? How many times throughout the season? How many linear feet of hedge trimming do you have to do? How many times throughout the season? What about mowing? How many sq ft? How long do you feel that will take you? How many times will you mow throughout the season. Give us a breakdown of all this for each service. If you don't break it down and scrutinize it, you run the risk of severely underbidding the job.

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[DillonB92]

I'll measure it tomorrow. I'm realizing that there is a LOT of edging to be done

[Steve]

That is a very good start. As you think about this, you will realize you need to work through every part of this bid.

Show us each service you want to perform and give as best as possible an estimate on how long it will take.

[DillonB92]

String trimming liner feet is around 415 That is around Gazebo and a little out by the street and a little around the walls and ditches in the two cubby holes. Most of that is just right alog the fence though. That may take around an hour at the most. It'll also be every time i mow.

Edging is around 2670 linear feet. Thats around the path by the gazebo goingg up and then back and then around the front and back by the road. It is also around the Cubby Holes and down the road and back. It'll need to be done atleast every other time maybe once a month.

Hedge Trimming is around 302 linear feet.to be done once a month.That will take around 4 hours at the most i think with another hour and a half Cleanup.

Mowing is around 19660. THat is close to the lot size. Now there is the gazebo and many bushes. There is also a ditch in one of the cubby Holes.

[Steve]

Ok how long do you feel the edging will take you?

How long do you feel the mowing will take you, including the area around the gazebo and the ditch?

You have to make sure you list each service and the amount of time it will take and how often you need to perform it.

Don't forget anything because that is where you will either make or lose a profit on the job.

[950thomas]

that price looks goog on that property

[DillonB92]

Hmm... I honestly have no idea how long edging will take. I haven't used a stick edger before. Is it about the same time as if you use a trimmer?


Mowing will prob take around at most an hour and a half At most.

Should I bid at or just below the Current Bid?

[jymie]

You will want to use a walk behind edger to do the initial cut for the edging. Mclane makes a nice one. The stick edger should only be used to keep the edges trimmed after the initial cut in the spring.

http://norwalkpower.com/ProductImages/mclane/4G-7-P.jpg

[Steve]

Should I bid at or just below the Current Bid?

Ideally you want to work through all the services needed and price them out. Then total them up. You may find you can do the job at that bid price, below it or above it.

Knowing the final bid price can be deceiving as it may make you look at it and think you are going to make that much on profit, but there is a lot of time and expenses which need to be accounted for first before you submit a bid.

Plenty or newer lawn care businesses go out of business because they didn't take the time to create a detailed bid for large jobs they undertook. Only to find a short time later that they underbid the job and were losing money every time they showed up to the job site.