Help me quote this please

[spike1]

I looking at a campground job and the site has many trees, tables, cottages and a perimeter fence. The site is about 15 acres total minus buildings and pavement. Can anyone give me some ideas on how to quote. Should I charge by the hour or by the acre? How much per / hr and or per / acre should I charge to cover my time, travel and equipment? Thank you.

[Steve]

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Hi, Welcome to our forum! What services will you be performing? What equipment will you be doing it with? Any pictures of the property?

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[spike1]

I will be providing lawn mowing and trimming services only. I will be using two lawn tractors with 60" decks, a 21" push mower for close cutting and line trimmers.

[Fisher]

Originally Posted by spike1

I looking at a campground job and the site has many trees, tables, cottages and a perimeter fence. The site is about 15 acres total minus buildings and pavement. Can anyone give me some ideas on how to quote. Should I charge by the hour or by the acre? How much per / hr and or per / acre should I charge to cover my time, travel and equipment? Thank you.

As I'm certain your mower is rated for 4 acres per hour I would just round up to 16 acres and call it 4 labor/machine hours to cover the 15minutes of weed eating and charge about $180-$240. Subtract $10 for the trip there, $20 for the insurance(s), and another $70 to pay the taxes. And you've made $80-$140. Not bad for 4 hours work.

Never mind the $70 for taxes as this may turn out to be a loss instead of taxable income.

Have you measured mowing and trimming areas? That would be the best start and then using the calculator/estimator above.

[shadrach]

If was me I would go with an hourly figure not by the acre. I can get 3 acres in an hour in the right conditions on my 29hp/61" mower but that rarely happens.Without knowing where you are at, what the layout is and how often you are cutting I am going to guess somewhere between $400 & $650 a cut.
Stuff we mow ranges between $35 & $60 an acre. 16 acres in 1 stop without having to move would probably come out in a lower range per acre than that.

[Steve]

Spike keep us posted on what you decide to do and go with.

[wandfsmall]

Originally Posted by spike1

I will be providing lawn mowing and trimming services only. I will be using two lawn tractors with 60" decks, a 21" push mower for close cutting and line trimmers.

be careful going by mower ratings for time, they are used to sell mowers. Hopefully you can judge time on this one as if you are way off you will not make it. This it to large of a job to underbid it.

[Fisher]

Originally Posted by wandfsmall

be careful going by mower ratings for time, they are used to sell mowers. Hopefully you can judge time on this one as if you are way off you will not make it. This it to large of a job to underbid it.

I would be afraid that only 1/3 of a campground could be mowed. and more trimming.

I hope he didn't take me serious on the mower acre per hour rating for mowing. Though those ratings are usually accurate under the right circumstances they do not apply to real world service.

I have and can actually mow over 4 acres per hour with our 61's. The trick to doing it was it was completely flat, I mowed in a spiral so I never had to make any turns and no trees or other obstacles in the way.


I also had just mowed it two days before and came back to do the second cut that it needed to clean it up a bit. The first time I mowed it though it did take 2hrs and about 25 mins. Which was closer to 2 acres per hour.

[Steve]

What is your view on how all these obstacles at a trailer park can effect the total time to perform the job?