Hello from Northern Alabama!

Hi Everyone! My husband & son have started a new Lawn & Landscape Service. My daughter-in-law & I will be doing the office work from my home. We're in the process of getting things together, and one thing that has us flustered is pricing. From what I read, we need to price lawn cutting by the SF....but, not sure how much. Plus not sure what to charge for the other services we're offering, like mulch application, fertilization, tree trimming & removal, spring/fall clean-up, etc. It doesn't seem fair to call someone else and waste their time on giving me an estimate on my yard for landscaping, tree trimming, etc. only to use him for his prices. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks! Lori Pillow

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

We're in the process of getting things together, and one thing that has us flustered is pricing. From what I read, we need to price lawn cutting by the SF....but, not sure how much. Plus not sure what to charge for the other services we're offering, like mulch application, fertilization, tree trimming & removal, spring/fall clean-up, etc. Welcome to our forum! There are a lot of examples of job biddings and prices in the job bidding section http://www.gopherforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38 and that will help you get some ideas of what others are doing. But the easiest way to handle all this early on is bid by the amount of time you think it will take. Know what your expenses are and in many areas it seems like newer businesses are shooting for $45 an hour. But it will vary based on where you are at and your expenses. What kinds of things have you been doing so far to promote your business?

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[JP Landscaping]

Don't feel bad for calling someone for a free estimate to check out prices. It's a good chance they did it when they started out. If you want some round numbers then go with $1 per minute with big mowers such as Zero turn or riding mowers and shoot for about $35 to $45 per hour with a 21" - 36" walking mowers.

For mulch...figure how much it costs you for a yard of mulch and add 15%. That is what you can charge your customers for it. Next figure about 1 hr per yard of mulch to install (dump it and spread it in the area) it. So if you are shooting for $35 per labor hour and the mulch costs you a total of $33 per yard, then charge $68 per yard of mulch. Also charge a delivery fee. For example my delivery fees are $40 up to 4 yards of mulch because that is what my trailer can carry and I can deliver to any part of the city within 1 hour.

For tree trimming- option 1... let the customer know your hourly rate and they can pay you depending on the amount of time you take and a disposal fee. option 2... Estimate how long it will take you and multiply by your hourly rate and add the disposal fee.

Fertilizing is done mostly by the sq ft because you need to know that in order to know how much fertilizer to apply. so Figure how long it takes you to fertilize 1000 sq ft. Then figure how much fertilizer costs you per 1000 sq ft add the 15% profit and you will know what to charge per 1000 sq ft. you can devide that by 10, 100, or even 1000 to figure it out by 100, 10, or by the sq ft.

if in doubt always figure your costs, add your profit percentage on materials, then estimate the time to do the job and add them up to figure your bid.

good luck