People are funny

[Steve]

Funny you ask - this was one of the few jobs that fell in line with my initial time estimate. I said 5-6 hrs and it took me exactly 5. (although the homeowner did assist with removing the cuttings, and probably saved me 30 mins of work) Are you finding that you are able to be more accurate with your estimated time as you go? Do certain jobs still give you more trouble than others when it comes to estimating the time it will take to complete them? If so, which do you find are the toughest and which are easier?

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[Hedgemaster]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by Steve Are you finding that you are able to be more accurate with your estimated time as you go? Do certain jobs still give you more trouble than others when it comes to estimating the time it will take to complete them? If so, which do you find are the toughest and which are easier? Honestly, I have not done enough estimating OR lawn work to have gained much insight on the whole process yet. As I set out on this "journey", I was also doing "handyman" work, and up until about a month ago, that was the brunt of what I had been doing, and now that "winter" is here, there isn't much hope of doing a lot of lawn work. It's ALL tough for me estimate right now.

[Steve]

Do you think there are steps that you can take to use your previous estimates to help you with your future ones?

Like for instance, keeping a notebook of property measurements and notes on how long such jobs took to complete and maybe a note that includes a lesson or two of what you learned from that job.

Then later when you are called to a new job and measure out the property, you can compare and contrast it to previous jobs by referring to your notes?

Or would this be a waste of time because it would be simply easier to keep that all in your head?

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by Steve

Do you think there are steps that you can take to use your previous estimates to help you with your future ones?

Like for instance, keeping a notebook of property measurements and notes on how long such jobs took to complete and maybe a note that includes a lesson or two of what you learned from that job.

Then later when you are called to a new job and measure out the property, you can compare and contrast it to previous jobs by referring to your notes?

Or would this be a waste of time because it would be simply easier to keep that all in your head?

Yes, I keep a "journal" and TRY to keep accurate notes as to time it takes to do each part of every job. I also try to take before/after photos as a reference, and also as a potential marketing tool.

It DOES take some time to do all of that, but "keeping it all in my head" never seems to work out very well for me.

[Steve]

It's fascinating because over time you may find that you tend to underbid certain types of jobs consistently and once you realize you are doing that, it can be corrected.

Otherwise, you may not know until one day when you get your bank statement and start to freak out because you just don't know what happened to the money.