Price per SF?

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by TNT Family Lawn Care tell me about it but back in the day before the bottom fell out the rate was 50-65 per acre an when everyone lost there jobs for down sizing or got laid off they all went out and bought mowers an started under cutting just to get money coming in. There still is a company mowing out here in my town 25$ a acre its tough out here but make your work stand out from everybody else I just cant believe those low prices. I would lock up shop and find a new business if I had to charge that low. Thats like minimum wage earnings there. I get some jobs out here even though I charge more because I am big in the local business environment, always supporting and preaching local business, attending meetings and or keeping communication opened with business organizations who help me preach about local business. We find most of the people out here who are undercutting can do so because they are not licensed and have no overhead. Licensing is a requirement here and we are always working to push them out of town and let local businesses who to business legitimately take over their jobs. Nothing is worse than trying to compete with an unlicensed operator who is mowing lawns for $10 a pop.

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White Company

[jasonw]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by TNT Family Lawn Care this just happen to me this 2010 season there grass grew so fast within 5 days i had to cut it 3 times before i felt it looked good an i could leave my name on the front yard i charged them the 1 dallor min for all the time i was there they had no problems paying then i told them if it keeps growing that fast i will be here twice a week to cut did this for 3 months. it was a pain in the butt, but easy money picked up the nieghbor also they loved the work About what size was the lawn you did three times? How long did it take and what was the bill?

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White Company

[TNT Family Lawn Care]

Originally Posted by jasonw

I just cant believe those low prices. I would lock up shop and find a new business if I had to charge that low. Thats like minimum wage earnings there. I get some jobs out here even though I charge more because I am big in the local business environment, always supporting and preaching local business, attending meetings and or keeping communication opened with business organizations who help me preach about local business. We find most of the people out here who are undercutting can do so because they are not licensed and have no overhead. Licensing is a requirement here and we are always working to push them out of town and let local businesses who to business legitimately take over their jobs. Nothing is worse than trying to compete with an unlicensed operator who is mowing lawns for $10 a pop.

most of the fly by night so called lawn cutters out there are just about moved on we dont see them around to much more but yea tnt is insured&licensed and we have to have a DOT# truck is all decaled we are here for the long run i love what i do i love my job

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by TNT Family Lawn Care

most of the fly by night so called lawn cutters out there are just about moved on we dont see them around to much more but yea tnt is insured&licensed and we have to have a DOT# truck is all decaled we are here for the long run i love what i do i love my job

I find a lot of people dont understand that half of what I charge pays for being a legitimate business person here. They dont understand that I have licensing to pay for or anything ells. One of the reasons why I started this topic is to be more consistent in how I bid jobs, Basically at the $0.0?/sf everyone is paying the same price one is just paying more because the lawns is twice the size. This way if they questioned the bill I can break it down to them "$0.03X700sf=$21" I do agree according to that formula the 345 some od bucks for a quarter acre is steep but that's why we are talking to figure it out. If I knock it down to $0.01/sf for larger properties like a quarter acre then its just about on par with what I already charge per acre divided by 4, its actually a little higher but not much.

[mark123]

Originally Posted by jasonw

... mean for $30 I could not even load the tractor up and drive the truck out there. ...

$30 is my price for 11k square feet. My price for an acre is $70.

You'd go out of business here faster with your high prices than anyone has by charging too little. Can you really get $345.39 for an 11k property? Tell me where you live, I'll do the lawns for half that and you can sit at home and do the billing.

[TNT Family Lawn Care]

Originally Posted by jasonw

About what size was the lawn you did three times? How long did it take and what was the bill?

the lawn was 3/4 acre and it took 45 min per cut this house had so many beds all over there yard then it took awhile to all the blowing the final bill was 155$

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by mark123

$30 is my price for 11k square feet. My price for an acre is $70.

Mark, is that the industry average for PA? Thats crazy low compared to here in Ca.

[mark123]

Originally Posted by jasonw

Mark, is that the industry average for PA? Thats crazy low compared to here in Ca.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. PA is a big place and I can't really speak for everyone here but I'm pretty close to average price in my area. I could probably stand to add a few dollars per stop.

Your area's cost of living is approximately 43% higher than mine.

[mark123]

Your quoted price of $345.39 for an approximately 35 minute job works out to about $590/hour! That's pretty sweet if you can get it.

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by mark123

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. PA is a big place and I can't really speak for everyone here but I'm pretty close to average price in my area. I could probably stand to add a few dollars per stop.

Your area's cost of living is approximately 43% higher than mine.

Yeh the cost of living more than likely has something to do with it. A lot of houses here are vacation houses for people that live in the bay area or elsewhere also.