Hedge Trimming

[lxarth]

I have a current customer who wants me to submit a bid for a hedge trimming job of a laurel bush. The hedge is 37'Lx12'Wx12'H. But it needs to be 34'x6'x12'. It has over-grown half of the sidewalk (so 3-feet), and the other side is over-grown into the yard area (yet another 3-feet). One end of the hedge needs to come in 3-feet as well, but only on one side, as the other side was taken in by a neighbor. The hedge is probably up to 12-feet high, but the customer said she doesn't mind it growing higher, just not wider, so I won't need to worry about shortening it. I found a site while trying to find prices for hedging trimming, and their price would put it at $440. But on another forum site (I found it completely by accident, I swear! ) a member said this: for small shrubs(under shoulder height)I charge $6-$8 a shrub. over that height i count them as double. for long rows I count every five feet as 1, again if over shoulder height count as two. I have found that this constantly gives me $60/hr on job. p.s. In mulched areas i collect using drop cloths and non mulched areas I use mower to mulch up shrub clippings. So based on that I came up with $256. $8 (price), x2 (high), x8 (length), x2 (the other side). Does anyone have a formula for hedges? Or have an idea of how long they take? How long this might take? Once you see the pictures below you will see just how much will be taken off. I realize that I basically asked this a while back for something similar, but I never got that job, so I was never able to find out how long it would have taken, or even what that person ended up paying to get it done. The following picture shows the hedge from the neighbors side. You can see how far it has grown over the sidewalk, and where the neighbor has trimming it back on his side to where it should be You can't really see from this picture just how much it has grown over the sidewalk, but half of the walk is blocked for nearly 40 feet. It is clear just how over-grown this hedge has gotten. From this shot you can see how much needs to be taken off. Once more, the front side overhangs the sidewalk by 3 feet. The side of the hedge facing the camera is also the side that needs to be cut back from the customers own walkway by 3 feet. This is the backside. Not a great picture, but it does illustrate how much has grown into the property A distant shot to show its size Another picture to illustrate how over-grown it has become.

Attached Images

	Hedge1.jpg (101.1 KB, 2 views)
	Hedge2.jpg (150.0 KB, 2 views)
	Hedge3.jpg (151.4 KB, 2 views)
	Hedge4.jpg (134.5 KB, 2 views)
	Hedge5.jpg (158.0 KB, 2 views)
	Hedge6.jpg (109.0 KB, 2 views)

[MountainViewGreenskeeper]

Lawn care business tips

That is the simplest break down of it. $8 per seems a little high I'm closer to $5 per\same rules. But I also add dump fees so his $6-8 might include that.

__________________
Colton
Mountain View Greenskeeper proudly offering yard care in the East Valley of Arizona.

[Hedgemaster]

Don't forget to factor in cleanup time as well as disposal time. You're going to spend time/gas driving to wherever you must dispose of it - you should be paid for that time.

[Ducke]

I use below shoulder height $1.50 per foot all inclusive above my head were I need to use a ladder it becomes $2.00 to $2.50 per foot depending on how difficult the work area is.I don't worry about dump fees as I compost all my clippings at my property but if your not that lucky add on the dump fee.
So from what I can see in the photos and the info you gave us it would be $92.50 so round that t $100.00 The side walk side looks easy to work on not sure about the lawn side but if its uneven etc, add $25.00 to $50.00 depending how Uneven and how slow the work would be. Then add you dump fee.
Now with that all said Market plays a lot to how much competition etc. Here I am lucky not to many guys want to do hedges so I can pretty much charge what I want. But if you have lots of guy trimming for low ball prices you will have to feel out what you can get a way with.

[Steve]

How much time do you all think think this would take? Knowing that might be very helpful.

I realize that I basically asked this a while back for something similar, but I never got that job, so I was never able to find out how long it would have taken, or even what that person ended up paying to get it done.

Did you do a follow up on the bid to find out why you didn't get the job?

[lxarth]

Don't forget to factor in cleanup time...

My problem is that I don't know how long it will take.

below shoulder height $1.50 per foot...above my head becomes $2.00 to $2.50

Just based on that I have come up with $215. 37-feet in front, 37-feet in back, 12-feet off the end. 37+37+12=86. 86x$2.5=$215.

Dump fee where I am is probably going to be about $15, not including the time it takes at the dump. But even so, $215 for all inclusive isn't that bad.

And I just remembered, that the customer said they have a compost pile where I can leave the debris. I did tell her that that would take a while to compost down, so I said I would get her a bid with hauling, and without.

I don't care if I leave the debris or not, but I do know she has to give the proposal to her landlord for approval, so who really knows if I will even get this one this time.

Should I say that the bid it $215 + $40 for disposal...$40 seems like a good, even, number for debris.

Did you do a follow up on the bid to find out why you didn't get the job?

I never did. I haven't been doing many follow-ups. I've been bad with that.

[Steve]

I'd say submit it and see what kind of feedback you hear. Make sure you do a follow up call a few days later to see what kind of feedback she has for you on the bid if it is not accepted right away.

Keep us posted on how all this goes.

[Ducke]

$215.00 + disposal sounds good to me.
I have a customer that has
10 ft 3 foot high hedge, 30 ft at 4 feet high and 40 ft at 8 feet and very large shrubs and I charge her $225.00 cut cleaned up and carted away. Takes me approx 5 hours.
another customer I have has
75 ft of 4 foot hedge I charge him $125.00 cut cleaned up and put in his compost. Takes me approx 2 hours.

Good luck I hope it works out for you.

[Hedgemaster]

Don't forget to factor in cleanup time...

Originally Posted by lxarth

My problem is that I don't know how long it will take.

(snip)
...

Depending on the job cleanup can take longer than the actual cutting.


I've come up with this formula that seems to work well...
To determine how long a job will take, give it your best guess, then add 1 to 2 hours! LOL!

Man, I busted my arse today on a hedge job I thought would take 3 hours. (overgrown/needed cut back)
The stuff was thicker than I had initially thought and I had to break out the chain saw to cut some of the heavy branches.

I think it took 4.5 hrs total, but it was brutally hot and I took a lot of water breaks. Plus, I always tend to do "more" than the customer needs done... rather than just hacking the overgrown stuff down and calling it a day, I shaped them, and took the time to use the string trimmer all around them afterwards. I wasn't being paid for that, but I just can't see doing a nice job on the hedges, only to leave them surrounded by tall grass and weeds.



Do you have tarps to lay down, or are you just going to rake it all up?
In addition to the standard "square", burlap landscaper tarps, I use a lot of canvas painter's tarps. 4'x12' works nicely along rows of hedges and makes cleanup a snap - sometimes I just grab an end and drag the whole thing right up the ramp of the trailer.

Sometimes a large piece of cardboard comes in handy for use as a "dustpan" when gathering up the final scraps, or you can lay it over the ramp to sweep debris into the trailer without things catching on the wire mesh.

"Will it fit?" Haha! The trailer looks plenty big enough until you start piling branches in! "Clippings" are easy, but when you do larger "cut-backs", that stuff takes up a lot of space. Pile the small stuff in first, then lay the big stuff on top. If you use landscaper tarps and "bundle" them by tying the corners together, there are always "gaps" where debris can fall out - toss them in the trailer upside down to keep the stuff from blowing out of those "gaps".

I'm no expert, but figured I'd share some thoughts and things I've found to be helpful.

Good luck with the job and don't underbid it just to get the work!

[Emar]

Originally Posted by lxarth

I have a current customer who wants me to submit a bid for a hedge trimming job of a laurel bush.

The hedge is 37'Lx12'Wx12'H. But it needs to be 34'x6'x12'. It has over-grown half of the sidewalk (so 3-feet), and the other side is over-grown into the yard area (yet another 3-feet). One end of the hedge needs to come in 3-feet as well, but only on one side, as the other side was taken in by a neighbor.

The hedge is probably up to 12-feet high, but the customer said she doesn't mind it growing higher, just not wider, so I won't need to worry about shortening it.

I found a site while trying to find prices for hedging trimming, and their price would put it at $440. But on another forum site (I found it completely by accident, I swear! ) a member said this:



So based on that I came up with $256. $8 (price), x2 (high), x8 (length), x2 (the other side).

Does anyone have a formula for hedges? Or have an idea of how long they take? How long this might take? Once you see the pictures below you will see just how much will be taken off.

I realize that I basically asked this a while back for something similar, but I never got that job, so I was never able to find out how long it would have taken, or even what that person ended up paying to get it done.

The following picture shows the hedge from the neighbors side. You can see how far it has grown over the sidewalk, and where the neighbor has trimming it back on his side to where it should be


You can't really see from this picture just how much it has grown over the sidewalk, but half of the walk is blocked for nearly 40 feet.


It is clear just how over-grown this hedge has gotten. From this shot you can see how much needs to be taken off. Once more, the front side overhangs the sidewalk by 3 feet. The side of the hedge facing the camera is also the side that needs to be cut back from the customers own walkway by 3 feet.


This is the backside. Not a great picture, but it does illustrate how much has grown into the property


A distant shot to show its size


Another picture to illustrate how over-grown it has become.

215 sounds good, also consider if you will damage any flowers on the back while working on the bush. All thought customer did not want the height you will have to cut the sides as high as the highest top. I'd suggest to customer to cut it lower since intime the tops might start leaning down and this will cost a lot more to trim. At the same time you can charge more and make more.