Need help with commercial bid ASAP!!!!

[winkie61]

Hi everyone, I won the bid on the 182,863 sq ft bid that I posted on this forum a couple of weeks ago for 250.00 per visit. The customer now wants me to bid on her commercial property which is 11,392 sq ft and I estimate about 1000 linear ft of edging and shrub trimming every other visit which I estimate between 30-45 mins. The gopher calculator says that I can mow this property in 40 mins and should charge around 53.07 but I'm thinking because of the edging and trimming it will take me between 2-3 hrs and I'm thinking in the neighborhood of 125.00 -175.00 per visit. I will have two other people to help with the job. 52" Gravely Mower 1 Stihl Edger 1 Stihl multi attachment: equipped w/ edger, weedeater, and hedgetrimmer head 1 Echo edger 1 Echo hedge trimmer Please help ASAP as she would like to have a quote by 09/13/11

[SpokaneSRC]

Lawn care business tips

180,000 sq ft for $250 and 11,000 for $175. Seems like a large discrepancy in your bidding. Good luck with it.

[nickeckes]

I AGREE ^ ^ Thats A Big Difference In Price And Sq. Ft ??

[Steve]

Can you give us a little insight as to why the property difference is 16 times and the price difference is 1.5 times different?

[BudgetGreenLawns.com]

She wants you to quote the residential because you were probably ~$200 less per week than everyone else on the commercial bid...

180k+ sq.ft. / $250 = ~$65/acre including trimming?!?

I think you need to bid more for commercial ($350-$500+ per visit) and less on residential ($75-$125 per visit)

Jobsite time should be taken into consideration, however, that is purely a variable unless you've decide (and allowed) to actually do the job before the bidding. I found that by adding up the facts (Area + Trimming Feet) I was able to get a good baseline then add or subtract a little for uniqueness associated with the property. This worked best for me because I was able to bid more consistently; knowing how to tweak my figures when I lost out on a bid.

Best of luck explaining why you can't mow the residential property for $15.57 (I did the math...)