What if the owner & forman are the same person...

[Bobinma54]

I have the Lawn Care Price estimator I got from Steve and was wondering if I should put an hourly pay in for the foreman if the foreman is also the owner. At first I thought that's like getting paid twice but then I thought if I put on a 2nd crew, I'd have to pay "that" foreman. At that point I'd have the problem of raising the price of the lawn care or "eat" the difference. Can anyone answer the question "should I pay myself as foreman and owner"?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Hi, Great question. The thing about the estimator is that it gets you to think about the expenses you have in order to perform the job. When you don't have a foreman, you don't have to have that as an expense. Although, it gets you to think about your pricing. If you don't include that expense now in your bids, what will you do when you want to try and grow and hire a foreman? It makes you think about that. So ultimately, no you don't have to include a foreman cost. Because of that, you may be able to offer a lower bid, but just keep in mind, if you are looking to add employees in the future, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay yourself the foreman salary as well, to get used to including that cost.

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[Bobinma54]

Hi Steve...and thanks for the reply

...I did an estimate on my own yard...I did the time estimate for example, because I know what it takes me to mow my own yard. I know it takes 1 hour by myself to mow, trim and blow. The estimater said 66 min's...great...thats really close. but do I divide that by 2 if I have 2 people ...myself and a helper, when I put in the "Price Estimater "how long to cut"? I put in the full 66 min's and it comes out closer to what I'd expect to get for the job. Was this right?

Sorry for the stupid question!

Great Site!

Bob Dean

Originally Posted by Steve

Hi,

Great question.

The thing about the estimator is that it gets you to think about the expenses you have in order to perform the job.

When you don't have a foreman, you don't have to have that as an expense. Although, it gets you to think about your pricing. If you don't include that expense now in your bids, what will you do when you want to try and grow and hire a foreman? It makes you think about that.

So ultimately, no you don't have to include a foreman cost. Because of that, you may be able to offer a lower bid, but just keep in mind, if you are looking to add employees in the future, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay yourself the foreman salary as well, to get used to including that cost.

[Steve]

but do I divide that by 2 if I have 2 people ...myself and a helper

That is the total man hours so it's ultimately divided by as many people as you have working with you.

Was this right?

Yes.