Operating costs for weekend warrior?

[tha5150]

Kinda hard to figure these out. I see the posts with what numbers to use, multiply, add add add, etc. Problem is, I have a full time salary job during the week and just getting started out and working on Saturdays. it is hard to "know my cost" when everything is paid for except the wifes SUV i used and gas. any tips for this? some things i have tried to work with are gas for tow vehicle ($3-15 per saturday) gas for mower/edger, etc ($2-10 per saturday) trimmer line($1-2 per saturday) insurance ($400 per year)-($8.33 per saturday) currently i have only 1 weekly account, 6 bi weekly. this is the "per saturday" generally speaking i see about $14.33-$33.33 every other week. maybe 10-12 hours per month working time including driving what is my per hour operating costs? what am i missing? thanks for any help guys..

[tha5150]

Lawn care business tips

oh.. wifes SUV payment is 300 per month and use that for towing the 4 days per month = $40 per month

[tha5150]

am i right here?

Monthly
40 car payment
60 car gas
40 equipment gas
8 trimmer line
35 insurance
12 hours worked
**-183 month

Annually
2196 operating costs
144 hours worked

Costs
$15.25 hourly to operate

15% profit - $17.50
25% profit - $19.00
35% profit - $20.20


does this all look right to you guys? am i missing anything significant?

[tha5150]

that insurance is for company insurance. not car insurance..

$35 for car insurance for 4 days..


new numbers.. please let me know if this is right for my 4 days of work..

218 monthly operating expense
2616 yearly operating expense
144 hours per year worked

$18 per hour to operate
$20 = 15% profit
$22 = 25% profit
$25 = 35% profit

[steppe84]

I am far from the resource your looking for on this subject but I noticed you didn't have any replacement costs in there for your equipment.

[tha5150]

yeah, i havent replaced anything yet besides the initial air filter and such when i got all the equipment. used of course.

[sunsetlandscaping]

If I were you and was just starting out, I found it to be the simplest way is to just price by the job. Use common sense, which sometimes I lack because I over think a lot of stuff.

Say you start out with a push mower, and you charge a average size city lot at like $35. Well after you get where you can buy a zero turn, your still pricing $35, but your getting done a whole lot faster, which means more profit. Just keep it simple in the beginning.

[Steve]

I would make a list of all the things you need to provide your services. Estimate their costs and estimate the life expectancy of the equipment.

Break it down so you know how much you have to recoup for each piece of equipment.

For example:

Lawn mower $240
Life span = 1 year
cost per month = $20

Then when the mower dies, you have recouped those costs to purchase a new one.

Insurance, vehicle, trailer, advertising, your salary then I would include a percentage profit to put away to allow your business to grow.

You are doing good so far that you are thinking about this.