Might have my first job

[Dan3691]

I had a older lady call lady call me and wants me to come over tomorrow afternoon she wants her boat dock pressure washed and treated with sealer. She told me she has a lot of diffrent things she wants done. She told me she diden't have any lawn stuff to do but next spring she would want me to start cutting her lawn. Well we will see what tomorrow brings and go from there I am going to worry about one job at a time and not worry about promises like you guys said on the forum but it is hopeful so wish me luck. Maybe if I do a really good job she will mention my name and get me more work. I advertised $50 for a regular size deck so I would probably charge some where around that. But how much to treat it she has the stuff to treat it she said. I thought about charging her $40 for a flat rate of two hours or under but anything over two hour I would charge $20 an hour to treat it what do you guys think.

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by [b Quote[/b] (Dan3691 @ Oct. 21 2007,10:14)]I had a older lady call lady call me and wants me to come over tomorrow afternoon she wants her boat dock pressure washed and treated with sealer. She told me she has a lot of diffrent things she wants done. She told me she diden't have any lawn stuff to do but next spring she would want me to start cutting her lawn. Well we will see what tomorrow brings and go from there I am going to worry about one job at a time and not worry about promises like you guys said on the forum but it is hopeful so wish me luck. Maybe if I do a really good job she will mention my name and get me more work. I advertised $50 for a regular size deck so I would probably charge some where around that. But how much to treat it she has the stuff to treat it she said. I thought about charging her $40 for a flat rate of two hours or under but anything over two hour I would charge $20 an hour to treat it what do you guys think. Dan if she says she will have you next spring she would want you to cut her lawn? This is the perfect time to get her sign contract.

[Steve]

Congratulations Dan!

Let us know how this goes and take pictures!

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I thought about charging her $40 for a flat rate of two hours or under but anything over two hour I would charge $20 an hour to treat it what do you guys think.

That seems to be on the low end of what you can get. You could always go higher and see if she hesitates, then if you really want the job, offer her a 'discount.'

Keep us posted!

[FourSeasons]

If she has a boat dock then I would guess that she has some money. Don't undercharge for your services. Its hard at first. When I first started I based my bids on $30/hr. I've now doubled it to at least $60. I don't want to be a lowballer and my work is definitely worth more than that. And I want my business to grow. Don't you.
$20/hr will pay the bills and thats about it. If you want your business to grow you have to be competive with the competition not just undercut them by 50% to get more work.
When I bid jobs I try to go for at least a dollar a minute and add time on top of my estimate for some cushion. I've slowly worked my way out of under bidding. But I still do it and its frustrating.
Of course I don't tell the customer that I'm basing my bid off of $60 per hour. I tell them a flat rate.
Start high and go down if you have to. Because you probably won't be able to do the opposite.

Well thats what I've come up with in my first year so far.

Hope that helped

I would say $75 or more for the dock to wash it... and then, at LEAST $125 or more to seal it.... It all depends on the size of the dock. Make sure you check your local laws about chemicals in permanent bodies of water, though. If something happened, you might get into some trouble for letting too much of the sealer get into the water.

[Steve]

Keep us posted on how this goes.