Help bidding tall grass

[jeffcs]

need some help here fellow mowers. i am cutting grass for the city. have a property that i went by today, the grass is 4 to 5 feet tall, yes, you read that correctly. ideas on how to tackle this job, thanks

[B-2 Lawncare]

Lawn care business tips

Brush hog!

[PineHillLawn]

I mowed one a month ago that was chest high. I just used my ZTR set the deck at the highest setting and mowed it. Then went back with a second pass set at 3". Made $100 in about 45 minutes.

[CHEESE2009]

Depending on the property, the city might only need someone to mow once per month, or less...

Schools get mowed weekly, while other strips (like jogging paths) rarely get mowed.

[B-2 Lawncare]

Originally Posted by PineHillLawn

I mowed one a month ago that was chest high. I just used my ZTR set the deck at the highest setting and mowed it. Then went back with a second pass set at 3". Made $100 in about 45 minutes.

Come on you mowed chest high with ZTR, in two passes? I can only imagine what the lawn looks like after taking your mower in to something like that.

[Steve]

Can you rent a brush hog?

How long are you thinking this will take you?

[yourscape]

Originally Posted by jeffcs

need some help here fellow mowers. i am cutting grass for the city.

have a property that i went by today, the grass is 4 to 5 feet tall, yes, you read that correctly.

ideas on how to tackle this job, thanks

I have actually done many of these this year. I normally use my walk behind at the highest setting. You will need to go over it at least 3-4 times in different directions if you are trying to bring the yard back to life or it will just clump up and smoother out the grass.

Word of advise before you even start cutting walk the property thoroughly with you trimmer and clearing a 1-2 ft section of every log, brick, whole ect that you don't want to run your mower over with.

The biggest thing to remember when bidding this is a risky job to do because you are very likely to hit something and bend a shaft or even worse if you miss something. Also figure the time to perform the maintenance when completed with the job (cleaning equipment, sharping blades, ect).

I charge roughly $125 a hour (on site) to do this and takes me about 2.5 hours to do 10k sq ft yard. Yes it is good $ as long as you don't damage anything.

My son love doing these yards with me so I keep taking them on.

My last job:

[jeffcs]

thanks for all the input. i passed it up, the city is only paying .005 per sq ft

[PineHillLawn]

Originally Posted by B-2 Lawncare

Come on you mowed chest high with ZTR, in two passes? I can only imagine what the lawn looks like after taking your mower in to something like that.

You can think what you want! I'm not saying I didn't have to reshapen the blades afterward but with a 28 HP kohler my ZTR did just what I said. It left grass laying everywhere but I wasn't instructed to do anything but knock it down.

[Steve]

I charge roughly $125 a hour (on site) to do this and takes me about 2.5 hours to do 10k sq ft yard.

For such jobs do you bid them on an hourly basis due to the unknown of what you would find in the high grass or do you give a price based on the amount of time you feel it will take?