How do you price Fall Clean-Ups?

Hey gang... I was just wondering what you guys charge for Fall Clean-Ups and how you arrived at your price... What equipment do you use? Rakes & bags? Blowers? Lawn Vacs?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Does this post help? http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum....;t=5632

__________________
- Subscribe to my Lawn Care Marketing Blog Feed and get daily tips sent to you. Free!
Download your Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software.

I have actually read that one before, but it still doesn't actually tell me how everyone estimates their fall clean ups. I mean, do you guess how much time it will take you and them price it from there? Do you price it by the type and number of trees in the clean up area? How?

Also, what all do you do for your fall clean up service? JUST the leaves, or do you guys have other things you do as well?

[Steve]

Well, I guess the article basically pointed out the pitfalls of leaf cleanups and what to look out for.

Ultimately you would have to experiment at first and guesstimate how long you think it would take you and then bid based on your hourly rate you use in your head for bids.

Be wary that you could easily underbid. Experiment with one yard. Keep track of how many trees they have, the size of the yard and then once you get one done you can feel more confident in your future bids.

The first one is always the toughest. You could even work your yard or a family members yard for free to figure how long it took you. But try and estimate how long you think it will take you before you do it so you can see if you were off by much or not.

Does this help?

Absolutely. = )

....but I was kinda hoping to get some of the other guys in on the conversation too... thought they might be having some troubles too... or maybe just wanted to share ideas...

[Steve]

I'd like to see them jump in to

I wish I could help you out with some advise but I'm kinda learning myself. Team gophers advise was really good though. One thing I did learn a couple days ago was to let your customers know how important it is to cut their grass every week even if the grass is not long so at least the leaves get mulched and let them know this will help keep the price of fall clean ups down. Believe it or not I actually learned that from a customer that called and said she wanted her grass cut every week so at least the leaves falling from her two hugh oak tree's get mulched. The guy's are going out there for the first time tomarrow.

OK here is what I did last year. I took the price I would have charged for just cutting and trimming and multiplied it by three. That way my time for raking out from trees, bushes, and beds would be covered. Then I use my lawn sweeper and sweep them up. It's easy to dump onto a tarp and put into the truck. Then if need be I go back and cut the grass. I have found it easier for me to use the sweeper than a bagger set up. Either one would work.

[Clean Lawn]

I asked this question also not long ago and was told to basicly charge by the hour or by the minute that I was there working. The other biggest tip until I got a feel for how much a lawn runs would be to make sure to charge enough for each lawn. That getting the leaves out of the beds takes a lot longer then most of us knewcomers realize. Lastly make sure your contracts state your responsible for the leaves on the ground when you get there and not the leaves that fall after you leave the property.

I price a fall clean up job like this.

For a 1/2 acre of clean-up I will charge $75 for one hour. But i dont tell them that is the way I price the job. If I think is going to take me 2 hrs I will charge $150

For 1 acre of clean up I will charge $150 for one hour. For two hours I will charge $300 but like i said you need to ask your self how fast can i get this done.

I have a backpack blower i'll blow small piles then go with my mower and bag all the leaves. It all depends on your equipent. If you are raking by hand then you should charge your minimum for lawn service, charge them that minimun by the hour.

I came up with my price by charging less than my friend which he charges $100 for 1/2 acre and my other friend charges lower than me @ $60 for 1/2 acre. So im in between them.


1/2 acre = $75 for 1 hr
1 acre = $150 for 1hr

I hope this helps.