% Mark up

Do you guys know the norm for mark up % if you buy the materials for the customer?

[All Aspects Landscaping]

Lawn care business tips

for me, It depends on the product... we get a premium for topsoil, driveway stone, river rocks, basically anything thats a pain in the butt to move in 100 degree weather.. for example... in a landscape package, we charge $1,070.00 for 5 boulders that cost me $375.00 to purchase... we also charged 4 hours for 3 men to install at $36.00 per man hour.... I know that sounds high, but the job looks great... We charge $112 per ton of river jack and $100 per ton of top soil, including only labor... we pay $23.00 and $13.00 per ton respectively. Our minimum charge for mulch is $84.00 per yard... that is over 5 yards... We purchase our Triple Shredded Dyed Black Mulch for $17.00 per yard. We are a small company that does jobs up to about the $25,000.00 mark. Our average landscape package runs about $10,000.00... We use alot of different elements in our designs. We've been selling the "natural" landscapes a bit more... using boulders, alot of perennials, alot of stuff that can grow "naturally" Believe it or not, our best selling product is a 1 gallon perennial... i have a local grower charging me $3.50 each... and we mark them up to $23.00 each... We usually incorporate a minimum of 10-15 in each landscape design.... I always use this as my labor variance excess... what I mean is if the job runs over budgeted man hours, I know I have a little cushion with the profit we make off of these... plus they do put the finishing touches on the landscape package. If you have any further questions, PM me.

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Wow James that is very impressive. It sounds like you do some outstanding work. I would love to see some pics of your jobs.... Any advice you can give on a job I have coming up. Customer wants two raised garden beds. the first will be two feet by six feet and the second is two feet by eight feet. I am usings four by four cedar post for the beds. We will have to dig out the grass, ensure that the base post is level, hammer rebar in the ground to make sure the post dont move. The beds will be ten inches off the ground with a two by eight cedar board for the top rail for molding and so that she can sit on when she gardens. Adding dirt and potting soil to both beds. My cost for the post(nine of them) were fifteen dollars each plus rebar with a ten percent discount for a total of 140 dollars. I will be giving her an estimate of 580 for the complete job. Figuring eight hours of work minus the cost of material puts me at 55 per hour. Is this too low?

[Steve]

James,

Would you say you base your markup on any specific formula? How do you ultimately come up with a markup price?

[All Aspects Landscaping]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Customer wants two raised garden beds. the first will be two feet by six feet and the second is two feet by eight feet. I am usings four by four cedar post for the beds. We will have to dig out the grass, ensure that the base post is level, hammer rebar in the ground to make sure the post dont move. The beds will be ten inches off the ground with a two by eight cedar board for the top rail for molding and so that she can sit on when she gardens. Adding dirt and potting soil to both beds. My cost for the post(nine of them) were fifteen dollars each plus rebar with a ten percent discount for a total of 140 dollars. I will be giving her an estimate of 580 for the complete job. Figuring eight hours of work minus the cost of material puts me at 55 per hour. Is this too low?

is there any beds there now? You said your cost for the nine posts and rebar is $140.00... You need the top rail for molding and also the nails and/or screws at attach them with. You also mentioned adding soil to the beds... were u doing that or is she? $55.00 per man per hour for 8 Hours... does this also include the gas it takes to pick up the supplies? Are you working by yourself or will you have a helper? Also keep in mind, as we do, you may want to add in a miscellaneous expense or fudge number... we figure around 10% depending on the job... this pays for flat tires, oil changes, and yep... sometimes it just bonus... most likely, you'll need a few more peices of equiptment... All my jobs get bid based on three men. with that being said, I know for a 8 hr day I need to recover at least $864.00 in profit.. plus materials. I urge you to learn your numbers and It will help you bid your jobs correctly.

Take all of your expenses from the year, (insurance, gas, weed eater string, payroll taxes, truck payments... anything you need to run your business) add them all up, divide the number of weeks you normally work in a year, youll come up with a dollar figure... then divide that by the amount of days you work in a week (be honest)... this is the number you will need to recoup everyday for your business to survive... then divide the number of hours you work per day.... this will give you a minimum hourly rate... anything less, you are LOSING MONEY!!!

If you have any more questions or need help with this bid, you can email me at allaspects@mac.com

good luck
j