Pain in the butt fence.

[Lukacs Property Maintenance]

I was asked if i could put up a chain link fence 4ft tall because she has a dog. The old fence had a cement foundation with steel poles in already. The old fence was wood with steel posts. She wanted me to use the old posts for the new fence to save costs. OK will do. Never again. Its easier on the pocket book and less work if you start from scratch. Too much screwing around with figuring out pole sizes, cap sizes and crap like that. I made a drawing for dimentions and took the drawing to the hardware store for them to get me the right pieces. They said it would be no problem. 1 week later i got the fence materials and did a tally of the parts. Arggg, missing the right size caps, not enough rail loops, Wrong diameter straps. Grrrrrr. Half way through the job the customer asked if i could extend the fence another 23 feet. Sure no problem, or so i thought. Went to the hardware store and asked if they could get me the 23 ft of fence with all the right pieces. Guess what they said?......... Sorry we don't sell the chain link mesh in 23 ft pieces, we sell them in 50ft pieces. Sigh?! You can get a roll 50 ft long if you like. At this point im getting pretty frustrated. To make a long story short, I got shorted on the pieces again. Had to make more trips to the store then i planed. Cost more gas and efforts but above all i think the fence turned out good. I'll get some pics for next post. mike

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

What a story! How would your estimating of the job cost change if you were to rebid the job again? Would it have? I am looking forwards to seeing your pictures.

__________________
- 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.

[Lukacs Property Maintenance]

Here is some of the pics of the fence.Went from wood to chain link.

[Steve]

WOW! What is that base of the fence? Is that concrete block? Or what? How did that effect the job?

[Lukacs Property Maintenance]

The base of the fence is made af poured concrete. This made it a big challenge because the top surface was not level. The posts that i used for the gates had to be pinned to the concrete futting. It wasn't level. I had to shimm up the base of the post to make it sit level.

If i had to rip out the concrete i think it would of been harder because of the posts would have to be 4 feet longer and i would of had to dig out the ground along the mesh line to make the fence even all the way around the permeter.Hope that makes sence?!

Because this is my first fence that i had to deal with that had a concrete base, i wanted to take lots of pics for every one else out there.

Mike

[Lukacs Property Maintenance]

Hey guys,

Got a good question. On this job i had some help. I was woundering if i should of charged for two peoples hours or if i should just charge per one man hour? Can i charge per man? Or just per hour?
Mike

[Steve]

I would say, per man hour.

For example
2men * (4hrs each) = 8 total man hours.

Ya, my rates are per man per hour. So $35/man/hour.

[Lukacs Property Maintenance]

Lets say my rates are $30.00 per hour. Do i charge $30.00 plus $30.00 per second person? or do i charge the employees pay after the $30.00.

By myself - $30.00
Working with someone - $40.00 ($10.00 for employee)

OR
By myself - $30.00
Working with someone - $60.00.

Should this by written on the estimate? Probable.

Mike

[Steve]

OR
By myself - $30.00
Working with someone - $60.00.

Yes, this way.

Should this by written on the estimate? Probable.

We can see what others say but I am thinking most wouldn't put into an estimate a man hour rate. They would put how much the job costs. That way, the customer won't be out there with a stop watch, timing you.

If you get done faster, then you made more money on the job and good for you!