Please give me Your estimate on this job

[McBride Services]

I was laughed out of the office today when I bid this job; I'm interested in what you guys think. The job is a huge trailer park and includes the mowing trimming and blowing off of the following areas. 50 unoccupied .20 acre trailer lots Two 3 acre park areas One 2 acre park area One park office on about .50 acre lot One community pool area Five cul-de-sac areas a front entrance with landscaped signage and large grassy median. I would like to see what you guys think this job is worth on a weekly basis. For point of reference a normal yard in this area is about 45-60 per week.

Lawn care business tips

I would say about 20-25 per acre(since it is all in one spot) comes out to be a little more than 16 acres(I think) so should be about $320 per week or say $1200/month. I don't know though just a guess. How much did you tell them you would do it for? Did they laugh you out of the office because the bid was so high or because it was so low?

[McBride Services]

Because I was so high.

Just another point of reference they said it took the previous 4 man crew 2 1/2 to 3 days per week to do this job.

I is not really in the same place (the acreage) the 50 lots are spread out over about a 1/2 mile and up and down 10 to 20 different streets withing the trailer park

[Little's]

Hi McBride,
In the past people have posted Google Earth images of the ares they are talking about so we could get a better idea of the areas needing bidded. Try that and maybe you can get a good estimate drawn up with some help of your friends on here.

[McBride Services]

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...00824&t=h&z=17

Don't know how to make it show up here, but thats the link to the google earth.

[Little's]

If you go by how long it was taking the last crew. 4 guys at 2 days times 4.3 weeks per month. You are looking at somewhere around $5000 per month. And this is just a ballpark. I dont know how it could be done any cheaper than this. How much did you bid it for?

[McBride Services]

Ok, I bid $1500 per week.

I was told I was more than $2500 a month higher than the crew from last year.

So basically they were doing it for around $3500 per month.

I don't see how they could have been paying the bills at those figures.

IDK though, I'm new at this.

They did say the reason they were taking bids was because the old crew had a price increase.

[Little's]

Sounds like the old crew had underbid it to begin with. I would sit down with the person in charge and go over the numbers with them. Explain the costs and show them how you came up with your numbers. Also tell them that if they pick the lowest bidder, chances are they are going to be shopping for more bids again next year (or sooner).

[picframer]

I wonder what equipment the old crew had as that seems like a very long time to do, I am new to bidding however I would have quoted in the $1,300 to $1,600 a week range, I like to see things first. That being said I think you are in the ballpark, leave it go for a week and go back, even though they laughed you out present yourself as offering professional cutting and lawncare and like every company you have a family to feed. See if you can somehow find out what figure they have in mind.

[Steve]

They did say the reason they were taking bids was because the old crew had a price increase.

I wonder where is that crew that did it last year. Are they still in business? If so, why didn't they just go with that lawn care company again?

Maybe they bid everything too low?

Or maybe they came to their senses!