Bidding by sq. foot?

I have just started my business, I am trying to figure out how long it takes me to do a yard. I kinda suck when it comes to estimating time, so should I keep doing it in hopes of getting or should I switch to trying to charge by sq. foot? If sq. footage would be easier to do, what would be a good formula to use. If per hour would be easier to do, what would be a good hourly rate? So far I have only done spring clean up, and I way underbid myself on those. I guess I charged by the job instead by sq. foot or an hourly rate....any suggestions people.. thank you.

[CheapNEasy]

Lawn care business tips

My rule of thumb is I found out how many Sq Ft I could average in a 30minute period. Then measure up the property Sq Ft and go from there... Depending on the services the charge per hour goes up, I am just getting started myself. But this seems to be the best way to charge I think.... Figure up what you want to charge for it to be worth your time to come out and do the math from there..... Hope this helps you. Jonathon

[Steve]

It seems like most lawn care business owners start off by figuring out how much they want to charge per hour and how much of an area they can cut within that time. So after you cut a few lawns, you will figure out it takes you say a half hour to cut the average lawn. Then if you know what you want to make per hour, you can then charge accordingly.

Later as you grow and get a better feel for this, you can figure out how long it takes you to cut X sqft of lawn. You can come up with a formula after a while and measure out a property and know then if the property is X sqft, you need to charge $X.

But when you are just getting started, keep it as simple as possible.