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  • rule of thumb?

    ok heres one a friend of mine shes got a nice business doing okay her manner in pricing is that shel take her initial purchase prices (After taxes) and give it multiple of 2.5 to 2.7 and thats her bid price. I kinda like this and have used it to reasonble succes. reading the mulch post gives me pause though. I did 40 bags of shredded mulch 16 pine mulch and 11 bags of playground sand total 179.04. ok the clients asingle dad newly divorced really got hosed I know his srory so dropped the multiplier to 2.2 -393.88 did the work from seven thirty to twelve 214 in the pocket . cash. but his doesnt really jibe with the prices Im seeing discussed in other post. IM glad to have made the money and it looks good and I had no labor but myself. (something Im trying to move on from actually) it was easy acces to by the way. does the price seem within reason did i hose myself am curious on the input. thanks in advance guys.

  • #2
    The method she uses is typically used on plant material. Might wanna confirm that w/ her. Up here that mulch would have ran about $600 i suspect. And what about 400 lbs of sand ,,, dont know,, at least $100 i would have added in probally just labor. But,, the thing about prices is that everyone has theyre own needs. My prices are differant because i have differant costs associated. I tend to be on the high side also. But than again,, there was a thread the other day ,,a guy said he installs at $50 per yd,, but than followed up w/ "but there aint much profit at that rate".

    There was days when 214 cash would have suited me just fine for 1 day but theyre long gone,, id go belly up in less than a year. So,, dont knock your profits oh so quickly,, its not always as it seems if you catch my drift. Just ask yourself what you want? And be careful what you ask for cause you may just get it.
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    • #3
      Well, that works out to $47.55 per hour for the labor with no mark-up on materials. It doesn't sound too bad, but I have a couple questions as well as a suggestion or two. First the questions.....Were the mulch bags 2 or 3 cubic feet (or something else)? With only 40 bags being put down, it doesn't make a huge difference in the total volume, but 400 bags would be a different story. Can you get mulch in bulk? I've found it to be MUCH less expensive than buying bags. We here in the midwest don't use pine straw very often, and I've never used it, so I have no idea what that cost you.

      Now my suggestions (use them if they help, or disregard if they won't work for you)...
      As I mentioned before, bulk mulch can save you a ton of money in the long run. When using a multiplier to arrive at a price, I use it to reach a cost for the material, NOT TO COVER THE LABOR. If I were to estimate my cost on your materials, it would be right around $110, so I would have made an extra $69.04 on the same job. I also bid my labor at $55-$65 depending on the difficulty, and figure it separately when doing my estimates, so I would have charged the guy about $50 more than what you did, but that works in my area and maybe not yours.

      Hope this helps some. I don't think you or the customer got hosed on this job, but there was definitely potential for more in your pocket with him still getting a good deal.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Seascape
        The method she uses is typically used on plant material. Might wanna confirm that w/ her. Up here that mulch would have ran about $600 i suspect. And what about 400 lbs of sand ,,, dont know,, at least $100 i would have added in probally just labor. But,, the thing about prices is that everyone has theyre own needs. My prices are differant because i have differant costs associated. I tend to be on the high side also. But than again,, there was a thread the other day ,,a guy said he installs at $50 per yd,, but than followed up w/ "but there aint much profit at that rate".

        There was days when 214 cash would have suited me just fine for 1 day but theyre long gone,, id go belly up in less than a year. So,, dont knock your profits oh so quickly,, its not always as it seems if you catch my drift. Just ask yourself what you want? And be careful what you ask for cause you may just get it.

        How much is pinestraw? If $600 is the total for all the mulch, and you can get bagged hardwood for prices similar to here, that would be $480 on 16 bales of pine straw? $30 a bale sounds crazy to me? Maybe your prices are way different than what I'm used to.

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        • #5
          pine mulch not straw..and yeah its 2 square foot bags..as for bulk Im still looking but really with the traffic of Miami the time gas expense can be really high Ive spent a half anhour going three blocks. crazy. where are those hills of new england,

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          • #6
            That 'rule' is simply a quick check up. It's not the golden rule.
            a.k.a.---> Erich

            www.avalawnlandscaping.com


            Build a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.
            Set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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