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A cemetary I maintain has just spent a bundle on water drainage. I will soon have a ditch 13 feet deep with about 1/2 acre of grass and an incline of about 45 degrees on either side with chain link fence on upper lip. (480 feet x 50 feet) Its too steep for a walkbehind or ztr. I'm thinking 100 bucks for this ditch on a contract that is already tight. Its on a road with moderate traffic and lots of garbage will end up in it.(already has during construction) This ditch is along the new entrance to cemetary and will have to have a groomed appearance. I'm thinking 3 hours by one man will be dedicated to this ditch and chain link fence every week. I'm also thinking I'm going to be too cheap. This is a 75 dollar an acre property that already is trim heavy but a prompt payer.
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Cemetery mowing is trim heavy, you got that right! Well, you know about the trash, that will have to be picked up, seems ditches like this are trash magnets. How are you going to do the ditch? I assume because of the grade with a trimmer? Having done a road ditch along a cemetery myself this way, I can tell you it is a *&%$@. You say the contract is tight and this is 1/2 acre, on the other hand, they just spent a bundle on drainage. I think you need to bill at your hourly rate, plus some because the grade will slow anyone way down. Only you can determine the PITA factor, but your initial thought of $100 seems reasonable, although I might change my mind if I could see it! Maybe someone else has thoughts on another way to do the ditch other than with a trimmer. Good Luck. JD -
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i spotted something called a hover mower that is supposed to be good for steep inclines.I've never used one or even know of anybody who has but anyway it can be seen at www.hovermower.com
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Sounds like a good place for growth regs.
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The ditch took 4 hours and I bumped the price to 125.00
This was probably a correct price considering the difficulty and lack of breeze due to being in a hole. Cost of labor, wear and tear on equipment,cord and gas about 65.00 give or take a buck.
Probably will use growth regulator next season, but at over 450.00 a gallon, hard to justify this year. I will use msma a couple times this year.
Scaper if you see this post, this cemetary will be my first level billing contract on year round basis. It runs 10 months level pay starting in january with november and december payments set up for extras done during year. Next year,if I like it and don't have any problems, I'll start converting more contracts over.Comment
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Hoover mower: on hills and ditches..... I do not know hoover mower, however, I have had a flymow by husquevarna (sp?) with the same concept as the hoover mower and it was a wasted of money. You need a weel manicured slope to use it ....unlike the ditch you are talking about....
my two cents
Andy
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