cemetary bid

[qualitylandscaping]

I know you were talking about cemetaries before, and it gave me an idea. There is a 9.8 acre cemetary behind my house. I was out there measuring today and found 40 head stone rows, all with about 15-25 stones. The area is spaced enough, I could do almost everything with my 48". One of the acres is all woods, that would not need anything done to them, which would put total mowing somewhere around 8 acres.. I was thinking about $10 per head stone row x 40 rows = $400, + $150 for open field mowing (future burial area), = $550<b></b>.. Does that sound reasonable? It is right behind my backyard which means no travel time. Any input would be appreciated..

If it helps: the area is slightly mounded. Gravel Road goes around the main circle leaving about 20' on the outside edges. Everything else is inside the circle. There are 10 large maple trees in that circle....

If you need more info. let me know

Thanks

~Steve Krieger, owner
Quality Landscaping
"The best 15 year old landscaper you will ever know.."

[dancom]

reply

First of all, I would like to commend you on your ambition. I wish I would have started when I was your age. I would be a millionare today.
I cut a cemetery. It is about 10 acres with flat stones, but they still have to be trimmed around. (Were not installed right.) It takes me 3 hours to cut it with 2 grasshopper mid decks. One is a 25 horse 61" deck and the other is a 20 horse 52" deck and it takes about 3 hours for one person to trim it. This includes entrances, stones, and trees. You are looking at a very comparable cemetery. I hope this gives you an idea of how long it will take you. 3 hours is cutting at full speed on those mowers, which is about 9 miles an hour. If you are using one walk-behind without a velke, you are probably looking at about 15 or 16 hours worth of cutting. I hope this helps you. Good luck. by the way I get $400.00 for this account

Dan Comer
Comer's Lawn

[qualitylandscaping]

reply

So is my bid to high?

BTW.. I do have a velke! And all the stones are above the ground..

Also, does your price include travel time?

Could you give me a reasonable quote based on what I posted???

Thanks

~Steve Krieger, owner
Quality Landscaping
"The best 15 year old landscaper you will ever know.."

[dancom]

reply

I am from the mid west, i see you are from New York. Things tend to be cheaper in the mid west. the little i know about the east coast you are prob. not high. the cemetery i cut is about 1 mile from my house.

Please don't take this the wrong way,I know you are 23 years younger than me, but I would not cut that property with anything less than a mid deck. all those hours on a velke will wear you out.

Dan Comer
Comer's Lawn

Edited by - dancom on Sep 03 2002 09:04:33 AM

[Hawkeye5]

reply

Steve: You're on the right track. I would suggest that you consider a price per stone basis for pricing cemetery work. You say that there are 40 rows with 15 to 25 stones. This may not be accurate, but just working with the numbers, that is an average of 20 stones per row for a total of 800 stones(15 + 25/2 X 40). I suggest this because cemetery mowing is trim intensive. You may need to decide how much time it will take to trim out. I don't have a magic formula to offer, but it is close so just go over and walk it row by row timing yourself to see how long it takes. Then you may have a better idea what you need to charge. Keep in mind you will have flowers that you will have to move and that will slow you down. Even with flat stones there may be trimming required. Depends on installation, frost heave, and grass type. This advise is based on my past employment as a groundskeeper for a National Cemetery. Good luck JD

[qualitylandscaping]

reply

I got some better info.. There are 926 stones which I estimate will take about 10 -15 seconds for each one (to trim), will take about 4 hours. The mowing is not that bad.. The rows are spaced about 8-10 feet apart, but are close on sides (about 1-3 ft apart).. There aren't many flower pots or anything. The only time it would be hard is for Memorial Day, but they dont leave the flags, so it wouldn't be a problem.. I'm guessing about 7-9 hours of mowing. Which would put me at about 13 hours. 13 hours x $40 an hour = $520.. $30 less than what I got yesterday.. It must be a good estimate if I'm still that close!

~Steve Krieger, owner
Quality Landscaping
"The best 15 year old landscaper you will ever know.."

[Hawkeye5]

reply

Steve: I fear you are underestimating the time involved in trimming stones. I don't know the size of the stones, but, in my experience, you will spend more hours trimming stones than four. JD

[Galashiels]

reply

Steve
I tend to agree with Hawkeye5 the trimming will soak up heeps of time.
To get a better estimate why not take you trimmer over there and do a few, see how many in a minute or five. Providing that's allowable, down here it not a problem but may pay to check.
Don't forget to allow time for filling up your trimmer, I get 30 minutes from a tank, takes 5 minutes to refuel by the time you get back to the gas. So thats 4 hours trimming = 7 fills at 5 min = 35 min. Also need to allow for line replacement, I have a spare reel that can be changed in less than a minute.
Hope this helps
Your price seems reasonable enough. Go for it

John

[dancom]

reply

Steve
i think you are also under estimating your mowing time i can cut my cemetary in 5.5 to 6 hours by myself with a 61" cut at 10 or 11 miles per hour. your mower is only 48" and will due about half that speed. i think you are looking at 10-12 hours. i still think your price is in line. i just don't want to see you get out there and be surprised.

Dan Comer
Comer's Lawn

[Phil Nilsson]

reply

Average cemetery - a person mows one acre per hour, then takes two hours to string trim that same acre. Using Roundup around obstacles helps but is not always acceptable for aesthetic reason.

Phil Nilsson
Nilsson Associates Consultants
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