Pricing by square foot - high end commercial

[BARONLAWN]

I'm getting a shot at several high end condo landscape maitenance contracts - being bid out by square foot - need industry average
(.21 - .25) per square ft. reasonable?

[Scaper-S2k]

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I think it may be very difficult to get an industry average for high end commercial sites. High end varies alot. Even I have many different prices for different high end sites. I personally think lawns should be measured off in larger increments....such as per 100 sq ft or per 250 sq ft sections.

As for the prices you gave, I'd say you will either be extremely rich...or have no work!! .25 cents per sq ft would sure suprise people!! I assume you have typed the wrong numbers in, and I'm just meesing with ya!

Going by some of the prices for my higher end commecial accounts, we are getting $10 per 1000 sq ft at least. We have one that requires top notch work that is about 9,000 sq ft and we charge $120. So that's like $13 per 1000. But I don't bid using those numbers. And I know I'm well over what others would bid.

But like I said, high end commecial lawns can look so different and have such different amounts of time and care. I would never bid them out per sq ft. Each one will be different. If you come in with the price list I just gave, you're liable to be laughed out of the interview. Heck, an acre would put you over $400!! It would really require a picture of the lawn to see the amount of work involved.


Keep us posted, and good luck.



<<Don't Fear the Green!>>

[Scott]

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Taking bids by the sq ft? Sounds like they've been through a few LCO's, or their board members are very nit picky.

Just a few questions. Do these condo's currently have an in-house lawn crew? How many? Most lead maintenace guys around here get between $10-$20 per hour, depending on the size of the condominium complex. Then they'll have a middle guy or two along with a few flunkies for trash detail and go-fers. If you can find out how many employees they have for lawn maintenance, you can roughly figure out how much they spend in labor. This could be your high end bid.

If it's currently being maintained by another LCO, find out who it is and call him up and ask him what he's charging. Worst thing he could do is hang up.<img src="http://216.40.241.68/otn/wink/wink_2.gif" border=0> 21-25 cents per sq ft sounds kinda high no matter where you are but I'm not in your area or familiar with it. I think to help you more on this question we'd need more info on the requested services, what kinda landscaping we're talking about, # employees you think you'd need, and anything else you can provide.

Like Scaper-S2k said, getting an average across the board would be very difficult. Your high end average in NY would be totally different then somebody in Alamogordo, NM's high end average. (where in the hell is Alamogordo, NM?<img src="http://216.40.241.68/contrib/corky/corkysm17.gif" border=0>)

[Scott]

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One thing I forgot to add is that Phil gave some great advice on another thread that said try to "negotiate a price instead of bidding on a price", but don't sell yourself short, have your walkaway price set in stone. If you can create a good repore with the person taking the bids, you can generally get some insight as to how the bidding is going and where you stand.

Another thing to do is to create a spreadsheet of all your bids. Label place, size, your bid, winning bid, who won the bid, when the contract is up, notes and anything else that you deem pertinent. This should help you in the future on bidding like properties, and the quality of service your competitor's are offering.



Edited by - scott on Sep 03 2002 03:37:00 AM