pricing by sq ft

[Skiter]

Does any one do pricing by sq ft. I think it may be a good idea to try it out. This was my frist year and i was pricing by the hour, I was just looking at the lawn and multing the amount of hours I thougth it would take by $35 an hour. The only thing was that sometimes it would take longer then I estimated. Will it be better to price by sq ft? Any help will be great.[][][]

[qualitylandscaping]

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You can price by the square foot or by the size.

http://www.lawnservicing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=505

That is for sq.ft. pricing or you can use the info on my website

www.geocities.com/qualitylandscaping2001/guide.html

Never price by the hour for mowing, because there are too many variables...

Good luck!

[BRL]

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"Never price by the hour for mowing, because there are too many variables..."

Steve,
This statement is actually the argument to use to set your price by how long it will take you. Too many variables. For example: I have one 1\2 acre property that takes me 30 minutes to mow, trim & blow because it is one big square lawn. But I may have another 1\2 acre property that takes me 1.5 hours because there are 7 trees, a swing set, 2 sides of lawn only accessible through the back yard because of a shrub bed, etc. etc. Using your statement and your pricing on that web page, you're advising people to charge $26.00 for the easier lawn and only roughly 25% more for the other same sized lawn that is taking 200% the amount of time to do. One would lose a lot of money using that system. One should also have closer pricing between their commercial & residential pricing (in your example I'd raise those resi's a bunch). You're using the same equipment, doing the same work, paying the same overhead, why would one 1\2 acre of lawn have a different price than another 1\2 acre of lawn (assuming they both take the same amount of time to do [] ) Your overhead didn't change just because it's Mrs. Smith and not Smith Incorporated.

[qualitylandscaping]

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BRL,

You are true in a sense but around here, commercials are alot more willing to pay higher rates for good service than a residential is. I live in a high middle class town, and not many people would pay any more for mowing. That is the average price and of course the more I can get from them, the better. Those rates are by no means "set in stone", they're just averages...

[Randy J]

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Hey Skiter, I think you need to know what the minimum hourly charge you can make is - based on your costs, and then charge so that you never make less than that. But I like charging by the square feet. Easier for me to explain to the customer for one reason. So, I developed an estimating formula in Microsoft Excel. It allows me to input the square feet of the yard, and then uses a multiplier to factor in difficulty for the obstacles, hills, etc. That way I should always be making my minimum hourly charge, no matter the size of difficulty.
Randy

[kutnkru]

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Pricing by the sf is based on the amount of time it takes to complete each task to be performed, so in all actuality they are very similar methods.

I can cut so many sf obstacle free per hour, or so many lineal feet of trimming with a stick edger (v) a line trimmer.

Unless of course you are simply breaking everything down into blocks of time such as 1/2 hr increments etc.

[gpratt]

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How many Sq Ft are there in an Acre?

[srlawnservice]

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43000 and some change

rl

[Keth]

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43560

Keth

[Schield]

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Skiter,
Big boys,$20.00 to start + $2.00 every 1000sqft her in the inland N/W. $18. $16. $14.to start + $2.00 every 1000sqft for the little guy. Just an idea.

[qualitylandscaping]

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Keth,

Where did you come up with 43,560 sq.ft. in an acre? I might be wrong but I have always been told that there are 42,025 feet in an acre and that is 205'x205'...

[qualitylandscaping]

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woops! It is 43,560sq.ft[xx(] Looks like I've been giving inaccurate quotes[:0] but making more[^]