Urgent Help with bid

[highschool_lawnboy]

Last spring I did a cleanup for a lady and after reading these threads, I think I underbid her. She called me and wants me to do it again this fall. It consists of cleaning up all of her pine needles (ponderosa) in her yard. I used rakes last year and it took 9.5 man hrs. What would you guys bid for that? Also does anyone know any quicker way to pick up pine needles. I'm suppose to come give her a new bid tomorrow so please help. Thanks!

[GrassMaster]

Larger Rake...

A long time ago Ace or Reed True Value Hardware used to sell a 3 foot rake that you could adjust the angle & replace tines. A killer rake.

We used the rakes ourselves raking pine straw so we could place it in the beds for mulch. In most cases we could have the rake angle adjusted right & walk it an easy 3 to 6 feet with out going back over it.

2 guys with that type of rake could rake straw up faster than a Snapper rear engine rider could bag it. Go across lawn & rake it up in rows, one pull the width of the rake, go back with trash can laying down between legs & stuff it in the can with the handle of the rake. Very fast process, a lot easier than picking cotton!

[GeeVee]

"Up" the price, not nec the productivity.

[steve-o]

how bout some more info? did you haul the stuff away or put it in a wooded area? was it just you and no help? what did you bid last year? i charge by the man hour and charge extra for disposal with a 16 ft. trl. just by your hours you gave and if i hauled it away with one load she would be writing me a check for over $700 which i doubt she would for raking pinestraw. also remember those were your hours. i would use a nice backpack blower and a 10h/p push blower and spend alot less time there,thus making her alot happier than she would be writing me that $700 check.

steve

[boazcat]

I don't know about price, but I don't ever bag stuff up. My Snapper picks it right up and I dump it in the trash can. Pretty quick work.