Lawn repair (car crashed into house)

[nick11380]

I got a call today to give an estimate on repairing a lawn. Someone drove though a telephone pole and crashed their car into these peoples house. They messed up their yard and took a chunk out of their house.

Anyway there is a 280 square foot area that is uneven with some tire tracks. The tire tracks aren't to bad but they want the area filled in with top soil to even it out, rolled and reseeded. I think I would need a yard of top soil but I'm not sure how much to charge to do this part of the job.

The other part of the job would be cleaning the lawn. When the car crashed glass flew all over a 1,260 square foot area. They're concerned about liability if someone would walk on their lawn bare foot and cut themselves. They want all the glass cleaned out of their grass.

I could cut and bag the grass as short as possible then either try blowing the glass into the street with my Redmax 8000 or vacuum it with my shop vac. But either way there will still be some glass in the lawn. If I would do this would I have any liablity if someone cut them selves on a piece of glass I missed?
Another idea I had would be to put a layer of top soil over this 1260 sq ft area and reseed.

Any other ideas on how to do this job and what to charge?

[Seascape]

Youll have to do the entire damaged area. Other words i wouldnt just fill the rutts and blend them in,,, id re the entire area (280 sq ft+) where the rutts are. And thats if i didnt try to re the whole 1260. If it was damaged just right,,, thats what id do.

Your liability on that glass? I dont know so i wont try to answer it. But 1 option might be having them sign a waiver on the glass. But just explain youll make every ettempt to remove it.

Unless your up on your turf,, id take a sample to lesco and get it matched by one of theyre better guys. So it matches in a year.

[Jared_Smith]

If it were me, I'd find someone with a harley rake to come out and take off everything in the whole front yard, get a skid loader to haul off all the crap, then re-seed and roll.

[gusbuster]

Man you guys are doing overkill.
1rst. auto glass will not cut per sey but it's the slivers that would.
2nd.. no insurance would cover the replacing of the whole yard except for the damaged area.
3rd... should somebody in the unlikely cut their finger or foot or toes... That's what the heck home owner's insurance is for in the first place.

Now you see the reason why insurance rates are SO high in the first place.

As to cost of fixing damaged lawn... see what your materials are going to cost you..charge a mark up and what you wish for your labor cost(don't forget to charge for the time it you need when getting material)

I would be more afraid of flying glass from when you are mowing.

[lorenzo piedra]

Very little topsoil would be needed if you have just normal equipment such as a walkbehind core aerator and a power rake in which every qualified contractor has in his drawer of tools.

[nick11380]

The 1260 sq ft and 280 sq ft are 2 seperate areas.
If I would put a layer of top soil over the 1260 sq ft. How thick would the layer have to be to reseed? The 1260 sq ft was not damaged but theres glass all over it.

The 280 sq ft has some small ruts and needs covered with top soil and reseeded. The whole 280 needs to be done because the area is uneven and has some low spots and they want it filled in and evened out.

[RRS]

What type of grass will you be planting, and when do you plan on doing the job?

[nick11380]

I don't know much about the different types of grass yet so I'm not sure what type of grass other the kind for sunny area. This is wisconsin and the guy is still getting estimates. It seems like it's getting to late in the season to do the job. Maybe it would be best to wait until spring. I've been so busy with fall clean ups that I haven't had time to check to see if I can still get top soil from my supplier.

I'm not sure what the best way to do the job is so I've been working on writing up a couple estimates with doing the jobs different ways and letting him pick how he wants it done. The 280 sq ft area where the ruts are I know what needs to be done. The 1,260 sq ft area (where the glass is) I'm not sure about. Vacuuming with a shop vac or blowing with a back pack are options that the guy brought up but it seems like that would be time consuming and ineffective in removing the glass. Covering the area with top soil would cover the glass but I'm not sure how many yards I would need or how much to charge.
Another thought I had for removing the glass is to go over the area with a dethatcher with a bag. Do you think that would be an effective way to remove the glass?

What is a power rake?

[RRS]

What is a power rake?

Power rake/dethatcher same thing.

If the glass is really so bad that you don't think you can blow it out, then a dethatcher is the best route to take. You're going to have a hard time getting grass to grow this time of year. I'd think about getting up the glass, and making this a spring job.

[1Chavez]

Sod it. You still have to prep the area correctly, but sell the guy on the idea of an instant lawn. He won't care, it being paid by insurance.
-Rich

[RRS]

That's the only way you'll have grass this time of year.

[Sasquatch52]

What about if you cut the grass very low and bag it. Then run over it with a Billy-goat or something of that nature. Set the billy as low as it will go.

[edger]

I'd go with what Rich said.
Chris