Pricing ? ? ?

[Steve]

Once again I have to start by saying I am new to this. When you get a customer who wants weekly service -- does this just include mowing, trimming and blowing off surfaces? Or do you include fertilizing and weed pulling as part of the weekly service? If you don't include the fertilizing and weed pulling -- how much do you charge for that when a customer wants it? Do you charge by the hour for your time plus the cost of the supplies? Also -- as far as yard clean ups and debris removal -- is there a standard way to charge? Like is it standard to charge by the hour -- or do you just quote the customer a price for the whole job? I'd really appreciate some direction. Thanks!

[rkbrown]

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My weekly service consists of mowing, trimming, edging and blowing off all hard surfaces. Fertilizing, weed pulling, mulching ia all extra and done on a per hour basis. I have been charging $30/hr. plus the cost of materials for all bed dressing work. I give a separate estimate for this work when requested. I measure the beds, calculate the materials cost and estimate the amount of man-hours the job will take.

Rob
Taybritt Lawn and Landscape Services

[ghinson55]

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Steve, your weekly service should be a basic service depending on what your basic service is. Mine is mow, trim, edge, and blow. Anything beyond that it extra. Charging per hour is good just figure what your time is worth, $30 per hr is a good price. At minimum just double what your expense might be. For example if it cost you $20 for a yard of mulch then charge $40 per yard. I personly stay away from big clean-up jobs. I don't know how to price them and don't have time for them.

[Scott]

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My weekly service includes; edge, trim, mow, blow and roundup on the concrete cracks for driveways and sidewalks. If I take over a new client that has excessive weeds/grass growing out of the cracks or needs excessive edging I add an additional one time charge, generally $10-$15.
Bushes are $3 and up per bush, depends on how over grown and how much they want removed
Palms are $10 ea.
Minor Tree trimming is $10 ea.
Fertilizing is twice the cost of material whether I use the whole bag(s) or not.
Weedpulling? What's that? ROUNDUP! I once had a stuffy lady tell me, with her nose up in the air, "I don't pull weeds" "well hey, we have something in common, neither do I" she didn't like that response and needless to say I don't and won't maintain her lawn, she was only willing to pay $25 a month,,, ha! If you're going to get into weed pulling business, all I can say is, get you some knee pads and ask for the world as payment. You can spend hours in gardens pulling weeds when you can be out mowing grass, installing sprinkler systems, or fishing. If the garden is just overtaken I'll suggest removing all the plants and redoing it all together. Profit is much better and you'll both ultimately be much more happier.
Yard clean-up: Are we just talking about leaves or a neglected yard. Leaves are easy, get your bagger on and go to town. I charge anywhere from 1.5 times to 3 times of what I would charge just to cut the grass, do to hauling the leaves off.

[aemt]

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Our weekly service is mow, trim, and blow. I only edge if I was hired by the customer to edge in the beginning of the season, then I will maintain it as part of the service.

Weed pulling, etc. is 40.00/ hr. for 2 man crew. The hourly rate starts when I am buying the items needed for the job and transporting them to the site.

I do not charge double for materials. What I pay is what they pay. I will gladly show people my receipts. They seem to appreciate the honesty. This goes for fertilizer as well. If you give them a good deal on fertilizing, they will likely have you do it, and it means more mowing because of healthy grass.

We do a lot of clean ups. I charge a minimum of 100.00. This will give them 4 hours of work plus debris removal. On a normal sized yard, this is a good way to go. If you are unsure, charge by the hour. A clean up does not include any gutter work or bush trimming.

Bush trimming is 5.00/ bush or hourly for hedges. Some people charge hedges by the foot.



Maple City Lawn Care
La Porte, Indiana