questions for the members of this board

[czechmate01]

I couldnt help but notice that when a new person is asking the questions that matter regarding getting started, pricing, bid propsals and estimates either how much to charge or how to write them, I have found few people that will actually answer those types of questions here. I dont know if people just dont want to share that info or they really dont know what they are doing.

One thing I do know from watching my husband in this business is if you are seriously trying to run a business it doesnt leave much time to post on these forums. You are working all day and then have to come home and prepare your equipment for the next day. He spends at least half a day on the weekends sharpening all his blades and maintaing his equipment

My husband has never posted here but I visit occasionally trying to get info. What I have found is a lot of sarcastic answers that give very little information . We were very lucky in the fact that when we first started out we had local people willing to share customers and give us information to help us.

Of course the customers people were willing to give were people they didnt want for some reason but my husband didnt turn down anyone in the beginning and now can afford to be selective.

I just wondered why questions get so many views but so few posts. Is it because you feel you had to learn the hard way so the next person should have to?

[newmeat]

Amen Sister! I started in this about 2 months ago and I have learned alot from people in the business and from this forum. But I will say that it seems that alot of posts are from young people that are just doing it on the side and are not legit. Their comments give away their age. As for help with pricing,bids etc. you wont get much help on that. Those questions get alot of views from people looking to get answers not people looking to help. Most will say look it up in the search feature, If you have time to post a reply why not just answer the question. Maybe they dont know the answer. Anyway I totaly agree with you czechmate01. I have learned alot from these forums and Iam grateful to have the information but I wish people would think before they respond. We all need to help each other learn. If you cant help with a question than or are unwilling to, then dont respond at all. Well thats my rant for the day. See Ya!

[kiddinla]

i feel that answers are handled pretty good here. Maybe i don't have anything to compare this forum to?

[GeeVee]

A sure way to ingratiate yourslef to those you seek free advice from is to ridicule them....

Thats sarcasm.

Whats to know about getting started?

Pricing and bidding? One must know what kind of overhead and burden must be recompensed, what the market bears, and other details usually not mentioned. Even if.

Specific questions get specific answers.

Further, after eleventeen thousand posts, I am a bit burnt out on vague, ambiguous, rhetorical questions..... I'm not a mind reader.

BTW, I've seen this exact same post at least a jillion times.

[czechmate01]

Well Geeve, I just asked a question and I believe help is a 2 way street if I have a an answer to someones question or can be helpful I try. I am not critizing just making an observation. Of course you will see the same questions because new people are constantly joining this forum. Maybe there is a newcommers forum or section for them so they dont bore you with the same old questions?

[Scott]

shouldn't that have been?

Furthermore,...

c'mon GeeVee,, when are you ever gonna learn?:p



czechmate01,
what is your objective here? Discrediting us, saying that none of us are running a serious business because we post here? Did you ever think that some here don't have to tune-up their equipment everyday because they have employees, and where is it in the by-laws that says we have to tell you how to price anything out? Are you trying to run your business or copy ours?

[Scaper-S2k]

I think there are many people here that look but don't answer on bidding because they are not 100% sure.

There have been many, many, many, good answers given on how to bid. But there really aren't that many different ways to bid. You need to know your own personal overhead and other expenses, and how much profit you want to make. So while others may be able to give a number, it's likely not the correct one 'for you'. Fine for them, not for you.

And, prices vary by areas, and by companies. So numbers are going to be way off. You can't expect me to give you the price I get for a lawn that gets mowed 30 times per year when you are mowing it fr 50. We will likelyget much more per cut.



As for how much a person posts here? That depends on if a person wants to give his whole life to the biz. I don't let the business run me anymore. Could I work 60 hours per week? Sure. Do I? Not any more.

[Ric]

I think there are many people here that look but don't answer on bidding because they are not 100% sure.

There have been many, many, many, good answers given on how to bid. But there really aren't that many different ways to bid. You need to know your own personal overhead and other expenses, and how much profit you want to make. So while others may be able to give a number, it's likely not the correct one 'for you'. Fine for them, not for you.

And, prices vary by areas, and by companies. So numbers are going to be way off. You can't expect me to give you the price I get for a lawn that gets mowed 30 times per year when you are mowing it fr 50. We will likelyget much more per cut.



As for how much a person posts here? That depends on if a person wants to give his whole life to the biz. I don't let the business run me anymore. Could I work 60 hours per week? Sure. Do I? Not any more.

Erich

Most people don't understand their costs and therefore can't come up with a cost plus profit bid. A true businessman never loses a bid. He might not get the job, but he doesn't lose money because his bid is a winner.

The problem with taking others prices is their cost factors are different also. Only when you have a true understanding of your costs can you bid sucessfully.

[The C Man]

I just wondered why questions get so many views but so few posts.

Most of the questions have already been asked many many times. If the person would use the search function of the forum instead of asking the same question for the umpteenth time they would most likely find the answer they're looking for.

[bblouie]

My .02 cents:

Using the search feature is very helpful and you can often find your answer. The problem is that you often spend 30-45 minutes sifting throught the crap to find the answer to one question and after you find the answer, it may be inaccurate due to variables not known to the searcher. You don't know what you don't know. A newbie (or veteran for that matter) that doesn't know that he/she needs to breakdown expenses and desired income probably doesn't know that the blades need to be sharpened, belts replaced, liability insurance, license fees, money stashed for equipment replacement, etc. So even if they told you they wanted to "take home" $20/hour and expenses were $1500 per month the numbers would still be inaccurate. People are busy with work and living so often times it's just easier to post a question without searching.

Although answers, on this forum in particular, are a little rough, answers a generally right on. Woody, GeeVee, Seascape to name a few know their s&%t. Sometimes the wording is course or it seems like you have shoved something in their a&% for asking the question, but the answer is usually dead on right.

Toughen up, hold your ground, do your homework and the answers will come forth.


Steve

[GrassMaster]

Bidding, Pricing & Page Views...

I couldnt help but notice that when a new person is asking the questions that matter regarding getting started, pricing, bid propsals and estimates either how much to charge or how to write them, I have found few people that will actually answer those types of questions here.

I just wondered why questions get so many views but so few posts. Is it because you feel you had to learn the hard way so the next person should have to?

Welcome to the forum czechmate01!

Getting questions answered pertaining to Bidding & Pricing is almost impossible to answer accurately even from a successful business owner that knows how to do it.

There's too many variables aka scenarios...
Lets say a Lawn Business Owner lives in, near or has targeted a particular neighborhood. This person can easily do the properties cheaper because he plans on being there all day or it's the only area they want. This reduces windshield time & increases billable man hours.

What is a lot of page views...
The majority of the people that view these bidding & pricing questions are ones wanting to know the answer too. The people that can answer this question can't because they do not know the pricing in your area or the kind of equipment & etc.

Example, 10K sq.ft lawn needs mowed, edged, trimmed, bagged & blown off in Albany, Georgia. The price would be around $30 to $40, In Columbus, Georgia it would be $25 to $45, In Atlanta, Georgia $35 to $55. That same job in Orlando might be around $30. Up in Nu Yark that same lawn might be $55 to $65 a pop.

These are rough guesstimates, this is considering that you have the right equipment that can most effectively do the job in the least amount of time, if you don't have the right equipment & it takes you 50% longer, can you really charge more? No if you want to be competitive in your work area.

When you go to price a job in your area you must know what the going rate is. If you want to bring in new work.

Now how can you bid this job effectively & price it to make a profit? That's the question?

*Do you know within 5 minutes or less on how long or how many man hours it's going to take you to do this particular job? This must be answered first before you can actually price the job to make a profit...

*Then you must know what your desired rate per man hour is? What is your desired rate per hour to make a profit? First you must know know your cost of doing business?

The above 2 questions I have an * by, over 80% of the people here can't answer these questions accurately. This leads to the 80% plus failure rate in 3 years or less.

See there's so many variables that we would be giving you bad information. I'm not trying to be a smart ass here but I can easily add another 20 paragraphs & still not be covered the bidding & pricing the way it should be done.

All of us sell time by the man hour, so first we need to know how long it takes, then we must know what our cost of doing business is to bid the job. When it comes to just regular weekly lawn maintenance we must know what the competition is charging...

The above works until you get a reputation which could take several years, then you work off of referrals which is more profitable than bidding against price shoppers.

The best thing a new person could do here is do searches on what you're interested in & most likely it's been answered. If it hasn't then you can ask the question & hopefully get the right answer.

I hope I've helped a little, if not please ask questions...

Yes, the Welcome Wagon needs just a little fine tuning here & will be addressed in the near future in the OTF!

[GeeVee]

Stand by for a dressing down from the Captain of the Ship....

[Stephen M.]

GrassMaster makes excellent points regarding pricing.

The other factor to consider is a big one which is levied by the Feds--Anti Trust and Price-fixing. I rarely will discuss price because of this. On a site like this, it can be argued that we are not actively participating in "price-fixing" because we live and work in many areas. However, if you advance a price quote and your cometitors also frequent this site, some Fed w/ a slow day could concievably read and argue that you a engaging in "price-fixing".

Whenever I get together w/ my competitors to discuss "business" and bids we may compete on, we are careful not to discuss price.

I will freely give advice and opinion, and if I give a price estimate, I won't include details.

I'm online at this time of day because I've been doing the business of "doing business" and I'm scheduled to testify in court for one of my clients later in the afternoon. I finally got the lawyer's phone call 30 minutes ago telling me I'm on at 3:30. That puts my day down the tubes.

P.S.

A former sponsor of this site would tell you that in order to set price, you must know YOUR costs. When you know YOUR costs, then you can set YOUR price. There are some good estimating guides and job costing books on the market that can give you a starting point on how and how much. R.S. Means puts out a yearly guide called "Site Work & Landscape Cost Data" . To learn more go to www.rsmeans.com/costworks/web

[boazcat]

I gained a lot of valuable information from the search feature.

[GeeVee]

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Czechmate01, if you and your husband are established now and have the knowledge to answer many of these questions, why not scan back through some of the unclear, unanswered questions and provide us with some of the information we all need?

Ron

Why can't I be this subtle?