Mulch pricing

[BUBBA]

I would like to know if anyone could give me an idea of pricing out mulching jobs. Is it better to figure out how much the mulch will cost and then price how long it will take to lay it? how much would you charge to lay it? Or do you just give a flat cost per yard, how much would you charge for that?
I can get a pallet of mulch for about $100.00 but have no idea how much to charge to put it down or how long it will take.
One person told me he charges $45.00 per cubic yard, this included the cost of the mulch and the labor. Is this close?
I also have the same question about laying sod.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[nohhousefire]

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I normally charge twice the retail cost of the mulch. Double hammered black hardwood mulch cost me 11 dollars a yard, retails for 16 so I charge 48 dollars a yard. Over 30 yards I give discount of 20%. These cost are after cost of bed prep.

[alcpi]

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I usually charge the same, approximately double what its retail price is maybe a hair more. Unless its wide open areas, we usually buy it by the bag, its much easier to lay out and spread than bring truck loads to the site. As for sod, here in S. Florida the going rate is $275-325 per pallet installed, depending on each jobs difficulty (tight areas, lots of cutting, obstacles, small gate openings, etc.) Each pallet covers approximately 500 sq. ft., my cost is about $115 per pallet. Extensive prep work is additional.

[zephyr]

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Hey House, I am not sure what you mean. You said that the mulch retails for 16 but you charge 48. Is twice the retail just a bottom line that you will charge no matter what, or did you just misspell?

thanks

[Leone Lawn]

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say 5 yards cost me 167 i charge the client 200 make a little just sittin on my a** and then charge 15 dollars per man

Leone Lawn

[MSlawns]

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I'm not sure what a pallet of mulch is.....here we buy it by the scoop, takes roughly 2 and 1/2 scoops to equal a cubic yd.You need to guesstimate how long it will take you to do the clean up work in the beds, i.e., weeding. Once you have your estimated time for that, just multiply it by your hourly rate. Example, it will take you 10 hours to clean up the beds....then you want to make $35.00 per hour, 10 x $35 = $350.00, as far a s the mulch goes you need to know how much mulch you will need. We double the price we pay for it, roughly $32.00 a cu. yd., if the job needs 20 cu. yds. mulch then the price for the mulch is 20 x $64.00 =$1280.00, then you add this price to the clean up price...$350.00 + 1280.00 = $1630.00
If you are having to wheelbarrow the mulch 1 person can move about 1 yd. of mulch per hour, it goes much faster if you can park your trailer by the bed, stand in the back and fork or shovel it into the beds !
My formula for mulch.....
1 cu. yd. of mulch will cover 160 sq. ft. at 2" deep
1 cu. yd. of mulch will cover 108 sq. ft. at 3 " deep
Example....
Bed totals 2000 sq. ft. and you need 3" of mulch.....
Divide 2000 by 108 = 18.5, or round up to 19 cu. yds. of mulch
Hope this helps.

[nohhousefire]

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Zep, I furnish the mulch at 16.00 a yard and put it down for 32.00. Total of $48.00
Most of the guys around here charge 3 times the cost of the mulch plus cost of mulch.

Mow Mo

[Evergreen]

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I pay about $11 per cu. yard for brown double-hammered, charge $50 per yard. Dyed mulches are more expensive, so charge more. Can go pretty fast in larger shrub beds, takes longer if beds are tightly planted. Generally, 1/2 to 1 hour per yard. But, the beds need to be free of weeds, grass & debris. Mulching over a lot of fallen leaves, etc. is not good--won't be smooth. Also, if the beds are not edged with some type of edging it is good to trench around the edge for a cleaner look using a sharp-shooter or flat shovel. I estimate the amount of time to cleanup and/or trench multiply that by my hourly rate for the cleanup labor cost. Then figure how many yards are needed, multiply by $50 & add this to the cleanup cost. Shrub beds can take deeper mulch (2"-3") than say, perennial or annual flower beds(1"-2"). Also, include tree rings which are a ring of mulch with a well in the center (look good on smaller trees). You should never pile mulch up on the trunk of a tree or shrub. Doing a quick eyeball estimate of the amount of mulch needed can be tricky at first. There is a mulch calculator at "atstecks.com". I followed someone else's idea of printing out some sample forms of various bed dimensions to keep with me. Some customer's just want their beds mulched, others want to know why. So you explain the 'horticultural advantages' of mulching & sell the job. They may or may not know that mulch helps retain moisture, lessens nutrients being leeched (sp?) from the soil, helps keep weeds down & looks nice. I usually sell them some fertilizer, too. I also take this opportunity to try & sell them on some type of edging (stone, etc.) Here in Memphis I've found bermuda sod anywhere from $75-$125 pallet (contractor's price). Zoysia (a popular zone 7 shade grass) is $200 up (contractor's price). Haven't laid any sod yet, because I don't know how to estimate the time per pallet. Would appreciate anyone's input on this.

[Greener Side]

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The cost for mulch in my area is a lot higher than $16 In CT it runs between $30 and $45 a cu/yd. I charge $30 plus the price of the mulch that includes Delivery, edging and spreading. I can fit 3yrds in my truck and I go the garden center closest to the job. I also figure it takes me about 45mins to spread a cu/yrd off the back of the truck.

[MSlawns]

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Sod prices here in NE Mississippi are 1.00 a sq.ft. for anything but zoysia, which runs 1.50 per sq. ft., every one I know, including myself doubles the price of the sod. We buy it by pallets which cover 50 sq. ft., and costs 50.00,so that a pallet installed costs the customer 100.00, this is the price for the installed sod only. It does not cover any prep work costs, delivery charges or taxes. Around here there is a 25.00 delivery charge for any amount of sod under 10 pallets, after 10 pallets the delivery is free. Figure out how long the prep work will take and multiply by your hourly rate, add the costs for the installed sod, any delivery charges,and taxes, the total is what you charge for the sod job.

[nlls]

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Sod in California retails for .32/sf at the home centers. Some sod brokers charge .28/sf and then install it for $140 for <2000sf or .07/sf for >2000 sf. As a one man show I cannot compete with this so I don't. I would rather charge for site prep and then call a broker as a courtesy to the customer.

Speaking of site prep, what do you all think about irrigation design software? I found one that gives me everything (materials list, prices, pipe sizes, head sizing, sprinkler type, length of trench, etc.) based on my input of gpm, psi, mainline pipe size, and area to be watered.

This is my second time around in this business and this time I want to create a nitche: Site prep, irrigation/landscape design and irrigation installation for small yards. CA requires a contractors license for jobs totalling >$500. I want to stay under that amount and then possibly pick up the customer as a service account. Good idea?

John Schmidt
New Leaf Landscaping Service

[flyboytcs]

Hmm

What about delivery is that included?

[Scaper-S2k]

We get most mulch for around $16 per yard. We charge $100 to install counting mulch of course. On harder jobs with smaller beds and more obstacles, this will increase to $120. On very easy open jobs, it might go down to $90 per yard, but not too often.


Those numbers are based on time. But they are OUR averaged times. So we come in between $100 - $120 depending if a yard of mulch will take us longer than OUR average, or less than OUR average. This price does include very minor cleanup such as blowing out a little bit of leaves, picking up a few sticks in the bed, etc. And if the beds have decent looking edges, we will clean them up very fast for that price as well......to a certain extent of course. That is normally the deciding factor between the $100 and the $120 per yard. When you think about it, there is only so much edging that can be needed for an area that holds 1 yard of mulch. So it CAN be averaged into the pricing, assuming the edges were in half way decent shape going into the job.