In Over My Head????

[jlyons]

I just received a call from a guy who needs lawn service. Heres the problem. He has 5-6 mowed acres and I have a 48" 17hp W/B. Is this to much yard for this size machine? I haven't priced anything this size. Any rough estimates? It's on level ground and has 15-20 trees. Nothing difficult just big. Reccomendations please..............

[Ethan]

If I were you, I would charge him $40 per acre and make $240 per service and make sure you bring your sulky with you. It would probably take you 3 hrs to mow.

[Alpine Naturescapes]

If you don't use a velke, U will be walking all day. Even with a Velke, on a 48" U will be mowing 5 or 6 hours unless you have the world's fastest w/b. About an hour per acre. Absolute best assuming very smooth ground, fast mower, etc, is 45 min per acre.

[GrassBustersLawn]

I'm going to come in the middle and estimate it at 4 hours to mow 6 acres with a 48" wb. Consulting my EXMARK Acres Per Hour Productivity chart - a 48" at 4mph at 80% efficiency can do 1.55 acres an hour. My Exmark Metro has a rated top speed of 6.5 mph. I have cut at full speed using a sulky/velke before, if ground is smooth. So 1.55 might even be a little low. BUT YOU DEFINITELY DON'T WANT TO WALK IT. Buy a sulky/velke if you don't have one yet. The $200 invested will pay over the long haul!

I too would bid at least $45 per acre. Nothing worse than bidding low & getting the job only to find you are loosing $ on it!

Good Luck

MIke

[andersc1]

Regardless of what is written in a product sales brochure, I will be very very surprised if you come close to your time estimates. I mow several large acreage accounts and I do it on a 60" ZTR running wide a** open.

My recommendation, don't go by something you have read in a sales brochure, but actually give yourself a time trial on an acre of land and see how well your 48" w/b with a velkie does. Then take these numbers and estimate your times.

Curtis

[quiet]

***My recommendation, don't go by something you have read in a sales brochure, but actually give yourself a time trial on an acre of land and see how well your 48" w/b with a velkie does. Then take these numbers and estimate your times.

Curtis ***


Listen to vets like andersc1. Doesn't matter what the rated productivity is anywhere else. It's what YOU do on YOUR machine on THAT property.

[BRL]

Ditto Quiet!

The brochures are based on the best time they squeaked out after 10 tries, cutting 3.25" of grass at 3" deck height on a flat lawn where it hadn't rained for 3 weeks, so the ground was real hard; and they didn't have 180 pound person on a Velke slowing it down a whole bunch . Base your estimate on your production rates.

[Gerry]

I also only have a small Honda Pushmower. I had a call from a guy that has a couple of acres to mow. My competition can do the job with a riding mower in a lot less time than I can with my little push mower. They were mowing for $150 per month. I told the guy I would do it for 175 and got the job. I am only getting a little over $20 per hour to mow this lawn. However, I also will be planting his bedding and doing other gardening as well. My thought here is that if I have enough larger lawns to mow, I can justify purchasing a riding mower. Eventually I will get so busy that I will have to raise my rates this will cause me to lose some of my lower margin lawns that I picked up during my start up phase. If I keep this account I will also be improving my speed by purchasing faster equipment. Right now I have to differentiate myself from other gardeners and gain a quality reputation. Until then this is $175 that I wouldn't have otherwise. So sometimes it is wise to gain one of take these kinds of accounts.

[GH725]

Originally posted by quiet
***My recommendation, don't go by something you have read in a sales brochure, but actually give yourself a time trial on an acre of land and see how well your 48" w/b with a velkie does. Then take these numbers and estimate your times.

Curtis ***


Listen to vets like andersc1. Doesn't matter what the rated productivity is anywhere else. It's what YOU do on YOUR machine on THAT property.

I feel the same way. You could use that 1 square acre to base your fees from. The downside is, every job is different. Sure you might mow a few large flat jobs, but what about the hard to do jobs that will take 3-4 hours to do 1.5 acres???

Flat open ground can be done as fast as the mower will allow you for the most part. I'd start out basing the size of the lots with how fast YOUR mower will cut an acre, then as you check the property and find it more difficult to do, raise your bid. So that 45 per acre is thrown out the window if it's a hard place to mow. If I see a lot that is only an acre but it has 2 banks that are very risky and difficult to mow, the bid will go up for sure.

Hope this helps

[srlawnservice]

If you don't need it go high....50-60/acre and make it worth your time.

[GrassBustersLawn]

AndersonSC1, Quiet, BRL - before jumping all over me about using the EXMARK brochure, you should have noticed that JLYONS was asking for help. "Never priced anything this size" and "Recommendations please" were his comments. Sounds like he didn't have ANY IDEA how much land his 48" w/b could cover. JUST GIVING HIM SOMETHING TO GO BY. Sure he should do his own time study with this machine. Even better he could ask the guy to let him cut it once (for a set price) and see how long it would take to give a firm price (best world scenario). A guideline like that is better than pulling a number out of the hat!

Mike

[Mowdude]

I say go for it

[lawnclippers]

I had the same problem have a 48 metro exmark wb w/sulky and my wife used a riding mower w/a 38 inch deck and it took us 3 hrs. to cut. This 5 acres is semi hilly and wood divided into two sections. I just bought a lazer z 60 exmark ztr and wife uses the wb getting it done in 1.5 hrs .

[GH725]

lawnclippers, Now that it's taking you half the time it was before, How would you explain that to the customer? You know, justify the same money to do something that takes half the time????? You couldn't base your pricing on time spent to do the job.

Thanks

[BRL]

GrassBustersLawn,
You should have noticed that nobody was "jumping all over you". We were answering his question & letting him know that the brochures can't be entirely trusted, with a little humor added (hopefully someone saw the humor in my post? ). That's all. And while we didn't say it, yes we agree that the production rates in the brochures are a good starting point to getting an answer to his question, but ultimately the answer comes from the individual's production rates with their particular machines & abilities. That's all. Now go take some vitamin E to toughen up that skin a little

"Even better he could ask the guy to let him cut it once (for a set price) and see how long it would take to give a firm price (best world scenario). A guideline like that is better than pulling a number out of the hat!"

This would be the best solution. Just make sure that original is real high so you can make the firm price lower & look like a saint. I have done that & the clients were thrilled to hear the price was less & that I was honest enough to not keep it at the higher price.