pricing on job...

[seven-up]

Today I went and gave a price to a guy for cleaning up his yard. The lot was just short of being an acre (180 x 200) or so... leaves hadn't been picked up all year. had to get them out of a courtyard (about 20 x 25) with 5 ft brick fence around it, thru a 3 ft gate...move some dirt across the property (150 ft) with wheel barrow. this was like 2.5 yards. and scatter it. also scatter another pile that's about 3 yard where it was. clean up around some trees (14) where under brush had grown up and also clean an area about 10 x 160 along property line that hadn't been mowed in last 2 or three years and he wanted it bagged as well. o and also clean out the culvert where dirt and leaves had washed in it. dirt and stuff had backed up about 5 feet on each side of it about 1 ft thick.

i was wandering if my price was to steep or what.... what would you have done this for?

[Seascape]

about 2000.00,, im figuring 3 guys 2 days by the time its all said and done. detailed out ,trip to the landfill,some fuel,ect... fall rate about 2k. Might go in @ 2500 let him talk me down. Spring id go about 3000 and not get the job. Dont be surprised if this guy doesnt have a figure of about 250 in mind. Either way walking price 2k.
mike

[sharp]

How many man hours is it going to take? Got to have this number. If not the what it going to cost can go way wrong, either way.

[olderthandirt]

minumum $3500 and thats if I could get the small skidder in to move the dirt. I know me and 2 guys 1 day. after he keeps adding things it would be 4k easy

Mac

[BravesFan]

I was thinking $1500-$2000...but would have to see how thick that acre of leaves looked.

Like mike said, the guy is probably thinking a few hundred bucks.

Of course, jobs like this...I'm always seeming to bid too low. I'd go with mike and mac on this one.

Dennis

[Seascape]

dennis, anyone of us could right. Mac touched on the beef of this job which is that 5.5 yds of soil to be moved. Wheel barreling that amount of soil in this situation is going to rack hours. 2 or 3 guys could get burned up pretty quick by the time they get it moved and graded than clean up the areas that held this dirt. Probally more like 10 yds thats packed in and looks like 5 yds. I would consider bring extra labor to tackle this, 5 guys w/ 7 wheel barrels first thing right off the bat would be my choice if i werent able to get a bucket in on it. Bucket would probally create to much damage. But use that labor to get it done and out of the way quick than put that labor on another site. I think 3 guys one day is a little shy on this one. The end of the day would come to fast. Not enough time to get the detail on each specific project. Therefore your forced to return the next morning to finish up some projects and put some detail on it. You know just as well as i do that you can pretty much count that crew out of any other credible projets the second day to. You know theyll end up w/ another trip to the dump w/ some kinda crap. Plus the add ons would be crazy on this job. I can see it now. If that is a "stay at home" owner you can count on it. Done to many just like it to not know better. Id count on your first add on by 8:30 the first morning and it wont get any better from that point on. Im thinking 3 guys 1 day,2 guys second day. TOTAL= 36 hours @ $44.00 per = 1584.00. Round it off @ 2k for add ons and peace of mind. I know i could do alot better somewhere else w/ that labor for 2 full days so this would have to be scheduled at my convenience. The first time this client started trying to play me stupid w/ " i gotta have this done asap!" crap his cost per hour would rise to about $100 per hour just for insulting my intelligance and trying to play me.
mike

[seven-up]

thanks for all the responses. turns out, didn't get this job anyways... guy said he was "short of enough money at this time".. whatever.... i gave him price of 1000 bux. i figured me and one other guy it would take about 1.5 days... and as for the dirt there was only 2.5 to move, the other pile just needed to be scattered where it was (in a low spot).

Thanks again for the info.

John

[Phil Nilsson]

seven-up,

Next time you get into a situation like this ... first ... get photos of the site, (stay there, don't move) email to me ... and I'll help walk you thru the bid. You, your cell phone and me ... and you'll have the numbers while you're still at the site

Is that a good idea?

Phil