educate me please

[Easy Way Lawn Care]

Ok guys right when I thought I had it down someone throws me a curve ball here it goes. I was talking to a competitor (like I was a customer) and I asked what they get for an acre they replied about 32 dollars I then asked what they get for their little subdivision lots they do which are about 100 by 120 (12,000) sq feet and he said about 22 dollars a cut. I thought what? how can you charge 22 dollars for 12,000 square feet and 32 for 43,560 square feet almost four times the size for 10 dollars more????? Now keep in mind this is a company that has nice trucks and equipment, has been around for 10 years, in South east Michigan. (They do landscaping to).

Ok now here are my questions.

I can operate my business at 45 dollars an hour easy. From what I have read in the forums thats a mid range rate. Is 45 dollars an hour for this area mid range or too high? or too low????

I know its about selling time I understand that so here are my times. I can by myself do a standard 3/4 acre lot (standard meaning 8 trees, and a couple islands to trim around and the house) cutting trimming and blowing in 54 minutes, and acre of the same takes me about 65 to70 minutes, lots of 15,000 square feet about 30 min. Am I too slow? I think I might be? What would a reasonable one man time be for those yards. I am about to raise a few customers but I want to make sure I am within market rates and times.

Here is my equipment bobcat zt219 52" cut, shindawa (spelling) trimmers and back pack blower.

Here is the way I do it. I mow first, then park the mower and get my trimmer trim, then get my blower blow, done. Anyway I can increase my efficiency (without hiring someone). I am considering building a rack so I can mount my trimmer to my mower that way I save time walking. I could just mow to a trim point stop trim and continue. What do you guys think on this one.

thanks for the imput

[Jack D.]

Jack D. gets $18-$25 for lots under 8,000 sq. ft. including home which often means much less than 4k sq. ft. of actual turf. Many of these lots are best suited to a 21" mulching mower.

You can make better $$$ w/lower overhead cutting small lots w/21"'s. They are also easier to train employees on & do not require large hauling vehicles.

Your price per sq. ft. goes down on larger lots because hypothetically you are using larger machines, there is less trimming & there may be more competition. However, none of these factors compensate for the radically higher $$$ value of smaller lots especially if you have eliminated windshield time.

Regardless, Jungle Jim makes a trimmer holder for your mower.

http://www.junglejimsap.com/trimmermate.html

[J Hisch]

He is doing volume.... bottom line, he may also be using maintenance to get the landscaping contracts.

[Phillip Baker]

Acre VS In town lot

Mowing acreage is tricky, first are you weeding the entire lot? Are you doing what we call a finish cut at between 2.5 inches and 3inches or are you cutting with the blades almost up? we mow lots of large properties but we mow each one different. Some that we finish cut we get $85 dollars an acre and we can cut, weed eat and blow off in about 1 hr an acre with three people using two mowers cutting at almost 9 ft at a time with one guy weedeating and most properties are two acre min.. Others require minimal weed eating with no finish cut with two mowers just knocking the top off like you would with a brush hog, blades all the way in the up position we get $55.00 an acre, these types we mow every other week. They usually require us to walk the property to check for debris. and we can usually knock them out in about 30 min. I used to mow acres with one mower and myself and it was a loosing battle usually took two to three hrs for the same money. Not worth it but if you can cut the time in half and do more than one acre at a time with in a close area of say mabey 10-12 small yards then it pays better. 12 small yards@ $25.00 = $300.00 one 2 acre property @ $85.00 = $170.00 the two combined = $470.00- $180.00 for days expense for labor and fuel =$290.00 Divided by an 8 hr day breaks down to $36.25 an hr this is slightly below the normal hr. rate here in my area but the lrger properties always lead to more work for us aside from mowing which in return pays pretty well. Good Luck.... but i'd never try and tackle acreage by myself anymore!!!

[Easy Way Lawn Care]

Thanks guys for your reply. Phil I can mow trim and blow an acre by myself in an hour and I charge 45 and hour, However I can do three acres by myself in 2 hours which would be 90. I can do four 25 dollar yards 15000 square feet in two hours which would be 100. I do see your point about the smaller yards and I am looking into getting smaller equipment mabe a 36" walkbehind, or perferably a 36" walker stand on to tackle them better that way I have the capabilitie to do both. Anyone else's imput I would appreciate thanks.

[floridalawncare]

here's my basic way of doing it. i'll leave dollar figures out for now to make it as simple as possible, though it's not complex. i charge a flat rate per an acre, and will weed eat up to so many objects for free including one home and garage or shed.(two structures total.) any more than that, i start charging more for trimming time. if there's a drive way, i charge a flat rate for that cause it'll need edging, blowing off, and a little round up in the cracks from time to time. that's my starting point. if they have plant beds and st augustine grass, i'll edge that, and leave the weeds in the plant beds unless i'm payed to do that too. only change is when the acreage goes up, i'll discount it per acre until i get about 15 acres, then the price will flat line. only time it gets cheaper is if i do municipalty right of ways with a tractor. but like all, the price will fluctuate depending on how bad i want the work, which is most people's determining factor in bidding.