Help with this bid please

[clncut89]

This bid is for a Home Owners Association and could use some help on this one. It totals 277,178 sq ft. with about 1 hr worth of trimming around some trees and fences. Areas are flat and are made up of 7 common areas dispersed throught a residential area. The common areas are close together and drive time is not a concern from area to area. I was thinking of charging 300.00 per cut but am not sure is this is way out of the league here. Any help would be greatly appriciated. Thanks

[Fairbanks]

clncut89,

How many mowers do you have , men working at this site if you got the bid.

detemining what your answers are for the above question with charging 300 $ a mow
plus trimming and blowing if nes. you woulb be charging 0.0011 $ a sq ft which comes to 304 $ the adv in my area is 0.0009 , if you charges 0.0009 it would end up being $249.46. but for now i need to know you anwsers for the above questions.

hope this helped. ps. 0.0009 is about the cheapest around here.

[clncut89]

currently 2 mowers, both exmarks, 36" wb with velke and a 52" ztr. Two men will be on this property. Hope this helps

[Seascape]

Id hate to bid 277k broke up into 7 areas site unseen.

[clncut89]

Mike,

If this helps..........all of the common areas are within 2 blocks of each other. Easy access to them, they all have anywhere between 5-10 trees to trim, 2 islands have 2 sections of vinyl fencing approx 6 ft. long to trim. One island has 10 6ft sections of fencing to trim around. Other than mentioned above, the areas are open and flat. No other major obstacles.

[Seascape]

Mike,

If this helps..........all of the common areas are within 2 blocks of each other. Easy access to them, they all have anywhere between 5-10 trees to trim, 2 islands have 2 sections of vinyl fencing approx 6 ft. long to trim. One island has 10 6ft sections of fencing to trim around. Other than mentioned above, the areas are open and flat. No other major obstacles.

lets do this a little differant. How long do you think it will take you? Total man hrs w/ a little travel time.

[clncut89]

3.5 hrs, no travel time since I live in the subdivision. If I charge by the acre which Ive noticed many do the amount will be more than if I charge by the hour. Not sure which to use in this case.

[Fairbanks]

this is a very big lawn , 277,178 is big. , with your 2 w/b , ZTR's it will probably take you atleast 4 hours , thats what im assuming becasue you said theres about a hours worth of trimming. see what it takes to charge per man hour , or per acre or per sq ft.
also are you removing the grass and blowing off of the cement ?

hope this helps.

[Seascape]

ya know i really feel hesitant to throw a # at you. I looked at a couple daily forms sitting here on a site that compares well to this your speaking of. Its going for almost $400. Id bee careful w/ this one broke up into 7 areas. Park benches ,trees,fences. The one im looking at took 3 hrs 2 weeks ago and 2.5 hrs this past week. But i know for a fact its taken 6 hrs also in mid spring. I think your # will end up between 3-$400.

How bad do you need it? Want it?

Id hate to see you over bid it but id rather see you do that than under bid it.

[clncut89]

I really would like to land this account. Since this is the subdivision I live in and already have many residential accounts here. Currently I keep my equipment in my garage so all I do is leave the garage and go from house to house. NO travel time really. Just was looking for a good ballpark figure to go from. Like I said earlier most of the common areas have very little trimming and mostly all mowing. I just dont know which way to bid this one. Do I bid by the acreage or by how long I think this should take?

[Seascape]

From what your saying you have the upper hand. Even @ 250 per its 1k per month.

Im not saying under cut it but in this situation its a good possibility nobody can compete w/ you? Its not your fault really.

For me i guess it would boil down to how many cuts? Are they wanting bi weekly? Or are they going to be ok w/ 5 day cuts in april and may? Can you sell 32 cuts? If so ,, and i thought i could complete in 4 man hrs or less at least 1/2 the time,,, i might consider $275. But something tells me that id feel alot better about it getting $300-350. But i probally have higher costs than you also. Its just really tricky not being able to see it. Trying to imagine what 6 acres looks like broke up in 7 differant areas? Thats kinda rough.

Any specific # i would throw at you would be a wild half ****ed guess. That wouldnt be fair to you.

But around here anything of that caliber goes for AT LEAST $300,,,, and it only takes a couple technical areas to bump it into the 4s maybe even 5s. So the best thing for you to do again ,,, no matter how many times youve already do it is go look at it again. Get out of the truck,, off the mower or whatever and actually walk through each section. Might take an hour but in the end you might make more in that hour than any other hour in the world. No what i mean?



As far as how to bid? With modern equipment that hourly crap gets further and further out of the ball park. We keep that up we'll be cutting an acre for $10 sooner or later.

[clncut89]

This will be a weekly mowing and could probably sell 28 cuts. Yes, I have been through these props again and again racking my brains on this one. I heard at one time someone had bid the prop just over 5000.00 and did not get the job. Again that is hearsay. That seems way low to me and Mike I dont want to low ball here but would love to land this account. After doing some more crunching here Ill let ya know what I came up with. Thanks again for your help Mike.

John

[Seascape]

This will be a weekly mowing and could probably sell 28 cuts. Yes, I have been through these props again and again racking my brains on this one. I heard at one time someone had bid the prop just over 5000.00 and did not get the job. Again that is hearsay. That seems way low to me and Mike I dont want to low ball here but would love to land this account. After doing some more crunching here Ill let ya know what I came up with. Thanks again for your help Mike.

John

Using your costs,what your time is worth to you,what you want to make(profit) off each cut, and how much you want your co to take,,,,,,,,, and submit your bid.

as long as your happy w/ it,,,, nothing else matters.

[Fairbanks]

might consider $275. But something tells me that id feel alot better about it getting $300-350.

i totally agree ! 250 = 1k a month like seascape said but i would go with 3-350.