Best way to price a yard

[Busch Lawncare]

Hey everybody I'm a new member on here and I'm getting geared up for the 2012 season and was wondering what's the best way to price a yard. I have read you should either charge by the square footage of a yard, if so what is usually the going rate per square foot. The other way I have heard is to price it by just looking at it. If pricing by site alone are there any guidelines that I should use. Thanks guys.

 

[jenkinsph]

I don't make it a habit of mowing for others, if I can't handscape and contour in essence sell a project I find it hard to come out on. That said I pretty much shoot from the hip to price the job, lots of things come into play, size of lawn, condition, obstacles, travel time and many others. You need to have a good idea of the time and costs you will have.

With estate work and large areas you will find travel is a lesser issue because you may be there all day or better yet most of a week. Small city lots are better dealt with if you can have multiple lawns per block, less time between customers and work them assembly line style. Might be twenty minutes per lawn.

So it's kind of hard to give you a definitive answer.:confused2:

 

[Carscw]

I know a few guys just charge by the hour. Most charge $30 a man hour so most yards take about 30 mins two guys =$30. They give out a bill at the end of the month. So this way the home owner knows that any thing extra he wants like pine straw flowers or what ever is $30 a hour plus supplies

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[Derek]

$1 per minute and add a small fee for obsatacles like swing sets ($3-$5) and garden sheds.

 

[xp14629]

We have a set rate to show up, 20.00 bucks give or take depending on the area and how many other yards are on the area. That way the customer talks with their neighbors and the "unload rate" goes down the more yards on the block. Then we will do a test mow for free to judge the ability of getting it done. Then price it from there. We have a few accounts that started as one yard and now we mow the entire block. No fences so we start at one end and work all the way to the other. Instances like this, we will even trim the trees and pick up the clippings for free. ( we always have at least one highschool kid that needs the work expirence) so with them making min wage its easy to give their time away for a happy customer that is willing to advertise for you.

 

[fireman gus]

We have a set minimum at $30. We try to price our yards to make $65-$75 per man hour. We are by no means the cheapest in our area but niether are we the most expensive. I can also say we have all the work we want.

 

[Joe79]

Really doesnt matter what you are doin wether it is cutting grass or tree removal. You have a certain amount of expenses you have to cover no matter what.

That being said... If you have a supervisor and a helper, one at say, $12 per hour, the other at $10 per hour... that's $22 per hour labor. Add in gas and travel time, say another $5 per hour (overhead) $27 per hour.

How much money do you want to make on the job after covering your costs? That's up to you. That's the joy of having your own business.

I have a $45, 5,000 SF minimum. If a lawn takes my guys an hour to do, I generally charge about $65 with a $2 fuel surcharge making it $67. But that is what I have to charge to cover all of my costs and still keep my profit percentage decent.

 

[honestblades]

If I am giving an estimate for "basic yard maintenance" (mowing,edging,weedeating,blowing) I give a price just by looking at the yard. Take into consideration the size of the yard,how much weedeating is involved,etc. Something else that I personally do,is add an additional fee if the customer has an asphalt driveway as opposed to concrete. An ashpalt driveway is not poured evenly,and you can bet your butt that you will ruin an edger blade everytime you use it on asphalt.

If I'm doing manual labor such as pulling weeds (thats what I hate the most) I will give an hourly rate.

A problem that you run into is that customers think it's ridiculous to charge them $30 an hour to pull weeds. If they don't like it,they can call someone else.

Bottom line,its best to look at the yard and price it,as opposed to doing the square footage. (The only way to know the proper sq footage is to measure it) and that takes time to do....not to mention after you mention it,you might not get the job.

 

[Acculawnsystems.com]

Use AccuLawnSystems.com to price based on sq footage. You can give instant online quotes without having to drive to give a quote. You waste no time, no fuel, and customers sign up online.