Estimated mowing time with 48" WB for 3/4 acre

[Lawnboy18]

I love showing your comments to my buddy's.
I paid $3000 cash for my toro 4 years ago.
Still rides and cuts perfect.
My average daily operating cost last year was $21.00 a day. That includes maintaining equipment. And gas.
That's around a $670 profit per day.
No truck or equipment or house payments.
Heck I don't even have a credit card.

The only need to ever carry 4 trimmers or edgers is just to say you have them.
If the big money mowers you buy are so great why do you trade them for new ones?
I like how you talk about mowers you know nothing about. Saying a mower is good because it has lasted you 3 years with less than 800 hours on it. Don't make it a good mower. It just means you never use it.

House payments don't have much to do with this. Even tho your truck is paid for, you will need another one some day and you need to maintain it. That all factors in your variable and fixed costs. That trailer also will need repairs and need to be replaced some day. Even tho you can do your repairs yourself and get a trailer for cheap, you still have to consider this in your costs. Depreciation. Any ways, I am sure you are making good money. Just a thought.

 

[Ric]

I get that, but to me there is this minimum to respect. It costs something to operate and you need to make enough money to be able to buy new equipment once your equipment is finished, pay your gas, insurance, repairs, etc.

I agree with covering the overhead and the bigger you are the more overhead you have. With someone with minimal equipment like someone that I described they don't have much to cover and the fact there not running the commercial grade stuff it's cheaper to maintain and those are just some of the reason they can charge minimal prices.

 

[Lawnboy18]

Very true. All tho, he needs to think ahead. It's hard to raise prices on clients. Better off starting to charge a little more than what you think.

 

[bertsmobile1]

It all depends upon how desperate one is to get some money.
No matter what, there will always be some one willing to do the job just a little cheaper.
And there will always be some one only willing to pay a cheaper price.
If you ignore the 200 totally incorrect assumptions that the whole "free market" economy theory is based on, this is what is supposed to deliver the best value to the end customer and keep prices in check.
The customer just wants their lawns mowed and if the operator is silly enough to do if for $ 5.00/hr then it is of no consequence to them.
And if the other operators stick to their floor prices , it is of no consequence to them either.
Eventually the underpriced operators go out of business or have heart attacks or get a bank roll and up their prices.
However there will always be some one with an overdue mortage payment, new baby, big fine , etc etc etc, hanging over their heads who will sacrifice to get the few extra dollars.

I just sold a mower before coming in for a late lunch to person who lives up the road and has been getting their grass cut by a contractor $ 100 for 1/2 acre clean space.
The last 3 times they did not take the grass away or spred the clippings leaving them in windrows so the customer popped in & bought a $ 500 28" RER with mulching deck.
That is how easy it is to loose a customer.
Most of the other contractors charge around $ 150 to mulch or $ 200 to mow & clear so the $ 100 was not unreasonable but they had given the customer unrealistic expectations and when not met, he acted.

 

[Lawnboy18]

Underpriced operators can hang around for a while sometimes around here. It's called not paying taxes.