11 acre lot

[corycc]

I am preparing a bid for an 11 acre lot with about 8 or 9 acres of grass to be cut every 8 to 10 days. I don't have the equipment, but fortunately they have a ford tractor with a 72" Woods deck on it. The lot is a little hilly but not bad. There is under 30 mins of trimming to be done and a little blowing. This is my first large job and I am not sure what to charge. I was thinking I would be able to cut steady at 7 or 8 miles per hour and that the whole job should take maybe just over three hours. How much should I charge?

[kris]

Are they supplying fuel, maintenance etc for the tractor?

[smburgess]

3.5 hours X YOUR hourly rate + expenses (assuming you are doing it by yourself???, paying for gas, string, etc.???). I like the easy questions!

[CLARKE]

I get about $35 per acre 2 acres $45 or $50 3 acres
$65 or $75, Now 11 acres lets see it depends on where
its at, But i would go with $20 or $25 per Acre so that
would be $220 to $300 per mowing if not a lot of travel
time is there i say $240 ot $250 per mowing thats what i would
do, But my LAWN CARE is me my son and brett. I have 2 dixie
choppers and not a lot of over head. smaller is better i think.

[corycc]

They are supplying all the gas and regular maintenance. So my only expense is travel and the use of my trimmer. Since I am using their stuff I don't need to charge $300 do I?

[syzer]

Clarke you charge $50.00 for a 3 acre lot? How do you eat?

[oneEXMARKfan]

I read it as 50 for 3 acres at first, but then I noticed 2 acre at 45- 50, and 3 acres at 65-75.

[Pauls Mowing]

Steve got it right, 3.5 hours x your hourly rate.

Paul

[syzer]

Sheesh still 3 acres for 65-75 we get like 50-65 here for one acre lots.

[stslawncare]

very interesting scenerio. could u descrive the property, a little hilly is no biggy for a tractor. trees? gardens? open field? if this is a open field, using a tractor and 6' mower should be a piece of cake. heck get a walkman roll up the sleeves and cruise while getting a farmers tan. i would love that job. now for the price, if its the situation i described above, not a big money make in my opinion, only true work would be the weedwacking, so charge a good bit for the weedwacking, but for the mowing half of your hourly rate and thats about it i would think, also if its a open field shouldnt take u 3 hours, what hp is the tractor? give me some more info and between myself and grandparents (farmers) i can get u a good bid amount.

[ronslawncare]

any1 who mows a acre under 50 bucks is nuts i dont care if your using a dixie or a 21 inch wutever a acre is a acre come on guys were always talking about the scrubs if your a professional why would you have to charge half your price because its wide open same amount of work your doing it only faster because you paid for that machine to do the work faster not cheaper.i would go high thats my opion ....11x50 is 550 you want to give him a break say 450. explain my charge is 50 acre if you charge 35 a hour for 3 hours =105 big difference ....

[Scag48]

Hey guys. I've just closed a bid for a 1 1/2 acre job with a fair amount of trimming. It has a pretty good sized hill in one spot, but the rest is flat and there are trees in the hilly area. I bid it at $50 a week (mow) and every other week I will mow and trim for $75. He had another LCO bid it at $75 a week just to mow so I gave the better bid (obviously). I will now be able to buy a Toro Groundsmaster that I need to complete the job efficiently and faster than doing it with a 38" deck garden tractor. The guy that owns it has some other jobs to do as well besides just mowing. A block wall installation is in the future and other odds and ends will follow as well. Show me the $$$! Good luck and happy bidding!

[John DiMartino]

Scag48-I dont see how your going to upkeep a Toro goundsmaster,let a alone buy one with that job @50 a cut.You underbid by quite a bit.I wouldnt do that job for any less than 75 either.

[Finecut]

I hate to answer a question with a question...but how can you charge someone who supplies the equipment and gas $300.00 to mow their property? Is this job taking you three hours to mow? I don't believe you can mow 3 acres per hour cutting it every 8-10 days. Would you pay nearly one hundred dollars per hour to get this work done?

I think the only fair way to charge them is to give them a per hour price for the mowing. This is not the way to make money!

[Scag48]

John-I'm sorry for not making it clear. I'm buying a used Groundsmaster for $1200. I'm gonna try to use it on some other jobs as well. It has a 44" deck so it should be quite a bit faster both in ground mowing speed and overall mowing time. This summer I have all day to work anyway so my time is worth alot less than money. I can't charge alot for my work because of the economy here (in the crapper right now). I think this is a fair price. I try not to think of the weekly amount, that is a factor, but if you add it all up, it's around $200 a month for this job. That's quite a bit for people here. I'd say I'm blessed with this job. That's just the way it is here. I'm glad to see that you guys can get alot for your services. I would LOVE to get paid as much as you guys do when it comes to service. Oh well, I don't have a lot of overhead so I can charge less but I try not to be a scrub. I just can't charge as much as you guys so don't put me in the scrub collection. ;) At least I don't do cheap work, like the other LCO's do here. They are cheap and it shows. Although there are some that are expensive but do cheap work so go figure. I like to give good work at an affordable price. Later guys.

[stslawncare]

hey guys, think i should clarify some things for this guy, the only equipment that is his is the weedwacker, THE TRACTOR IS NOT HIS NOR ARE THE EXPENSES. big difference in what to charge right? two when figuring how much to charge a hour and how long it would take, take into consideration what hes using. 6' mower, a ford tractor (still dont know size of it), ur telling me u are going to charge what u charge a regular job using ur own equipment? give me a break.

[Toroguy]

I would probably go to 75% of wage to operate the other guys equipment. It sounds like a nice property.

Scag48, I think you wll have alot of room to raise the price on him next season. Do an outstanding job and you should get referrals of similar sized lots for next season or possibly this season yet.

Good luck to you both.

[Lawnworks]

I had a similar bid the other using other people's tractor. I would charge $25 an hour plus whatever you want for the trimming for the first time and then give them a set price based on how long it took you. This way you will get faster and better w/ the tractor while making more money.

[corycc]

It is a 45 Horse Deisel, fairly new. Looks to be in good shape. 6' Woods mower. mostly open mowing, but there are some trees. The grass is not really good no fertilizer, it is basically a field. I think I should be able to mow at 7 or 8 mph, right? I finally decided to charge 170 per visit with very little expense for me. I doubt I will get the job seeing as how they had been mowing it themselves.

[stslawncare]

open field with few obsticals and a good strong tractor and mower like that u should be able to knock that stuff down in know time. with very little work or energy involved.

[CLARKE]

At $170.00 there stuff not to bad hope you get the
job, Hope some of us were of some help to you. CLARKE