What should I charge?

[jmcooper]

I had a call today from a realtor wanting me to cut the grass on a repo house for a local bank. This realtor handles all the repo's for this area. She asked if I could cut and send them the bill and the bank would cut me a check. The house is about 10 minutes away from where I live. I went by the house to get an idea of what to charge and I couldn't believe what I saw. The lot is .57 acres. The front yard came up to my waist and the back yard came up to my chest. I have a 36" w/b with a 13hp kohler. I have it set at about 2 1/2 inches. Could this mower handle this height of grass? If so, what should I charge for something like this? I was thinking around $75 but not sure if this is enough. There are very few trees to cut around but the whole back yard is fenced, I peeked through the grass and found it. It is level but no telling how many snakes are hiding, if I see a snake, I quit. Has anybody ever cut grass this high before? If I do it I will take before and after pictures. On a yard like this, I could care less about stripes, I'll be happy just to get it cut. Thanks for any feedback.

[kris]

seems to me the realtor just said cut it and send me the bill... so , go in and charge per man hour..that way you can't lose...and to tell you the truth I would do it no other way.

[smburgess]

One word... BRUSHOG

Charge for the rental and YOUR hourly rate for the clean up.

[EROSS17]

Is the grass seriously that high? Man, I wouldn't even consider doing it. If your going to, I would walk every square inch of that property to make sure there aren't any hidden rocks, stumps, cars etc.
$75 is way, way, way, way to cheap. Do they just want it knocked down or knocked down and cleaned up? I would charge big money for a headache like that.

[jmcooper]

I'm serious, it's that high. I did a walk through when I went by to check it and about all I saw were a few pieces of paper. I did find a dog house but no dog. Hopefully I won't find the dog if I cut it.

[DBM]

I've done quite a few one time cuts this year as it's my first year in the business. I haven't had to cut anything quite that high though. You can be sure to do some damage to your equipment by running over something, as I seem to on almost every one time cut; even though "I was sure" I'd picked up everything. What are you going to do about disposal? I can't see being able to mulch 3 foot high grass. I would charge by the hour if possible as I can't see any way you can accurately forecast the time spent on that job. I would bid it as an all day job, if you get it great - if you don't you would probably be better off.

If you do it, be sure to post the photos!

Doug

[cantoo]

I do these once in awhile, you're already thinking along the right lines. Pictures pictures pictures. I knock it down with my 44" Toro then the next day I go back and clean it up with my Walker. I charge about 4 times the normal rate and tell them if I hit anything we share the repairs. I have never hit anything but this makes them think twice about calling you earlier next time. I charge extra for garbage removal and these places always have loads. These lawns will look like heck when you are done because the grass is so long it is thin at the bottom but it will come back. Sell them fertilizer to speed the process up.

[Vintage]

I don't worry so much about what the mower hits in a yard like that. It's the damn bees, it seems everytime I get into an overgrown area I go over a bees nest. One time I got stung over 200 times, that was fun!!

Price it per hour and tell them upfront your hourly charge.

[Lawn DOG]

When I first got started, I use to do alot of these bank repo's. The problem with these jobs is they are almost always nasty.It really brought back alot of memories reading your post. But when you are trying to get started you will try to prove you are superman and no job is too tough. I did quite a few for $75 and that is too cheap. But back then it meant alot to me to prove myself. It really should be bushhogged. You may want to be honest with the realtor and see how much money they have to play with. Many of the repos have preset amounts they can spend on these services. This maybe one you might want to reconsider. Good Luck!

[joshua]

all i have to say is that most likely your best bet is to rent a brush hog, or since your gunna make some good money off this job to just buy a brush cutter from echo or shaiwdia it will come in handle down the road if you do start to do work for this company, eve if not you have it for all those people who call in the middle of may and want their lawn cut for the 1st time of the year.

i would charge $30 a hour for myself and $15 for my guy. brush cut it down to about 4 inches, rake it all up trow it in the bed of the truck then cut it at 3.5 inches and tell them you'll be back in 4 days to get it to where it needs to be, then charge them for what the lawn is worth after the 1st cut.

[gene gls]

The lot is small, a brush hog will not work. It would flatten down more grass than it cuts. I use plastic blades on my trimer.I would cut the grass 4 to 6" high with the trimer just like your cutting hay. Let it dry for a day to lessen the weight you would have to handle and then pick up as much as possiable. Set mower at the high position and make a pass over the lot, then drop your cut down 1" and cut in another direction. I would charge $150.00 plus depending on how thick the grass is growing.

Gene

[smburgess]

Gene...

What would the size of the lot have to do with wether or not you could use a brushhog? It's only a little bigger than a push mower and would cut ALOT faster than a weedeater or even a mower AND most importantly your putting wear and tear on a piece of rental equipment that costs you about $50 a day.

[HOMER]

I'd just take my Dixie Chopper:p in there and run over it a couple times.

Shouldn't take more than an hour to do the whole job.

I'm guessing they aren't looking for a perfect cut as it is a repo. They'll call you back at the end of the summer and have you do it again.

I used to cut for a mortgage company that was out of town, had 7 houses. Each one took me about 20 minutes (once I did the first cut) and I made excellent money on them. I would cut them every 2 weeks. Some guy bought all of them and I had to stop. I would ask the bank if you could put them on some sort of schedule, at least every 14 days and give them a price for maintenace.

[jmcooper]

Click the link below and look at the before and after pics. This is the house the realtor got me to cut for a bank. I worked my a** off.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1687334&a=12949353&f=0

[Mike (MLC)]

You weren't kidding about how tall that grass was. Looks like you did a good job cleaning it up. Hope you got paid enough for all that work. Did you end up using your mower or did you rent something??

[joshua]

looks great job well done, just make sure you get what you deserve on this. good luck to you this year.

[jmcooper]

It ended up taking me about 7 hours to cut. The grass was so tall it would lay over when I made a pass. I had to cut over the same row 3 times before it would cut. I used my 36" w/b and a weedeater. I'm making the bill up for them today. They will pay for this, no excuse for letting it get this high.