Fertlizing prices

[CustomCare]

Whats the going rate per square ft.?
I bought out a guy on may 8th and took over all his fertilizers. I was kinda thumbin around and basically figured a penny per sq. ft.??? is this even close?

[oOTurfmanoO]

[QUOTE=I was kinda thumbin around and basically figured a penny per sq. ft.??? is this even close?[/QUOTE]

Not even close boss.

Fert. apps go from 5$/k to 8$/k depending on where you are located.

Others figure out the cost of material/k and add their amount on top.

[Tscape]

Yeah, not close. You will lose money fast.

[dwc]

$.01 x 1,000 feet = $10/K this is more than 5-8/K

[seaweed]

am i missing something? 1 penney/sq ft x 1000 sq feet is $10/1,000. i'd say if you can get 1 penney per sq ft - go for it.

[Tscape]

Yeah, that's right. Duh. Reset.

[CustomCare]

Well to the best of my knowlege it seems to work out for what he charged. He was all prepaid and after I bought him out I totatled all his payments and took 75% of that minus 800 for his collections. As payment to fullfill his obligations. I'm Actually figuring $.01 for 1.5 sq. ft. Ok so now its the idiot time for me what does K stand for?

[Norm Al]

i guess we all know who the business men are here now!

[Runner]

$10 per 1000? Man! I WISH! I would DIG going into a standard subdivision lot and getting $200-$240 per ap..

[grass disaster]

today i asked a gentleman if he found someone to do his fertilizing yet.

yup he said.

about 4 acres
about $400 per application
4 application per year.

this is what he told me he is paying

is this high???

[lawnservice]

Ok so now its the idiot time for me what does K stand for?
K = 1000

I'd suggest that whatever you decide to charge....charge per 1000sf and not per sq ft (yes its all the same thing....but we deal in products that coverage is measured in 1000sf. It'll just make your business operation a bit more simple)

[fga]

wow, i thought i always priced applications alittle too low, i guess not.

an average lawn here is about 1000 sqft, on an average home, i get a minimum $15 for a weed/feed application, and about $22 for an insect/grub application.

I have this one house that is lined up with larger ones, the lawn conists of a 10' curb piece, 3' wide. i get $7 (my one excepetion to my minimum rule:) )

[GreenUtah]

It's not just about chemical cost per K and time on the property. Travel time can play a huge factor. If I do lawns all within a 5 mile radius of my shop, my costs are much different than someone doing a rural route spread over 200 miles. Insurance, cost of living and other various overheads have to be factored in before you can decide what break even point is and this will be different for every single contractor/business. I'm surprised anyone would buy a biz and not know costs from the balance sheet.

[lawncuttinfoo]

Here in minnesota, scotts lawn service (as in the fertilizer company) just dropped a price sheet at my door:

2k sq ft $38.95
4k $40.50
6K $48.75
8k $57.25
10K $65.50

[oOTurfmanoO]

$.01 x 1,000 feet = $10/K this is more than 5-8/K


That makes $ense now that I see it worked out in front of me.

Muchos Gracias....

[TforTexas]

You have to know your chemical costs per year, averaged out over number of applications per year to come up with your cost per 1,000 per app. From there I work out my pricing to keep my chemical cost at around 15-17%. Then I can feel confident that my overhead costs (gas, oil, labor, taxes, insurance, etc.) are covered. Generally companies will have a minimum charge for lawns up to 4-5,ooo sq ft. then add around 2.50 per 1,000 up to 10,000 then maybe 2.00 per 1,000 to 15,000, 1.75 to 20,000 etc in order to give the larger lawns some kind of discount.
After you have what you think is a good pricing structure have a friend or relative who is not in the business call some of the big guys in the area and request a bid. You can compare thier prices to yours. If your way to high its back to the drawing board to try to lower your chemical costs.
This is also a good way to get some samples of competitors brochures, paperwork, gaurantees, etc.. I like to do that every year any way and I keep samples of every one elses paperwork so I can get (steal) ideas from them.

[Mscotrid]

You have to know your chemical costs per year, averaged out over number of applications per year to come up with your cost per 1,000 per app. From there I work out my pricing to keep my chemical cost at around 15-17%. Then I can feel confident that my overhead costs (gas, oil, labor, taxes, insurance, etc.) are covered. Generally companies will have a minimum charge for lawns up to 4-5,ooo sq ft. then add around 2.50 per 1,000 up to 10,000 then maybe 2.00 per 1,000 to 15,000, 1.75 to 20,000 etc in order to give the larger lawns some kind of discount.
After you have what you think is a good pricing structure have a friend or relative who is not in the business call some of the big guys in the area and request a bid. You can compare their prices to yours. If your way to high its back to the drawing board to try to lower your chemical costs.
This is also a good way to get some samples of competitors brochures, paperwork, gaurantees, etc.. I like to do that every year any way and I keep samples of every one elses paperwork so I can get (steal) ideas from them.

Shoot me now, I never thought I'd agree with a Longhorn....lol....T you basically were reading my mind as I scanned this thread. I have used a similar format but went too $3.00 instead of $2.50

[Russ]

today i asked a gentleman if he found someone to do his fertilizing yet.

yup he said.

about 4 acres
about $400 per application
4 application per year.

this is what he told me he is paying

is this high???
No. It's dirt cheap. I would not do it for that.

[lawnrangeralaska]

i fertilize all 75 accounts i mow,i buy 80 pound sacks, they retail for 21.50 i buy them for 11. i charge by the bag instead of a flat rate on the sq ft of the lawn. i bill the client on how many pounds of materials i use. some times i apply more fertilizer then needed just to make my lawns even greener. i charge 3x the retail of the bag. so about 65 dollars per 80 pound sack.

[CustomCare]

Thanks guys I appreciate it. I am still in the process of getting all the lawns measured. I dont have to bill out anything because he collected money for a 4 step service. Ive been paid to finish 3 steps. I am jut tryin to figure out charges for new customers. And yes the 2nd step is done

[mikesturf]

K = 1000

I'd suggest that whatever you decide to charge....charge per 1000sf and not per sq ft (yes its all the same thing....but we deal in products that coverage is measured in 1000sf. It'll just make your business operation a bit more simple)

When I quote a customer, I NEVER tell them what I estimated their square footage as. When I used to quote sqaure footage, I would always have some yahoo telling me that their lot is half that size-so therefore they want me to lower my price in half.