Need help on quote: Pine Straw Installation

[teamoneoutdoors]

Customer has 1600 square feet of bedding area.

Calculated max of 54 bails of straw.

Estimated three hours to lay straw down and tuck under plants and make it look good.

Quoted $400

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

[Perfect Lawn]

I double the Price of straw.( ex. 3.25 per bale =6.50 per bale put down)

[tjsquickcuts]

Thats a good estimate....over $7 per bale.....but are you sure 54 is going to be enough???? Well I guess thats about right, I would do 60 just to be on the safe side.....Are you doing it solo, or with some help.....2 People can knock out 54 Bales in less then a hour to hour and a half max with clean-up and tuck......Good luck...and make it look good and thick

[WJW Lawn]

Wait wait wait. Correct me if Im wrong here...but 1 bail should get you 40 ish sq feet ... So...do you think 56 is too much? Its 2240sq ft with 56 bails.

[teamoneoutdoors]

I was estimating two men taking 1.5 hours thus charging three total labor hours. Thanks for the feedback.:)

[teamoneoutdoors]

Wait wait wait. Correct me if Im wrong here...but 1 bail should get you 70 sq feet...and even if you wanna spread it thicker at 50 sq feet...56 bails would still cover 2800sq ft. So...do you think 56 is too much?

With the difference in coverage from talking to different suppliers, I was unsure of exact coverage ber bail. I did note in the quote that credit would be issued for any unused bails.

[WJW Lawn]

Very cool...and good for you for offering a credit! Oh...and nice to see another local (to me) on lawnsite! Good luck with your bid!

[YardPro]

remember when pricing pine straw to include pick up time, and cleanup...

We lay well over 5K bales at our condo's every spring. we can NEVER average more than 10 bales per hour... that's with a tractor trailer sitting on site..

if you have to go and get it.. you'll never average 10 bales per hour..

you'll have at least one hour in pickup and delivery if not more.

then unloading and transporting at the site, laying, rolling and tucking the edges, cleaning any straw off plant branches, then raking the straw needles from the grass, collecting them and performing the final cleanup...

You can lay 20 bales per hour, no problems, but when you count delivery, transport, and cleanup time then the average takes a big dive.

[tjsquickcuts]

Wait wait wait. Correct me if Im wrong here...but 1 bail should get you 40 ish sq feet ... So...do you think 56 is too much? Its 2240sq ft with 56 bails.

Wow, 40 plus sq ft per bale...thats cool....I usually only go about 25 sq ft per bale....just so that is thick and fluffy....I charge $6.50 per bale.....we buy it by the trailer loads because We have so many accounts that have Pine Straw. Makes it easy for us, because I usually have a idea on how many bales are needed for the day, so load up as much as I can, and get to work....cuts down on having to go wait at the supplier for Jim Bo to finally come over and take care of you....

But on another note, I signed a contract with a Home Assc today, 2488 bales, or 1244 x 2 times a year....Once in Jan....which will be next week...and again in June...around the last week in June.....I ended up settling on $5.75 per bale because the last LCO was charging $5.50....but it always looked thin and the pinestraw looked old......I didnt want to bend, but I wanted the account, because I have 39 homes in this Neighbor and they are still building.....

[clallen03]

I like my pine straw to be thick when I lay it on, I think it looks better. Then when the rain and dew hits it a couple of time it settles and looks even better. 30sq ft is normally the average per bail for me so I think you will be fine.

I just laid 30 bails a couple of days ago and it took me and 1 helper about 2 hours, this is pull up to drive off. I think 54 bails will take two people about 3 hours.

What is your hourly rate? I normally charge $8 a bail and I pay 3.25 a bail, so I make an OK profit on pine straw, I cant quit my job doing it though. I never tell my client what I charge per bail I just give them a quote and be done with it.

So to answer your question I do feel that your price is fine.

54 bails at 3.25 per bail plus 7% tax is about $188. You charge $400 so you make $212 for 3 hours labor. This adds up to about $35 an hour for 2 men.

Like I said an OK profit, nothing to write home about.

Good luck.

[WJW Lawn]

So how much would you have charged? Because anything much over 400 bucks for pinestraw on 1600 sq feet might not cut it here.

[clallen03]

I would have charged $8 a bail, so about $435. Not much more then you. I'm just saying its just not much money to be made in pine straw, unless you can charge $12 a bail like some others on the site. I just cant find these type of customers.

[WJW Lawn]

Oh I agree...it's tough to make money on...and make it look good. I stick to my prices...but you should have seen the look on a guys face yesterday when I quoted him $575.00...lol All the while Im thinking...well....it's not like Im getting rich off this! lol

[clallen03]

I think you can make a reasonable profit on it and if you do a good job it may get you some referals for more jobs. So think of it like that.