Help me bid

[Greenbrier]

New getting into the commercial projects. I have a bid on a 320 appartment complex. I figured around 30K should be about right. That gives room for three employees plus myself, 4 total, gas, insurance, and repairs. Its a 52 week/yr job. I figured one day a week should get it. I also thought that I would allow the apt co. pay for any mulch, flowers, straw, at cost when provided, labor would already be included. What am I forgetting? Am I too high? Too low. I live in the South East, so $8/10 per hour should get me some good help. Thanks for your input.

RC

[hoskm01]

"About right" and "should get it" wouldn't be the terms I would use for estimation if I were bidding on this. Square footage of lawn to mow, trimming, hedges to trim, fertilization, irrigation repair etc... how much, whats the cost? Taxes on payroll, workmans comp, insurance? Specify these and you might get some better help.

[gringo gardener]

too many variables ... what r the specs for the site ... is there interior scaping involved ... annual/seasonal color changes ... who covers replacement costs for undesireable plant specimens/materials ... etc etc etc

[Greenbrier]

I have never broken a site down to the square foot. I know how much acreage I can mow in four hours. That includes edging and hedges. I do not think there are any courtyards to worry about. As I stated on the seasonal, that I would alot for the Apt Company to pay on a quartly basis the COST of plants and mulch required, I would provide the labor based on my 52 week budget of $30K. I'll check it out next week and let you know more.

Thanks,

RC

[hoskm01]

Dont forget about markup on plants, if youre getting a discount at the nursery, you shouldn't be passing that on to the customer, that is YOUR benefit.

[MarkintheGarden]

New getting into the commercial projects. I have a bid on a 320 appartment complex. I figured around 30K should be about right. That gives room for three employees plus myself, 4 total, gas, insurance, and repairs. Its a 52 week/yr job. I figured one day a week should get it. I also thought that I would allow the apt co. pay for any mulch, flowers, straw, at cost when provided, labor would already be included. What am I forgetting? Am I too high? Too low. I live in the South East, so $8/10 per hour should get me some good help. Thanks for your input.

RC

Are you saying that you will deploy your crew for 52 full days over the course of the year for 30k? that comes to about 577.00 per day for a crew of four.

8/10 per hour should get you good help, but it has not for me or many other people who post on this site. 8/10 an hour has always got me pitas! If I thought paying more would help, I would, and if I find the right people I will try it.

[elmo1537]

We take care of a 250 unit complex and get paid 24000 for just mowing six month out of the year. The snow contract is about 22000 for the same place. All of the mulch, hedge trimming, etc. is extra. You may want to refigure your numbers. An employee with the correct insuranance that is on the books that is getting paid 10 dollars an hour will cost you 13 or more. Figure all of your cost and you could be pushing 35 per hour per man easy with profit. If I was taking care of this property for total 52 weeks one day a week 8 hour days. My contract would be almost 66000 dollars per year.

You need to figure out a lot of variables before you put this estimate in.

Remember if you lowball you may scare them away or lose your a$$ amd if you over bid then it is game over. Most experienced contractors in your area can come within a few hundred dollars of each other if they really want to just because they know exactly what they are looking at. Do your homework dont just guess. By the sound of it you are farely green(new) with large properties so a 30000 contract would be a nice score but if you lose money on it then you wasted a lot of time for nothing.

[CkLandscapingOrlando]

You need to be asking this to people In your area.In florida we get 52 weeks where the next guy might get half that.I would think that would have alot to do with how much all of these prices range

[mattfromNY]

Elmo, what co. are you with?