average cost of spring clean up?

[DandG]

On the average sized property what should the cost of a spring clean up be? I guess it would probably take me by my self about 2 1/2 hrs. just wondering what I should be charging.

[THEGOLDPRO]

my brother and i charge 35 an hour per guy, not including any materials used.

[mattfromNY]

What is average size? average around here, or average where you live?
Do you mean dethatching, trimming, brush removal, mulching the beds, the full sha-bang?
or just cleaning up some leaves?
too many variables to answer your question.
I charge $50/ hour, plus dump fees and materials fees.
Hope this helps.

[THEGOLDPRO]

What is average size? average around here, or average where you live?
Do you mean dethatching, trimming, brush removal, mulching the beds, the full sha-bang?
or just cleaning up some leaves?
too many variables to answer your question.
I charge $50/ hour, plus dump fees and materials fees.
Hope this helps.**** maybe i need to up my price, lol

[mattfromNY]

I used $32/ man hour last year (my first year), but I bust my a$$ and dont stop for nothing until the job is done. I tried out $50/ hour on a couple of jobs and found no complaints, I was able to do one or two less jobs and bring in the same money with less back pain at the end of the week. So far as I am not losing jobs or having any major complaints, the labor rate stays at 50. As far as I am concerned, if someone wants it cheaper, I could do it for the lesser rate, slack a little during the job and take my time and it all ends up the same in the end.
If I was you, and all the other people who read this post, I'd raise my price too! Then we'd all live a little better!

[THEGOLDPRO]

yeah but you work solo no??? my brother and i are partners so were always together so its more like 70 an hour with 2 of us there, so it guess it all evens out in the end.

[mattfromNY]

True! But I work like 3 men and a boy, so my customers are REALLY getting a deal! LOL.

[THEGOLDPRO]

haha yeah im a bit lazier i suppose i try not to kill myself while working its not worth it.

[ManorD24]

$120 minium and thats on houses that are less than 1/4 acre, no thatching, just blow out the beds, lawn and give it first cut. Less than an hour with 2 guys working.

[Uranus]

Well if you take 2 1/2 hours solo to do the job that would work out to be $125 @ $50 per man hour.

That is my minimum for fall cleanups, got a few that I can do in 45 minutes solo and get the 125 dollar check with a thank you and a smile.

Spring cleanups are alot harder than the fall cleanups. In the fall you are cleaning the lawn and in the spring you are scrubing the lawns.

I dont touch anything for under $175 in the spring. About 10% of my accounts are priced under $200 per cleanup. I can go up as high as $350 for a larger than average lawn. Then there are the really BIG ones. We wont even talk about those.

So basicly what I'm saying is nothing for less than $175, but my average is around $250-$275 for spring cleanups.

[terrapro]

**** maybe i need to up my price, lol

ive said this more than once but since it concerns my industry and i support a minimum industry standard price i will say it again and again and again.

IF YOU ARE NOT CHARGING A MINIMUM OF $45PER HR PER MAN YOU ARE NOT CHARGING ENOUGH.

1 person working=$45perhr minimum
2 people working=$90perhr minimum
3 people working=$135perhr minimum
etc.....

if you have 3 guys working you are getting 3 times as much work done. damn guys get what you are worth. i know i dont see much after taxes, gas, equipment, food, vehicles, and employees get their chunk.

[mattfromNY]

<ive said this more than once but since it concerns my industry and i support a minimum industry standard price i will say it again and again and again.

IF YOU ARE NOT CHARGING A MINIMUM OF $45PER HR PER MAN YOU ARE NOT CHARGING ENOUGH.

1 person working=$45perhr minimum
2 people working=$90perhr minimum
3 people working=$135perhr minimum
etc.....

if you have 3 guys working you are getting 3 times as much work done. damn guys get what you are worth. i know i dont see much after taxes, gas, equipment, food, vehicles, and employees get their chunk>



..........AMEN!!!!

[ECS]

I charge 3 times the price of the lawn plus 1 hr to go to the dump and the dump fee. After tracking my time on the properties over a couple of years it works out good for me doing it this way. My price is based on $60 per m/h and with spring cleanup, it is usually much more than that in the end. It takes me less than 3x the time to do it. When I go to the dump/landfill it takes an hour, if I go with 3 properties to the dump I am getting paid for 3 hrs, 1 hr from each property.

[JayD]

<ive said this more than once but since it concerns my industry and i support a minimum industry standard price i will say it again and again and again.

IF YOU ARE NOT CHARGING A MINIMUM OF $45PER HR PER MAN YOU ARE NOT CHARGING ENOUGH.

1 person working=$45perhr minimum
2 people working=$90perhr minimum
3 people working=$135perhr minimum
etc.....

if you have 3 guys working you are getting 3 times as much work done. damn guys get what you are worth. i know i dont see much after taxes, gas, equipment, food, vehicles, and employees get their chunk>



..........AMEN!!!!

Man.........I just lost out on a bid that I put in. It was for a business with 13 locations that took nearly 100 miles to get to all of them.The properties were so litterd with junk fro the winter snow plowing pushing everthing onto the grass. I was to rake and sweep and pick up everthing and take away. I prised it at 92 man hours @ $16.00 per hr. and did not get the job. We are talking about just under 5 acers.I thought after reading these post, WOW, I was really low. NOT TRYING TO BE A LOWBALLER, just am new at it. May I was very lucky that I did not get it.

[Ric3077]

Man.........I just lost out on a bid that I put in. It was for a business with 13 locations that took nearly 100 miles to get to all of them.The properties were so litterd with junk fro the winter snow plowing pushing everthing onto the grass. I was to rake and sweep and pick up everthing and take away. I prised it at 92 man hours @ $16.00 per hr. and did not get the job. We are talking about just under 5 acers.I thought after reading these post, WOW, I was really low. NOT TRYING TO BE A LOWBALLER, just am new at it. May I was very lucky that I did not get it.

You must be joking...even lowballers charge $30/hour...you need to charge $60/hour to start and then as your expenses change...you can alter your price, but you should get a minimum of $60/hour...people pay it all the time

[Poncho25]

Man.........I just lost out on a bid that I put in. It was for a business with 13 locations that took nearly 100 miles to get to all of them.The properties were so litterd with junk fro the winter snow plowing pushing everthing onto the grass. I was to rake and sweep and pick up everthing and take away. I prised it at 92 man hours @ $16.00 per hr. and did not get the job. We are talking about just under 5 acers.I thought after reading these post, WOW, I was really low. NOT TRYING TO BE A LOWBALLER, just am new at it. May I was very lucky that I did not get it.




I wouldn't be surprised that they didn't give you the job because you were to low! Not to be an ass or anything but as a home owner if I was given a price that I knew was way to low that would tell me that 1. this person has zero experience, 2. I am going to get what I pay for. I mean, I am new also but I know what my hourly rate is and so should you! 45 min per hour. If i have someone helping me i charge 40 per man hour.

Be glad you didn't get it.

[PatriotLandscape]

While you can charge anthing you think you are worth your minimum should be based on some math to make sure you are covering your overhead.

For the response to the guy who says he owns everything so he has no overhead. YOUR WRONG. Owning equipment is overhead.

Calculate what you will need to spend on equipment. Maintenance on what you own and budget the cost of what you want to buy. divide that by the number of hours that are available to work usually 2000.

If you plan on buying a new truck your customers pay for it not you so it should be figured loosely like this

new truck 40,000
estimated life of truck 4 years
or 8000 hours your truck alone will cost you 5.00 an hour plus ins./gas

I highly recommend to all people to read charles vander kooi's books and see him in a seminar you will learn more in 6 hours than you ever have in years of business.

[JayD]

Thanks guys,
I know that now. Like I said, it wasn't until I read some of these post did I know I screwed up.....But man....I think maybe I was lucky that I didn't get it. But you know, I look at it as a leason well learned. The time I had in it going out and looking, measuring,writing up the bid, waiting, was a learning thing for me. TRUST ME.....I do not want to be a lowballer.I just am thankful that you guys post this stuff on here so I can learn from it.
Thanks for the input.

[godzilla]

No less than $125. Average clean-up takes around 2 - 3 hrs with 1 guy.