Rate per man hour?

[nwlandscaping]

How much do you guys charge per man hour? Not for mowing, but for cleanouts, planting, pruning, etc. My company is quite small, but we have been in the business for about 2 years. We started at $15 an hour, but now have moved up to $20.

[Duekster]

gezz. double it please. From the 20 that is.

[HOOLIE]

$60 an hour is the number a lot of guys shoot for, can vary from region to region.

$15 or $20???? By the time you pay your expenses and taxes you could just work at a job with less stress.

[PerfectEarth]

After reading around here for a while, I'll say you're gonna get a bunch of different answers with a lot of details and exceptions!! hehe. Charge what you think you're worth.

I'm generally 50-60$ an hour labor.

[Lynden-Jeff]

$40 per person per hour is generally what I run + disposal.

Cheers
Jeff

[nwlandscaping]

Wow, it seems in this area that most charge $20 or above, but I'm liking the $40 thru $60 lol Maybe thats what I'm worth at this point. I'm still in the learning stage and we still come across things that give me a bit of a scare. What do most of you do for this wage? Is this for maintenance or installs?

[Sandgropher]

Around here the adverts run from $15 per hour (i would say retired people) to $50 per hour and anywhere in between, the $50 crew are as busy as the $15 crew,,,,,,,not every bodys looking for cheap labour.

Funny on an Aussie website there was a discussion the other day, one guy was charging $20 an hour and getting a bit of work, he put it up to $44 and people started take him serously and he got a lot more calls.

The best way is to quote on the job, tell them it will be $300 or whatever and you can finish as fast as you like, you may get lucky and earn far more than say $50 per hour on some jobs.

[Wells]

For us it depends on the project, I have different labor rates for different types of jobs. Example would be a sprinkler repair job would get billed out at $65 per hour where a tree job would be billed out at $75 per hour.
Different services are in higher demand and can be charged out a higher rate. I'm sure the same applies in your area, you just need to find out what the going rate is for the services you offer.

[1MajorTom]

what percentage is overhead expenses? only you know what it costs to run your business. there are so many things that go into overhead, things that you might not even include if you sat down and broke everything down. there is equipment, truck(s), insurances, telephone, paper, envelopes, postage, printer inks, accountant fees, advertising fees, the list can go on an on. the FIRST thing you need to do is know what your costs are. then you can get a handle on what you should be charging. don't go by what people say here. everyone's cost of doing business is different.

[Duekster]

For us it depends on the project, I have different labor rates for different types of jobs. Example would be a sprinkler repair job would get billed out at $65 per hour where a tree job would be billed out at $75 per hour.
Different services are in higher demand and can be charged out a higher rate. I'm sure the same applies in your area, you just need to find out what the going rate is for the services you offer.

Additionally, those two examples may have a different Workers Comp rate as well.

[bullethead]

For us it depends on the project, I have different labor rates for different types of jobs. Example would be a sprinkler repair job would get billed out at $65 per hour where a tree job would be billed out at $75 per hour.
Different services are in higher demand and can be charged out a higher rate. I'm sure the same applies in your area, you just need to find out what the going rate is for the services you offer.

So you bill for one man on a tree crew @ $75/hr?

[txgrassguy]

I have three charge rates.
$55/hr for commercial
$50+/hr residential
$40/hr fixed income residential for elderly clients.
Everyone likes my rates, my crews are booked for almost two months in advance and I'm making money.
Life is good.

[topsites]

Price Logic
Even if the Industry hasn't a standard, the aim is to bring prices as close to a standard as possible. The entire formula involving cost, labor, taxes, and profit is best determined through experience and communication, it is more a matter of pricing a job based on the actual work vs. how long it takes, so the challenge of meeting an hourly rate rests with the operator instead of the consumer.

Huh?
Well if I can just charge by the hour then I'm buying a 21" pushmower and using that from here on out, why would I be so stupid as to buy a super fast Z to get an acre lot done in a jiffy if I can get paid for the mere passage of time, or is it that I can't get much more than $55 for that size lot so I need the equipment to get it done in short order? So it really isn't by the hour, it's by the job and the amount of work, the problem of meeting an hourly rate is yours and mine, if I can't get it done fast enough then I suffer, correct?

Next comes equipment, condition, and experience... All of this affects the pmh rate because as time goes by, our rate of production increases over the years as we improve methods and equipment, I am able to get more work done in less time so the price stays the same but I get paid more pmh.

'k, that having been said I agree that for a 2nd year, $25-$35 pmh would be much closer to where I stood about that time, and a $40 pmh outlook probably wouldn't hurt ... So, as you might suspect, yes, this is probably a good time to start on the long road to raising prices some, yes I know, but it has to be done lol.

[Wells]

So you bill for one man on a tree crew @ $75/hr?
That is correct, and if you think thats bad my rate for Christams Lighting installations this season is going to get billed out at $80 per hour.

Why would I stick to a standard rate for every job? If I was to start charging people $60 per hour for tree service work the other tree companies would start calling me a low-baller since the going rate is around $75 per hour.

All of our services have their own labor rate based upon the current in-town rate for that particular service.

[nwlandscaping]

So if I do choose to up my rates how do you do so with current clients? Would these new rates just apply to new clients? Thanks for all your input!

[nwlandscaping]

Also, how do you go about finding what the norm is? Would I call around different landscapers or how would that work?

[Wells]

I'm not sure how these guys are coming up with their hourly rate for things like mowing, aerating, fertilizing etc. In my situation what we make an hour for those types of services is always changing due to how tight the route is and how many we can push out in a given hour. Sometimes it may be as low as $45 per hour and sometimes it can be as high as $90 per hour but it's never consistent.

As far as the other services go you can call around to different tree companies, sprinkler repair companies, etc and tell them your interested in their service but need to know what their hourly billing rate is. Most of them should have no problem telling you the going rate.

[jeffscap]

[QUOTE=nwlandscaping;1764756]Also, how do you go about finding what the norm is? Would I call around different landscapers or how would that work?[/QUOTE


So if I do choose to up my rates how do you do so with current clients? Would these new rates just apply to new clients? Thanks for all your input!


As Far as the "Norm"there is none, -They have Landscape Data Books with times and Hourly Rates,(Mowing,hardscaping, tree work,etc.) compiled with varibles for your particular area,each area is a little different.This is only a guide because everybodys overhead is different as posted before.

Current clients are sent a letter of "intent" in their spring letter or agreement,and carried to your new clients. :)

[Precision Lawns]

It depends on the job. Mulch installs I charge by the yard, $60/yard installed (I get my mulch for $17.50/yard but it retails for $36/yard). Tree installs I charge by the tree, $100 per tree for large trees, $50 per tree for small trees (does not include tree price). Gutter cleaning is charged by the foot, $1/ft. And so on and so forth. Anything that doesn't fit into any other category is general labor which is $60/hour. I find that this ultimately gets me a LOT more per hour than just doing a flat labor rate for every job. I give my customers itemized invoices and they don't argue with that pricing, even though on some jobs I've worked super fast and walked away with over $200/hour in my pocket. When they look at their invoice and see 2 large tree installs, 4 yards of mulch, 6 small trees, and one hour labor, they think they're getting a good deal (and they are - I'm not overpriced, I'm just not cheap either).

[Military Lawns]

My flat rate is $40.00 per hour. Now, that may seem low but it is a two-person operation. Mostly my helper does all the work. I pay him $10.00 per hour. When I work with him on certain two-person jobs my flat rate jumps up to $50.00 per hour. I have a full-time job and my helper is my foreman and worker. Puts about $1500.00 a month in my pocket without even working most months. I spend a lot of my time cultivating relationships and customer service.

ML-

[BeautifulBlooms]

General Hand Labor which includes small equipment like rototiller, blowers, tarps, ahnd equipment, backpack sprayer, etc, but it also covers the cost to run our trucks and trailer too. I charge $45 per man hour. Mowing i charge $55.

Disposal is always extra above and beyond any of these rates!

You have to figure out how much you need to run your business, that includes your salary, your employees wages and unemployment and insurance etc, all your equipment costs, fuel etc, plus dont forget this one thing! PROFIT. Figure it into your costs or you will never succeed.

[grassmanak]

15-20 wth, how do you make a profit, i charge minumum of 75.00 per hour

[MattDavis]

Here in Alberta Canada we charge $60/hr canadian for tree pruning and removal services, and lawn companies are a dime a dozen, can't see them charging more than $30/hr canadian per person.......

[casco73]

what percentage is overhead expenses? only you know what it costs to run your business. there are so many things that go into overhead, things that you might not even include if you sat down and broke everything down. there is equipment, truck(s), insurances, telephone, paper, envelopes, postage, printer inks, accountant fees, advertising fees, the list can go on an on. the FIRST thing you need to do is know what your costs are. then you can get a handle on what you should be charging. don't go by what people say here. everyone's cost of doing business is different.

JUST WONDERING WHAT YOUR HOURLY LABOR RATE WOULD BE NOT EXACT BUT JUST A CLOSE IDEA I CHARGE $25. AN HOUR PER WORKER AND I'M STARTING TO THINK I SHOULD RAISE IT A BIT I'VE BEEN WORKING IN THE BIZ FOR CLOSE TO TWELVE YEARS AND I JUST GRADUALY RAISE IT A COUPLE BUCKS EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS