Measuring Lawns

[Lawn DOG]

How many of you actually measure you customers lawns? I have read several post in here about what people charge for different services but how many of you actually measure the lawns?

[crazygator]

I can usually just look at the property and tell what I will charge. But if it has a large open space, or I can't get a true judge I will walk it off to have a estimation of the size. I never need to know exactly how many square feet in the property just to mow. Only if putting in a large mulch bed would I need to get that close with sizing, but then again it would only be for the bed area and not the whole thing.

[RICKT761]

Hi Lawn Dog

We have always measured the lawns using a measuring wheel.

You HAVE to know the square footage if you plan to apply fertilizer,broad leaf weed killer or any other material and do it properly.

It could cost you $$$ on a weekly basis if you "miscalculate" the actual size of the lawns.

I would strongly suggest that you invest in a measuring wheel. It takes the guesswork out of it.

Richard Turner

R & R Landscaping

[Guido]

I won't go into measuring the yards to deeep here in this thread because I put a lot of input into a GREAT post a while back about measuring yards. If I have time later I'll find the link.

I think its a safe way to bid weather your apllying fert or just mowing. Of course we could all get a rough idea of how long it will take, but if you keep track of how many linear feet of trimming, edging, square feet of mowing and blowing, etc. you can pinpoint your production time and other important things.

Its a pain, but how long does it really take to do??

I suggest you guys read that other thread if you haven't already.

I think this definetly comes into play when your bidding against other contractors on a job and have to come in with a very accurate price.

Just my 2 anal cent though!

[HBFOXJr]

Measure them. For the turf don't get to picky about deducting for in lawn beds and sidewalks. Wether mowing or applying product your driving over or around these areas and using time or materials just like they were turf anyhow.

I do include the foundation plantings in the house foot print for deduct. I also deduct for drive ways, pools and other large areas not serviceable.

[AltaLawnCare]

I measure some of them. If I don't think I can ever sell them on anything other than basic mowing, I don't bother digging the wheel out.

[TGCummings]

I purchased a measuring wheel at the beginning of the year and started to base all my mowing on rough square footage instead of estimating time by just looking at the lawns. This has been widely successful for my profits. Not only that, but it has caused confidence in my quotes to soar. It's a far better system than just guestimating, and my business is the better for it.

However, do take into consideration other factors like extra edging surfaces, obstacles you need to weedeat around, volume of leaves you'll have to deal with because of trees, and large areas of blowout. Some of these factors will add just a few minutes per cut but if you want accurate profits you have to realize that these extra minutes add up.

-TgC

[JLC]

Are you guys just using a productivity formula to factor in the time once you have measured?

[BRL]

Ahhh.... Back from the dead, again. This one is probably on my list of the top 10 threads here at LS.

http://lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=419&highlight=measure

[Guido]

Originally posted by BRL
This one is probably on my list of the top 10 threads here at LS.

http://lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=419&highlight=measure

Definetly! I refer a lot of people that e-mail me with questions about job costing, estimating, and figuring out your equipment costs, etc, to my post on that thread.

When I write my book its going to be the first and favorite section I write! ;)

[AztlanLC]

What I alway do is go an take a look at the lawn and then figure out a price for mowing, then I measure and calculate the cost, when I first started doing this my prices use to be different, but now with the practice they are real close all the times most of the times the same, that doesn't mean I wont measure anymore, I do it just to prove myself.

[TJLC]

All the lots around here avg. 80x125. I also look at the amount of trimming and edging and figure this in also. I think if I did landscaping I would definately own a wheel. For lawns if in doubt I just look at the property on line to verify the sq. footage.

[kris]

Originally posted by JLC
Are you guys just using a productivity formula to factor in the time once you have measured?

I am.

To give you a little background on our maintenance division...It is only 2 years old.
This year I started measuring and using information I collected from the first year. I find this method highly succesfull and believe it is directly responsible for nearly doubling the accounts from previous year.
It has taken MOST of the guess work out of estimating and I will fine tune it every year with more and more records from previous years. Some things will mess it up ..eg.. litter ... You only learn things like this from doing the site... One of our runs have 4 commercial propertys and another across the street..well the garbage all seems to collect on the one across the street (in one section in particular). It takes almost as long to rake up the litter as it does to mow it. When I first started out I did not account for this. Live and learn. Keep accurate records of everything.

[Dochere]

If you do it once and do it right, you'll never have to do it again. Though most of us can look at an average lawn and give an approximation that is pretty accurate, it really doesn't take that long to be positively accurate. I like being positively accurate because you can latter access that information, say, when it's time to aerate or fertilize or any misc. opportunity to make more money, and be able to create a realistic bid and mail it off at any given time. No guess work or re-measuring required. Also, if you keep good records, you could rate your efficiency and such possibly down to a square foot. Imagine the boost in productivity you can gain in some instances by analyzing those figures.

[JLC]

Thanks Kris. I do the same thing. This as others have said greatly helps confidence in your bid. You know it's right on and there is no haggling over price. I just started doing it this year and it results in feeling good about new lawns, not feeling like crap every time you maintain something because you are doing it too cheap. Like Kris said, sometimes this system fails as you can't always account for everything, but it works most of the time. Now I just need a bump-o-meter to see how fast I can ride a lawn and my quotes would be even more accurate.

[Lawn DOG]

Thanks for your responses but I think I should have just posted a poll. I measure all of my accounts regardless. That way we can access the info with a click of a button and make any calculations for applicating or estimates for just about any service. I just get the feeling that alot of people on LS do not do this.