flower bed installs how do you charge

[bigw]

Would you simply charge hourly rate plus mark up on materials for new beds made from scratch or by sq ft or how??

[MOWEMJEFF]

I charge hourly with mark up of 25% on top of retail price. So if it took me 3 hours to install 100$ worth of plants I'd charge $45/hr x 3=$135 plus $125 for the plants that really only cost me $67 with my 33% discount.

[bigw]

anyone else?

[Az Gardener]

I charge unit prices to keep life simple. I charge T & M for the bed prep. I know some even build that into a unit price but I find lot more variables to bed prep. I will not plant flowers without some bed prep so once the bed is ready to go I have a pretty good grasp historically of what it will cost to get the flowers in.

To calculate a unit price I divide my product cost by my "margin" so a flat of flowers that cost 12.50 gets divided by a 1.33 margin = 9.93 this is profit on the materials. Add it to the cost 12.5 + 9.39 now we are up to 21.89 Then add labor 13.00 ( 1/3 of an hour at 40 per man hour) now we are up to 34.89 now add something for warranty say 12% that is 4.18 plus the 34.89 and we have a unit price of 39.07 per flat of Jumbo six pac's, that's 48 little flowers.

You should also add some delivery cost to this number. The above prices are for illustration purposes only and are not recommended or industry standard prices. This is a valuable methodology for any unit price calculations for most bidding applications.

[Grits]

I charge by the hour plus marked up materials and disposal. And yes, it can sometimes be difficult to estimate how long it will take.

[bigw]

lol yeah how do you estimate an hourly time before you even get started,i mean you can run it different situations that take more time,do most of you cut the sod away or do you use something like round up first and then come back and till? Is a dollor a minute a good hourly rate for this type of work or is that alittle too high?

[barefeetny]

BigWlol yeah how do you estimate an hourly time before you even get started,i mean you can run it different situations that take more time,do most of you cut the sod away or do you use something like round up first and then come back and till?
[B]Grits; I charge by the hour plus marked up materials and disposal. And yes, it can sometimes be difficult to estimate how long it will take.

i live between two glacial mountians the shawagunks and the catskills

try figuring out any digging time can be a shot in the dark at best

I often bid the job and go hourly on the digging time.... you never know when you will find a sullivan county potato

you can get burned in a hurry from changing your tool from a shovel to a backhoe... this goes for any job where i'm required to dig

Thats why raised beds are so prevalent here... most of my customers know firsthand the rock issue... i once had to move a patio walkway because i found a rock the size of the house less then 1/2 inch under the grass

Good luck on the bid

Nate

[Slcareco]

Just mark the retail price of the plant(s) by 3

ie. (5) 100 dollar trees = $1500

[barefeetny]

"If only grass was emo it would cut itself"


lol but it would be a shade between dark grey and black
and awful depressing to be around

[Slcareco]

haha then put a patio on it lol