Pricing

[ECS_1]

I have been in the business somewhat part time and i am still trying to figure out the whole pricing deal. In the past i have charged $35 per labor hour for mowing. This year i am parking my grasshopper for two new Kubota ZD-21's. I am in the process of hiring two employees, one for $8.50 per hour and another for $7.00 per hour. They are going to handle all the weekly mowing while i concentrate on the landscaping end. I was just wondering what you guys thought about my pricing if it is too low or too high. In the past i have done mainly churches and residential. This year i am going after more manufacturing facilities and office buildings. Any recomendations on pricing or advice would be appreciated.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Search results for Pricing click here (http://lawnsite.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=62987&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending)

BTW the guy making $8.50 is really making $10.63 and the one at $7.00 is $8.75.

$35 per an hour seems really low. That's $17.50 per a man hour.

Your labor cost is going to be $19.30 for each hour on the clock.

$35.00 per a man hour would be a better suggestion, but if you can try and charge more then that would be better.

You should be in the neighborhood of $100 an hour per a 2 man crew.

A 2 man mowing crew or any crew needs to generate at least $100,000 per a year minimum. If you can't make that, then it's not worth doing.

You labor is going to be around $25,000 for the mowing season.

$19.30 X 40 hours x 32 weeks.

$20 an hour for fuel, ins, payments, and other expences.

$20 X 40 X 32 weeks = $26,560.

Now we have $52,000 that's a 50% profit marging and not going to happen.

Figure the most you going to see is 25%

40% for employees.
40% for expences.

Leaves you with 20% for you to live on. And you still have to pay taxes on it.

[ECS_1]

In my above statement what i meant by $35 per labor hour was $35 per man hour or $70 per hour while the crew is on a job

[LAWNGODFATHER]

$35.00 per a man hour would be a better suggestion, but if you can try and charge more then that would be better.

Yes I made sure I pointed out per a man hour.

So at $70 X 40 hours X 32 weeks = $89,600

$17,920 is that enough for you to live on?

[CODYHEATHER]

Pricing depends on how bad someone wants the job. I work full time, and mow in the evenings, and had a chance to bid a commercial property this week, (the company I work for own's this property ) I know that the person mowing last year spent 6 hours a week mowing, so I bid it at $38 per hour, and another company bid it at $48 per hour. But.............. one of the large guys in this area said he wanted it bad because he mowed other propertys in that area, and bid it for $23 per hour. Go figure. Tell me how you can run a 60" mower for that kinda money, and pay someone to mow it for you? I couldn't stay in business very long with jobs like that. I'm tempted to go bid on some of his "other properties" in that area, cause he must be making a killing on these.
Sorry I had to vent, but this property was going to finance my new Z

[LAWNGODFATHER]

It's a numbers game.

Mowing gets you in the door for all the up sells.

Haven't you ever seen "FREE 2 liter of soda with fill a up of gas" "min 8 gal."

They get you in the store after you buy gas to "BUY" other items.

He is low on the mowing and much HIGHER for all the add ons. I'm sure it all balances out.

Mowing is the lowest profit margin of lawn care.

[gogetter]

[QUOTE]
BTW the guy making $8.50 is really making $10.63 and the one at $7.00 is $8.75.

LGF, I don't follow ya. ??

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Payroll taxes, workmens comp.

All added to their what the employee see's pay.

$8.50 plus that stuff is $10.63

$7.00 plus that stuff is $8.75

[PAPS]

My (2) man crew can generate anywheres from a bare minimum of $70.00 (really bad day) - $120.00 per hour. We average about $90.00 per hr, or (3) $30.00 houses per hour. Now, thats just with our residential clients, our commercial accounts generate more per hour. But I believe with (2) men, you need to be about $90.00 - $120.00 /hr.