spring cleanup rates

[jsaunders]

Just wanted to find out what is being charged- What do you charge per hr/per man. In Mass. they charge $30 per hr for labor while duing spring & fall cleanups. I think that is low myself.

[stslawncare]

per man hour is a good price, in my own opinion for a spring cleanup $30 per hour is good

[jsaunders]

I usually charge $25 or $30 per hour myself but heard of people charging 35-40 per hour- then there are those that charge $15-20 which doesn't help any of us who do this full time. Still no better job to do than landscape.

[millsmowing]

I charge 40 dollars an hour. Seems that I charge more every year and people keep saying "is that all". I charge even more the last week before mowing starts because I'm sick of doing them by that time.

[jaybird24]

I charge $45 an hour or at least use that as a reference for bidding the job. I clean up any dead stuff ie hostas and such, leaves and all that. If they want it detatched that is seperate. Just curious as to what everyone includes in their cleanups

[Harvestman]

Last year we charged $25.00 per hour. This year were going to $30.00. I still think we are a little low for our area, but if I increase it to fast clients will bolt.

[juststarting023]

i charged 60 to 65 dollars and that includes all dumping fees which usually 4 or 5 bags and my father-n-law makes compost for his garden. most of my clean ups take me about an 1 1/2 hrs mostly smaller yards around here the bigger yards between 75 and 100 ..not bad money for a few hours work....:blob3: :blob3: :blob3: :blob3: :blush: :blush: :blush:

[rodfather]

$65/hour/man.

[Mykster]

35 per man hour.

[wxmn6]

Could you guys please be more specific to what equipment you are using and other expenses that adds up to the total hourly cost? I could not see how you could be making $30 to $65 an hour doing manual clean up.

[rodfather]

What expense? Simple...labor, equipment, truck, insurance, wc, replacement, rent/storage, etc., etc.

And I would like to make a profit...not just "cover" all of the above.

[proline32]

I use a tier system based on the footages of the property, I have 5 levels of clean-up, basic clean up is $15.00 per 1000 sq feet to $50.00 per 1000 sq feet for really bad yards, I.E. yards that are over grown to the point they are hay fields... A lot of guys wont touch em so the customer is desperate enough to give me $400 bucks for 3 hours work, Am I gouging them, maybee? But as bad as these yards are it is hard work on me and my tools, and I won't do them unless I can get what I feel it's worth. generally I get calls for this type of work around july, after all the other LCO's are booked up and just not returning phone calls, and the customer was to lazy to have the yard taken care of in the spring when it would of been cheaper.

[CS Lawns]

$25.00 an hour here, Cheap but only second year at it. Next year I will try $30/$35 an hour.

[JimLewis]

Well, first of all, I never charge an hourly rate for anything. At least not that I tell the client about. That's always a bad move. If you tell the client an hourly rate you are forced to justify that rate and as hard as you try, it's often very difficult to explain why you need to make $35 per hour per man to make a profit. A lot of people just don't buy it.

That being said, I bid clean-ups so that we make at least $35 per hour. But most of the time, I figure them based on my by-the-day rate or half-day rate. For one full day with my two hardest workers, we charge $600 - $650 per day. That included as much debris as we can haul away in one day, even if that means 10 truck loads. (what most people don't know is we don't have to pay for our yard debris drop-off). $300 - $350 for a half day clean-up.

Then we'll add onto that price for extra expenses like barkdust, weed pre-emergents, etc.
With these prices I make a little over $35 per man hour. And if you can make that, for two guys, all day long, that's a heck of a deal. That's $3000 plus per week for one 2 man clean-up crew.

A Typical one-day c/u for us results in 2-3 truckloads of debris being hauled away. A typical 1/2 day c/u is usually only 1 truckload. A lot of times I'll throw in spraying weeds with round-up for free. We come by and do that a week before the clean-up. The reason I do that is because if we know the weeds are already dead, we can just harvest them with a hula-hoe rather than trying to pull each one by hand and being careful to get the roots. Weeding goes by 3 times faster this way so what little money and time I spend on spraying is made up by the fact that we can do the weeding in a lot less time.

Finally, I should mention that I don't usually quote clean-ups on a by-the-day rate either. That's just a guide for me. I will only quote a job this way if I just can't tell at all how long it will take us. But most of the time I can look at a landscape and tell exactly how long it will take us to do the clean-up then I charge one flat rate for the job, regardless of how long it takes. And my workers almost always get it done before I figured. Then we make an even better hourly rate.

Hope this helps. This is coming from someone who has a full time, almost year round, clean-up crew doing these jobs almost every day.

[LCP]

$25.00 per man hour, plus a hauling fee. There are many different rates in this area of southern Michigan. I have had several customers tip me extra at this rate too. I believe it is a fair price and they like the quality of the work. Last year was my first year at being serious at this business. Had to turn down some work in the spring. Corrected that problem in the fall with some dependable help. I can't see turning any down this year. This site has been a great primer for me in the off season.

[LawnLad]

In the Cleveland area you'll see rates from $20 to $40 per hour (some maybe higher). Most companies are in the $25 to $40 range. We charge our regular customers $30.00 per hour, and any non-regular customers, $35.00 per hour. If we do pruning, it's a little more, and thatching is on top of that.

Each day ask yourself how much you made per payroll hour in revenue. If you did $150.00 and it took 5 hours, that's $30.00. Track this number. You may only bill $25 per hour, but your goal needs to be over $40 per hour to survive in the industry, and live well. You can get over $40.00 if you don't do everything by the hour; mowing, aerating, thatching, fertilizing, hauling debris, mulching, etc.

Two numbers to track...

1) Your billable % (of the payroll hours you have, how many are for production work - versus travel, shop work, etc.)

2) Revenue per payroll hour (total amount billed to customer divided by # of payroll hours). Track this per crew, per day or each week, whatever works for you. Just track it!

The more billable you are, naturally the higher your revenue will be per hour. If you want a more accurate number - take your material costs out of the equation.