Not just scabs you need to worry about.

[shovelracer]

Long time client of mine called today and wanted a quote on the same mulch job we have done every year. Fine easy enough. Then I'm told he is getting prices. Great, $300K + a year salary and your pinching me on a couple hundred bucks, A.H. I let them know what they are looking at and then he tells me they have one for almost 2 grand less. Confused I ask about insurance, licenses, etc. Finally he tells me it is a local guy who has a fair share of our local market and has had for 20+ years. Turns out they are willing to install 36 yards of dyed hardwood for 1500 with 400ft of hand edging included. Perplexed I politely wished him well. Our lowest priced local is $19 for dyed pallet mulch, which they assured it wasn't. Heres the catch, 25 yards of it is 175-250 away down a 30 foot hill. Its a shame that even the bigger guys are now killing the market just to cover their overhead. I have enough work not to even need to compete with this, but felt the need to rant. Sorry.

[JDiepstra]

Wow that is pretty cheap.

[Ramairfreak98ss]

Wow that is pretty cheap. yeah those distances and on hills for $41 a yard :/ fawk that. Go out and take their pictures to make sure theyre actually legit lol. foreign labor is cheap i guess huh?


I lost a 100k bid to a company for commercial mulch/trimming, they were willing to offer me $35 a yard applied INSTEAD of the $68-72 a yard i proposed, none were anywhere near us, some were over a 2.5hr drive each way from nj lol. Id rather sit home and watch tv than lose money doing that.

[shovelracer]

Oh they are definitely legit as far as state requirements. One of those companies you grow up wanting to be, then one day you realize that they are more into providing numbers instead of the quality service the owner set out to create 20 years ago. Their mulch crew consists of a 1 ton pickup pulling a little loader and a crew, Followed by a single axle grain box truck. 2 trucks, 1 loader, 4 laborers most likely not legit, 1 loader guy, and a foreman. Sure they can do 2-3 of these a day, but they are still working to stay in business not make profit. The catch is I gave the client an option of pallet or premium mulch and wheelbarrowed or loader installed. Since I have the fert/new construction lawn rehabilitation work for him we agreed that a loader was a bad idea. They will not spec installation method or mulch quality. Not really apples to apples, but even at my best I couldnt go that low.