WoW did I underbid!!!!!

[KathysLGC]

Being my first year, I as many other green horns am having trouble bidding. I did a bid and got the house with the guy nearly shutting me up with enjoyment. Hmmm wonder why......... Well I did a bid for mulch. He said he orderd it and it should be here in a day or two. The beds where allready edged by his wife so I said $200 to spread it. Thinking it would take me two - three hours. Well when I get there today there was 25 yards!!!!!! I wanted to kick myself and leave but I am new, and leason learned. I am down to about 8 more yards to spread out and will finish tomorrow.:cry:

[E-man]

Live and Learn, next time ask the client how many yards they are getting or better yet, you take all the measurements and figure out your costs and give them the bid.

Look at it this way next time you bid a mulch job you will have a pretty good idea of how long it takes you to spread a yard.

[Lawn-Scapes]

"I Bid Low Landscaping & Services" :D

[Twotoros]

I paid 20 bucks to thatch my first lawn in '86. took all day. a valuble lesson it was too.

[jman00]

you should have asked how much mulch first, but that amount should take you 5 maybe 6 hrs by your self. even quicker if you get your wife or girlfriend to rake it around for you. you just haul haul haul mulch.

what tools are you using by the way.

you could always ask him for more money, how many times to you get an estimate for your truck to get worked on and it ends up being more, why this business be the same way. That is why its called an estimate.

[Premo Services]

WOW he got one heck of a deal. You learned a valuable lesson here.

Don`t you just hate it when they call and tell you they will have the mulch there and need you to spread it for them. They always freak out at the price of the labor to spread it. I had a customer call me the other day and tell me she was having 15 yards of mulch delivered and needed me to spread it for here. I told her that I would do it for 630.00 to spread mulch and do weeding of beds, and edging around trees, there is a lot of walking with the wheelbarrow and its all on a hill, and she flipped. I told her that was my price and to call me if she wanted me to do it for her. I never did get a call. I went by there and the yahoos that put it out for didn`t even get the weeds out, just put mulch in the beds on top of the weeds. Oh well you get what you pay for. From the loks of the job, she didn`t pay a lot either. And I will also inform her my rate for cutting is going up so she can get the same people to do her lawn and it will look just as good. I know she will want me to get the grass trimmed that is growing out of the mulch around the edges. And I hate that!!!

[proline32]

We have all had experiences like that one at one time or another, maybee this is why I don't even bother with flowerbed stuff unless they are willing to pay me BY THE HOUR. Chalk it up to Wisdom.

[kckid]

Damn, I had about 15 yards last year that I did myself with a ATV and trailer... That took a few days of backbreaking work.

25 yards???


Hey can you come do mine next? :D

[KirbysLawn]

WoW did I underbid!!!!!

You sure did!

[Mykster]

My very first job was a HUGE cleanup. Took 4 days to do the job. And I gave her 3 mows for free on a 1acre lot. Put in new beds along the back deck, which ran the length of her house. Cleaned and mulched flower beds that she said had not been touched for 2yrs. Charged her like $680. Kicked myself in the *ss for a good week after that one.

[Greenstar Services]

oops, thats the first of many mistakes in the bidding process. First get all the details before summitting a price.At least you were able to get a little excersize from it;)

[John Allin]

Yup.
"Oops" works.

[Garry]

You always learn more from *F/bombing* up!.

Ahhhhhh, the seed job I did 23 years ago that cost ME $170 still remains with me today.

Both neighbors called me......................"I want seed too"


Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder if they're still awaiting my call?

[Scraper]

Originally posted by jman00
that amount should take you 5 maybe 6 hrs by your self.

5 yards an hour spread by one man? LOL You wanna come work for me?

[walker-talker]

Did a dethatch and scalp job.....bid it at $75 Cost of dethatcher = $45...me an buddy split the $30 for 2.5 hours of work.....that will never happen again.

MATT

[jman00]

i have a trailer that holds about 5 yrds i can unload that in less than hour. i have a huge wheelbarrow (7 or 8 cf) and a large pitch fork. it takes 3 or 4 scoups to load the wheelbarrow. jump out and wheel it to the bed dump go back for another load. When the trailer is empty i grab a rake and go to town evening it out. then i dirve back to the nursery and get another load, this takes the longest because the woman driving the tractor is slow. It can be done. I only work on saturday while i am in school and you learn to do a good job quick.


I did a job at a bank, it was about 90 yards 5 guys before lunch one day. only bad part about that job is it was a friend of mine and he got all of the profit, but that is what friends are for right.

[swn]

5 men spread 90 yards before lunch! jman00, that's unreal. I would absolutely not be able to move the next day if I was involved in that, and I think I'm in pretty good shape.

[Scraper]

I believe he means cubic feet not yards ;)

[smburgess]

Scraper......

LOL - I believe it!

Yesterday it was 101 degrees, four of my guys moved and spread 50 yards between 9:30am and 4pm (half hour lunch and about four 10 min breaks, and I was happy with the time !!!

Three houses down I had a crew of three move and spread 30 yards at the same time, but more difficult areas (alot of hand speading and further distances)

I was "working" (wink - wink, nudge - nudge) on the irrigation system next door most of the day...

The biggest difference between a one man show and a company is a one man show will always work faster, harder, and longer than employees. It's something I learned a long time ago.

[Ssouth]

Playboy, yes you underbid, live and learn. Another lesson to learn is not to let the customer order material. If they insist, charge a high hourly rate. I've found that I can pick-up, deliver, and install products cheaper than they can be bought by John Q. Public. ie.. At a local nursery a 3 gallon dw. Yaupon cost $19 plus tax. I can pick up, deliver, and install for $18.50 ( if enough is ordered) Always try to be in charge of every aspect of a job unless you are not familiar with what has to be done.

[Twotoros]

I got a commercial mulch job coming up soon. I will charge $110.00 an hour for four men plus the price of mulch. I was wondering if I should mark the mulch up as I will have it delivered? I can't go wrong at the hourly or can I ?

[strickdad]

happens to all of us .

[strickdad]

Originally posted by Twotoros
I got a commercial mulch job coming up soon. I will charge $110.00 an hour for four men plus the price of mulch. I was wondering if I should mark the mulch up as I will have it delivered? I can't go wrong at the hourly or can I ? you sure can.. you may not need four men to be effective. how many yards??

[scagman]

Similar experience last year, but this happens to the best of us. You live and learn. I pickup/deliver and install for $45 per yd, installation only is $35. This method works excellent for me and nobody turns this down.

[KathysLGC]

Well all the beds where allready established so it was a nightmare spreading around the flowers. But like I said, Lesson learned! The guy felt bad and said I under bid the job and he said he will take care of me. Lets see what he does when I bill him at the end of the month. I also Planted about 6 shrubs that they bought and 7 junipers. I think I'll charge him $50 per shrub and 15 per juniper. I will be able to get in a lawn cut also befor his bill comes in.

[kutnkru]

Now come on Scraper!!!

Just because you have the LUXURY of Weavers Mulch, Mulch Masters, Mr. Mulch, Im Mulch, etc. (LOL!!!) and everyone else down there along the Route 30 Bypass, doesnt mean that 4-5yds an hour is out of the question.

Everyone knows that us hardworking types cant sub out enough guys like that to put down 4-5 yds an hour to keep our bottom line sparkling!!!

....

Gary

What you should try to find is either a source where you can buy bulk for at least half what the local nurseries etc. are selling it for, or possibly split an order with a fellow LMO to get the discounted rates.

This way if you buy product for $18/yd and the nurseries are asking $37/yd you can still mark it up 100% and make money plus what you get for labor.

Kris