Lawn renovation- approach and what to charge?

[godjwood]

Hi,

I am planning to renovate a lawn. It is approximately 4000 square feet.

I am not sure what type of grass is growing in there now, but it is a sort of deep green, thick bladed, thin spread grass which has taken over the lawn.

I plan on spraying the entire lawn with glyphosate renting a toro dingo with the box rake attachment and tearing up the lawn. I intend to get a soil test, put down corrective lime as well as a starter fertilizer. I plan to put down a bluegrass/fescue mix and setting it in with a roller and covering it with peat moss.

If the soil test shows it would benefit from mixing in compost, sand, or the like, I will do this at an additional charge.

Right now I have down $800, but I have not sent it to the customer yet.

I got this number from the following (at $60/hr charge rate)

Materials:

rental- dingo: $200
rental- roller: $20
glphy: $30
Peat moss: $50 (5 bags)
Seed/fert: ~$100

Labor:

pick up/drop off dingo: 1 hr
Spray: 2 hrs
labor for dingo: 1 hr
roll: 1/2 hr
fert/seed: 1 hr

Keep in mind that I have never used this cultivator before, i am basing the time estimate off videos i saw online. I have also never sprayed such a large area but I don't imagine it would take that long (I included driving time in the estimate)

I would appreciate any feedback on both my approach to this renovation as well as to the pricing.

I read that you should til in 4" of compost- this seems expensive. for 4000ft2 that would be about 50 yards at $60/yard before delivery and labor.. I don't think this would be worth it?

[LawnSolutionsCP]

Just spray with roundup, rent one of our seeders, make 2-passes, and it will look like a golf course in 2-weeks.

It really is that easy. Using a Dingo is totally the wrong approach....any way too much work.

I have have personally done hundreds of these and is hands down the most profitable service you can perform and one of the most impressive to customer if done correctly.

Of course it is always good to do a soil test prior to see what else may be needed. I would still charge $800.

David

[Smallaxe]

Slit-seeding sounds like the way to go, and putting down compost will help digest the dead bodies of the unidentified grasses. Compost is always a good idea, at any amount, especially at seeding time.

[tracyalan]

I have done a couple of yards like this. Here is what I did.
Spray with round up, wait 3-5 days & spray again.
Wait 2 weeks, roto till and seed or sod.
You will have agreat looking lawn. Tracy