Churches

[TFL]

Do you guys modify your bids for mowing to make them less. i am bidding on a church with 3 acres. it is a small country church is why i thinking of lowering my bid. just wondering if any of you do this for non-profit organizations.

[goodbeus]

you'd be surprised at how much money these non-profit organizatons have :angel:

[ADMowing]

Churches usually want you to do more than what you bid on in the beginning. This is our experience. They nearly expect it! I would bid what you would normally charge anyone else. Then when they want all the little extras, consider that your good deeds. We worked for a very rich church, but you'd never know it. They were very tight and didn't get the roof fixed when it needed it and didn't get termite treatment when they needed it because they didn't want to spend the money. Church is falling apart now -- literally. We served on lots of committees and knew the funds that were available and the tithes and offerings. It was astounding!

My father in law attends there too and can't figure out what they are saving the money for??? Of all people, they should know that you can't take it with you!!!

I wouldn't worry about it being a church. I'd treat it like any other account -- 'cause it's work you have to do and you should get paid for it.:angel:

Make the money and give your 10% plus in your own offering plate at church or if it is your church, give it back that way.

IMHO --
A&D

[Brickman]

Because I am a nice guy, when bidding a church this spring I cut my price by $20 or $30 a week. Still didn't get the job.

I am living proof that the nice guy ALWAYS finishes last. It sucks the big one, but I don't know how to change it.

[Albemarle Lawn]

We have one we do for big $, rquires a W.B. (gated), and 2 ztrs. Do it fast for over $100/hr with 2-man crew.

Have one that is one of my first customers, do it reasonable, $75/hr with 2-man crew.

We always do these on thurs, fri, or sat so they look good for Sunday.

Won't discount a church unless its the one I attend!!!

K.B.

[odin]

We do 4 churchs we price em like any other property .
Every one of the preachers in these churchs have caddy's mercedes an bmw's so i guess the flock comes though every sunday.

[TFL]

Thanks i was thinking about $50 an hour for a two man crew. do you guys mow once before you give the price to get a feel of the time required?

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

Originally posted by TFL
Thanks i was thinking about $50 an hour for a two man crew. do you guys mow once before you give the price to get a feel of the time required?

When I price a new yard, I give them an 'estimate', meaning that price will be close to the actual price. 95% of the time the estimate is accurate. If it takes longer than expected, than I'll explain it to the customer. After they see my work, they don't mind paying extra. On the topic of churches, I mow my own church. We just built a new church last year. I raised my pledge amount, and I won't bill the church until my mowing services equal what I pledged. Sure beats putting $$$ in the offering plate each week.

LAWNS AND MOWER

[swonkeg]

Where I go to church the members have complained about the yard for years
so this year the committee in charge of the grounds ask me what I would charge for the maintaning the grounds. I quoted a price of 6,000.00 for the year (3.5 acres every week,hedges, beds + you have to drag hoses and sprinklers to water) the committee told me that the ones doing the yard before were only charging 3,000.00. (You get what you pay for!) IMO churches can be good money if everything works right but just remember every one of the members will have their own idea of how the lawn and grounds should be taken care of. Needless to say they found someone to mow for FREE.( Got to give them credit-the yard actually does look better than other years)

[DBLC]

Churches are not non-profit. They don't qualify under AR taxes at least. We do 3 churchs and bid them at fair prices, as we do all jobs. Too low of a bid only means you'll have to hurry and NOT do a GREAT job! Just my thoughts!:angel:

[Pro-Cut Lawns]

I bid them as any other property. Guess that's why every time I bid one I get underbid.

Had a church (that Im not affiliated with in any way) call me last year and want to know if I would drive 15 miles to the next town to mow their property for 2 weeks while their maintenance guy was on vacation. I said sure I will drive over and look at it and give you an estimate. The lady says....OH NO....we were wanting you to volunteer to take care of it. Needless to say, end of story.........................

[musselman]

I am from Utah and there are a ton of LDS (Mormon) churches here. One year I had over 35 church grounds to take care of. This included Churches and Recreation fields. You have to bid them at a fair price because they demand a great job. I underbid sevral of them one year, had to rush the job to make money and was not invited to the bidding the following year...100% my fault. Charity is a great thing, but if you are going to do a charity job do it all for free, if you charge at all the customer expects the best and your asking for trouble. If the church can pay for it make them pay full price, if it cant afford it then let the members of the congergation get the blessings and take care of it themselfs...just my opinion

[mowerman90]

Rule of thumb: .........never work for doctors,lawyers, or clergy

[goodbeus]

Don't know about the lawyers and clergy, but I have quite a few doctors that are some of my best accounts... :cool:

[Doc Pete]

One thing is for sure, if you have a normal church with grave stones, the best investment is the new "Redmax" BT225, bent shaft trimmer, which isn't even on the website. It's super light and very long so you don't have to bend. It's got tons of power and is real smooth.
Also, the bent shaft is much faster than a straight shaft because the bent shaft lets you stand in front of a regular "foot marker grave", and trim the whole marker without having to move and walk around the stone.
I work for a Church full time and do all the trimming of the 800 stones, and contract out to another Church, too, so I'm hands on when it comes to trimming.

Pete

[MikeLT1Z28]

Originally posted by Switchless@aol.com
800 stones

800??? how long does that take? how many acres? i bet you got biiiig forearms! :D

[johnhenry]

I do 2 churches and charge them the same as any other bus client. Remember churches have so many loopholes in taxes. They dont need no breaks. There getting richer everyday. The two I do proably have more money in the bank than anyone else here except walmart of course

[Doc Pete]

Originally posted by MikeLT1Z28


800??? how long does that take? how many acres? i bet you got biiiig forearms! :D


Did you want to know before or after my two frozen shoulders and tendonitus in both arms?:o That is other pitfall of doing Churches. You just can't hurry the weed wacking, even though faster is more money. As soon as you start pushing a bit you start gripping harder........ Gripping Harder, Bad!!.......Relax, and let it hang..........
Pete:angel:

[Charles Laws]

We do 3 churches, we charge normal rates and contribute back at our home church. Just like it was stated before they expect more than normal accounts. But always remember, you can't out give God - look what he gave for us.