Bidding Practices

[TurfTamer]

I am fairly new to the game and was wondering how most of you determine your prices for mowing. I know there are a lot of factors involved, but was wondering if there are any rules of thumb that any of you use. I have tried to get about 1$ a minute for my time, but this is not always possible.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Danny Ryan

[Bob Minney]

$60 an hour is a good goal
keep biding based on that and if you come up short figure out where you missed and correct in the future.
don't forget travel time

[Randy J]

Hey Danny, I calculated what my costs per hour will be - business loan, equipment depreciation, insurance, utilities, and flexible costs such as labor, fuel and maintenance. I Took the yearly numbers and divided by expected hours of work to convert your expenses to hourly costs. This gave me what I need to make an hour.
As for bidding, I've built a spreadsheet in Excel that uses square feet and a difficulty multipler, to take into accout obstructions, etc. My price per SF and the multiplier will keep me at the hourly figure I need to make.

Randy