$40, too much??

[ToG]

i bid on a prop. today and now i'm having second thoughts about my proposal. the homes in this area are in the upper 300 to 400's. this home is on a rounded corner lot and has about 12000 sq ft of turf, of nice grade, nothing too steep. there is about 340 linear feet of edging that needs done and calls for the usual trimming around the house itself. i placed a bid of $40 per mow, i think it's worth it but i'm new to the bidding process and wanted to see what everyone else would say. honestly it's an ideal yard and would love to have it, but i don't want to sell myself short just because i'm new. i know how to mow, so i'm qualified, it's just that the confidence i have in my novice estimating skills is shakey.

[HarryD]

I think your right on. I would not do it for anything lower

[adrianvbarrera]

How many accounts do you have?

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

Since you're in the high rent district, I would stick to your guns. Word of caution. People with alot of $$$ can be the biggest tight wads. Good luck.

[ToG]

currently, i have six. the calls are just starting to come in. got two more calls today and set up appointments. i have a few possible leads i have to follow up on. i've been in the industry for three years now, this is the first on my own. i personally would be happy just to make a little more than i do know, however, i respect this industry too much to become a scrub. i plan on making a good living at this and operate an ever expandind biz. i do not want to damage myself or other respectable LCOs by lowering my prices because i'm new on the scene. anything landscape is an art and i feel we should be paid accordingly. there is massive amounts of information out there about all aspects of our work and if you are one who is always learning, increasing your skill and knowledge of the field, why should you have to settle for prices joe-shmoe sets?

i guess the reason i don't feel so confident is, i've been seeing some other crews around carrying an old craftsman rider on the back of an s-10. along with thier hh blower and a beatup trimmer. kinda makes it hard to justify me spending $7000 on my setup. i'm just hoping people will appreciate the fact that i've taken the time to make this biz. legit, protecting thier intrests, as well as mine. everything i've done is by the book and everthing is paid for, i'm careful attentive, courteous, knowledgable, dependable and professional. guess i've just got the jitters, it's sink or swim time for me. :D

[cklands]

sounds pretty close without actually seeing the prop. I would agree with LAWNS AND MOWER about the fact that the people with the big $$ are tight wads. Why do you think that they have all that money. :-)

[Shuter]

Sounds about right for my area.

[brucec32]

Your price sounds reasonable to me. How long do you think it'll take you to do with your equipment?

As for the $300-$400K homes. Remember, interest rates are at an all time low in most of our lifetimes. 5.5% mortgages mean people can afford about double the home they used to. Unfortunately, many Americans took this as license to actually buy all the home they could qualify for payments on. Their incomes aren't as high as their home prices might suggest, and they often don't have a lot left over for lawn care.

What's this mean to you? Well, it means that a lot of these "upscale" guys don't have a pot to p$$$ in after they've paid the mortgage, the Mercedes lease, the SUV lease, and the various other expenses that go along with such addresses. Nuvo Riche, I think is the term. They dont' have much left over for anything that isn't a wealth display like a new material purchase. If they can't impress the neighbors with it, they don't put much value on it.

People who really can comfortably afford your service, in my experience, are less concerned with price and more concerned with the job you do and your reliability. I have customers living in 30 y/o simple split level homes who have more money than some of these yuppies.

[double e]

Sounds good to me- hey now that you have the lawn and take good care of it- up the price next season a couple bucks
Good luck-

[KerryB]

Looks good to me. Don't appologize for your price.
You have good equipment and do good work, that all costs money.
Get payed for what your worth.

[Gravely_Man]

Let us know how this works out for you. Only someone else in your area will know what the market will bear. The price doesn't sound unreasonable to me.


Gravely_Man

[BobR]

Sounds like a decent price for mowing and trimming, I hope you are charging extra for the edging. Have you thought about offering fertilizer applications, shrub trimming and flower bed maintenance? Lots of home owners like the idea of one stop shopping for a good provider.
BobR

[lawncare3]

Lawns & Mower you are so correct. The regular working class joe is more likekly to spend the blong.

You are not overbidding.

If you can get it that's what counts.;)

[Ed Ryder]

12,000 square feet of easy terrain is nothing. I'd scoop that up for less no problem, especially if I had some other properties in the neighborhood.

[gogetter]

I do a few homes that are around the 12-13K sq.ft range. But these homes are under $200K.
I get $30 for these. I'd like to get $40, but I don't see it happening in this particular area.

I did a leaf clean up for a co-worker of my wifes. He lives in an area where the homes are in the $300K range, and about a 1/2 acre. He uses a lawn service that doesn't do leaves. He pays $27 for weekly lawn service!!!

My first thought was it was a new guy that didn't know where to price.
Turns out he's been doing it for 7 years. He just raised it to $27 this year, it was $25 for the last 6 years!! Shows up with one to two guys and takes between 30 and 45 minutes depending on number of helpers.
The homeowner knows he's getting a deal and laughs about it.
He said his neighbors pay around $35 for lawn service. I think even that's low for a 1/2 acre.
I wouldn't do it for less then $40.

But just wanted to give you an idea of what we're all up against.

[Meier]

My list price, using my own formula, based on square footage, is $44 per week for 12,000 sq ft. And only with a signed contract for weekly mowing from late March through mid-November.

Unless you've got a really long trailer, you are either geared up to do large lots (10,00 sq ft & up) or small lots (less than 10,000 sq ft). The ones in the middle range, (12,000 sq ft for example) I'm finding, are typically being done by the guys with the bigger equipment. However, if they can't get that large equipment through the gates, then it's a different story and the guys with the smaller equipment can compete on 10-12K sq ft lots.

Personally, for me, I'm geared up for small lots...just because there are more of them. More prospects to call on and that's about all there are within a 3 mile radius of my home.

The only thing I'm struggling with is the really, really small lots. Everyone on this lawnsite.com forum agrees you have to have minimums. But there are two houses I'm bidding today with only 1,200 & 2,400 square feet.

I initially didn't have a minimum (I actually didn't realize there were so many tiny lots). So, I went out and bid a 1,700 square foot lawn for $16 three weeks ago. She signed up. I was worried I wouldn't make good money on this account. The second mowing took me 22 minutes by myself. There is little drive time from my trailer storage to get to these small lots. That's over $40 per hour, so I'm ok with this.

Anyway, I'm also learning as I go, but I'm quoting $16/week on the 1,200 sq ft lot and $19/wk on the 2,400 sq ft lot.

I think I can make good money on these lawns at these prices.

As for the mid-range lots in the 12K range...well, if somebody can get a 40+ inch ZTR though the gate, I can't compete. But if they can't, I might have a competitive price at $44. But I don't want less than that because with my equipment, I will spend a good chunk of time to mow that much lawn.

By the way, have you had really varying results when quoting prices face to face vs leaving quotes in the mail box when the prospect isn't home? I don't think I've won any business by leaving the quote in the mail box. Everyone of my customers have signed up on a face to face meeting. And I'm like 0-6 on the "leave a quote in the mail box if they're not home" routine.

Later,
DFW, TX