CHURCHES?

[Mowman]

DO YOU GUY'S GIVE ANY PRICE BREAKS FOR CHURCH'S AND OTHER NON-PROFIT GROUPS? CHURCH IN QUESTION IS NEW AND ONLY ABOUT 100 MEMBERS. THEY HAVE 3 ACRES PRETTY MUCH ALL OPEN MOWING EXCEPT AROUND THE BUILDING ITSELF. HOW MUCH WOULD YOU CHARGE FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS. THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE, AS IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Mowman

[gorrell]

If I was bidding on it I'd charge $75.00. A reasonable bid for an hours work. Lynn

[dan35]

I Would always bid the job at my hourly rate also, but I think this job will take a little longer than an hour. We have one Church now and have had three in the past. Also keep in mind you’ll have to please 100 people instead of one or two.

[Scraper]

$75 for 3 acres? AN hour or not, church or not...seems low to me. Are you a member of this church? I'd go in at no less than $100! Unless you really need the work.

[Runner]

I think a hundred is a bit too high. They'd never go for it. If it was a doctor's office or something like that, I could see it. But, remember they only have about a hundred members, and there are other expenses on the property. Anything up that high would probably sway them to purchase their own equipment and have members take turns at it. Seventy five sounds good. Remember, if the congregation doesn't resent the price, it MAY lead to more work for you, and not just mowing work either!

[Scraper]

Good points Runner...maybe I'm being a bit too greedy. Hopefully GOD isn't reading my posts! :)

[awm]

You might consider a price break if
they put in bulliton on sunday.At bottom of pge.
We would like to recognise so so lawncare
for their care of our lawn.No telling
what might come from that.new buisiness etc
Just food for thought.

[Skookum]

I started mowing a church a few months ago for $45.00. It is a 2.5 acre lot so I figured 45 minutes max. I charge $60.00 an hour. I walked the property and all looked nice and easy. Few obsticles to slow me down, figured after a few times I'd have it down to 30 minutes or so. I really did not want it, but their mower gave out and I felt sorry for them and figured I'd help them out till end of year. They want to get a mower next spring.

How I missed them when I walked the place, I have no idea, but the wide open areas are full of huge ruts. Takes me about 1.5 hours to get it done. I make sure I pee before I go there, since I do not have an enclosed trailer with a pee bucket. So, I am shakin, rattlin, and rolling till next week when I am done with it.

I would have refused to do it anymore, but I figured it's good to keep the almighty on my side.

[jaclawn]

One thing that I have learned, from a business standpoint, is to never take on a job cheap in hopes of getting other work from it. If you don't get the other work, you will hate that job that you are doing cheap.

[geogunn]

I have a couple of churches and grounds properties. I just quote them a fair price, no breaks, no killer proffit. fasir is fair.

there is a big difference between old established churches and younger new ones. the new younger are more likely to cut it themselves.

mowman--I'd go $100 on that property that's if I could do it in 1.5 hours.

[lakegastonla]

Got a two acre site I get 135 for!! Almost no obstacles!! Not a church, but still...NO BODY should get three acres cut for 75.00!!!
Don't buy all of the bleeding heart small church stuff! A 100 member church is still not that small!!
And believe me, I'm sure that you would be amazed at the ammount in that spending account.
In my opinion, churches are used to getting free service from members performed sloppily, and there fore want us all to do it for free, (or something close to free)
without regard to our overhead.

[osc]

$40 per acre minimum, $60 per acre for double cutting or heavily obstacled sites. Time is not the issue here, work completed is what you are billing for. If you want to give your services away then atleast call it what it is, a gift.

[Tomslawncare1]

Mowman, I have done a church for the past two years. I charge $110 to mow, it's about 1.5 - 2 acres. I include blowing off the walk ways. If they want any extra trimming done I charge them at a rate of 25.00 per hour per man. They have never complained. As a matter of fact I was asked to vacuume up the leaves that the congregation raked into neat little piles for me. I charged them $77.00 per hour for this for a total of 6 hrs. (God wants me to provide for my family as well.)

[geogunn]

osc--HOW IN THE CATHAIR...do you make expenses and profit at $40/acre? $60 for a double cut is $30 an acre!

please pardon, I don't mean to flame! help me out here.

GEO

[Guido]

I did a church at home that I could do by myself in about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. It was my church so I took the $75 I made every week and took out an ad in the church bulletin that said I did the church grounds maintenance, etc. Whatever I made off the church after paying for those ads all year, I donated when it came time for their anual feast.

Theres two ways to look at this. If its your church, and you already have an established business, theres no problem doing a little charity work, or discounted work there, as long as you can limit yourself to doing it there only!!

The other way to look at it is you don't have an established customer base yet, then your going to need to charge something.

Either way, just being there will bring you a lot of business if you do a good job.

Good Luck!

[Bluegrass Lawn Service]

at the present time I'm mowing for two churches and I charge the what I feel I need to make. Been doing this for 3 years and haven't recieved any accounts from the members.

[osc]

That is church house minimum pricing for me but actually I know a lot of big companies that use that price on everything. Really though I can see $60 for a 1 acre lot at double cut service. My 2nd pass is pretty quick. 'Course, you know, if I was Lawrence Stone I wouldn't need a 2nd pass.
I rarely double cut unless there is some sort of problem. $60.00 for one pass with obstacles is not that bad either.

By the way, how am I so cheap when my price is $120.00 and yours would be $100.00 for 3 acres on mowman's post?

Is that FUZZY MATH?

[dhicks]

If you go to church there, then $75.00 may be a reasonable charge. If not higher. At least where I live, I can get anywhere from $50.00 to $65.00 per acre. Less the profit you take from the church, you could write off as a deduction to the church up towards $150.00 to $195.00 per week.

Thank GOD.

[Samurai WeedWacker]

I've done a couple churches- not much ever came of it. Started doing the local hospital- yowie-zowie! Things have begun to look much more up.

[HealthyLawns]

I charge my church $50 for a little over two acres. Because I go there and we don't even own a building yet I've thrown in trimming the bushes once a month also. I've only had the account for two months and just got another $50 acct from one of the other members. If you want to be fair then I would say $75. Just make sure you ALWAYS do an excellent job. Church members are usually the kind of people that like to pay a fair price, and that can make for GOOD referals.