Putting together a "large" bid

[Trevors Lawn Care]

I pretty much have the job, but dont want to dick the customer, or myself.
I had not planned on doing any landscaping this year or even for the next three of four years, but the high demand in this area has led to a great number of landscaping calls. (NO ADVERTISING INVOLVED FOR LANDSCAPING??)
I go to look at the property and he wants all his current beds extended out by 10'' to a foot. He wants me to remove all the current mulch to put down the bed lining, and then re-mulch the entire beds. Each current bed is fully planted with some shallow root greens, and some deeper root greens. Along the new beds I am planning on placing the bed edging.
I am assuming I will need two-three yards of new mulch, 300 ft or new bed edging, along with bed lining.
Like i said above, I do not have much experience in this area, but it will be a good learning experience to grow in the landscaping field. I am thinking of just bidding it at a $/h rate, and having them pay for all materials.

Any input.

thanks
trevor

[Trevors Lawn Care]

Well thanks for all the help.


Trevor

[Trevors Lawn Care]

i need 4.5 yards of mulch, and 260 ft. of bed edging. I also figure 5 trailer loads to dump of debris removed at $30 / load. Just the materials and dumping is figured at $460.98 right now.
What would a good charge for labor? I dont have any mowing to do on these days, so i really dont have any loss profit at $5/hr, or $45/hr.

NOW ANY INPUT?

trevor

[haynestotallawns]

40 per hour plus they pay cost of materials and dumping fees. That's how I do it normally. Unless it's installing paver stones then that's a different story all together.

[jwingfield2k]

My price for 260' of edging installed would be 520 + tax. Mulch can vary greatly- depending on what your price is for it. I would highly advise against landscape fabric. The weeds will just germinate on top of the fabric as well, and then that stuff is a pain in the arse to remove whenever the time comes.

[Trevors Lawn Care]

thanks for taking the time to answer guys. I came up with a quote of $1100. 7.5 hours for two guys. They pay all mat./dumping
I will let yall know how it goes.

Trevor

[D Felix]

DON'T use the fabric under organic mulch, for the reasons already stated!

In the long run, it will do more harm than good. Do some searches on this forum, I've posted some info about putting fabric under organic mulches in the last couple of months....

Oh, and don't be so impatient. Sometimes people don't get on late in the night, or even first thing in the morning. Myself, I'm lucky to check the boards 3-4 times per week. Sometimes just once a week. Especially this time of year.............


Dan