What would you charge to do this yard?

[gusbuster]

http://www.jlclandscaping.com/images/nelsonpic/nelsond.jpg

I was just kind of curious what some of the newer members and older would charge per cut and total charge per month. I do realize that in some area's this lawn would need to be cut once a week, or like I do, every ten days. I go to a 14 to 18 day schedule from Dec to Feb and still charge the same monthly price.

The work is: cut the grass, edge the edges of lawn and around sprinklers. Pick up leaves from the Eucalyptus trees on the driveway area. Trim hedges every 1/4. Irrigation is set for 15 minutes per side on a monday and friday schedual. Since I am liscense aplicator and assuming that you are too, weed control and fertilizing is included in the monthly price.
John

[RYAN]

Is there a backyard?

[LoneStarLawn]

Some other variables need to be taken in . Just looking at a picture its hard to do an estimate. How many otheres do you have in the area? If so are you cutting the others near there at the same times of the month and as frequent. If I have four in a row I can charge less because it's more efficient than having four apart in diferent areas. Alone I would charge around $150 a month which would include weekly cutting, edging, and trimming. It would also include a monthly trimming of hedges as well a weed control. I would also inlcude a 7 step fert. plan. This also includes spring and fall cleanups. This is based on the fact that there is no backyard...if there is the price would have to be change on what it looks like in the back.

[Twotoros]

I have a 20$ min now but would not get it for this size lawn. I would drop it to 17$ and still not get it because of the compitition here. Somebody would do it fo 8.$(actually licensed guys too)
I would charge 50$ an hour for the shrubs. I would insist on weekly mowing and a min of 30 mows for the season.

[Richard Martin]

$120.00 per month would take care of everything.

[KirbysLawn]

My truck is bigger than that lawn. Any back lawn area or is this it?

[Chuck Sinclair]

Well here in sacramento that lawn would go for between $25.00 to $60.00 amonth i would be the latter.
How much do you get ih the bay area?

[cantoo]

Up here we would call that a GiaPet not a lawn.

[gusbuster]

cantoo,Twotoro's,
So far, you two guys are in the same ballpark figure that I charge this customer a month. What I charge is high end for this market area.

Ray and Ryan, this is a front only yard.

Some more info: By myself, each time it takes me only 20 min on average, when trimming needs to be done, about 45 min. Now that I have a full time worker, you can cut those time by 60 to 70% less time. I have 22 clients within a 12 block radius (no more than 1/2 mile from this client)

[RYAN]

I would be at around $120 a month for all the services you listed

[SMB]

You wouldn't need to get out the push mower for that yard-- do it all with the weed-eater! :rolleyes: Jus' love thoses smilies! :cool:

[RB]

It's funny to see the responses from coast to coast.

Here in Pgh, Pa., we mow from apr thru nov and try to mow weekly. If I didn't have three or four of the neighbors, I would get them. I would only charge $15 per mow and about $50 to trim. I shouldn't take more than $15 minutes including edging.

I wish I could bet some "butter" like that in Pgh.

Ron

[LoneStarLawn]

Sorry gusbuster I can't seem to find cantoo's bid.

[pace lawn care]

lol, lol, lol, cantoo, now that's funny. Pretty lawn, but it still take's more time than it looks like it would. I promise you I would surely under bid it, I have too many in my short time. I should let my wife do all my bidding, might not get as many jobs, but I'd clear more money.

[cantoo]

I didn't post a bid, to tell the truth I don't think I would bid on this type of property unless I had a bunch more at the same stop. I looked at a lawn that was quite abit bigger than this one and told the owner I couldn't give him a price because my equipment wouldn't fit the property. I like to leave the 21" on the trailer as often as I can. What is the actual size of this property, by the size of the sidewalk it looks like about 320 sq ft? I already have a small property that I feel bad about charging what I do, it takes longer to unload than to cut it and I can't seem to get any more jobs near it.
I'm guessing I would have to have at least $120 month for that.. Wait that would be Canadian dollars so about $75US And when the customer wasn't looking I would rip out the grass, cement the spot, lay some artifical turf down quick and just send them a bill every month.

[Skookum]

Gusbuster,

Yard looks very nice. Sharp job!

Without knowing your growth habits of your shrubbery out there in the sunny West Coast, I would figure shrub trimming here in Indiana at a minimum of once a month for 1/4 inch growth. Mow (no bagging), trim, edge as needed. I would go with a 6 applications of fert and spot spray as needed for any weed control on such a small yard. With your info on the location of other accounts you do in the area, My bid would be:

$105.00 per month if I really wanted or needed the account and there might be serious competition.

$120-140 per month if I did not really need the account and or no threat of serious competition.

[awm]

ONE HUNDRED TEN PER MO. ON YEARLY CONTRACT.
Ill take a dozen. TM

[bdemir]

In cali things are expensive and service is not. There is competition like nowhere else. I would charge minimum of 14 or 13 per cut considering its so small but some might get a wawy with just 10 but not unless you have other jobs close by. I love the small jobs they dont kill you and you make a lot considering the speed of it. The other thing is the quality of the service they expect out there in CA. The lawn care out there has to compete with the toughest market. I wouldbe suprized if theis customer pays over 17 per cut and pays additional for bush trimming. I lived in laguna niguel for 6 months and i dont see people making out in this business like the rest of the states. People just get so much for the money over there. Its just too bad that you almost make as twice as much anywhere else. My quote would be 14 per cut and 40 for the bushes.


bdemir

[Lawnworks]

I would charge $35 a cut that includes hegdes. I am trying to keep all my yards at $35 or higher.

[TGCummings]

$74/month for weekly mowing, 5 timed fertilizer applications, and quarterly trimming of the hedges that I can see.

$40/hour for the leaves, bagging & hauling. Hard to put that into the monthly rate because leaves are a seasonal thing in most cases.

I can't include pest or herbicide spraying in my bid because I'm not licensed for it yet. Next test comes around in March, I believe, so I'll add that service then. ;)

-TGC

[jay]

I would charge about 85 a month not including fertilizer, and weed control don't know what kind your using. Can't see the eucalyptus to good looks like its in the backyard. This would be for weekly service because I don't do every ten days it messes up my routes.

[KirbysLawn]

The charges would depend on how many more I had in the area and how many were this size. I would need volume to take on lawns this small, if I had that volume and could make a living mowing lawns this small I would charge $75-85 a month for mowing and fertilizing and by the hour for trimming.


John, nice lawn.

Ray

[Mueller Landscape Inc]

Gusbuster,

That looks to be Fescue grass. I wonder if it is a Dwarf?
We would sell it like this:

$65.00 for twice per month service

-mow and edge
-trim bushes as needed
-clean flower beds (on left)
-pick up leaves (Eucalyptus leaves are a pain)
-spray weeds in cracks and pavers
-debris bagged and left at property

total time spent on average: 15 minutes (leaves are a pain)

Weekly service would be same at $25.00 per visit.
Bi-weekly during winter.

Fertilizer would be applied at 6 to 8 weeks intro. Nitro-King in winter- 1 app. Would be an up-sell to client and charged at about $6 to $12 per app.

Pre-emergence an up-sell too

We do tons of these..... shhhhh don't tell competition. Most guys see NO money in these.

Perfect for that 1 man crew. Can do 15- 20 per day.

John

[powerreel]

HEY! What are you doing posting a picture of my house on the web? Really I would charge $160 a month for grass, weeds,bushes,debris. Pots are extra, irrigation is extra and I would use a reel on the front.

[gusbuster]

Originally posted by bdemir
In cali things are expensive and service is not. There is competition like nowhere else bdemir
Bdemir, I could not say it any better than what you just said.

I make my money doing these small yards because I always have a short distance to either drive to or walk.(meaning I can leave my rig and do 3 to 6 houses without moving my rig) I do not have to make all my money in 32 weeks of mowing.

When I was working by myself, depending how the grass was growing, I would do between 14 to 29 yards a day(double or triple this number with my worker, depends which city I am working in).

This house, I service the yard every 10 days,except for dec, jan, feb. I will spend at least 15 minutes to do everything:cut the grass, edge the edges of lawn and around sprinklers. Pick up leaves from the Eucalyptus trees on the driveway area. Trimming, the boxwood, portaspernum(spelling) the big bush and the camillia bush is trimmed 1 time every 3 to 4 months. I apply a combo of trimec and turflon for broadleaf weed control in the spring and again in the fall. I use a 21-7-7 fert after 2 to 3 weeks of aplication of broadleaf app. All this for a lousy $45 a month. This is a high price for this city, for this size lawn.(490 sq ft) The old gardner was doing this place for $25 a month for a 10 day schedule.

To everybody who posted, thanks. It is very interesting to see what you guys can get via in your area of service. It must be nice not to have 40 or so gardners working in a 5 or six block radius.When I get a chance to take some pics, will drive down to show you what I mean by a city block of gardners.(call them whatever you want). Belive me, if I could get more money than what I get for this account, I would. However, like I mentioned before, I am a high priced L.C.O. for the cities I serve.
John
XX=type of grass: dwrarf fescue with bonsai by Pacific Sod.

[Edited by gusbuster on 01-03-2001 at 12:22 AM]

[Shelton's Lawn]

It is too small, it would cost more to do it then the job would make

[lawnboy11]

$16 per mow/edge/blow
$40 per shrub trimming
$25 per chemical/fert application
$115 spring clean up (thatch, clean out, pre-m, fert, lime)
$100 fall clean up
$45 aerate
so 16*30 is 480 mowing
plus 120 trimming
plus 200 applications
plus 215 clean ups
plus 90 aerate
is $1105/year or about $90+/month for 12 months and includes no additional work not listed. Located on LI where we have a lot of lawns like that. they rule!

[jay]

Man that sucks gusbuster and I thought my area was bad in Fresno C.A.

[Chuck Sinclair]

It's the same here in Sacramento around here a guy goes to Wal-Mart buys a mower and bam he's a LCO and cutting lawns for 8.00 a cut (No kidding) then the guys like us that are trying to do it right are screwed.

[leeslawncare]

Just wait sinclac...time will do tell.these guys go under!!!! .I'am a part time pro an i've seen it done many a time they come in an under bid an next thing you know they call you back ...LOL an then you can raise your price !cause the want you!!!!

[gusbuster]

The only reason I've been able to survive, I have mininium overhead. I don't have to pay rent to store my equipment. (trailer is garaged and other truck is self-contained. I don't have to pay rent as my wife and I live downstairs. The 2 things that kill me the most is gas and labor,though on that end, I have one client that pays for him.

One of the ways that I see to improve our pricing structure is STRICT enforcement of at least a city business liscense. At least in California, you have to be a resident ailien or citizen to get a business liscense from a city.

Let's face a fact. It's a no brainer to cut grass. It does take brains to survive in this business.

I am seriously considering calling it quits in this area and moving out of here. A couple in this area needs to make a minnium net pay of $9.000 to $12.000 just to buy a house in this location. :(
John

[TGCummings]

John,

15 minutes in and out, 3 times a month, at $45/month is still around $60/hour. If it's close to home base and/or you have other profitable lawns in the area then that's not too bad a clip. In our areas there just doesn't seem to be as many of those mass-acreage properties we see from those Northern and Southern Lawn Companies on here, so pricing for profit and not [/i]minimum[/i] seems to be a better recourse for West Coast Gardeners. Without having seen the site and the specific work done, it was difficult to pass on a bid.

I have several similar situations down here, and I make money on them. I wouldn't fold the tent just yet, but continue to look at your job-costing on a regular basis. As the growing season continues to mount, price for profit and improve the bottom line, slowly weeding out the less profitable jobs as you grow. It's a practice in patience, I know, but if you understand job-costing, and work hard, you'll make it in any market, at the rate you need to survive and thrive.

I believe that. ;)

[kutnkru]

MOWING: $20 CUT
if they were willing to sign up 2 others on their street i would discount all three to $17 a cut($120 hour potential).
this price reflects trimming and blowing as well.

SHEARING: $60 HOURLY 6 wk intervals
LEAF REMOVAL: $50.00 HOURLY (2-man crew)
shearing price is for one man crew. otherwise its $25 per man hour additional.

PRE-M: $30 APP-april
FERT: $30 APP-may
W-C/I-C: $30 APP-june
GRUB: $60 APP-august
W-C/I-C: $30 APP-september
FERT: $30 APP-october

LIME: $30 APP-march (applied w/ drop spreader)
LIME: $30 APP-november (applied w/ broadcast spreader)

OPTIONAL SERVICES ---
AERATION: $50 (3/M SF MINIMUM)
POWER RAKING: $75 (3/M SF MINIMUM)

Hope this helps,
Kris

[southside]

I would price on cutting every 10 days through summer and
once every 14 through winter.
Price for mowing/trimming/blowing $95.00 per month(USD) for summer.
Fert every 3 months (24-2-9) $40.00 per app.

Please bear in mind I'm converting from Australian dollars
(Pacific Peso) to USD. Also I have no idea what type of turf that is or what you would spray on it.

[lawrence stone]

Gus you might want to consider moving to the area where I live. We have one of the lowest crime rates in the nation.

The county I live in lost 8% of its population over the last 10 years. You would think that would have big ecnomic impact but no those who died where old FDR area staid seniors how never spent a dime in the first place.

For example a house in SF that is 400K is 40K in my valley and there are thousands of homes on the market to choose from bring prices even lower.

And the prices for lawn care service are just as much or MORE that you get in SF area w/o the hassles of doing business in a crowded market.

If you go to this cost of living calculator at
http://www.homefair.com/calc/salcalc_res.html

If you plug in SF and W-B, PA into that if you make
$50k in SF you would only need $20k in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Plus we don't have any of those enviromental wachos or that "other" nonsense. This a place where men are men and women are men too!!

Life is slow people are not as stress out. The only time we have a traffic jam is when a semi jackknifes in a snow storm on the interstate.

PS you will also have to turn into a bear and learn how to hibernate for three months per year.

[HOMER]

Wow.................huge yard. I think I would set my hover mower to auto pilot and come back later:D!
My 72" Chopper would knock that out in 3 passes............and thats with 50% overlap :D !
Is this the average size of the grass patches in your area? No wonder some of the guys on here say they can mow 20-25 yards a day! No back yard either, thats something else. I'd have to ride on by this one cause they'd have a duck when I pulled the HOG off the trailer. Try doing 20- 25 of these a day, there is still a backyard as large and a side yard.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1347139&a=10028194&p=37227292
This may not work, my first try.

[Edited by HOMER on 01-06-2001 at 10:25 AM]

[curlawngreen]

Nobody has said anything about drive time,unload and load times.Your still talking 23-28 min. to complete. and all that for $17.00. No Way. Full service is $40.00 per service.

[gusbuster]

Stone:
My wife and I are considering getting the heck out of dodge. It's a real shame that to have the quality of life that I wish for my wife and future children, i'm going to have to move out of this area. We are thinking about Carson City area in Nevada or Virginia Beach, Virgina. Both because we have family there, which is the MAJOR issues for both of us.

curlawngreen: driving time should be an issue,but in this case, this house, in my picture is less than 5 minutes from my house and 3 blocks from where I leave my locked truck overnight.

Homer, that house you pictured would probaly get 45 to 60 a cut doing weekly or add 15 for every 2 weeks. This does not include any kind of chemical apps. However, the only place you would see this size yard would be in the hoyty poyty parts of San Francisco Peninsula or out in the San Jauquin Valley.

Thanks for all of your inputs everybody.
John

[gusbuster]

On my site, I posted some pics if you really want to see small yards. Click on this link. Click on the thumbnails to see the bigger picture and your back button to get back to the page.


http://jlclandscaping.com/lawnsite/so_many_houses.htm
John

[TJLC]

In my area the average lot is 80x125.(10,000 sq ft.) They bring $15-20 per cut trim and blow. Some people will argue over 1 or 2 dollars per cut! These I walk away from. I don't make money arguing with people. I guess what I'm trying to say is you can only get what your peticular market will bring. Down here we are paid with sunshine. LOL Hey I give credit to anyone who does lawncare. It's hard work. My hat goes off to everyone on this site!