cleanup debris

[earthandturf]

With spring approaching it will be time to do some spring cleanups. What do you all do with the leaves, branches and other debris? This is my 1st year. Also what's the best way to charge for this.

[Esby]

Finding a place for the debris due to spring clean ups pretty much depends on yourself, and what resources you have near you. I have three different dump sites, one is a farmers land, the next is actually one of my customers land(he gets a discount of course) and last (but rarely used) is my own personal compost pile. Then there is always the option of taking it to the county landfill, but this can start to run up a bill, but just apply it to each of your customers that need removal and you'll be fine.

[1MajorTom]

We charge a minimum of a $100.00 for a spring clean-up.
Decide how much per hour you want to make, then go from there.

We are fortunate that we have a place to dump our branches
and leaves which is only a few minutes from our home.

If you are unable to find an authorized dumping site in your area, you will most likely be forced to dump at your local landfill. If you must pay to dump, then you must incorporate that into the customers price.


Jodi

[Mowman]

For this task I'm lucky because the 3 towns I mow in all have a leaf,grass,limb site to dump the stuff off. There is no charge either. I charge $35.00 per trailer load. If I had to pay, then I would charge the $35.00 + the dump fees. You could ask your customers if they know if the town has a site like this.
Good Luck,
Mowman

[kutnkru]

We used to have a free dumping site available to us but in the last three years its been closed down. I use a site now that is actually a vacant lot that is owned by friends of the family. They allowed us to put up chainlink fencing there and now thats where we dump. Every 3rd/4th day we stop by with the skidsteer and turn the piles. Once they have broken down completely we mix whats left with soils we blend together and use the material for planting beds and as soil ammendments when landscaping. We charge a small fee for the product and it basically covers the T&M we have put in to it.

Some of our clients also have composting bins (or we suggest building one for them) and we deposit lawn and shrub clippings there as needed.

Hope this helps.
Kris

[Jusmowin]

We usualy charge a min of $85 th first hour and $65 and hour after that. As for sticks and debries we cut up sticks and put into a 4x4 pile and bag up all other debries and put on the curb for the trash desposal trucks to pickup. The catch to all that is that service may be stopping next year, so that means Ill have to purchace a dump trailer and have to make trips to the dump.And that means the big DUMP FEE will be required .

[earthandturf]

Thanks, I appreciate everyones input. This gives me some options, perhaps I could match them to the customers' situation. Many of my customers live on 1/2 acre lots or less. I can talk to some of the farmers around here to see if I could use their land when I clean up larger properties.I'm really glad I found this site,everyone has been a big help in making my fledgling business get off on the right foot.

[kutnkru]

I have in fact heard of some contractors giving away their clippings to farmers. In our area it has been years since clippings were allowed in the local landfill, so LCO have been charging customers for disposal and giving away the clippings for profits. We do not, just might since you got me thinking.

Thanks E&T.
Kris

[moonarrow]

a lot of people around here just pile it up on the curb, I don't do this I think it is very unprofessional, I believe that when you leave a customers yard it should be picture perfect, not a bunch of bags and piles of limbs pile up out front, I'm lucky I have a friend that has a low spot in his pasture that he is trying to fill in and allows me to dump there. regular clean up I don't charge extra for but I do charge extra for spring and fall clean ups and for other clean ups like after ice storms I charge $35 per trailer load plus labor

[Greenkeepers]

We have a farmer near-by who we are going to approach this year. My dad is also designing a compost machine for grass leaves and the sort that will turn it into dirt. Hopefully that goes well. Plus I have 4 acres that I can put a pile in the back of...

[bobbygedd]

we take our debris to a dump site, where we pay about $10 for an 8 ft truck bed jamm packed. i usually incorporate this into the price, quoting the job as" cleanup, removal, and disposal". i find most customers dont want this stuff laying at the curb, and it is more time consuming to bag leaves, and cut + tie up branches. the site is about 10 min from us, the price per cleanup is usually about $75 an hour, when the truck is full, one guy gets dropped at the next cleanup, and the other guy goes to the dump. works for me. BOB

[kutnkru]

Mike
Watch out when your doing this. The second season we were in business I was dumping at my folks (3 acre site) because of several reasons and turned the piles every third day and was still fined $500 by code enforcement for dumping "commercial waste" at a residential site. Tried to fight it but lost in court.

Kris

[Starling Lawn]

For our everyday stuff we dump on a empty lot behind the shop and have it picked up every 30 days.For landscape ripouts we pile it on the curb and have a commercial co. pick it up at the end of the job.375.00 per 20 yds.
Dave

[Pauls Mowing]

For hauling, I charge $12.00 per cu. yd., 6 yards on the truck plus the landfill fee, which is $10.00. The landfill is 8 miles out of town, and the only place to dump. If I would have guessed that the dump truck makes more $ for me than the mowers....

Paul