Cost for overseeding & aerating

[mdlwn1]

Originally Posted by brucec32

Experienced guys. Let me ask you. Do you think there just might be a correlation between our industry's poor image with some people and the fact that we have thousands of guys who haven't got sufficient experience running around trying to be in the lawn business? You think that might affect how customers see YOU and how YOUR ability to charge a good price is diminished?

I'm all for charity......For the needy and helpless. However, this guy and others like him aren't helpless. They are perfectly capable of hiring on with someone to learn the trade. One clue you're ready for self-employment in a field might be things like knowing what people charge for stuff in your field!

The next time you feel like starting a thread about how hard it is to find "good help" these days, you might consider the fact that ANY industry would have a hard time finding help if the entry level position was "business owner". Just imagine if restaurants and dry cleaners were run like that. "Sorry about your suit being ruined sir, but the guys at "drycleanersite.com" told me everything I know".

This guy can skip working for you because you are here giving him the benefit of all your years of experience for free. I learned what to charge for aerations because I worked for someone else doing aerations! I knew from that:

a) how long it takes
b) how much longer it takes on sloped lots
c) how much harder lawns with numerous obstacles and turns take
d) how hard it is relative to just mowing lawns
e) the difference in a good job and simply running a machine a few times over a lawn.
f) what it cost by simply observing what my boss charged.


It's one thing to help someone out answering a question here. It's another when people start showing up in droves with nothing more to say or offer than "tell me what to do".

Somewhere along the line, in their dreams filled with dollar signs and early retirement, these guys forgot one important thing. You have to actually learn about what you're doing. I have noticed that while they get very excited about sales and marketing, truck lettering and shiny new equipment, they don't seem too interested at all in going out and learning the trade itself. They hope a few hours spent trolling posts here will suffice.
Well, after 17-18 years of it, I still learn new things. But unless I'm teaching an employee so he can help make me more money, I am not sure why I'd hand out that hard-earned knowledge for free.

If he's like most, you will reply "About $75 for a small lawn" and he will go out and print up 5,000 flyers saying "any lawn aerated, $65". Get it?

Then again I must be a sucker, I actually paid for a university course on turf.

I sooo no longer have it in me to state EXACTLY what you just did. The OP should paypal you money.

[Please_Be_Green]

Originally Posted by mdlwn1

This is as dumb as me asking my fav restaurant to charge me 9.95 for a 16 oz steak. I could go on for an hour as to how how ignorant your post is.......

Ha ha ha. This forum cracks me up.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mdlwn1]

Originally Posted by Please_Be_Green

My bad... You made me log into my LESCO account and look at my billing detail. We did buy 150# of seed at 2.46/# for $395. Add the rental fee of of 85+taxes and we actually spent approx $97.00 without labor costs.

Even still...

All companies were local with less then 15 min drive time to said property. Throw $65.00 drive time (to and from) on the bill, throw another $130.00 of labor time. Quote me $250-$275.00 for 15sq/ft of aerated and over seeded turf and I'd probably sign the contract.

If you have the proper equipment already, and have me stake my own sprinkler heads, you are completing this job in 45 minutes or less upon unloading the aerator and reloading. Even if you are driving 30 minutes, you'd be making more than $60 per hour depending on how you charge/owe on the equipment.

I've done the entire property in two hours. That includes driving to the rental store, renting paper work, loading, driving back home, taking the time to stake the sprinklers, aerating, cleaning the machine, loading the machine, spreading the seed, driving back to the rental shop and drive back home. Work being performed with a bluebird 424 with only has a 17.5" width.

I'll also mention that the companies that were quoting $400.00+ do regular cuts for these people between $45 - $55 per cut. I know that fact alone turned off my immediate neighbor. He just couldn't understand an 8x increase over a standard cut & trim.

Lets take your 200k income.......$100 per hour. Now add that to your costs...dum da dum dum. Secondly If you feel that your time (at 100 per hour) is best spent aerating your lawn as opposed to paying someone LESS than 100 per hour to do it........then just say that instead of making some emotional plee as opposed to a VALID argument. Third...I've lived most of my life in Jersey...I know who you are. Mcmansion neighbor hood..stretched financially..probably in your late 30's to early 40's...most of the street payin some local chop outfit to do you a favor and stop the grass from getting too high. Im quite sure most of the service groups in your area are pretty bad, but there are some really good ones out there...it's just that they most likely dont want anything to do with your type of customer.

[Please_Be_Green]

Originally Posted by mdlwn1

Lets take your 200k income.......$100 per hour. Now add that to your costs...dum da dum dum. Secondly If you feel that your time (at 100 per hour) is best spent aerating your lawn as opposed to paying someone LESS than 100 per hour to do it........then just say that instead of making some emotional plee as opposed to a VALID argument. Third...I've lived most of my life in Jersey...I know who you are. Mcmansion neighbor hood..stretched financially..probably in your late 30's to early 40's...most of the street payin some local chop outfit to do you a favor and stop the grass from getting too high. Im quite sure most of the service groups in your area are pretty bad, but there are some really good ones out there...it's just that they most likely dont want anything to do with your type of customer.

You got it. And my portfolio is down about a million
Posted via Mobile Device

[mdlwn1]

Originally Posted by Please_Be_Green

You got it. And my portfolio is down about a million
Posted via Mobile Device

Too bad.....This landscaper's portfolio is UP 58% It aint rocket science....just something that comes naturally to someone who's job it is to generate revenue......You I would say....work behind a desk...in a situation that doesnt change regardless of weather or not you produce results.

[Please_Be_Green]

Originally Posted by mdlwn1

Too bad.....This landscaper's portfolio is UP 58% It aint rocket science....just something that comes naturally to someone who's job it is to generate revenue......You I would say....work behind a desk...in a situation that doesnt change regardless of weather or not you produce results.

Amazing and I get gov't bail outs and my bonus's. Thanks for your contribution.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Big Bad Bob]

Originally Posted by Please_Be_Green

Amazing and I get gov't bail outs and my bonus's. Thanks for your contribution.
Posted via Mobile Device

Well then, who's the thief?

[khutch]

I try to keep prices related to what I want to make an hour. I'll prep the lawn at say 45 per hour, aerate at 75-100 per hour, seed and fert at 35 per hour then mark up materials 50-75%.
At best a 1500 sf postage stamp lawn comes in at $125 and is easy, 5000 sf more like $250 and up. It helps that seed and fert are cheap this year!

[piste]

Originally Posted by Please_Be_Green

I've done the entire property in two hours. That includes driving to the rental store, renting paper work, loading, driving back home, taking the time to stake the sprinklers, aerating, cleaning the machine, loading the machine, spreading the seed, driving back to the rental shop and drive back home. Work being performed with a bluebird 424 with only has a 17.5" width.

I do my own too...nursing my aching body from doing mine today...I'm hoping to share with neighbors in the future but even without that I still do my own as it is SO much cheaper...AND it's done by the one guy I know who will do the job right..me.

But I'm afraid I gotta call BS on your claim above. You said your property was in the vicinity of 15,000 sq feet of turf. I have a half acre lot with a good chunk of that turf. No way in this world you did all you claim above in two hours Superman. Not for a job done right. Even if you live next door to the rental place. Even if we assume you do half the job and run it in only one direction and skip the second perpedicular run...I just can't see doing it all in under 2 hours. And BTW...you left out refilling with gas!! I'm about a 10 minute drive to rent mine. From the time I sign the paperwork (exclude the drive there), get it home, unload, aerate two directions, clean it, refilll with gas, load it, and drive back to the rental shop...I arrive about 3.5 hours after I first signed the paperwork. Similar machine to the Bluebird. That does not include spreading seed, nor marking sprinkler heads, nor initial drive time to store.. I do have a pretty hilly lot.

[willretire@40]

Does everyone do double passes? I use a Plugr 850 and I only do a single pass then spread seed. $140 for a 10k sq ft lot (turf is 4k-6k). I am thinking about raising the price a little.