Top Dressing Prices

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by PlantscapeSolutions

I think Smallaxe is really Charlie Sheen's screen name. His postings are too similar to Charlie's past lunatic antics for it to be just a coincidence. Get help my friend.

I suppose if I talked "redneck cracker" more fluently, the LD readers with ADHD could follow along a little better...

Tell me about your compost delivery system... Cost efficient is it???

!!! Whatever...

[Barefoot James]

Originally Posted by PlantscapeSolutions

The Ecolawn seems to designed with efficiency in mind for small area usage while the SP 100 is based on a shrunken pull behind applicator. At least one person has complained on here who bought an SP 100 because it was difficult to do applications along the edges of lawns that have bends and curves.

The nice thing about having 12 cu ft of post on wheels is it is easy to just grab a bunch and sling it into corners or tight spots. The other thing is you can put heavy apps down in bad areas - just by hand. The eco lawn goes as fast as you are gonna walk. It is light so you can tip it or shake it if the post bridges - plus because you are behind it you can see how it is spreading. This helps make sure you have consistant spread rates. It also will do a pallett of humate - quick! We did 2700 pounds spread over 30,000 sq ft ball field in 30 mins. It is dusty but gets it done! So it is the perfect spreader for high poundage meal apps and probably would be a mean salt spreader in the winter.

[fl-landscapes]

[QUOTE=Smallaxe;4162377]I was challenging the speed of application, by a slow moving machine that carried little more that a 5 cu.ft. standard wheel barrow... Now I finally got my answer that they've engineered hoppers that hold about 1/2 yd. that's better I admit , I like that better than a wheel barrow, My way isn't better in this particular case...
James has a large volume business in compost and a sweet setup that runs efficiently, in which a wheelbarrow would certainly fall behind in speed and efficiency... He probably does more in one day than I'll do this season, and the same is true for most LCOs getting onto the compost bandwagon...
Paying thousands for a machine that returns hundreds at the beginning is bad business... Correct? Meanwhile there is a simple solution that doesn't require, flailing with a shovel or raking out piles that even a h.o. can deal with...

I think the ecolawn has advantages and so does the earth and turf. Think the earth and turf is built more solid. It turns on a dime and can get into most tight spots and follows curves no problem. Although no doubt the rotary of the ecolawn would help even more in those cases. As far as uniformity a drop type spread will be more consistent than rotary unless you are doing exactly the proper overlap on the spread as the spread isn't even from the machine out. Both good machines. As far as you Charlie Sheehan I couldnt care less how you fill your wheel barrow, I have employees to shovel out of my twenty yard roll off to fill my earth and turf. As far as returning hundreds, before I bought my machine I had already sold a twice a year post to my largest commercial customer for 1600 per. This was three years ago. I also do all of Ric customers who need top dressing, trust me I don't need business advice or bad advice on how to efficiently run a top dressing service.
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[fl-landscapes]

Smallaxe, you need to get up to speed on the top dressers we are talking about. Not only are they at least twice as big as you thought. They are anything but slow. I can not keep up with my machine in full speed without trotting. For big areas I think a cushman on a gator is the way to go.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by fl-landscapes

Smallaxe, you need to get up to speed on the top dressers we are talking about. Not only are they at least twice as big as you thought. They are anything but slow. I can not keep up with my machine in full speed without trotting. For big areas I think a cushman on a gator is the way to go.
Posted via Mobile Device

Cool, I'm always glad when Amerikan technology does something worthwhile... You act like beating a wheelbarrow is the greatest thing , since sliced bread... 5 years ago things were different... You think you've found the golden calyx... good for you...

When cost effectiveness meets my current market... I'm on board... not too confusing...

Many markets are not willing to pay for compost... It's a work in progress for many LCOs...

What is your great marketing Experience in the way of clients paying extra for compost???

Answer that question ... and we can dialogue from there...

[ReddensLawnCare]

Bump for some more info. Plantscapes, did you end up getting one for yourself?

[PlantscapeSolutions]

It looks like it will happen this month. I've already sold about 20 top dressing at $75 per 1000 sq ft. The material is going to cost about $27 per yard. For a lot of the yards I'm going to haul in the material myself and tacked on a $75 delivery fee. The base material is about 800 lbs a yard. I may offer some material with sand that will weight more and be $12-15 more per yard as an upgrade.

This is now the slow season so it's the perfect time to try out the top dressing and see how it goes. I may be able to use my friends Dingo loader to make the process go more quickly. Without the dingo I can still dump wheelbarrows out of the dump trailer into the hopper. Shoveling from ground level up into the hopper is what I want to avoid.

[dKoester]

Our compost price is 135 per yard.

[PlantscapeSolutions]

I was thinking I would need at least $100 per 1000 in season. Even if the yard is small I'm still getting the $75 delivery fee for hauling it myself. I'll be interested to see how things go.

[ReddensLawnCare]

Originally Posted by dKoester

Our compost price is 135 per yard.

What kind of compost costs that much? That seems extremely high. Is that your COST or PRICE?