The Green Industry's Resource Center

idealscape · #**171** 12-24-2011, 01:37 PM

Unfortunately my time to answer has run out...Christmas time with the family. I have been instructed to put down the iPhone. I will answer as soon as I get a chance. Merry Christmas everyone!
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LawnMan19 · #**172** 12-24-2011, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idealscape

Unfortunately my time to answer has run out...Christmas time with the family. I have been instructed to put down the iPhone. I will answer as soon as I get a chance. Merry Christmas everyone!
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Come on what comes first Lawnsite or family

just kidding. Merry Christmas

Turfdude · #**173** 12-26-2011, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idealscape

Roughly 30-35%...our average weeks payroll is around $27k but will climb to about $40k if we have a large project with a deadline.

Was going thru this thread & wondered how a company with around 95 employees has such a small payroll. With ten people, my payroll can average around $8k with matched taxes and guys averaging around 42 hrs/wk. Now they also have a min payrate of around $12/hr for the laborers. Are employees working for min. wage??

idealscape · #**174** 12-26-2011, 09:50 PM

I gave an average...only have 95 or so during the heavy parts of the summer while working on large projects. We average 65-70 in the growing season and 45 or so wintertime. We pay average rate for our area. I also included laborer and foreman wages, no office or executive payroll was included in that figure. Sorry it was inaccurate...but again, it's not really something I like discussing either way.

I hope everyone had a great holiday, I'll be back on here tomorrow to answer some questions from last week.
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idealscape · #**175** 12-26-2011, 10:13 PM

Wait a minute...$12/hr minimum for laborers? Goodness gracious, please don't take my guys! Where are you located? We dont pay anywhere close to that for laborers!
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old oak lawn · #**176** 12-26-2011, 10:24 PM

Same here, i have 2 at 12 per hr. This is for mowing operators if that makes any difference. I have had guys before at 8-9 and 10 per hr but they stay a few weeks and then quit. It is like i have to pay that much to keep anyone. I know you don't want to talk $ but if you can say do you have a start off wage for new employees ? if you cant say that's ok.

idealscape · #**177** 12-27-2011, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lawnpropm

Wow when you bid large properties of that size do you charge based on sq ft or by the amount of time on site/ man hrs? On your 3 man residential crew, how many properties do they avg in an 8hr day? I would imagine the driver/supervisor running a ztr/wb, number 2 man weedeating, number 3 man spraying beds and clean-up. Sorry for all the questions ha ha ha ha. I appreciate you
taking the time to answer.
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Let me answer these questions first as promised.
1.)
For large commercial sites we bid everything that has to do with chemicals or fert by the sqft. All of the regular maintenance is based on man hours.
2.)
The residential crews will average 8-10 homes per day. We also don't work 8 hour days, we usually work 10-11 hours. Our guys average 8-10 hours of overtime each week. We never work weekends unless we're pushing snow.
3.)
Actually, the driver is usually doing the overall quality check of the property. Identifying any problems, tip pruning or spraying weeds. We have one person who is the best on the walkbehind handle that and the other works on the string trimmer then those two will blow as the driver handles the field report and talks with the homeowner if they are home. Always have a field report for your clients and make sure to speak to them as much as possible!

Hope this helps, let me know if you need more info.

idealscape · #**178** 12-27-2011, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old oak lawn

Same here, i have 2 at 12 per hr. This is for mowing operators if that makes any difference. I have had guys before at 8-9 and 10 per hr but they stay a few weeks and then quit. It is like i have to pay that much to keep anyone. I know you don't want to talk $ but if you can say do you have a start off wage for new employees ? if you cant say that's ok.

I'm gonna go ahead and tell y'all that we start off laborers at the $8/hr range and slowly move them up. Drivers will start out around $12-14/hr, account managers and supervisors average $14-16/hr. These figures are pretty par for the course around here. I have never heard tale of someone paying a laborer $12/hr. Wow.

What I want you to keep in mind is that our guys work 40hrs a week no matter what time of year and average 5-15 (growing season) hours of overtime each week. This is how we keep our guys for so long. Everywhere else they work might pay higher, but they will only work 20-30 hours a week in the winter and be lucky to hit 40 in season. We will work everyone at least 40hrs. We always have something that can be done. There are some times in the growing/planting season that our guys will work upwards of 65-70 hours a week. If we get a deadline for an opening or something like that we will work all night under lights. We take very good care of our employees.

Turfdude · #**179** 12-27-2011, 07:22 AM

Thank you for answering my question. One other thing I'm curious about is why you do everything with a whiteboard still. If you're using quickbooks, why not qxpress scheduling on something more sophisticated (Paul Jackson who developed Lawn Monkey software which became QXpress now is working on Method Integration real time CRM programming)... it would help at minimum with maintenance scheduling.

idealscape · #**180** 12-27-2011, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turfdude

Thank you for answering my question. One other thing I'm curious about is why you do everything with a whiteboard still. If you're using quickbooks, why not qxpress scheduling on something more sophisticated (Paul Jackson who developed Lawn Monkey software which became QXpress now is working on Method Integration real time CRM programming)... it would help at minimum with maintenance scheduling.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We are old school man...I think we have done pretty well...

Truthfully, I have no clue what you are talking about? Lawn monkey, Method Integration, CRM programming? We are just a bunch of dirt diggers around here...if we start to get left behind we'll re-evaluate our operation, but right now were still ahead.