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Maintenace...dos and donts??

2K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Creter 
#1 ·
The 66 unit condo complex I reside in is having issues with their contracted landscaper. I've done work not related to landscaping for this place in the past. Up until last week nobody had been through to maintain the property. I brought it up to the senior member and I got the job of going through and weeding/pruning the property. From that I also got an 11 yard mulch job here on the complex.

I removed 8 thirty gallon bags of weeds and half a medium sized dumpster of prunings in 6 hours.

If I was to enter into an agreement with this place what's the dos and donts?
  • Is it a flat rate each month or is it billable time and material?
  • Do you do it once a month or twice?
  • What's a decent price?

Also it's a situation where there is 26 properties in all. I don't want to lowball my way into the work. I want my dependability and quality of work to win the contract. That way I also I don't have concerns over the guy that is contracted for the work, it would be his fault for not showing up etc instead of me undercutting his pricing.

Any ideas and advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Creter
:drinkup:
 
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#3 ·
Have a set price per month & do it as needed. This should be a bit easier since you have already done it once. Beware that they will try to get you to do it when they want to have it done. If that's the case, give them an hourly rate + disposal fees. DON'T LOWBALL! Depending on you area, the hourly rate for manual labor here is usually $40 to $60 an hour or more since you have overhead to be covered. Also, get your applicators license so you can spray those weeds instead of pulling them. You will be much happier w/ the results & the amount of time it will take you.
 
#4 ·
Ok, thanks for the tips! What is you guy's opinions in regard to Yellowpages? I got a salesman from Yellowbook offering a 2x4 ad in three categories (Concrete, Home Improvement & Landscaping) for $140 a month total.
 
#7 ·
Have a set price per month & do it as needed. This should be a bit easier since you have already done it once. Beware that they will try to get you to do it when they want to have it done. If that's the case, give them an hourly rate + disposal fees. DON'T LOWBALL! Depending on you area, the hourly rate for manual labor here is usually $40 to $60 an hour or more since you have overhead to be covered. Also, get your applicators license so you can spray those weeds instead of pulling them. You will be much happier w/ the results & the amount of time it will take you.
No condo complex is going to pay $40/hr for someone to do simple weeding and tree maintenance...maybe half that much. Weeds can be controlled with chemical and should practically elimate weeding.
 
#8 ·
No condo complex is going to pay $40/hr for someone to do simple weeding and tree maintenance...maybe half that much. Weeds can be controlled with chemical and should practically elimate weeding.
That "you" know of. In this neck of the woods, we're getting $50/hr per man to weed and $70/hr if it involves anything more than weeding. And this is condos and all summer long, as many hours as we want.

It's like this old story I heard once. A guy had a hot dog stand and was doing great. One day things slowed to a crawl in sales and after a week he decided to quit cause it wasn't making enough money.

What he didn't realize is that construction 20 miles up the highway had rerouted some traffic.

Moral of the story, you never know until you investigate thoroughly.

:)
 
#9 ·
Ok, thanks for the tips! What is you guy's opinions in regard to Yellowpages? I got a salesman from Yellowbook offering a 2x4 ad in three categories (Concrete, Home Improvement & Landscaping) for $140 a month total.
Advertise with them, I have already had five calls this week from the ad I have with them and picked up 3 new accounts. My phone rings all the time from the calls I get from them. Do an ad in color 1 or 2 its worth the extra cost and ask your rep about the buy one get one free under a different heading.
 
#10 ·
I have a 1/3 page ad ina phone book here and I only get calls from cheapos looking to work someone to death for nickels. No phone book ad for me next year.
 
#11 ·
I ended up blowing off the yellow pages due to it becoming a large investment, 1680.00 and it became such a $&#**# hard sell from the salesman. If we sold our services like some of these people, we'd all be starving. Besides, that 1680 is gonna go nicely towards a new trailer here soon.

I got a nice ad hitting the senior demographic of about 120,000 + in two weeks and am revamping my fliers as well. I have access to placing an ad in a high end area news weekly that goes out to the upper tier around here that I would rather use some of the yellow page money to advertise in.

Thanks again to all that have replied to anything of mine so far.
 
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