I have a job to bid on from a client. includes trimming back 4 crape myrtle trees and trimming small linope (spelling?) plants in beds. It will cost me $60 in dump fees how much should I charge as I dont want to break the customer's bank but have to get a profit. Any suggestions or what you would be willing to pay as a consumer?
Bid on crape myrtle pruning
MFNA
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I have a job to bid on from a client. includes trimming back 4 crape myrtle trees and trimming small linope (spelling?) plants in beds. It will cost me $60 in dump fees how much should I charge as I dont want to break the customer's bank but have to get a profit. Any suggestions or what you would be willing to pay as a consumer?
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Have been pruning for a couple of weeks now, and I don't have to charge dump fee, but I charge a basic labor charge for the labor, i.e., $15-25/hr, or whatever you have to charge to make a profit. Of course I try to group my pruning jobs together so I minimize gas expenses.
Kind of a tough question with little info on size. This type of work should be charged by the hour, usually 30-40 per hour. I prune a lot of Myrtles and to give you an idea, a tree apx 15' high with a drip line of apx 10'wide could easily take an hour to do if it is done propperly! That said, I still charge by the man hour. Now, if you want to murder them and just hack them off it should only take 10 min
Do it right and make a proffit!
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Why are you pruning them at all?
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Is that suposed to convey the message that you shouldn't prune crape myrtles?
Granted, some people don't like them pruned but every couple of years they should be pruned to keep the inward growing branches off as well as the branches crossing eachother. Also, the nubs should be pruned very close to the main branches and the branches that are pruned should be cut at an angle to not allow moisture to lay on the top that will cause rotting and disease.
I could go on a little more, but if you are interested in more info on CM's go to Clemson University and do a search on propper pruning of CM's.
For those lazy hackers that just chop them off and leave stumps-Clemson calls this Crape Murder-you can do a search on that too!
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I agree about taking off crossing branches and anything dead or decayed, but that is it in my opinion.
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Crepe Myrtle do not need pruning. Limb up Crepe myrtle is a tree. Around here we call it crepe murder
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I generally do what the customer wants. Some want them cut low, some don't. If a CM has been "murdered" in the past, then I will try to clean it up, but it also depends on how they've been pruned in the past and how they are growing now. I will always try to get down to an odd number (3/5/etc) of trunks and will clean up crossing limbs, those growing together, etc. I will be pruning up 2 more CM this morning and they have been planted too close to the house (< 5 ft), which is the case for too many CM, and that generally requires getting them to a place where their growth will not impact the roof. Just remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but many people do just what they think is right without any real clue to what is good for the plant!
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That is when you step in as the professional and educate the client.
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