I need some help coming up with a price for mowing a one acre yard, with edging, weed eating. By an hourly calculation for two people and also by square footage. We tried the dollar a minute price and only came up with 45.oo that seems very low to me.
how much to charge for mowing and edging weed eating a 1 acre yard
seric
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I never thought about properties larger than one acre mainly because their aren't properties here larger than that.Grass Gator said:
I thought about it a while and adding $40 dollars for every acre after that seems fair. so here's my calculations for a 1 acre to 6 acre prop.
ok, we take our original price with out profit for for one acre, which is $108.75 we add $40 for each acre after that, so, 1 acre = 108.75 plus profit, 2 acres = 148.75, 3 acres = 188.75 plus profit. and so on.
here's what I would charge for a 6 acre property: $308.75 + 30 percent profit = $401.37 + the hawaii general excise tax which = .04166. so 401.37*0.4166=16.72 add that to our price with profit which = $418.09
you also have to realize that the cost of living in hawaii is much higher than other places on the mainland. so we have to charge more to make a living wage. again, the area you live in really sets the going price of lawn service.
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I got out two years ago but will be getting back in "legit" this season. I will be part time till i can go full time. It will be tuff to get what I wan't but i will not lower my work or prices to get a customer and if they don't like my prices i will tell them to keep my # in case they change there mind. I'm going into this serious this year. i have a price sheet at home i've been working on so i will have set prices for everything but might adjust as I see fit, for example if the place has a lot of flower beds to be trimmed, I might go up in price, or if the customer wants mulch and I have to carry it in by wheel-barrow 1 acre away from the driveway (yes i've been there) I might charge a bit more.
Two tears ago I dropped my prices left and right (borderline to being a scrub) then suffered by not making any money and in some cases losing money. This site has been my education and i will not knowingly make the same mistakes this year.
Two tears ago I dropped my prices left and right (borderline to being a scrub) then suffered by not making any money and in some cases losing money. This site has been my education and i will not knowingly make the same mistakes this year.
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Yup! This is why this year I will try to target smaller yards. It seems around here people with smaller yards figure if there going to have a small yard it should at least look good and spend the money. I want the 10000-15000ft yards where I can charge $30-$45. That will bring me close to the figures you guys are getting for 1 acre...
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Wow! Some of these estimates I see are unbelievable. I own 8 acres, 4 of it I mow. If someone came to me and told me 200, 300, or 400 dollars, I would have to say you are nuts. Before we know it, people are going to have to start paying for their lawn care like they do for going to the doctor. Maybe some companies/corporations will start offering it as part of their fringe benefits. At least some of you sound like you have an idea while others are just down right trying to screw people out of their money. I'm not a business owner, but I do maintain 10-20 lawns each year; and yes I do report what I make to the IRS. I'm not trying to screw anyone out of anything. If all you do is mow and trim and these are the prices, all I can say is WOW! For those of you who own your own business, I'll admit I don't know all of your expenses, but I know most that are in my area (who just cut the grass) have at most 3-4 mowers, yes several blowers, trimmers, and trimmers, and maybe 1 to 2 employees. You can't tell me that charging, like one guy said, over $400 for 6 acres is right. My 4 acres takes 2 hrs. and 15 min. by myself. I trim for another 20-30 min. around my house. OK, so I have 3 hours wrapped up in it. $400! Come on! If you get that each time each week for let's say 40 mowings/year...that is a $16,000+ job/year. How many jobs do you have like that? How many jobs do you have that are residental at $40-$45/mowing. Man, that is a good living. I'm not jealous, I'm just amazed. I have a college degree, along with a masters degree. Most of my college buddies aren't making this money working year round. I know you have expenses. My JD z-track 54 in. 23 Kaw. cost $7100 brand new in '04. I could keep rambling, but I just don't see where some of these people think they have to come up with these outrageous numbers. I understand disliking and bashing scrubs; not any job/career is perfect. We all have to deal with people we don't like. There is plenty of grass to mow; it's not going away, so don't worry about them. As some have so gracefully pointed out, maybe you should worry about yourself and your prices. I would rather be honest. I think some of you just don't want to work too hard. I think you want big money on a few jobs so you can be out on the golf course, drink beer, or something...I just don't get it. There just aren't many jobs out there or even careers out there that pay hourly like some of the numbers I have seen on here. You can whine and tell me all about your expenses, employee pay, etc. but my family has owned two different business and had many more expenses than what a small lawn care operation has and they haven't taken in the money some of you are supposedly taking in. I just hope there aren't too many people falling for $400 for 6 acres of mowing or $100/hour. If so, some people just have too much money that they don't know what to do with it. Let me end with...WOW!
sir, I must mention to you that prices for lawn care vary region by region. I also notice that "more resonable" estimates are closer to your location.BobbyKnight said:
for what it's worth, a gallon of milk here costs $7.00, regular gas is $3.11 per gallon, and a 1,500 sqft house on a 7,500 sqft lot goes for about $625,000
I am sure that in your region that those prices would be considered outragious. our prices are directly linked to our cost of living. that is why there is a "going rate" in the area. prices for food, gas, and land vary greatly.
I also must mention that even in my own area I am a border line low baller. one lco I know does 10,000 sqft lawns for $62.85 a mow. I personally cannot see somebody paying that much for just mowing, but this guy does have a contractors license and a turf and ornamental license. his crew rips up the lawns, but for the people here lawn service is not a convienience, it's a status symbol.
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I can vouch for TCLawn and the prices in Hawaii.
Vacationing there last year and we went to the store for supplies....$6.00+ for a gallon of milk. We about schit! We also decided to "eat cheap" one night and head to McDonalds. Family of 4....normally around $10 on the mainland was nearly $25 (For 2 Qtr. pounder meals and 2 Happy meals)!!!!
We also saw a very small lot for sale about two blocks from the beach in Maui (West side). The lot was 80' x 120' and not in the best of shape. Asking price.....$1.2 million!
Hawaii is beautiful and we vacation there annually.....but the cost of EVERYTHING there is unreal.
Vacationing there last year and we went to the store for supplies....$6.00+ for a gallon of milk. We about schit! We also decided to "eat cheap" one night and head to McDonalds. Family of 4....normally around $10 on the mainland was nearly $25 (For 2 Qtr. pounder meals and 2 Happy meals)!!!!
We also saw a very small lot for sale about two blocks from the beach in Maui (West side). The lot was 80' x 120' and not in the best of shape. Asking price.....$1.2 million!
Hawaii is beautiful and we vacation there annually.....but the cost of EVERYTHING there is unreal.
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How much does your local plumber charge per hour? plus i'm sure he will charge a service call or a trip charge. How much does your auto repairs cost per hour? I know around here its 80+ per hour, you think you can get an electrician to come to your house for less than 100 bucks min. i doubt it!BobbyKnight said:
wake up to reality, cost of living is up ,cost of equipment is up, cost of fuel is up, cost of insurance is up, and cost of preventive maintenance is up, i could keep going but if you can't or wont understand the difference of me driving to a home with 60 thousand dollars worth of equipment (incl. truck) taking full liability into my hands and a home owner having a 737 in his garage to pull out with the blades running and start mowing, i'm sorry but you don't and probably wont ever have a clue.
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TClawn, I was just caught off guard by some of the numbers. Honestly, I didn't even notice you were referring to Hawaii. The numbers just jumped out at me. Yes, cost of living is cheaper in my area: Milk $3.00/gallon, gas $1.70 as of today, 1500 squ. ft. home you referred to would probably go for around $150,000-$300,000 depending on contractor and specific area. Just to give you an idea of cost of property my 8 acres was $42,500 four years ago. Currently in my area, 3/4 to 1 acre lots are going for $35,000 to $70,000. It just depends on the area. I just had 21 acres sell one mile from me for $65,000. In response to whomever wrote about the electrician, etc., those who have done work for me are not even close to those numbers. Big whatever Michigan must not be on the mainland either. I'll admit, though, I have some small town boys in my area that do great work for very little money. They charge so little that every time they ever do anything for me I write them a check that is usually $50-$100 more than what they asked for. I just had a guy clear my driveway, a winding drive that is probably 150+ feet long, who didn't charge me a dime. This wasn't a relative either. It was a guy I have only spoken to probably 6 times. That was after a snowstorm where we got 24 inches in two days! Also, just had a new motor put in my furnace. The guy came one evening about 7 PM to see what the problem was, came back two days later in the evening again, put the motor in and was charged $200. The motor cost $100. Probably spent 2 hours or so there between the two evenings. It's too bad it is not like that everywhere.
I am 59 years old and this is my first post. I have a job but, I would like to work for myself: control my opportunities and work as long as I want (not retire). I only want part time. I have a 95 Ford F150 truck and most of the hand tools I need for doing lawn and yard maintenance. I need a lawn mower and a trimmer. Any suggestions as to what I should get that is not too expensive but good quality. I plan to mow and trim at residential sites. About what too charge: am I right that the average rate for a standard mow and trim would be about $60 a Hour So any job would be a minimum of $30. Anyway, I probably have a lot more questions than that, but, this is all for now. PS I like the idea of charging a professional rate and serving customers that want professional services and perhaps doing some value added stuff to build the relationship. Thanks.
We figure out a base operating cost per lawn in our area . In other words we include all insurance, distance traveling, fuel costs (estimated), etc. For arguments sake let's say it "costs" us $30 to get to the job, work, and get back from the job. Now, I estimate by figuring how long it's going to take with one (1) person. Say it's going to take 1.5 hours. Assume my hourly wage is 30/hour. Now, that would mean the total price would be $75 dollars for that particular job.
No offence to anyone but I don't care about what others are charging or what the "going" or "market" rates are. I'm not going to take a job too lose money because the "going" rate is X-amount. I'm taking a job to make money.
No offence to anyone but I don't care about what others are charging or what the "going" or "market" rates are. I'm not going to take a job too lose money because the "going" rate is X-amount. I'm taking a job to make money.
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