Bidding on residental property

I have been in this business about four years and still have a difficult time bidding properties.
Is there magic to determining pricing?
Do you apply the same concept to commerical?
Are you using a basic per hour rate based upon the crew side?
What about mulching?

I am preparing a bid for a common area of a housing development. I have several residental clients in this developement and one of them recommended me for the job.
Also, what about distance? When is the distance too far?

I am in Silver Spring, Maryland between Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Lots for questions for my request. Sorry!!!!!
Thanks for your help.
Artis

 

very easy! Dtetermine how much per hour you are aiming for and price a job acordingly. Since youve been in the buissness for a while you should be reletivly good at estimating time on a job. When it comes to mulching i charge anywhere from 70 to 100 bucks perd yard installed depending on how much weeding and edging is required.

 

Artis: Once you figure your cost per man hr. then it's all fairly simple math. As far as commercial goes you need to discuss with the property mgr. on what day they pay etc,etc. Some contractors add a buffer to compensate if a commercial job is slow paying. Also on commercial you can put a 90 day clause to where either party can back out with written notice. This is helpful if you bid too low or get other oppertunities for better work. Mulching is done 1x per yr. and usually is included in the total bid (not seperate). Distance and routing is critical to your bottom line. Some contractors bill an account from the time they left their last job plus arrival&completion of the job. So drive time is a consideration you may want to figure in if you and your crew has a long ride with no other work along the way. Only you can determine what distance is too far. When you know what is the cost of running your operation truck, trailer, equipment, employees, etc, those are your determing factors. Hope this helps to shed some light on things and good luck on your bid.

 

we try to group all our work by areas. The best is if you have say 3 lawns on one street and a couple around the corner etc etc. The less times you drop the gate the better.
If you have too much drive time between jobs it could kill you profits. (paying guys,Gas) But if its a job the is huge its a winner. depending on the mowers you use walkbehind rider, number of men in your crew and minutes or hours per job thats how you should price your jobs out. Figure out all your overhead per job. If you don't know take a survey of your time per lawn, gas per lawn drive time etc. Good luck. Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance

 

I try to keep all my lawns grouped together. Just like someone else said, the less you drop that gate the more money you are making. If I'm making 60 an hour I'm happy. Weather its three yards, one commercial, or one big house. Usually I can look at a yard and bid on it. I guess it comes with experience.