I live in michigan, and I was wondering what most people charge for clean ups. By the hr? job? thanks
Based on what kind of clean-up you are doing, pricing can vary. For us if equipment is involved we have to use a formula based on time use of equipment and labor hours as well as other factors..if no equipment is used then labor hours and other factors (besides equipment costs) are taken into consideration. All of our estimates, given to customers, are given as a flat quote not per hr..though we estimate how many hours it will take..our customers do not know how much per man hour it's going to cost them.
On a regular customer we charge 4 times a cut. A new account it could be double or triple that depending on the conditions. Travis AGG Lawn Maintenance
you said that you charged 4 times a regular cut for regular costumers, and you charged 2 to 3 times that depending on conditions for a new constumer, does that mean you would charge 8 to 12 times for a new constumer, or just 2 to 3? Thanks.
if you came every 7-10 days throughout the season and cleared the leaves, you would charge 4x a normal cut ? I'm just trying to compare apples to apples here. everyone claims how much they charge, but never gives specifics on what they are doing. If I did a cleanup on a customers house in november, but not before then, 4x would be the price, but weekly it doesn't take long so it is usualy 1-2x cutting price (without a cut). jeffyr
I am in Michigan as well. I would never charge a rate compared to the mowing. We charge hourly plus a disposal fee per yard of debris hauled away. By setting a specific charge for a leaf clean up you could make some money or lose big. At least that is my experience. It just depends on how many trees a lawn has as well as the neighbor whose leaves might end up in the lawn you are maintaining.
Lawnboy, It depends on how long it will take you to do the clean up. It also depends on what type of equipment you have or use on the job. The more equpiment you need to use (ex: vacuum ) the more expensive the rate. I charge a typical summer lawn customer less than a one shot deal clean up. I just did a clean up for a lawn customer that took me 1.25 hrs. I had done his gutters, flower beds, blew off his lawn of leaves then mowed. Like I said it took me 1.25 hrs with a helper that I pay 12.00 hr. and I charged the customer 80.00 for the clean up, 30.00 for cleaning the gutters and 27 for cutting the lawn. Added up =137.00. Not a bad hrly rate. But worth the money for the service. It would have taken him a hole day to do this himself. Other jobs that take 5-8 hours you may want to consider a flat hrly rate so you don't get burned until you learn how to estimate the length of time it will take you. Hope it helps.
What kind of equipment do you have? Blower? Mower? Vac? Truck? The way Tom describes it is about the way I do it. There are some that I charge based on the weekly mow. The only ones that get an houry rate quote from me are the large jobs that are hauled away. The rate varies (for many reasons) between 40 and 60 per hour. The equipment I use is a Walker 42" GHS, a Husky backpack blower, my trailer (if hauling) Please note that there is not a hand rake mentioned anywhere. That rate is 150/per hour if they absolutely want it hand raked. I sub that out and haven't had any takers yet Good Luck.
