Fertilizing large areas

Just been asked to give estimate on 2 acre property. I've never been asked to fertilize such a large property and was just wondering about some ball park figures from you guys. Thanks!!!

 

Anywhere from $2.25 to $3.00 per 1000, depending on travel time and description of property. You also want to consider the product you would be using. The above rate would be for straight fert only. If they wanted a combo, weed and feed or insect control plus fert, you would need to adjust accordingly.


Your area might command a higher price. Also the quality and price of your product will be a factor.

 

do u have any one acer properties just *2

 

When you take on a bigger property don't sell yourself short!

Don't give any bargains unless you have a full program.
If you have only one or two applications, they will expect a golf course for nothing. Return trips for weeds, etc. will kill you on the big ones. Sell realistic expectations up front to alleviate a lot of
arguing later.

You should be getting at least $135 to $175 per acre for a good program!

 

160 on a program, at least three treats per year.

More if its steep or broken up a lot.

Less if its closer to home..

EG

 

That's for 43K or one acre.

EG

 

You should be doing ok with that.

 

Lets see, the way I would do it is divide 83K by the total number of Ksft the bag will cover at the lbs of N per 1K desired. This would then give me the total number of bags of fert required for the job. Different fert formulations have different coverages. A fert impregnated with Pendamethlin or Merit cost significantly more than the triple 13 available at Wally World. Anyhow, now that I know how many bags I'll need I know how much my material cost is. To this number I add mark up, overhead, value of time, degree of difficulty, degree of exhaustion the job will produce on a 110 degree day, PITA factor etc which brings me to the total price for the job. Big or small there is no other way to figure out what to charge without losing money or outbidding yourself from the job.

Business rule #1, your costs may be different than anyone else's on this forum.

Business rule #2, know all your actual costs for each service provided.

Business rule #3, to stay and remain profitable, every service you provide must make a profit.

Sounds so obivious it seems moronic but so many bids are made by the seat of the pants of, "I can do it for less and still make money," or I should be able to make money if I charge $XXX.XX."

 

OK Let's look at the worst case scenario. Pre-m on two acres
at 3.5 bags per acre and $15 per bag. Let's say you are also going to spray for broadleaf at the same time at $ 13 per acre.

Fert: $52.50
Weed $13.00
total $65.50 cost of materials

This will be your most expensive treatment of the year. Throw in some expense for truck, equipment, labor for approx .75 hrs. at
$35 per hour.

Cost of labor etc., $26.25 per acre

Total Cost of your most expensive application = $91.75/ acre

You made $68.25 per acre or $136.50 on the 2 acre job.
You have made a 43% margin on your most expensive treatment.

Yes, I know you have other expenses, taxes, insurance,
obstacles, etc., but you are making money. Your other applications should be even more profitable.

Now, what will kill this is if you skimp on application, get rained out right after treatment or have some other problem which makes you return later to fix or redo something, your margin goes down the tubes.

 

I treat many 2 acre properties, charge per 1000 square feet and you can't go wrong. my price for 86,000 square feet is $344.00
that is $4 per 1000 you can just forget about finding out how many bags it will take you and then working for $20-$30 per hour
if you are doing this for a business you need to have a set rate per 1000 square feet and a per stop fee on top of that for the smaller lawns that you treat. We go up to 50 k and then drop the stop fee.