I don't give discounts just to be a nice guy, but if the customer lets me do the trimming at the
same time I come out to mow, it's usually cheaper than if I have to come out twice.

Because not only do I get to do both at the same time, but...
First rule of hedge trimming: Trim first, then mow

And you definitely need to voice your concerns to the customer about the mulch,
otherwise they could end up making you replace it.
That's the second rule of trimming: Trim first, then mulch.

 

We charge an hourly rate per man hr...as for the mulch, we will sometimes lay a tarp or two under and around hedges and just fold up clippings into tarp....lot easier and faster than separating the mulch from clips...:usflag:

 

He lives about 2 miles from my house and I mow his lawn Thursday's. Want's it done by Tuesday so I have to figure in more time since I gotta load up and go there just for 9 shrubs. I heard from others that the basic rate is $40 an hour. If I have 9 shrubs and each one takes 5 min to trim that's about 45 mins but push that up since the cleanup will take a while and also disposal as well. I'm thinking $85 since the going rate from my friend said around $10 for a box woods more then charge a little less and few charge more.The customer does give me a lot of side work plus he is located in a wealthy street so I would like to show my work.

 

Keep in mind you might spend a long time there but your overhead with hand held tools is a lot lower,
I don't normally go much over $25 an hour with powered hand tools because it's not the same thing
as an $8,500 Ztr.
What are we talking about, a $300 HS-85r and a $25 rake plus a $50 tarp?
You got less than $400 in equipment being used, let the value of your equipment help you settle on some hourly rates.

So if you're there two hours, plus hauling, I'd quote the guy 75 max.

That way you not only get to show off your work, but you get to keep the customer
And even at $40 an hour you probably still come out looking good.

 

For bushes like you are describing I will do them for $5/bush if I'm there doing something else. If there for bushes only I will charge a little more and then tag on a dump fee or something like that. Most of the time I will be mulching a flower bed with them so no big deal.

 

I hate hedge trimming so I price it as high as I can. I trimmed 6 large bushes the other day for $20 per bush. Had to use a ladder with my extended trimmers, took me a little over an hour.
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I place old bath towels under the bushes while trimming. The trimmed material will cling to the towel then just shake into a trash can. You should be able to trim those box woods in an hour and disposal isn't even in the equation. $30 bucks max. Don't worry about the neighbors.

 

10 dollars a bush. If you have some that are bigger than a normal size bush then adjust accordingly but it sounds like these are all regular size. should be out in less than an hour. Tell him some is gonna get in the mulch. We just rake it up...a little mulch might come with it. Boxwoods you could do before the mulch but not many people want to wait for rhodies and azaleas to be done blooming so you can trim. I would shoot for much higher than $25 an hour if you are paying taxes and what not. There is a lot to know about trimming and pruning. They are paying for your knowledge and your tools.

 

I know how to trim and have an expensive pair of Husqvarna trimmers that I bought last year. He is that kind of customer that if the price is high he will let me do it but the next year or so he will do it himself, trust me he mulches his own house now and rents tools from Homedepot. If I charge medium or the rate since I have him already the "existing customer discount" I know he will let me trim them for as long as he lives on that property.

 

I know how to trim and have an expensive pair of Husqvarna trimmers that I bought last year. He is that kind of customer that if the price is high he will let me do it but the next year or so he will do it himself, trust me he mulches his own house now and rents tools from Homedepot. If I charge medium or the rate since I have him already the "existing customer discount" I know he will let me trim them for as long as he lives on that property.

90 bucks for someone to come trim their shrubs is nothing. Seriously...if you aren't gonna make money, you don't want it anyways. Don't establish a low rate or they will expect it forever. Your $85 is a very fair price from the sounds of it and the going rate. Don't forget a lot of the guys from the south work for much lower rates because cost of living is significantly lower. They talk about 2 and 300 thousand dollar homes like they are mansions. Those are sh*tbox starter homes around here and I know ct isn't cheap. That drives the price of everything up. We do a lot of trimming and I always base the price on 10 bucks a bush and larger bushes cost more.....I just try to see how much longer it will take...if it seems like twice as long...twenty....and so on. $50 minimum to trim bushes. These are fair prices around me..not high and not low

 

I know how to trim and have an expensive pair of Husqvarna trimmers that I bought last year. He is that kind of customer that if the price is high he will let me do it but the next year or so he will do it himself, trust me he mulches his own house now and rents tools from Homedepot. If I charge medium or the rate since I have him already the "existing customer discount" I know he will let me trim them for as long as he lives on that property.

Who wouldn't if you're going to do it cheap?

You need to know what it cost you to run the necessary equipment to do the job for an hour, then tack on what you need to cover expenses and your income for a given hour. Add that all together and "estimate" how many hours it's going to take to trim them all.

 

I don't care about the money but just doing them and the neighbors seeing it will bring more work. The area got built 4-5 years ago and each home goes for $1.2M but with the economy about $565K Most of the people know they can't trim bushes and are afraid to hire someone not knowing what will happen since each lawn is viewable with no tree's. So what the final product shows will be very viewable from others passing down the street.

 

What hurts the industry is when someone does something cheap and does a good job at it because people think that is the going rate for good quality. But if someone does something cheap and does a horrible job then people realize that to get good quality you gotta pay more and basically you get what you pay for.

 

What hurts the industry is when someone does something cheap and does a good job at it because people think that is the going rate for good quality. But if someone does something cheap and does a horrible job then people realize that to get good quality you gotta pay more and basically you get what you pay for.

again, know your numbers and charge accordingly. Don't forget to do a good job.

 

I don't care about the money but just doing them and the neighbors seeing it will bring more work. The area got built 4-5 years ago and each home goes for $1.2M but with the economy about $565K Most of the people know they can't trim bushes and are afraid to hire someone not knowing what will happen since each lawn is viewable with no tree's. So what the final product shows will be very viewable from others passing down the street.

They're living in over half million dollar homes and your asking if $85.oo seems to high to trim bushes,I mean lets get real here,they didn't fiance those places working at McDonalds,do good work and charge how you value yourself as a lawn care as a specialist.

 

he lives about 2 miles from my house and i mow his lawn thursday's. Want's it done by tuesday so i have to figure in more time since i gotta load up and go there just for 9 shrubs. I heard from others that the basic rate is $40 an hour. If i have 9 shrubs and each one takes 5 min to trim that's about 45 mins but push that up since the cleanup will take a while and also disposal as well. I'm thinking $85 since the going rate from my friend said around $10 for a box woods more then charge a little less and few charge more.the customer does give me a lot of side work plus he is located in a wealthy street so i would like to show my work.

165.00 ...............

 

In my area 500k will get you an average cookie cutter house... And people still complain about price just the same as if they were million dollar homes
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as its been stated on this site in other forums. Who cares what the price of the home is. Just becasue the home is worth 1.2m doesnt mean the price of the work needs to change to do the same work you would for a home worth 100,000.

The price you need to charge in order to make money, is the price you need to charge. Your operation cost doesnt change becasue of the house. Price is accordingly. Dont try to give a low rate becasue you think you might get work from the neighbors. I know rich neighborhoods, and the people in them only care about one thing, out doing their neighbor. So why would you want to price 4 hedge trimming jobs at $75.00 becasue your going to get more in that area when really they are worth 100 or 125.

Trimming boxwoods is a skill in itself, just ask perfectearth. To do a good job, your talking probably at least 5 minutes alone in trimming, sometime even a few minutes more. Everytime I have trimmed a boxwood, Ive needed to trim it 3 maybe even 4 times. Trim, fluff it up, trim, fluff, until it stays even and doesnt have a bunch of little leaves sticking up. Then after that, you probably have another 30 minutes in cleanup, and then 30 minutes in disposal, etc.

Minimum your looking at about 2 hours on that job, between drive time, trimming, cleanup, disposal, but more than likely probably about 2.5 hours. Id probably charge about $100 or so for doing that. Thats putting down small tarps, then trying to get the other little stuff that fell, fixing the mulxh etc.

 

as its been stated on this site in other forums. Who cares what the price of the home is. Just becasue the home is worth 1.2m doesnt mean the price of the work needs to change to do the same work you would for a home worth 100,000.

The price you need to charge in order to make money, is the price you need to charge. Your operation cost doesnt change becasue of the house. Price is accordingly. Dont try to give a low rate becasue you think you might get work from the neighbors. I know rich neighborhoods, and the people in them only care about one thing, out doing their neighbor. So why would you want to price 4 hedge trimming jobs at $75.00 becasue your going to get more in that area when really they are worth 100 or 125.

Trimming boxwoods is a skill in itself, just ask perfectearth. To do a good job, your talking probably at least 5 minutes alone in trimming, sometime even a few minutes more. Everytime I have trimmed a boxwood, Ive needed to trim it 3 maybe even 4 times. Trim, fluff it up, trim, fluff, until it stays even and doesnt have a bunch of little leaves sticking up. Then after that, you probably have another 30 minutes in cleanup, and then 30 minutes in disposal, etc.

Minimum your looking at about 2 hours on that job, between drive time, trimming, cleanup, disposal, but more than likely probably about 2.5 hours. Id probably charge about $100 or so for doing that. Thats putting down small tarps, then trying to get the other little stuff that fell, fixing the mulxh etc.

The idea is not to charge more because of the cost of the home....the idea is that when guys from the south can buy a nice little house for 75k the overall cost of living is a lot less....that was all I was saying. More importantly...just dont listen to topsites...about ANYTHING. Bad advice is all he knows.

 

The idea is not to charge more because of the cost of the home....the idea is that when guys from the south can buy a nice little house for 75k the overall cost of living is a lot less....that was all I was saying. More importantly...just dont listen to topsites...about ANYTHING. Bad advice is all he knows.

I really wasnt looking at your post at all or his either, I just see it on here all the time. This house is worth 1.2m or 5m homes, so automatically everyone assumes the price should double or something. My responce is big deal, they live in a nice neighborhood, charge your rate you need to so you can make a comfortable profit margin. We maintain a property thats probably 3m or so, lawn size is probably 20k or so, and we get about $50/mow on it. Another place we mow is probably only about 10k in area, and we get 50/cut on that too, and that house is probably only 3-4k or so. It all depends on the details of the job, not the cost of the house.

Like I said probably talking 2.5 hours on that job, so take your hourly rate and multiply it by that and theres your price.

Dont lower your price because you think you might get some work from the neighbors. What happens when you lower the price, and none of them call you up? Well you just lost money then. Charge your rate, then if you get calls from others, you make good money there too.

 

Boxwoods are hard to do right, more like a haircut, because you have to do it by hand to do it right. If you are good at it, charge $25 a bush, and if you aren't, don't take the job.

 

Boxwoods are hard to do right, more like a haircut, because you have to do it by hand to do it right. If you are good at it, charge $25 a bush, and if you aren't, don't take the job.

correct. Like i said, 5 minutes per bush is quick but dont be surprised if your at 10 minutes per on some, based on size. Every boxwood I have ever trimmed needs to be done at least 3 times, more often 4 times before they look perfect.