Mulch calculator online

 

Cost of mulch + delivery + labor to install/clean up + operating costs + profit. Did I miss anything there.

 

Thanks. I guess my wishful thinking was that someone was going to say, "The standard price for installing mulch is $XX per cu yd, at 100 cu yd I would probably offer a discounted price of $XX per cu yd if I really wanted the account." I appreciate all the replies though and have a bit more direction now.

 

How much would you charge a customer that only needs 5 yards @ 2"?

If you're solo that's a lot. Are you picking up the mulch or having it delivered? If delivered how are you going to get it from drop off point to where it's needed?

 

Having it delivered, thinking about renting a skid loader. That and/or getting it delivered at night and having it dumped at multiple points. I have one guy that helps me, but I was also thinking of using a temp service for the workers.

 

that's about a full day of work for a crew of 6. if youre doing it alone i'd guess a week?

 

Give them your Going Out Of Business sale price. $40 a yard should do it.

 

Your mulch supplier should deliver that much for nothing. Get it dumped as close to where you need it. If you're hand shoveling 100 yrds by yourself, make sure your life insurance policy is paid up.

 

make sure your life insurance policy is paid up.

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

That much mulch though if possible I would sub it out to a company that could spray it. See how much they charge then figure out how much you could make off their bid without being turned down

 

This is the best answer, so far.

 

Sorry to be a downer but maybe this job is too big for you.

 

Thats 93 yards (approximately)

How much does it cost you to get the mulch delivered to the site?

Take that number and multiply by 2.5

That will give you a "guideline" for where you should be.

It's not the right way to get your price but its a good guess.

Long math is
Cost of materials (mulch delivered) plus 20%
Cost of machine and fuel plus 20%
Man hours estimated to complete the job multiplied by hourly rate.
add that up and an add 15%.
Presto, thats your number.

If you want my guess, sight unseen call it a day and a half with three men times $60 an hour.
Thats $2,160.00 in labor
Assume mulch at $40 per yard $3750 plus $300 delivery is 4050 plus mark up is $4,860.00
Assume machine rental and pickup/delivery at $600 plus fuel and markup is $780.00
2160 +4860 + 780 =7800 plus 15% is 8970.00
Divided by 93 is 96.45 per yard installed. or $0.60 per square foot.
Fabric usually comes out around .20 per square foot by using the same process... however it depends on whats already there? Bare earth? or do you have to pull weeds and prep or move/dispose of existing old mulch in order to lay fabric? That could be a BUNDLE of more man hours and cosT!

Thats assuming a whole lot about your costs.

Since none of us know anything about your business or your costs, there no way we can give you number thats anything but theory.

 

$1.25-$2.00 per sq ft. With liner 3-4 with liner going rate here. If you have a small tractor to move materials use it or rent one youll need it.

 

$100/cu yd. Forget the fabric, it's useless with mulch. Instead upsell a flower bed maintenance package for the weeds/debris.

 

Cool, I'll do that. It seems to be what they did before, because they have me spraying mulch in another parking lot they did with another contractor.

 

are you already in with this customer? try not to get your hopes up too much. if they are spending $5000 plus for this job they will be getting more bids and you probably don't want to be the lowest.

 

I've done a few jobs for him. I'm not getting my hopes up, and I'm not going to underbid. I just want to give a fair price. He said he'll let me know where the competition is coming in. We have a good relationship, or so it seems.

 

If there is someone to sub with a blower, then the client probably knows it to.

 

If there is someone to sub with a blower, then the client probably knows it to.

There is indeed no blower truck in my area. I found a skid loader with driver for 8 hours for $500. Not sure if that's a good deal or not, but it sounded fair to me.

 

You can rent a machine
$500 sounds like a good deal at face value but then you are putting your productivity in the hands of someone wise you're not familiar with
He gets his $500 bucks for "being there" for 8 hours
Not getting the job done
For all we know the guy could suck at running a machine and be more hindrance than help
Not to mention cause damage or hurt someone.

At least with machine rental you're in charge if you do well or not

 

If there is someone to sub with a blower, then the client probably knows it to.

Nope
That's not a safe assumption
Otherwise subbing wouldn't be a thing.
The number of clients that do their own contracting are rare and few.
Most just aren't educated or aware enough to get a hold of everyone they need and would rather not waste the time to try.
When people remodel, they don't call individual guys and contract individually for electrical, paint and texture, structural, masonry and finish carpentry...
They hire a remodel guy.

We're a large outfit
We do a lot of work for small guys, deliver their materials, haul off their overburden, you name it.
Yet people don't necessarily call us directly or little guys would have no work.
Who knows why people choose who they choose, maybe they like their logo better?

 

Colt already stated about the client: "He said he'll keep me posted on where the competition is coming in."
So apparently this client isn't leaving the job to one company.

 

No way your getting that job at $100 a yard unless he gets no other bids. I charge $125 a yard but that like 1-3 residential yards. When ever there is a large job like this people are going to cut them a discount. I would call a mulch supplier and see what that would cost you to have delivered to the store and put in various locations. Then figure how long it would take you to spread it with a skid loader and a couple of guys. $75 a yard I bet is even to high but the only way to make this work and make good money is to hire some help. Nothing is worth killing yourself over.

 

I charge $100-$85 a yard for bark. If more then 5yards it is $85. You should look up dirtmonkey on YouTube. He does a break down on how to bid by the square foot.

 

Yea +4 that at $100/yd price point you''ll probably not win the bid...or get a chance for another bid unless you know the guy. That is astronomical'y high even for my area.

Tpendagast's post about the math is what you need to sit down and figure out..WHAT IS THE TOTAL cost to the business?


SKID steer and spreaders is the general way...but opens the door to a lot of liability issues with the skid steer causing damage.

I WOULD rather tackle the job with 2x rental stake bead truck, and 6 guys with 4 brute containers. Drive to each island, two guys in the bed loading up the containers, and 2 guys disbursing the containers to the island, and the other 2 guys fine spreading. While one truck is being unload the other is getting loaded up at the mulch yard. and can keep that process cycling

THIS also would avoid an over purchase of materials should your net material amount be less than your initial estimate/bid.

In my experience the skid steer approach works better when the islands are large and open or limited labor.

a 6x man crew is about $1,000 a day cost where as a skid steer is highly variable depending on rental, re-fueling and insurance covereage along with drop off and pick up... Which is more productive? you'll have to make that call based on the terrain and how fast you need the job completed.

 

$100/cu yd. Forget the fabric, it's useless with mulch. Instead upsell a flower bed maintenance package for the weeds/debris.

And this is another example of why prices shouldn't just be thrown out.

I'd kill to get that much yard.

But I'm competing with folks charging $40\yard installed.

 

This thread is an example of why asking what everyone else charges doesn't really help anyone. What I can charge and what you can charge are quite different. If you took my price and tried it in your area, you wouldn't land much work now would you?

 

I only charge $100 a yard if it's under 5 yards. it's 30 a yard plus my hourly rate and the Bark Place is charged me $50 delivery fee so I averaged it out at$100 a yard. Usually I'm around 85-yard cuz most of my customers order 15 yards. You have to find out what works for you in your area. Talk to some other local guys that price it out. I'm being told by a lot of landscapers in my area that I should be going up by 20%. It's all who you talk to. I have yet to have a customer complain. They've asked me what the price of material is and how long I think it's going to take me and they say that's fair. At that price. I'm just getting started going on my second year. So I'm still learning but it's worked for me so far.

 

Holy carp...then again, in GR we have the most bark blowers per capita in the nation.

These prices are amazing.

Then again, how many are doing job costing? Are you really getting what you are saying?

 

Holy carp...then again, in GR we have the most bark blowers per capita in the nation.

These prices are amazing.

Then again, how many are doing job costing? Are you really getting what you are saying?

I have several 10yd customers. Every spring, $100/yd delivered and installed. Cost is around $30/yd.

There isn't any accts here that have over 10yd that I know of. If there are, I'd still bid @ $100/yd.

I can toss about 1yd per hour. So 10yds = 10 hrs. $300 in mulch, $30 in fuel = $670 net. Factor in about 2 hrs load/drive time = $55/hr. That's solo of course.

I could factor in insurance, maint, etc. and bring that $55/hr down to around $40/hr but I have all that factored into the mowing side of things. I bill @ $60/hr mowing, which turns out to be around $52-$54 with drive time, then minus expenses, etc. brings it down around $30/hr net.

If I could only get $40/yd when mulching, I wouldn't even mess with it. That's just me tho.

 

The bark jobs I have done I have gotten $100 a yard or the 85 a yard. Depending on how much bark they needed. I mainly mow so I have not had much time this year to do bark. There is only like one company that blows bark where I'm at and they are there in Idaho. Like I said I'm still learning my pricing.

 

My mulch blowers cost plus my $1000 for the referral. I wouldn’t lift a finger for more than 10 yards of mulch anymore.

 

I’m not a big fan of pricing larger jobs like this by the yard. I prefer using our bid calculator which takes man hours, individual wages, equipment and materials and gives me a price based on desired gross profit margin. We use a benchmark of 1-2 yards of mulch can be spread by hand per hour based on site conditions and access.

Our maintenance division just submitted a full service bid that included a 400 yard mulch top dressing with chocolate mulch. Using 1.4 yards per man hour, we came in around $70 per yard doing the reverse math in the calculation. That price is based on the customer having multiple services.

 

I'm not a big fan of pricing larger jobs like this by the yard. I prefer using our bid calculator which takes man hours, individual wages, equipment and materials and gives me a price based on desired gross profit margin. We use a benchmark of 1-2 yards of mulch can be spread by hand per hour based on site conditions and access.

Our maintenance division just submitted a full service bid that included a 400 yard mulch top dressing with chocolate mulch. Using 1.4 yards per man hour, we came in around $70 per yard doing the reverse math in the calculation. That price is based on the customer having multiple services.

Man! You know you've made it big when you're using chocolate to make mulch!
We still use wood mulch