HOW TO BID JOB?

[PREMIERLAWN]

I am trying to start my own lawn company.. this site and post have ben very helpful..but i still dont understand how to bid a job...ive had a big company do a bid on three properties two commercial and one residential..all together they and up to nearly an acre. i thought it would show where the money was spent but it only said what was to be done..
i wanted everything in the bid.. so it came to 18,000 a year.. the problem is i dont know how they came to that figure.
i am guess the best way to bid is by the square foot. that way each job i might do the customer would get the same rate
if that is the way to do it then how do you get the price per sq ft.?
i would greatly appreciate any help, thanks in advance

brian patterson

 

[RYAN]

Not sure what this $18,000 includes. Mowing, fert, aeration, shrubs? Sounds really high for 1 acre. You sure on the acrage? sorry man, I'm lost.

 

[PREMIERLAWN]

sorry, the 18 grand was for everything. fert. airation, mowing, trimming, trimming shrubs, and mulching.
my main question is how to charge... ? by the square ft or what and if so how much per sq ft.. i hope that clearifies it a little for you. sorry im very new to this and i am wanting to do it right...

thanks

 

[lawrence stone]

You will be lucky to get $50 bucks to mow a acre. That's $1500 for 30 mowings.

Now how do you justify $16.5k for the rest of the work?

 

[Premo Services]

PREMIERLAWN Use the search at the top of the page, there are a lot of posts on these subjects.Mabey this might help you, For mulching you would want to charge by the yard of mulch, for fertilizing, and aeration charge by the square footage,for mowing you could charge by square ft. or how long it takes you to do the job @ your hourly rate, for trimming bushes you could charge by the bush or by estimate if you know how long it would take to do the job.Also if you are fertilizing properties you will need a licence from the state to apply chemicals. To find how many acres a property has, you would measure length x width divide that # by 43560(square ft. in a acre)



[Edited by mow money on 01-04-2001 at 12:05 AM]

 

[Runner]

Maybe this is based on an acre being 435600 sq. ft. as opposed to 43560. Anyway, Brian, Do a search on pricing and bidding, and I'm sure you'll find plenty of good threads to help.

[Edited by Runner on 01-04-2001 at 12:05 AM]

 

[Ocutter]

Brian- How did you come across this co. for a bid? Did you ask them to sub for you? If youre really new to the industry, I would start in the smaller res. accounts. Makes No sense biting off more than you can chew. If youre serious ask the co. to itemize the bid.

 

[PREMIERLAWN]

Ok, I'll try to do a search. sorry my post was a bit confusing. i wasnt trying to bid on that property. i just had another company do it so i can get a feel for the pricing but it didnt help me at all because it wasnt itemizedhe just gav a lump sum to what it would cost.
Yes, i plan on starting in residentials..i was just trying to see what the average price was per square ft on mowing , trimming and so forth...

thanks again
brian patterson

 

[kutnkru]

I agree with ocutter completely.

Whenever we sub out to another contractor we always ask for it to be itemized.

This way we can evaluate the estimate and calculate labor throughout the season.

I would also ask your sub what other properties he has maintained of equal to this in size to make sure that he can handle your work load as well.

Just dont put your cart before the horse. REMEMBER bigger contracts equal BIGGER overhead. Tread cautiously.

Good Luck!!

 

[Ssouth]

Premier, When bidding a job I always figure the total estimated time it will take and then multiply that by an hourly rate. If you have expenses mark them up anywhere from 10%-100%. I'm trying to figure out a bidding system by sq. ft. of mowing and linear ft. of edging/trimming for the future. I'm hoping that in 2002 all commercial bids will be done with the new method.

Good luck