Lawn Care Forum banner

It's a monster. What would it take/charge.....

8K views 60 replies 22 participants last post by  JMK26 
#1 ·
Improved Grounds 400 Acres along with leaf removal, but not heavily wooded
Edging 40,040 Linear Feet
Trimming 152,950+ Linear Feet
Police Grounds 705 Acres once per month (tree limbs, dry brush, rodent habitats, dead animals, etc.) with disposal off-site

28 mows per season. Grass height between 1" and 4" depending whether cool season or bermuda

Back ground checks on all employees

Which ya all think......
 
#4 ·
Go for it. You might want to think about patrolling the seven hundred acres into 4 200 acre areas done weekly with grass cutting. Depending on where it is the background checks can be costly and time consuming. You can hire thru temp agencies who screen the help all the time. It’s a character building moment when you find your best employee a convicted felon
 
#7 ·
Pretty difficult to gauge from the post on an accurate price, if I were to bid it, I'd want to see the property first. The post doesn't specify how much mowing there actually is, and on that point, is it mowing with a push mower or are you using tractors with reel mowers or what? The price is going to be different based on the equipment to be efficient. I have no experience dealing with something this large so me throwing out a price would be dumb.
I have less than a spec of expierece of doing anything near this size on the snow side, where I subbed for an outfit for a few months (if that even)
They had supervisors and I feel they had a grasp on the situation at hand.
Anyone looking to bid this though, isn't new to this size of a job, because the last thing you want to do is price it, win it and **** the bed on your first visit.
 
#18 ·
I would never even consider an account that size unless you have the current labor without hiring in an entire crew for a property that size. It's inevitable that at some point you will get outbid by another company. Especially if they want year to year contracts. Again I don't know your situation but losing an account that size and trying to fill that void of loss of income would sink alot of small to medium lawn care companies. For me the investment in equipmentand labor wouldn't be worth it in this business with no real guarantee on return with a year to year contract.
 
#28 ·
This sounds like a fun job. Pictures of said areas would be great to be of more help with a price.
 
#37 ·
There has to be some sort of technical bidding process, ie, points based off of previous experience, how long the company has been around, supervisor experience, safety plans. Hopefully along with a whole other merit of criteria I did not mention.

The large base near where I am located had, technical points systems if you didn't score high enough you were not allowed to bid. Along with Bonds etc.
 
#40 ·
Seeing how spread out it is i would write a contract to pay 52,000 a month 12 months out the year. Where you might come up short during growing months you make up for it in the 4-5 months its slower. Still shown up on winter months and do some clean up and be seen. If they won't pay the price it take to make a nice profit off of that i dont think anyone would take that bid on unless they were using solely as a loss for taxes.
 
#45 ·
Seeing how spread out it is i would write a contract to pay 52,000 a month 12 months out the year. Where you might come up short during growing months you make up for it in the 4-5 months its slower. Still shown up on winter months and do some clean up and be seen. If they won't pay the price it take to make a nice profit off of that i dont think anyone would take that bid on unless they were using solely as a loss for taxes.
How about if one was to use pre-emergent, 24-d, round up during dormancy? Could it reduce your cost verses mowing?
 
#46 ·
No cause your using man hours to apply it. And why use it during dormancy its not doing anything. Use it while actively growing and cut back on weedeating time. But the time saved from weedeating is about the same cost wise as it would be buying chemicals and applying it. Get a set 12 month pay and see if it will work. Personally I wouldn't take it on if there are so many variables and questions. And i certainly wouldnt take it on looking to make a sure profit. Looks like a headache and money pit to me.
 
#48 ·
Seeing how spread out it is i would write a contract to pay 52,000 a month 12 months out the year. Where you might come up short during growing months you make up for it in the 4-5 months its slower. Still shown up on winter months and do some clean up and be seen. If they won't pay the price it take to make a nice profit off of that i dont think anyone would take that bid on unless they were using solely as a loss for taxes.
Had the walk through today. The manager wants a total bid, then broken down when invoiced. He wants to be invoiced for hours worked for each task and then bill them for those amounts, so he only pays what time was spent and he knows what your are charging per hour for everything and how long it takes you for each thing. If you over bid the years amount because you didn't use all the hours worth, he keeps it. If you under bid and used more hours, than to bad, to sad.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top