Need help on commercial bid..

[IHI]

I will be putting my first commercial bid together on some(12) properties and need your help. Most of them are pretty straight forward, with the exception of their larger one. This big one will take about 10 hours to mow on a riding unit. So, how do I price it? What would be an average hourly rate that I can blend in to the bid to be profitable? Shouldn't I be averaging at least 30-35/hour to make worth my while? What are you guys averaging?

Keep in mind, I would have to buy a new riding mower, because right now, I just have a commercial walk behind that would beat me up on a property this size.

 

[dcondon]

First off how many acres is the large lot. if it's going to take you 10 hrs it must be about 40 acres with one mower Your going to have to figure out how many hrs total and go from there. You may have to give some more details if you want help.

 

[Metro Lawn]

Sounds like your in over your head already. You may want to pass on something of this size until you have some experience with bigger jobs and the equipment to handle them. Generally a bigger LCO will bid this type of job well under what you would because they are more efficeint.

 

[IHI]

Ok, it might only take about 4 ish hours of mowing, but the other 2 ish of hours will be trimming. It's basically a full day's work for one person. What is an average hourly rate I should be going for? What's typical in the industry?

 

[dcondon]

Ok, it might only take about 4 ish hours of mowing, but the other 2 ish of hours will be trimming. It's basically a full day's work for one person. What is an average hourly rate I should be going for? What's typical in the industry?

You plan on mowing 10 acres in just over 4 hrs with one mower???? I hope it is clear going with nothing to go around.

 

[dhardin53]

As a one man operation i found pulling a pull behind behind my Dixie chopper I can be very competitive. This way just one Z with attachment I can mow a lot of acreage fast. Some Zs are not designed to pull much of a load but my DC has been pulling a 48"er for 3 years now. Its great to go from 60" to 108" in seconds.