[SouthEastTurf]

I don't think you will have much competition at your rate. Not a lot of people wanting to do it.

The problem with quoting your hourly rate is people see it as unskilled labor. Fact is most homeowners don't make 50 an hour, so their first instinct is not pay the help more than they make.

If you quote the job, say 100 bucks for something that may take you two hours, then their thought is, " I don't want pull all those weeds, just let this nice person do it"

Only problem with quoting the job is you have to see it. Where by the hour you can just tell them over the phone

 

[Hurryupelectric]

I’ll explain why pulling weeds is $2min for me. When I’m getting pulled around by my mower I’m making that rate so it’s hard to weed at all, much less for less. Costs a lot of money to run equipment so I definitely would make a lot more pulling, but it’s not my cup o tea.

 

[Mitty87]

Its our lowest priced work at $70/man hour plus a few at $65 from our first clients from starting out when I charged $35/hr for weeding. I don't really mind it but employees are never very good at it. I won't quote the jobs or really go look at them, just tell hourly rate over phone.

 

[kemco]

Sub out to someone licensed in chem apps then charge to go back in a week or so to remove all the dead weeds. Thing about hand welding is you will never ever ever get all the roots. Never. Come 2023 roundup is off the shelf, gone, for homeowners use. Start to make a way for that transition. Just my buck fifty.

 

[kemco]

We are now finally at $60 per hour for whatever you want done manual labor wise. Yesterday had a spray customer that wanted me to “put down” something on her lawn. Said she could’nt do it in the heat. At the time had no clue what it was so I asked for a pic. Got it. Some Vole repellent made of pretty much capsaicin (supposedly) so I read the label online can only be used around plants and shrubs not on the lawn. Must use a 1/4 cup around each plant… and rake into the soil around the plant..,, etc. so I said sure I could do this I won’t be held responsible for anything good or bad from it I’m just putting it down per the label. I bill $60 an hour. She said she would pass and just do it herself. I offers coke bait stations that I actually know do work because I’ve used then for almost 10 years. She passed on those. That’s perfectly ok. Other than my 5 to 10 minutes wasted looking up this sham product no loss no foul.

 

[grass man 11]

Lots to talk about in this.

1. it’s always harder to sell hourly rates over flat rates especially to those who have never used your service before.

2. You should have 40-60% of people telling you no, because your too expensive. That means 5 out of 10 or even 6 out of 10 people tell you “NO” because of your price. If your landing more than 60% , your priced too cheap and leaving money on the table.

3. Customers use perceived value. They will never value weed pulling highly. Because they understand how to do it. Likewise they will over pay of irrigation or weed control because they don’t understand how to do it. So you package your weed pulling with other services like bush trimming, bed edging, cultivation …. Weed pulling is figured at $45 per hour while bush trimming is at $75. When you give them the price, the perceived value is much higher even though the overall hourly cost could be the exact same.

 

[grass man 11]

I’ll explain why pulling weeds is $2min for me. When I’m getting pulled around by my mower I’m making that rate so it’s hard to weed at all, much less for less. Costs a lot of money to run equipment so I definitely would make a lot more pulling, but it’s not my cup o tea.

While not a bad thought process, it only works until your customer decides that they must do something about their weeds and that your price is insane. Then they hire someone to do the weeds, and then they ask how much they charge to mow (which is going to be less than you). So the next time you screw up, you loose the account.

 

[Hurryupelectric]

While not a bad thought process, it only works until your customer decides that they must do something about their weeds and that your price is insane. Then they hire someone to do the weeds, and then they ask how much they charge to mow (which is going to be less than you). So the next time you screw up, you loose the account.

My client list isn’t really that dynamic but accounts do come and accounts do go. Fortunately they seem to trickle in faster than they trickle out. The pricing in my area isn’t that helpful because Charleston has gotten out of hand living expense wise. My attitude however may be a little helpful demonstrating that some are priced so high to pull weeds that the op shouldn’t loose and sleep over the loss of bids.

Funny story. I was getting a clients friends property ready for sale last winter. I don’t remember what my hourly target was in February but it was probably more like $70-$80/hr after buying the proline and being real hungry. The neighbor asked about a cleanup across the street and I bid him similarly, said he’d try to take care of it himself. Fast forward to last month, I’m rocking and rolling hanging on for dear life when the gentleman calls me. Message says “I know you’re probably buried but I really need this yard put right”.

I don’t take that kind of hard job in summer, or really, I don’t book anything longer than ~4 hours this time of year. I passed it to my friend who’s willing to pile on the work. He bid it at least twice what I originally bid it at. I asked him if he did the cleanup, said client went mia after the new pricing. Guys a busy boat captain and I’ll bet a hundred bucks that yard is just sitting there getting worse. There will always be people who can’t wrap their head around the cost of good work.

 

[MILLC]

[QUOTE="grass man 11, post: 6848475, member: 190146"

3. Customers use perceived value. They will never value weed pulling highly. Because they understand how to do it. Likewise they will over pay of irrigation or weed control because they don’t understand how to do it. So you package your weed pulling with other services like bush trimming, bed edging, cultivation …. Weed pulling is figured at $45 per hour while bush trimming is at $75. When you give them the price, the perceived value is much higher even though the overall hourly cost could be the exact same.
[/QUOTE]


+1. +1. +1.
This is exactly why I roll my pricing together. When properties have homeowners who don’t necessarily weed - rate goes up as a whole. I 100% want them to “buy” it so it gets added to the service list and up goes the overall rate. Does no good to have a spectacular lawn you service with landscaping beds full of junk imo.

 

[Gus McGee]

We rarely give hourly rates for weeding anymore. Folks don't normally like hearing that they will be spending 75 per labor hour for someone to pull weeds, when their own job pays them 20 to 45 bucks an hour. Few folks understand business overhead and expenses.

We normally just give folks a set price to make one visit per month to do weeding / bed weed spraying. When folks first sign up with weedy beds, they don't mind spending 150+ per month to get the weeds under control. I may initially quote the price assuming the weeding / weed spraying may take 2+ hours, but by month 4+ we may spend 10-15 minutes taking care of the weeds (because fewer weeds will be there each consecutive trip except in rare cases) and still make 150+. If you do it right and add spray applications in the mix, bed weed maintenance can make you 100+ an hour.

 

[TrimCutLawncare]

Had a guy ask if I could clean up his landscaping when I started mowing his lawn. Said he would provide all the materials, and I passed on that. I said I could spray his weeds in the beds, but told him to get someone else to just take care of it, no commitment to it that I thought of. He got back with me a month later trying to get me to pull his weeds that week because the HOA was after him. I told him I charge $175/hour which would get him two guys for each hour, and I would rework my schedule to make it happen the beginning of the week. He asked for a deal since I didn't spray the weeds, just reiterated my price and stared back at him. He ended up getting someone else to do it lol.

 

[MowDaddy]

Had a guy ask if I could clean up his landscaping when I started mowing his lawn. Said he would provide all the materials, and I passed on that. I said I could spray his weeds in the beds, but told him to get someone else to just take care of it, no commitment to it that I thought of. He got back with me a month later trying to get me to pull his weeds that week because the HOA was after him. I told him I charge $175/hour which would get him two guys for each hour, and I would rework my schedule to make it happen the beginning of the week. He asked for a deal since I didn't spray the weeds, just reiterated my price and stared back at him. He ended up getting someone else to do it lol.

$87.50 per man hr.

 

[oqueoque]

We charge $65 and hour and the person doing it knows pretty much 100%, which are the weeds. I have had people tell me they hired someone to weed and they also pulled out all their perennials too. There might be times we leave some weeds because we were not positive it was not a weed. We can always go back and pull additional

 

[kemco]

I am more agreeing to the set price deal but by gosh make freaking sure it is in your favor . Pad it 20 or 30% if you have to until you get a feel for it. One thing I’ve learned I will not ever set a price for is leaf removal yes I know different thread, but sort of related as so many variables.

 

[LandscapeKing]

I know everyone hates weeding and most people don't want to do it. I'm wondering what would be a reasonable price to charge customers for weeding? One customer was okay with $50 a hour but another person that called me said it was "way too much". I guess you can't make everyone happy with prices but I want to make sure I'm charging a "fair" price that people won't complain about. What's everyone out there charging?

It depends on your business model associated costs. We charge $90 per laborer hour. If we have a crew of two it’s $180 hour. We tell clients the cost of disposal, fuel, and sometimes even fertilizers are built into that labor hour if it’s nominal cost to us.

 

[gardiner]

We charge $65 and hour and the person doing it knows pretty much 100%, which are the weeds. I have had people tell me they hired someone to weed and the also pulled out all their perennials too. There might be times we leave some weeds because we were not positive it was not a weed. We can always go back and pull additional

One man's weed. Is another man's perennial. Makes it tricky.
I was hit up to only to apply the mulch.
There was a area that had petunias.
When I showed up. They was gone.
With the rest of the weeds.
I would had left them.

 

[Mitty87]

I don't know how you guys can get higher hourly for weeding, I just hate the quoting especially if we are going to do a job a month or three later and its gotten completely overgrown, that's why we stuck to hourly, on top of managing expectations and avoid getting calls like "you missed these weeds" or clay soil and difficult ground.

I just had an electrician out to hook up a well cistern system and pump and got an hourly charge of $94/hr CAD.

The area I am on the west coast in canada has an average house price of about $850,000 and it seems like 90% of businesses are small companies 1-4 people with low pricing and paying employees as subs. I think they just all don't really know a lot about business... Have had established plumbing companies and electricians charging less than we do for landscaping.

 

[HouseofYards]

I know everyone hates weeding and most people don't want to do it. I'm wondering what would be a reasonable price to charge customers for weeding? One customer was okay with $50 a hour but another person that called me said it was "way too much". I guess you can't make everyone happy with prices but I want to make sure I'm charging a "fair" price that people won't complain about. What's everyone out there charging?

We don't go by the hours. We look at the entire job that includes times, and dumping fee. We have an instant price quote platform clients can enter an address and see the price, they can book online if they like.

 

[Jbh0724]

Yeah I guess since I'm new in the business there's still that little bit of doubt there. I'm sure after a couple years, you just roll your eyes at those people.

I don’t even roll my eyes at them. Just roll on forward. Plenty of work out there. Best to just become the best at what you do. And charge what you feel your worth plus what it costs to cover expenses. If youre good, route will fill up.

 

[Jbh0724]

Sub out to someone licensed in chem apps then charge to go back in a week or so to remove all the dead weeds. Thing about hand welding is you will never ever ever get all the roots. Never. Come 2023 roundup is off the shelf, gone, for homeowners use. Start to make a way for that transition. Just my buck fifty.

Do you have a link for the roundup comment ?