Quotes - on or off the mark

OK, I'm pretty small but need some assistance with a few items.

1) COST TO - SEED & AERATE (.03cents/sqft) or is it higher like 4 or 5 cents per sqft ?

2) What about cost to just seed & hay? ($ / sqft)
OR Overseed $

3) I'M IN NJ, ITS TOO LATE TO SEED RIGHT???

Thanks, I think I just took a bath on a Aerate/Seed job - 18,000sqft and I only charged $420.00

tks

 

i finished a job today for a builder. york raked and cleaned up the roughed up lot. its too late to seed up here in CT now so i didnt put down seed. but i charged 14 cents a square foot just to rake the lot. Would have been 25 cents a square foot to rake, starter fertilize, seed, and straw. this is using a BX23 Kubota with a york rake and 3-point spreader on a lawn that was 14,000 sq ft. I dont know what kind of prices you can get down there, but from wholesalers it costs me about $330 per 10,000 sq ft. for seed, fertilizer and straw. if you wanna plant a lawn correctly use straw. if you use hay you plant hay. also dealers like Lesco make different stuff that is granular so you can put it down with a spreader. so...$330 per 10,000 sq ft = 3 cents a sq ft. just in materials. you have to also tack on labor and equipment costs. Are you gonna clean up the mess the aerator makes? takes more time = more money, id say at least get 10 cents to aerate and overseed the lawn. just figure out what you feel you're worth and bid it

 

i just saw your 18,000 sq ft for $420. missed that earlier. i change my rates for over 10,000 sq ft..... so something like 8-10 cents per sq ft would of been fair for 18,000 sq ft. But hey at least you'll learn quick. im just starting up and i did a job earlier this summer for $800 to rake, seed, fertilize and straw a 10,000 sq ft. lawn. Took a nice bath of my own, didnt have the right equipment, didnt really know the cost of materials. So pissed, half way through the first day I left the job site and went and bought my Kubota just so i coudl finish it right. But i learned and now i wouldv charged around $2400 for the same job i did for $800. It may hurt at first, but you'll learn what you need to get over time.

 

we get approx .07 cent per sq foot on a new construction yard install. We use about 1/2 the reccomended rate on seed 200-250 lb / acre (tall fescue KY-31). 500lb acre lime, 70 bales straw(blown), 250lb 18-24-12. and include fine grading and backfill in this price. This also includes 10 3 gallon hollies and 10 blaes of pine needles. 3000.00 an acre. three man crew in 8 hours working hard. S250 bobcat for grading, L4630 Kubota with harley rake and pto straw blower. Pto spreader.

$1050 expenses leaves $1950 daily for profit and overhead. this includes my salary because I am one of the three on the job.
one good thing is that we don't spend any time pricing these. They get an invoice after work is complete. Most of the time I never see the job until I unload equipment and begin work. But I try to keep prices proportional.

VOLUME, VOLUME VOLUME.

now we do other things that have larger profit margin, but this is our bread and butter. 6 years of it so far.

 

we get approx .07 cent per sq foot on a new construction yard install. We use about 1/2 the reccomended rate on seed 200-250 lb / acre (tall fescue KY-31). 500lb acre lime, 70 bales straw(blown), 250lb 18-24-12. and include fine grading and backfill in this price. This also includes 10 3 gallon hollies and 10 blaes of pine needles. 3000.00 an acre. three man crew in 8 hours working hard. S250 bobcat for grading, L4630 Kubota with harley rake and pto straw blower. Pto spreader.

$1050 expenses leaves $1950 daily for profit and overhead.

VOLUME, VOLUME VOLUME.

now we do other things that have larger profit margin, but this is our bread and butter. 6 years of it so far.

 

OK guys thanks for the feed back, BUT. What I'm talking about is doing a lawn that already has grass (well most of it) so I'm aerating and overseeding, probally no straw. There is one area that was neglected by either the homeowner or the last landscaper,, Large area of lawn had grubs,, took care of that with Dylox. same area thats dead, 70 x 70

But I figured I'd do the entire lawn and sold it to the customer that its good for the lawn blah blah blah...

SO BY ME JUST DOING THE OVERSEED AND AERATING,, I SHOULD CHARGE WHAT?
The large bag of seed cost me $72 at Lesco, have a aerator etc..

I cut, aerated and seeded in 3 1/2 hrs. by myself. So how much per sqft?

 

Areating should be somewhere from 8.00 to 10.00 per thousand sqft. I usually charge on a 10,000 sqft lot 90.00 plus tax. then you figure your rate of seed on 10,000 sq ft thats all different on the type of seed. if you use 100lbs 1 lb per 100 sq. ft then you have 160 just in seed so you better get at least 240.00 for the cost of seed to figure your time. so i would say 330.00 plus tax.

 

mowman29, your rates seem way off compared to the other guys replying.
I thought the price for Aerating and Seeding would be anywhere from .04cents to .06cent per sqft.
Your making nothing to aerate a lawn at 8 or 10 per thousand.