Smaller laws/Reidential where to price?

OK so now I have a pretty good idea on where to bid acreage,

How about the smaller lawns? Say half an acre with some trimming and quarter acre with some trimming.
Charge them so much each time mowed for the duration of the season? I hear alot of peolple give a quote for the entire season. I,m not entirely comfortable with that, could loose my shirt if not bid properly.
Could some one give me some basic guidelines as to priceing so I dont come into this to low. Thank you. Mtngoat.

 

1/4 acre = $25.00
1/2 acre = $30
3/4 acre = $35
1 acre = $40

If you are cutting them weekly, I add $10 per cut if they want biweekly.

 

Hey mow2nd, is this based on l x w of whole lot or for just turf areas? My .66 lot only measures 17k of turf, which is not .66 of 43,560ft2

 

I do it by the lenth X width of the lot, what i dont have to mow where the house sits helps make up for the trimming and blowing on most houses. If the landscape demands a lot of trimming you may have to figure diffrently, but this works for me about 90% of the time

 

So you guys charge by the square foot? How much per sq ft?

 

I charge $20.00 "stop" fee (just for pulling up to the house) and then $1.oo/1000 sq ft. $2.00/1000 sq. ft if they want it bagged. Seems to work out pretty good i.e, 1/4 ac=$20 stop fee + $10.00.
This works out to about $60.00/hr.

 

I use the same formula except,
$3/1000sq ft bagged & removed off site.
Add $20 to the total if it is bi-weekly.

 

I have an hourly rate for all of my work and I try to determine how long it will take. I break each hour down into 15 minute increments too. So far it has worked well.

 

We use a base price of $35 for the first 30 min. then base everything with a per minute charge after that.

I never use sq ft. 15000 sq/ft of open ground is different than 15000 sg/ft full of trees or mulch beds or a fenced in back yard where the riders wont go...

...per hour

 

I dont know if you have a Z or whaterver kind of mower but heres how I do it...and it works well.

1. if you have a Z, it really doesn't matter if its a 1/3 acre or a 1/2 or 3/4 acre because these machines are so fast and productive

2. heres the important part. After you measure the turf, walk the property AS IF YOU WERE TRIMMING IT..and then walk it as though you were blowing the clippings off. Walk at the same pace you trim/blow.

I have rarely messed up a bid using this approach.
Unless its a larger property, almost always, the time to trim and cleanup, exceeds the mowing time. As they say, "the devil is in the details"

I wish I could remember who gave this tip here on Lawnwsite a few years ago. All I know is that its been maybe the single best tip I've ever gotten here....try it and post back.