VERY LARGE BID 125-170 acres

[joallen001]

Just wanted to get some input on this bid and what to charge. All of this is pretty much wide open with minimum trimming. The area is to be cut twice a month at a minimum of 6". No bush hogs are allowed. A finishing mower must be used. The previous business mowing had 4 john deere's. I am not sure what size they were but 2 of those mowers had the wing mowers. We plan to stick with Hustler mowers to perform the job of we get the bid. Anythoughts on adding a wing mower to pull behind the mower and what kind would be recommended. I took a tour of the property today. It was a mandatory meeting so I know there are 7 other bidders. One of them was the winning bidder from the previous year. Basically all we did was ride a bus around and he pointed the property out. Right now all I have is a rough estimate on the acreage. I am gonna try and go out and measure for more accuracy on the acreage. Basically we got three maps of the areas to be mowed and if you guys want I can post the maps. The company who previously had the bid said it took him a day to mow one areas. this is probably the biggest area to be done. He ran a 8 man crew. 4 trimming and 4 mowing. Again this has be to cut with a finish mower so if anyone has any ideas that would be appreciated. Should I charge this by acre or by man hour. It is gonna be tough figuring out the acreage and the hours on this one. thanks

 

[befnme]

my first response would be " dont beleive anything the last lco tells you if he is bidding again "

 

[lawnmaniac883]

Had it been me, I would walk away from a job like that. Unless your business is already equipped with large tractors with batwing finish mowers, you will not do so well on such a large property. However, if you do submit a bid on this, double what you think it should be. If they give you the contract, you have lost nothing and will be able to outfit yourself with large tractors and the sort. If you lowball, you are screwed.

 

[Brianslawn]

it probably wont be worth it. it'll go for $15/acre. i just bid on one half that size and it went dirt cheap to someone else.

 

[joallen001]

81 views and 2 responses come on guys give me some input on this

 

[Brianslawn]

81 views and 2 responses come on guys give me some input on this

people CAN count in TN???

 

[joallen001]

we must of posted at the same time cause there were only 2. how much did the bid go for Brianslawn

 

[baddboygeorge]

7500 would be my minimum take into consideration your labor with 8 men is gonna be a minimum of about 2400 plus your fuel an misc.supplies an if ya cant clear 4500 its not worth messing with . hope this helps

 

[Precision]

If the guy from last year was giving you information, suspect it.

Ok so your gonna run hustlers, how many and what size. Do you have any idea how long it will take? Do you have that much time free in your schedule?

If your county has a property appraiser website you may be able to get decently accurate acreage estimate from that.

But if you arent currently equipped, it is probably a bad idea to win the contract.

say it is 175 acres and you get $30 per acre you are talking $5250 per cut. at 4 acres per hour (very unlikely) oh your hustler assuming (72 inch), you are talking 40+ man hours just in mowing If the other guy had 4 guys mowing and 4 guys trimming then figure at least 40 man hours for trimming. Now you have 80 man hours plus refueling, lunch, drive time etc. So call it 100 man hours. That is $52 per man hour. Doing decent

Now assume $15 per acre. you are now at $26 per man hour and I would imagine somewhere near $25-30 in total expenses per hour. Obviously getting pretty poor.

The only way I see that working is if you have a bat wing or perhaps a WAM at 10 - 15 foot. 15 ft WAM at 6 mph is 10 acres per hour at 100% efficiency.

A 72" ZTR at 6 MPH can do 4.5 acres per hour at 100% efficiency


Got a question how are you gonna cut at a minimum of 6 inch height???????

 

[TURF DOCTOR]

You are asking a lot geeshh bid high 15 a acre not here 90 to 115 per cut and trim no picking up trash,they will tell what they have paid let us know.