When about months with 5 weeks in them??

[Ijustwantausername]

How do you price a mowing job monthly when some months have 5 weeks and some have 4?

I had to price a guy for next season today and its roughly a $60-65 lawn. However, when I talked to him he said to include spraying in as well (yes I am licensed before you ask) and he has a load of spraying, probably an easy 4 gal back pack.

So all together its mow, edge trim, blow, trash removal, and keeping beds and around house sprayed each time. I said $300 per month, 5weeks X $60. But, when its a 4 week month, hes paying 15 extra per time ($75/week). Does my estimate sound right? I want the customer but I don't know if I do the figuring right when it comes to odd week months? I didn't want to get so specific as to charge two different prices depending on how many weeks in the month so I don't know.

I figured as far as spraying it would all even out when it came to 4 week months, you know, the extra would compensate for it.

 

[Florida Gardener]

Uhm, you can either charge by the cut, or multiply by 4.3(actual amount of weeks in a month).
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[weeze]

charge by the week not by the month...add it all up at the end of the month then send a bill or you can just send a bill every 4 weeks so the bill will be the same all season long....they will just be receiving the bill at a different time during the month and not on the same day each month.

 

[yardguy28]

well if your looking to give a client a monthly price that is the same amount each and every month what i would do i figure out how many mows in the season, total it then divide it by how many months you are gonna charge them (for me it'd either be 9 months or 12 months).

but what i personally do is just invoice clients at the end of the month for any and all work performed so i don't have to mess with that much. usually invoices get printed the night after there last service date for the month and hit the mail box the next morning on my way to work.

 

[Johnagain]

Why are you spraying every week? Add a pre-em and spray every 6-8 wks.

 

[RGM]

I charge by the cut

 

[grass-scapes]

If you have been doing this for any significant length of time, you should know about how many cuts you do per year on any given lawn that you maintain weekly. Here is how I do it.

40 cuts x 65 per cut
spray 5 times at 80
Add in anything else they want like shrubs 2 times and so forth

add it up. Divide by how many months they want to carry it

In this case, 12 months would be $250 per month
9 months would be $333.50 (rounded up a bit for easier math)

GET A CONTRACT SIGNED. You need to cover your butt in case they cancel after making 9 payments on a 12 month plan. You can write in a cancellation clause, or note that if they cancel early, they are responsible for all charges PER SERVICE incurred to the point of cancellation at the regular charge.

 

[Mikegyver]

The one year around one I do its 48 weeks or 4 weeks a month. Seems to work best that way. Just charge more per week (same per year). OR charge by the month.
Mike