How To Write Up A Bill For An Independent Landscaping Job
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How To Give Lawn Care Estimates From Anywhere
Lawn care estimates can be a pain because you have to:
- Schedule the appointment
- Drive out to the clients property
- Take time to measure the property
Then, after all of that, you might not even win the bid. What a waste…
However, theres a faster way and better way using the best lawn care software.
When you choose Service Autopilot, you’ll have the ability to unlock tools like Smart Maps to measure properties from anywhere.
Get precise property measurements to find the gross, net, or turf square footage. Create estimates with the utmost accuracy – without ever leaving the comfort of your desk.
Give estimates while you’re on the phone with a clients to improve your closing rate and capture clients more quickly with timely estimates.
Plus, you can utilize Service Autopilot’s rapid route optimization to increase your route density – instantly saving you money and increasing your profits.
Estimate How Long The Project Will Take
It can be helpful to look back at similar projects to be able to appropriately determine how long the entire project will take. Take note of how many workers and subcontractors you used and also how many hours were needed to complete the project.
If you dont have previous experience then it can be helpful to use a GPS time tracking system for all your workers and projects.
A time tracking solution allows you to see what your workers are doing, what project theyre working on, when they started, and how long it took them to finish the job. All of this data can be exported into one report so you can estimate the hourly rate for subcontractors and be sure to tag on 20% to factor in the payroll tax. In addition, that makes it easier to plan for future projects of the same nature so you estimate project completion more accurately.
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How Much Do Landscapers Make
At Grassperson, our minimum wage is dictated by the Department of Labors prevailing wage rate, since we utilize the visa program. This year, that wage is set at $13.75.
The starting wage for crew members on either a maintenance or landscaping crew is between $13.75 and $16 an hour, depending upon experience.
For crew leaders, the range is more like $16 to $19 an hour, also depending upon experience.
Cost Of Seeding Your Lawn
Lawn seeding is another great way to improve and/or maintain the long-term health and vibrancy of your lawn. It depends on how large of a lawn you have, but the average cost of seeding your lawn is between $850 $1,700. The more area you need seeded the higher the price because it will take longer, and you will need more seed to finish the job.
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Opportunity For Growth As A Lawn Care Technician
One thing that you want to look for as you search for lawn care technician jobs in Olive Branch, MS, is a company that offers growth opportunities. The fact is, you dont want a job thats going to be stagnant. You want an opportunity to climb the career ladder .Unfortunately, many lawn care companies do not offer a lot of growth opportunities which is why they often end up with a revolving door of employees.But Master Lawn is different. We love promoting from within and we want to create an environment in which our team members are here for the long haul. Youll notice that we have long-time, tenured team members working for ussomething relatively uncommon in the lawn care industry. Its not surprising for our clients to really get to know the team members working on their lawns.
How Much Do Lawn Care Services Cost In New Zealand
Then, we get to the nuts and bolts. How much do lawn mowing services cost in New Zealand? Thats the million-dollar question.
Every lawn care provider will establish different costs that work for them. Some set their prices based on whether they use a ride-on or push mower if they have to travel out of their way, and the condition of the lawn.
A small lawn can be in the vicinity of $25, $30, $40, or $50. A medium or large yard, on the other hand, can be over $50 including or excluding GST, depending on how the person you hired had structured their invoice or quote.
Pricing can also differ depending on whether its a one-off lawn mowing service or you become a regular customer.
Pricing may also vary and become a set hourly rate if you have a property with steep slopes or you require mowing services on a lifestyle block, farm, field, business, or somewhere other than your residential address. Its worth talking to your local lawn care expert about their rates and conditions for service. As a bare minimum, you can expect a charge of $25 including or excluding GST, and with possible travel costs.
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How To Estimate Property Sizes
Figuring out how the size of the property is essential for an accurate estimate. While you may be tempted to guesstimate square footage, its best not to. A miscalculation could result in you getting underpaid and end up setting unrealistic client expectations down the line.
Ed Ramsden offers his advice for accurately measuring a property:
You can buy software to calculate square footage of the property. Most of the time, these options just use Google Maps satellite data to give you the information.
If youre using Jobber, you can actually get the property size right inside your client profile page to help you estimate more accurately.
When youre in a client profile page in the CRM and have put their address into their profile, simply click on the map icon, and Jobber will open the property in a new tab.
Make sure that the map view is in satellite mode, drop pins around the property to draw a box, and Google will automatically tell you the square footage of the property without even being there!
It can measure the distance around the perimeter too.
Knowing the size of the lawn also allows you to determine how much material, such as fertilizer or weed killer youll need to cover the area too, so its not just about mowing area.
As with equipment, most fertilizer manufacturers will provide you with use estimates that you can reference to figure out how much product youll need for the area youre servicing.
Calculate Your Hourly Labor Rate
How much are you going to charge per person, per hour for the average job? This number should be based on things like the going rate in your area, how much money you want to earn per hour, and how much youre paying your employees.
If youre just starting off, look at the work and estimate the time it will take you to complete the job. Then consider how much you want to make per hour.
Pricing by the hour makes sense because lot size isnt always an accurate pricing metric. For example, garden homes might take you half an hour to complete, even if they are the same size as a quarter-acre lot, which could take you 45 minutes to complete.
Jason Creel explains that your hourly rate is important, but you shouldnt communicate it to your clients.
He explains:
Lets just say that your hourly rate is $60 per hour. Now, youre not going to speak to the customer and say, hey, I charge $60 an hour, so Im going to time myself when I cut your grass, and then multiply that by 60. Youll quickly learn how to estimate and then multiply that in your mind.
Pro tip: if youre just starting out and not sure about how long a lawn will take, keep track of the time it takes you to complete the job using time tracking software or a stopwatch. From there, find the average of your labor hours over time before figuring out exactly what speed you work at.
Prefer watching a video? Jason Creel talks about pricing out lawn care services below:
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How To Price Lawn Mowing Jobs
Quoting accurately on lawn mowing jobs can be a little tricky, especially if youre relatively new to the business. The price of your services must strike a balance between what customers perceive as a fair cost and the revenue you need to keep your business growing.
The pricing of lawn mowing services in Australia depends on many factors like the lawn size, difficulty of the work, the time spent, grass condition, equipment required, and the cost of labour. You will also need to consider your own expertise, your current business model and goals, and the going rate in your area of service. As a business owner, you need to identify and understand the costs of operating a lawn care business and factor them into every quote.
This article aims to serve as a guide to lawn mowing service pricing. Well discuss some proven strategies that can help Australian small business owners create competitive lawn care quotes, keeping their business profitable at the same time.
Read on to find out how to quote lawn mowing jobs accurately and keep your business profitable.
Add Your Markup Percentage For Profits
The final step in estimating a landscape job is to determine your desired profit margin and add a corresponding to the total cost determined in step 5.
Lets take a second to define those terms.
Your is your net sales revenue minus the labor, material, and overhead costs calculated above. The higher your margin, the more money your business retains. Youll usually see profit margins expressed as a percentage. The formula is Profit divided by Sales times 100.
Your is the dollar amount you add to your cost to arrive at a final, profitable price. Markups are also expressed as a percentage. The formula is Profit divided by Cost times 100.
So, now does this apply to your landscape job estimate?
A general guideline for pricing landscape jobs is to aim for a margin of 15 to 20% for residential jobs and 10 to 15% for commercial jobs.
In order to achieve those kinds of margins, you need to markup your total cost by a percentage greater than your gross margin. For example, if you want a 20% margin, youll need to add a 25% markup.
Lets look at our sample job and lets aim for a 20% profit margin.
Youll need to charge a 25% markup, which means your final selling price will be $12,316.00.
To get this number, we take your costs from the previous section , and multiply this by 1.25 to account for the markup.This looks like the following:
$9,852.80 X 1.25 = $12,316.00
The selling price minus your costs gives us your profit. Your profit will be $2,463.20.
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First: A Note On Hourly Vs Fixed Price Pricing For Landscape Jobs
When it comes to landscape jobs, theres no hard rule about hourly vs. fixed-price billing. It all comes down to the scope of the project, your preference, and your expertise.
Whichever pricing method you choose, make sure you understand the pros and cons of each:
Hourly Rate:
Pros:
- Hourly pricing gives you wiggle room, especially when jobs take longer than estimated.
- Theres less pressure to work faster because youll still be paid for your time.
Cons:
- Youre not rewarded for getting better and faster at your job.
- Hourly rates can lead to conflict if clients feel youre working too slow.
- If, for any reason, the job takes longer than expected, clients may try to rush you through the job, or become upset when they see the final price.
When to charge hourly: When youre starting your business and still getting a sense of how long jobs take, and/or the full scope of work is not clear.
Fixed-Rate
- Clients feel in control of their budget.
- You can charge based on value which lets you set a higher price.
- As you create efficiencies in your business and develop your expertise, you wont get penalized for becoming better at what you do.
Cons:
- Underestimating labor and materials is the biggest risk of fixed-price billing. If you underestimate costs, youll have to absorb them.
When to charge a fixed fee: If the scope of work is clear and you can predict with a fair amount of certainty how long a job will take.
Start With The Size Of The Lawn To Be Mowed
The biggest factor for quoting lawn mowing jobs is obvious the size of the lawn that needs to be mowed. The size of the lawn is essentially the lot size, minus the house size and any patios, driveways, walkways, landscape beds or other large obstacles. You need a minimum cost to show up to a property and then be able to determine the lawn size and an associated cost. Simply put, larger yards will take longer and cost more to mow.
Length of the grass can not only result in a much longer mow-time, but it will also put more strain on your equipment. Youll need to sharpen your mower blade more often when mowing 10 inch grass vs 5 inch grass. Longer lawns also are notorious for causing clogs in certain mowers and machines, so account for that time before it happens!
If a property has too many obstacles, it will affect your time and efforts. Some obstacles like sprinkler heads can also increase your risk of damaging the homeowners property, resulting in costs to you for damages. Its best to price it out to ensure you have enough time to be cautious of these obstacles and replace them if something were to happen.
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How To Quote To Win
You need to be presentable when you arrive at the quote. Have your logo on your shirt and have your vehicle signwriting if possible. Signage may be unaffordable when you first start, but you should work towards it. Doing this will help you secure higher quotes in the future.
On a personal level, some spray-on deodorant in the truck and use it if you have been mowing lawns all day . Get your clipboard and a pen for notes. Grab one of your business cards and clip that onto the board as well.
Do NOT walk around the house without knocking on the door first. Take your sunglasses off people like to see your eyes. If the customer opens the door the smile, introduce yourself and give them your card. Tell them that you have just called in to have a look at their lawn. Listen to what the customer tells you. Tell them you will have a look around and come back to see them. If they want to walk around with you, that is fine. Do not give them a price until you have seen the entire lawn.
If they had a lawn care contractor and they are now looking for a new one, ask what the old lawn care contractor was doing wrong. You need to know this. I have had some answers to this question that I would never have guessed, so I make a note and carry on.
If after knocking, no one answers then leave your card in the door and have a look around the property.
There are two ways to quote on a lawn once you are there
What Is Involved In The Costs Of Lawn Care
You may be wondering how someone who offers lawn care services sets their pricing, and dont be afraid to ask. Often, supply and demand come into play, but it can also come down to the services they are offering and your unique situation.
If you require a service that your lawn care provider has to outsource, then this may come at a higher cost. You may also pay less for some services if you initially hire someone to mow your lawns. The more you can pack into one visit, the more competitively priced the costs of lawn care will be.
Where you live may also feature in the pricing structure of lawn mowing. If you are on the outskirts of a township, you live rurally, or your contractor has a per-kilometre rate, then these may appear on your invoice as well.
The best thing you can do is talk to your preferred lawn care provider. They can outline all costs with complete transparency so that you can avoid any unexpected fees.
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