Trouble charging what I'm worth

H I every one, just joined today. I've been landscaping for 3 years now. My fall clean ups been mostly small residential homes. This year my lawyer highered me to do his fall clean up because the man who normally does it sucks. This property is at least a acre or a little more, filled with trees every where. I work with my father, I have 2 stihl magnum back pack blowers, 29 hp monster leaf loader. I know I should buy a walk behind blower and a leaf plow but not sure if it's the right time for that investment (don't want to buy those things for one job). Most of the leaves on the property I had to blow into piles untill I couldn't move them any more, then I would step over that pile and start a new pile. All the while moving towards the main dumping area in the back of the property. I then had to rake the leaves onto tarps and drag them and dump them. The final step was to blow all the leaves on the hill down to the street( because I thought it would be more efficient then trying to blow them up the hill and dragging them) I then sucked them up with my loader and filled that to capacity just one time. I usualy charge $40.00 per load. Ok so I was there 2 days total of 16 hours. I was thinking to charge 30 per man per hour so that would be 960.00+40=$1,000.00 total for 2 8 hour days of very difficult work. So my questions are, am I over charging? If I had the walk behind blower and leaf plow would I of saved that much time? If I did have those other tools should I charge more because more equiptment on the job like 40 per man per hour etc.? On a last note my father and I work are butts off and we maybe stopped for a coffee and a power bar 1 time all day. Sorry for the length of this post hopefully I can get some feedback. Thanks

Well,
Yes, yes & yes.
Doing things the hard way does not entitle you to charge extra because you do not have the tools to do it the easy way.
If you want to keep the contract, work out what it would cost if you were using the right gear & charge accordingly.

Try hiring the gear and see if the increase in productivity warrents the expense.
You can always go for some thing like a Walker mower that will shred the leaves & bin them efficiently plus you have an excellent mower for fine cutting lawns.

I repair mowers and charge out book time which is generally 1/2 to 1/4 of the actual time it takes to do the job properly and that does not include diagnosis.

Thank you for your response. Only problem I will have is figuring out how much time I would of saved with the plow and walk behind blower. I've never used either of them. I think I will get them for next season. The property was also filled with piles of branches that the lazy guy that takes care of the property left all around! And when I say a lot of leaves I mean it. There were some areas that haven't been touched in years. Another thing that took up a lot of time was blowing out these low liying green plants( not sure of the name), there were very large beds all along the property. Regardless of the tools I didn't have, I still would of had to drag all the leaves by hand. But with those tools, I could of got those piles a lot closer to the dump site. Still very labor intensive. So if I had those tools, then I would be able to charge the rate of 40 per man per hour and I'm guessing maybe I would of saved 4 hours. 12x80= still comes out to $960.00 :confused2: lol. I guess i will just bill him and see if I get the job next year :thumbsup: I will purchase the blower and plow and if I finish a lot faster I will give a deep discount to make up for this year. Thanks again I really appreciate you giving me your time.

I think you are a little low on your rates per man hour as well as per load. Rates around here are low side 40.00 per man Hr. most charge more. Sometimes it is hard to get people to pay what the job is really worth so you have to decide if you will work for a lower rate. My hourly rate 50.00 but there are times I don't come close to that amount, just try to be as fair as you can and still make a living, just don't sell yourself short,it's a job.

I don't want to sound mean here, but your prices seem a little low. But, every market is different so I can't argue too much on this. Just make sure you charge enough so that you don't end up in trouble. Also, make sure your prices are around market price. You can be a little higher than market price if you can stand out (good equipment, good service, etc.). Some people are ready to pay a little more for that good stuff.

Just like you have concluded, it would come to about the same rate if you would have better equipment. You shouldn't lower your prices because you finish faster with better and more expensive equipment. Here is why:

Examples:
1. 100$ for a leaf job. The person uses a rake. It takes about 4-5 hours = 20-25$/hour. Not bad for a rake since a rake costs nothing to operate.
2. 100$ for the same leaf job. The person has a backpack blower. Takes about 2-2.5 hours = 40-50$/hour. Hourly rate went up, but so did your overhead. The blower takes gas, oil and needs regular maintenance.
3. 100$ for the exact same leaf job. You use a backpack blower and a leaf loader or Billy Goat lawn vac. You get the job done in about 1.5 hours = about 65$/hour. Hourly rate is even higher, but so did the overhead. Leaf loader or Billy Goat lawn vac is way more expensive then a backpack blower. Takes a good amount of gas and needs maintenance. Your overhead is even higher, but you get the job done faster and you can do more jobs in a day

I hope this helps you out. Don't hesitate with other questions. We all were beginners once.

To tell truth I know I'm charging to low, people around here still don't want to pay and I'm on the lower rate. I'm fully insured and a LLC. The only tools I'm lacking are the walk behind blower and leaf plow. Also I only have a 52" ex mark vantage which has no vacume and only a small 3 bushel bag on the side. So trying to pick up any leaves with that is a waist of time do to the fact it fills up within 5 feet :thumbdown:. It did cost me 10 grand so it's not a toy. I'm hoping to get my hands on a nice sit down mower with vacume soon (18k :confused2,but first I need to finish paying my loan on the monster leaf loader. I keep all my stuff in my trailer, which I park in my driveway so there is no overhead cost "yet" and my father is not on the books, so I don't pay out comp or other insurances involved with having employees. I pay him $12 an hour, so I make 18 from him minus gas he uses and wear and tear on equiptment. The more I type this out, the more I see how little I'm making:ashamed:. At least you guys are making me feel better about how much I will charge this man, and I think I will also charge him for that load, I was gonna give him a break and just charge for labor. So 1,000.00 for 16 hours of back breaking labor should be ok I guess, if he don't like it o well. I know I'm worth every penny. I'm very OCD and blow every twig, egg corn and leaf. I know as soon as I have to rent a space and get employees, I will have to up my rate. By that time i will have all the stuff I'm lacking so I will be justified in raising to at least 45 per man per hour. On another note, did any of you guys notice all those damn egg corns this year? That also took extra time to blow.

Do you have problems with many other clients? Maybe it is time to change neighborhood. A higher class neighborhood usually pays better (all tho, there is always that wealthy person that is cheap). Don't forget to let your clients know that you are different. You are LLC, insured, have nice equipment, etc. Keep on working at it. You will get there!

Yes, those little egg corns and other little things that trees produce tend to slow me down.

Yes I live in Waterbury ct not many people with money here. I struggle to get 35 per cut:frown: you have to see there face when I say any more then that. They want it done for 25 per cut. I try to get a dollar per minute so if I think it will take me 45 min to cut a lawn, I'll try to get $45. If they let me dump on site I'll charge $40. If they let me do it every week I'll do it for 35.00 but most want it every other week( does this sound right lol or should I keep it the same price no matter once a week or twice a month?) The fall clean up I'm talking about is in the next town over and they have a bit more money to spend but I still charge my 30 per man per hour. This guy never complains about pricing but I normally take care of his condos and that is a small 4 unit property. so a fall clean up there usualy runs him 180.00 for 3 hours, dump on site. I just guess I'm affraid to overcharge or worse undercharge. He obviously knows I do good work because he actually stopped his main guy from doing it last year. He called me to finish his failed attempt, but it wasn't the hole property like this time. It was just the hill I blew down and sucked it up. So he must of been happy and had me complete the hole job this time. Like you said he might be ready to pay for the good stuff. I do have a million other questions but I'll leave them for another day :laughing: thank you so much for taking the time from your day to chat with me and that goes for everyone here.

Yes,the culture of greed.
I charge $ 60/hr for labour ,include sundry items and do not charge a call out fee.
The Shop down the road charges $ 90/ hr and charges traveling time at this rate.
The shops in town ( 15 miles away) charge $ 95 to $ 120 / hour , charge a $ 60 call out fee and include every nut bolt & washer ( including grease ) in their bill.

So you would assume customers are beating a path to my door with a big smile on their faces & an open wallet.
Not so, more than 1/2 refuse to have regular services done, consider a repair to be a service so expect only to pay the 1.5 service hours, tell me it was only fixed a short while ago , with the inference it should be a free job then tell me how cheap they could get the mower fixed by some one else if they only lived 30 miles closer to the city
People with Honda self propelled ( $ 2000 new ) oft tell me that can buy a whole new mower for $ 100 ( Chineese garbage from discount store) so why is my bill $ 200 ?
Even worse these are the peple on 2 acre to 10 acre blocks, they drive $ 200,000 cars & have jobs paying $ 250,000 + .
The ones who pay happily and thank me for cost effective services are the retirees & pensioners.

The Trouble charging what one thinks there worth is that in most cases there worth about half what they think they are.