[jwholden]

Terre,

It sounds like you are new to the business. The first thing you should do is get a book on estimating and calculating your overhead. Just because everyone else is charging so much for a similar service is no reason you have to or should. They may all be out of business in a year or too and take you down with them.

If people are asking you to break down prices it is because they are cheap and don't see the value of your services. There is something you are not doing to convince them of the value of your services.

Some people always go with the lowest price because that is the way they are wired (run from this type). Some people test your price by asking you to take a little off here or there (convince them of the value of your services or say you can lower the price of the job by taking something off the job). Some people want to lean on your expertise and not be bothered with the details of the job (get clients like these and hold on to them for dear life).

There is a learning curve when you are new to the business and learning about finding the type of people you want to work for. If a customer wants to help with the project it will cost you more (meaning less profit) because they will call you with a million questions about what they should be doing or they will screw it up and you will have to fix it based on your original estimate.

Be very careful when dealing with the type that wants a breakdown by labor materials etc. or wants to help with the job. Let them either rip out the old stuff or mulch the gardens at the end, once you are on the job it must remain in your control. Imagine if this lawyer was going to spread 8 yards of topsoil over the weekend and you show up on Monday morning and it wasn't spread. What if he spread it and did a lousy job and you need to spend two hours fixing that mess?

I know I had a point to this ramble....

Learn how to run a profitable business. You must learn the true costs of running a business so you can keep your business, house, and sanity. DO IT NOW!

Focus on showing prospective customers the value of your work so they don't even think (too hard) about what it costs.

Work on your customer screening skills and learn from the mistakes you have made and most likely will make again. Learn to recognize the customers you want to work for and focus your efforts there.

Good luck!