[kinnanscaping]

I have been advertising fall clean-ups. I have done a couple, bid a couple of others ,and I have been turned down for a couple, too. Given the nature of a fall clean-up--I am advertising "Leaves, Trimming, Edging, Haul Off"--is there a cap on what someone will pay, in anyone's experience.

I have been struggling back and forth in my mind about this. I have been bidding using labor times with some equipment time tacked on and a flat haul off fee. In a couple of cases, with the size of the yard and the amount of leaves I have seen, my bids have been (in my mind) high. Coincidentally, those are the jobs that I have NOT landed. On the other hand, I have a pretty good handle on the amount of time that these things will take, and I can't seem to justify doing them for any less than what I have been estimating. To give you an idea, the jobs that I have landed have been for an average of $200/job, while the jobs that I have been turned down for averaged $500+/job.

Should I charge less per man hour than I do for general landscaping (edging, plants, mulch) because they are "just fall clean-ups"? Should I set flat rates based on yard size and number of trees? I am a bit stumped on how to get the bigger sized clean-ups while making me some moolah and not scaring off the customer with a pricey bid.

I greatly appreciate your help in wrapping my mind around this one.