[jlouki01]

I can't remember the site I was on but they had listed the Annual hourly charge per employee for turf maint. at 36.41 /hour or something close to that. That material was dated 2001.. What is the going rate today?


Jeremy Loukinas
Tru-Scape
Cincinnati, Ohio

[cutntrim]

Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association provides a standard charge-out rate card to its members. Both landscape construction labourers and grounds management labourers are listed at $45/hr. If everyone was putting bids together using those numbers I wouldn't keep losing jobs to lower priced competitors.

[jlouki01]

Well.. I'm new and I don't see much advantage to lowballing to get a job. At some point I will need to make money to pay for my new ZTR mower. I think 45 is fair. I have a deal lined up to do a few acres and I wanted to give a fair bid. This is a 3 acre mow very level, no major obstacles. I assume 2hours is fair?

[cutntrim]

It might only take you 2hrs, but $90 for 3 acres is quite a bargain...at least where I'm from.

[phototropic1]

Um............just so everybody is on the same page, remember the exchange rate! Cutntrim is in Canada. Not that $45 US is too much!!!

[yardguy]

We cut one almost 3 acres every week for $150, and another for $120. The cheaper one doesnt have a pool and less flowerbeds and edging. But we definately arent the cheapest, and have previously bid both accounts and was told im too high. Stuck with price when both had problems with their "cheaper guy."

[Lawn Lad]

Are we talking about bidding rates or realization rate at the end of the day? Granted you should be hitting the same mark if you've got all of your ducks in a row.

Bid rate is going to be the price you have to be at to cover direct costs, indirect costs, administrative overhead and your profit.

Realization rate is the amount per hour that you're making for each payroll dollar. Divide total revenue (company or by category) for the relative labor input (company or by category) for the given period and see what the hourly rate is. If you're higher than what you're bidding than you're being more efficient than expected/budgeted. If lower than you're not being as efficient and maybe need to consider raising prices or look for ways to cut your indirect labor (e.g. travel time, equipment maintenance, fuel up time, etc.) so that you reduce payroll hours relative to your income.

Realizaton rates will be different for each company. Recognize that maintenance is primarily labor while installation or enhancements have materials. If you include the cost or value of the material into your equation you're going to have higher realization rates. Ideally you'd evaluate your realization rate as it relates to the revenue derived only from labor, but it might be difficult to separate out if you've got materials wrapped in. Keep your measurements simple so you can keep doing it. Realize then if your target is $35 on maintenance that you might be at $45 or $50 with materials if you're doing enhancements and maybe even more if you're doing installations (e.g. hardscaping, plantings, etc.).

ALCA's (or now PLANET) cost study shows what high/low profit companies make and there is hourly informaiton in the study. The $55.00 is well worth the information you'll get from this study. If you set up a budget (using the same chart of accounts) as Frank Ross has outlined in his "Pricing for the Green Industry) you can more easily bench mark your own performance against the numbers you find in the cost study. It's worth the effort if you haven't done this or aren't in tune with your own costs.

Cost Study: http://www.landcarenetwork.org/do/pr...y&categoryId=0

Pricing for the Green Industry: http://www.landcarenetwork.org/do/pr...y&categoryId=0