I was just thinking (dangerous thing for me) about spring clean-ups and mulch refreshing as an add-on. Does anyone else offer this service? And how do you bid it? Do you use your normal landscape labor rates or do you lower your hourly for this task?
The way we bid that kind of thing depends on the client and job. If I'm confident in what it will take I'll give a number and if not (clean-up type stuff can be hard to put a solid number to) I'll give an estimate and do it T&M. Mulch I usually bid at about one labor hour per yard.
As far as hourly rate....others may feel differently but for me the lowest labor rate I charge is based on cost, overhead recovery and profit. From there we charge more depending on the skill/ knowledge level required for a service. Masonry, tree work, design or horticultural consultation are billed at higher rates. So mulching and cleaning up are billed at our lowest rate plus $2-$7 per hour for various pieces of equipment we might use.
I charge by the hour, unless it's factored in to an annual contract for commercial customers. I don't break down individual services to different hourly rates though. Same hourly rate whether I'm doing a cleanup, cutting a lawn, or putting in a patio. Not sure if I've gained or lost jobs because of that, but I try not to overcomplicate things for myself. Just estimating the number of hours to complete a task is tricky enough.
We estimate by the job. Some places ya stand on the truck and drop mulch into the beds and some places ya load a wheelbarrows and wheel it 30 yards down 2 flights of steps where it has to be hand placed around tender plants to avoid burning. Same with clean ups. Some plants produce tremendous amounts of debris IE. ornamental grasses. We don't disclose labor rates or price per yard of mulch. Don't forget to add in dump fees and any edging that may be needed as well as delivery fees on the big jobs.
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