[Brian, Concrete]

Hi , New to the board
I have a small concrete flatwork company that I started this year and have been doing the door to door flyer thing to get work I'm thinking about adding onto the flyer mulch sales maybe it would help bring in some extra money in between the patios and walkways I've been getting im trying to figure out how much to charge and what kind of mulch to add to the flyer, Been looking around at the local landscape supply companys inventory for mulch and it looks like I really couldnt mark up the price too much. I figure I could get $50 delivery charge.What do you guys charge for spreading mulch do you have a set price per yard? Or do you need to take a look at how big the property is you will be spreading. Any help on this would be appreciated. And any info on where to get wholesale mulch would be great. Im located in west suburbs of Chicago.
Thanks Brian

[Tim C.]

Brian, I personally charge by the job. It depends on what type of mulch, number of plants we have to work with and what kind of excess we have to get materials around. If we can use a skid loader or if we have to wheelbarrow it all. You can get wholesale mulch from Xylem out of Cordova IL, White's Premium Organics out for Ottawa IL. Or you can go to some place like Kane county mareial s or Groung Effects in Yorkville etc.

[drizzay]

Brian I have a lawn care business and spreading mulch can be a pretty profittable venture. I useally go to some of local nursery or landscape material outfits. I buy by the yard its alot cheaper than buying it in bags. as far as the price I charge by the yard at a 100% mark up if I pay $20 a yard I charge $40 a yard. And my normal visit charge at $75 per hour. That has been working out for me pretty good. also take in account of the removal and deposing of old bedding material. And for the lighter mulch like red mulch I was a the delivery cost by picking it up myself. but the heavier stuff like lava rock I would have that delivered.

[NCSULandscaper]

i pay $10/yrd for triple shredded hardwood and charge between $75-$100/cu yrd depending on how easy it is to get to the shrub beds, and number of plants in the bed.

[gwarren]

10/yd is a good price.

We pay around $25 per yard for most mulch types and charge $125 per yard to install. Its basically the same as drizzay more or less.
Our hourly rate is $75 per hour for 2 men and we double the mulch by 100%. And its roughly an hour per yard to install.
So we just settled on $125 per yard instead of trying to guestimate on how long its going to take and having to upcharge the mulch, etc,..
Hope that helps.

[VoodooChile]

Just thinking out of the box here...is this the best line of work to add to round out your schedule?

Spreading mulch is profitable and easy to bid, but also generates lots of add-on requests like "Could you prune the yews, and mow the grass this year?"

If you want to get into landscape maintenance, Good Luck and more power to you Brian, Concrete.

I'm just thinking maybe adding on paver installations, or segmental retaining walls, is a better match to your existing business setup.

Enjoy GTX!

[warby]

If you own a Harley Power Rake, you can spread 50sq mt in under 1 hour, smooth as a baby's bum. That's of course if there's no trees or plants in the way.

I have been spreading large amounts of mulch (up to 300 + yards at a time) for around 4 years. Typically I would use my bobcat to roughly spread around, then 2 or 3 guys with rakes etc. Last month I was on a job where we had around 50 yards. After completion the boss said we should get a roller to compact the mulch as the area was to be used as for foot traffic at a venue for the Commonwealth Games (Australia). How the hell you goin to compact mulch!!!!!!!!!

Then I had a bright idea, I attached the Harley and drove over the area. Wow, it was a flat a airport runway. Since then I had another job where we had 140 yards. Took care of that in around 3 hours, no lumps, bumps, holes. You could nearly play pool on it.

If you ever want to make some serious money. Here's the deal.

1. Get the mulch dropped in 20-30 yard heaps. Get behind the pile and push, making smaller piles small enoungh that you can drive over them safely with the Harley. You continually control the height of the Harley giving you an even finish. With each pass the area becomes considerably more level.

2. This is good only for large areas with minimal obsticals. Parks, freeways etc.

3. If you don't own a Bobcat or Harley, you can rent.

4. Do the sums, and charge by the sq yard. I have been using a Harley for around 9 months and consider myself to reasonalbly profficient in operation. That said, I found it easier to level mulch than dirt.

I was so excited when I entered this new dimension of power raking. It has opend up many new doors. I hope this can help many other people out there.

Cheers,
Tom.

[PSUscaper]

Besides returning customers, I have basically given up on the mulch installation. Basically, it is just way to cut throat in my area. I'm usually about 2 times the price that others charge. The mulch business is a doggy dog world that I want nothing to do with. I can hardly buy the mulch for what some of these guys are installing it for.

Here's a quick question. I just want to know, because it just seems so unbelievable to do. Guys in my area are installing dyed black mulch at prices of $40 a yard....this isn't just dumping and spreading....this includes edging and bed clean up. Is this INSANE OR WHAT?

I just flat out give up on even going on mulch estimates. Others have got to be experiencing this, as it is becoming just rediculous in my area.

[jwholden]

Penn,

I agree. I provide garden maintenance and mulching only to a select few who see the value of having the company that installed the plantings maintain them.

I gave up on fighting with people over not using red and make the price of red mulch speak for itself.

I pray I never have to go back to the beginning, I don't think I could take it again!

[Greensmith]

Penn, I just did a easy 5 yard mulch job and the ladies eyes bugged out when I told her $100 a yard. She said a local landscape CO had told her 45$ per yd. laid. How the hell can they do that. My insurance and gas alone would kill any profit on that. 27$ per yd cost, 45 mins to lay. Picking up the mulch takes at least 20 minutes both ways. Cripes.

[HardDaysKnight]

Originally posted by pennscapes

Here's a quick question. I just want to know, because it just seems so unbelievable to do. Guys in my area are installing dyed black mulch at prices of $40 a yard....this isn't just dumping and spreading....this includes edging and bed clean up. Is this INSANE OR WHAT?

Yes, that's insane! We pay $26.50 per yd. for bulk dyed black mulch. That's a profit of $13.50 per yard installed.
Not counting bed shaping,weeding etc.
We only do mulch jobs for 2 customers that don't do a design/
install. We will give estimates for them when they come in
but they are take it or leave it figures.
We had a job last year in spring and we said $400 dollars
to do the leaf clean-up. We couldn't do the landscape
project with all the leaves. They call back and say, "We are
using you guys for the landscaping but another guy said
$40 not $400 to do the leaves. He said he gets $10 dollars
an hour and it would take him 4 hours. He is lic. and ins.
We called back and said great and asked for his card.

[AZTLANLC]

I wish I could use a harley rake spreading muclh.
But all beds that need mulch have many plants, boulders, etc.

With estimate mulch installation at about 1 hour per yard + cost of materials with 20% markup and delivery fees.

[fitzg2md]

yep, around here a company charges 70 a yard...that is until they got their new mulch blower. Now they are sucking up all the business, but only charging 40 a yard...mulch and labor. They went for quanity. Problem is, now its getting real hard to get someone to pay 70! Thinking of just taking all my mulch jobs...charging 50-55/yard and subing it out to them. I hate mulch anyways....They can blow mulch all day, gimme some actual creative work. -MF

[familyguy]

You know fitz, thats exactly what we do now. We have a 75 per yard installed rate. Pick-up prices at the mulch dealers around here starts at 31.00 per yard and goes up from there!

Figure this:
1. Pick-up mulch (wait in yard to be loaded, get there and then getting to the job)
2. Average of 80% productivity from each employee to lay mulch.
3. The cost of a foreman or owner to supervise mulching.
4. Cleaning up, and traveling back to the mulch yard for another load or to go to the next job with the inevitable stop for another coffee or bathroom stop.

-OR-

Show the mulch blower the jobs and go to another more profitable venture using their rate of 44.00 + tax per yard.


Do the math for yourself, but $28.oo per yard profit on their service.
If you use an average of 18.00 per hour cost on your employees, having a sub with a blower is a better way to earn money and probably more of it. Although if you can get 125 per yard installed like someone claimed to in a previous post by all means do it by hand. Just work as fast as you can and you will make a killing at that price.

[GLAN]

Mulch is one of those things where a home owner thinks they can get their hired slave to put down mulch for $50 - $100 for the entire property.

Tell them it's $75 per yard and it would be 6 - 7 yards. You can see the brain freeze they are experiencing and the migraine kicking in.......only way to stop the migraine is to say......"never mind"


Mulch you can charge 3 - 4x your cost, spread out in the beds.