Most homeowners do not have enough time to maintain their lawn properly, so they hire lawn care services. Lawn care jobs include mowing, pest and weed control, mulching, leaf cleaning, trimming grass, shrubs & trees, irrigation, snow plowing, etc.
Lawn care jobs are in high demand as regular lawn maintenance increases the property value. In lawn care, business bidding is a very crucial part. The purpose of every business is to make money and profit. You may lose a lot of money if you overbid or underbid.
In this article, we will discuss the critical factors on how to bid lawn care jobs and gain profit. Continue reading to learn more!
Types of Lawn Care Jobs: Residential and Commercial
Residential Lawn Care
When you are new to the lawn care services and do not have much experience, it is wiser to start with residential lawn care jobs. Residential lawn mowing is the easiest to get started within this business.
In this case, you will work with individual homeowners so you might face different special requests sometimes.
First, you need to figure out what others are charging for lawn mowing in your neighborhood, and then you will select a midpoint.
Commercial lawn care
Commercial lawn care services are more abundant in scale. They require more experience and also generate higher payouts. In this case, you will work with property managers and real estate boards.
Most commercial clients are straightforward and outline their expectations in their contracts. You will have explicit knowledge of what your responsibilities are and what isn’t.
How to Bid Lawn Care Jobs- Effective 7 Factors
To bid your lawn care job, both residential and commercial, you need to consider the following factors.
1. Walkthrough of the property
Before taking a job, you must go over the place to get a clear idea of the requirements of that place, the client’s needs, if any special requirements are needed, and charge accordingly.
2. Time
Time is significant in bidding lawn care jobs. When you go over the place, you will have a clear idea of how much time needed to complete the job. You will have to charge more if it takes longer.
3. Minimum Charge
You have to set a minimum charge for selected properties that takes a few minutes to complete the task.
You may charge 60$ per hour that means 1$ per minute, but for smaller properties, which takes much less time, you can’t follow the 1$ per minute pricing as you need to consider traveling and other charges. You have to set a fixed minimum price, for example, 25$ or 30$.
4. Distance
You have to be aware of the distance from your place to the workplace. For longer distances, you have to think about travel time and fuel expenses when pricing the job.
It would help if you also considered how that property incorporates into your weekly schedule, what day of the week you will be doing that property, and the distance from the last house before you get to that property.
5. Equipment
You will need a clear idea about what type and size of equipment you need to use. You need to think of the lawn’s complexity, presence of any hills or slopes, and if you can do that property with the mowers you have.
Equipment for commercial lawn care is more expensive than residential. You will require a machine that will handle larger-scale jobs at different sites. In some cases, you will need more than one type of mowers.
The cost of the equipment, including maintenance and repair, should be a significant factor in determining your price.
6. Labor
You might work solo in the beginning, but as you grow and gain enough experience to take more prominent works, you will need to hire employees to work with and adjust your pricing accordingly.
Commercial jobs require more staff on-site due to the scale of the project. You have to know how many people you’ll need to complete a day’s work.
7. Characteristics of the Property
Characteristics of a property is an essential factor in bidding your job. Small estate with complicated features (large trees, playgrounds, animal wastes, etc.) requires more time and amount of work than the big estates with less complicated features. You have to adjust your bid accordingly.
Additional Factors to Consider
Before taking a lawn care job, you need to consider the following factors to make sure you do not underbid or overbid.
Networking
You can meet with the clients through phone calls, email, postcards, flyers, or meetings.
If you don’t have any previous experience, you can reach out to the property managers and ask them if they would mind giving you some advice or tips for starting a career in commercial lawn care.
Even if they do not require a contractor now, they will hire in the future. Most property managers know other managers, so once you are in the business, you can get more jobs by building good relationships and showing good work ethics.
Preparing Lawn Care Quote
You have to prepare a quote and send it to the client. The quote is the total approximate cost of the job that includes the cost for labor, property size, supplies, taxes, and discounts, etc. The entire contract’s price will set upon on your quote, so you have to bid carefully.
Cutting Cost
In the beginning, instead of buying a new mower, you can buy a used professional-quality mower purchased by the more significant estate owners and save a lot of money.
Setting Price Lower
In the beginning, you should not overbid if you do not have enough experience and are not used to the equipment. It would be best if you bid lower than what others are offering. Many people with fixed income go for a lower price, and some will want good quality work at a reasonable price.
After getting much experience, you can raise your bid.
Parking Situation
In some densely populated neighborhoods, it isn’t easy to find parking space for your truck and trailer. In that case, you will be wasting your time in finding a parking place. Even if the property is small and requires less time, you need to charge additional charges in these cases.
Final Words
We hope our article on how to bid lawn care jobs will give you the basic knowledge of pricing lawn care services and the confidence to start your journey in the lawn care industry.