Archive for the ‘Bidding & Estimating’ Category

Why a potential lawn care or landscaping client will say no

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

I hear chatter all the time about people in the lawn care and landscaping world so consumed by their competitors under bidding them. As more and more people start a lawn care business supply will outreach demand and as a result prices will drop. Rising and falling prices is a normal part of economic change. It has happened since money was invented and will always happen.

The truth of the matter is that most potential lawn care and or landscaping clients are factoring several things when they decide which company to use. Is price a big factor? I’m sure it is. But the reality is that most people that actually care about their lawn and landscaping are not necessarily going to choose the cheapest lawn care company. The old adage still runs true, “you get what you pay for.”

I firmly believe that people are willing to pay a little extra for a couple of reasons.

1. You have exuded confidence to the potential client that you can do exactly what they are looking for and do a good job of it. I have written about this before but you need to be able to regurgitate back to the client exactly what they tell you they want. Once they feel you completely understand what they are looking for they will be more likely to choose you, regardless of price.

2. You seem trustworthy. First impressions are so important in the service industry. If a landscaping company comes to my door and they present themselves well and speak English, I am going feel a stronger level of comfort with the company knowing they are clean cut respectable people.

3. You were the first to bid the job. Many times just being the first to come bid a lawn care job people are too impatient to wait for other bids. If you hit a home run with #2 mentioned above there will be no reason to compete with low ballers.

In the end, giving the excuse that you are not being successful in your lawn care business because your competitors are underbidding you all the time is simply just not true. Be proud of your pricing. Admit to your clients that your prices are higher but the work is of a higher quality and the customer service first rate. Then prove it to them with your work ethic.

Posted in Bidding & Estimating, Lawn Care Business | 1 Comment »

Be Mindful Of The Economy In Your Bids – Also The Power Of Word Of Mouth

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

I recently heard about a home owner in my area that was getting quotes to re-landscape his front yard. He called two “big landscaping companies” that had a very professional look and feel. Both companies gave detailed quotes with line by line pricing on each part of the landscaping job.

By the time the home owner was done going through the two bids he realized that the landscaping project was going to cost him $10k. Like most people in this economy he was not willing or able to pay cash for a $10k landscaping project.

So he started talking with his neighbors and they referred a landscaper they had used. He called up the landscaper and when he came over to give the bid he could tell wasn’t a huge landscaping company and was more in touch with those of us not living in million dollar homes in the hills.

Well he gave a bid, not as detailed as the other two big landscaping companies but still line by line he bid out the job and the total came to $2k. Guess which landscaper he chose to use? Here is the kicker, I have seen the landscaping job the smaller guy did and it looks phenomenal.

You are probably in the situation where you are not a huge landscaping company yet, but take a lesson from this guy and be mindful of the economy we are in. People are looking to save money. You should still try to make good money on every job you do but don’t get greedy.

Posted in Bidding & Estimating | No Comments »

Bidding Lawn Maintenance Jobs For Newbies

Friday, January 29th, 2010

A question that gets posed to me all the time by beginning lawn care business owners is “how much should I charge for lawn maintenance.” This is a topic we cover a lot in the free lawn business course but let me explain a few important concepts.

You need to decide how much or how little you are willing to make per hour of profit. One of the biggest mistakes new lawn guys make is not factoring in expenses in doing a job. You have gas for your equipment, employees, gas for your truck to travel to the job and often there are other odds and ends you don’t think about.

So if you are looking to take home at least $25 an hour after expenses you need to charge enough to cover your expenses and make your money. For example, if you are bidding a job that you know is going to take you about 1 hour then you would need to start out with your $25 and then add in expenses. Perhaps you are paying an employee $10 an hour and let’s figure in you have about $5 in other expenses. So you would charge the person $25+$10+$5 or $40 to do the job.

You can adjust the price as you feel necessary to make more or less money depending on what you think is fair. You could probably get away with charging a little more for a job that is going to take an hour.

This is a very general idea on how to bid on a job but hopefully will give you a little more confidence when you are giving bids out to new customers.

Posted in Bidding & Estimating | 1 Comment »