How to estimate (quote) a residential yard for a lawn care service business.

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• published: 17 Jul 2008
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http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com/order.html Today I will show you how to give a price estimate on a residential lawn. Estimating a yard is easy. First we measure the dimensions. This estimate also includes weedeating. So, I will measure the perimeter of the property to tell me how much weeding I will have to do. Something else to keep in mind when you are estimating are obstacles in the yard. This family has a trampoline. Every single time we come out here, we are going to have to move that trampoline. That is going to add 5 minutes to your estimated time. So, be sure to include it in your calculations. Also, this family has a dog. As you and I both know, dogs leave messes in the yard. Account for that, too, with the difficulty index. Figuring a price quote is easy with the StartALawnCareBusiness.com estimating calculator. First you enter your hourly rate. Many lawn care companies use $50 per hour as a base rate. Your rate may be higher or lower depending on your part of the country. With a 48" commercial walkbehind lawn mower, I can mow at about 1200 square feet per minute. That number is generated with the productivity calculator available from StartALawnCareBusiness.com. The job size for the lawn in the video is 9640 square feet. The difficulty modifier is 55 because the family owns a dog. Already, the estimating calculator has told us that it will take about 8 minutes of mowing time. There are other things to consider. Trimming minutes: I measured the perimeter to see how many feet I will have to trim. There are 311 feet to trim on this property. I can trim at about a foot per second when I am moving fast. That translates to just over 5 minutes. I am going to round it up to 6 minutes. Blowing off the driveway and sidewalk will take about 5 minutes. Travel time has to be included in your schedule. This property is 10 minutes round-trip. As we see in the video, there are often other things to consider such as moving the trampoline. I will add 10 minutes per week for these other activities. The lawn care estimating calculator tells us the total time for this job is 39 minutes. At $50/hour plus the difficulty index, that gives a price quote of $35.00. Estimating residential jobs is easy once you know how to work the numbers. Subscribe to my channel for more videos on how to run your lawn care business. Visit our site: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com