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no help with this then anyone?- any advice will help me ...
i know you cant say exactly but some pointers would be nice please.
rob
- i have to reply to him today as he has the turf quote to ponder and asked for the above now.
Robin,hard one to call without photos,but if your viking/etesia are pedestrian then I would allow for 3/4 hours initially (half a day).If the viking is a 755 then a mulching kit is a must as will save huge amount of time emptying bag and removing.
Sorry if stating the obvious but hope it helps anyway
I would go for half a day (4 hours) to start with plus related travel, waste and fuel costs, its pointless underquoting yourself as you will be expected to do it for that rate for at least a year! If after a couple of visits you've got the measure of the site and feel the need to reduce the cost of the monthly contract, the customer will be very pleased with your honesty! Cant go wrong!
You just need to eye-ball it Robin. Wander round, have a look, split it down into smaller parts, estimate times for each part then add the whole lot together. Price it sustainably on a 20 visit basis and give a price per visit and for the year. Without knowing the site it is virtually impossible to give accurate ball-park figures. As long as you know your own costs and your time estimations are not too far off then you should be there or there abouts.
Spons lists 'cutting grass to specified height with petrol powered mower' - 100m2 - £2.76. So 27p per m2 which would give your 1336m2 a cost of £36, which is way off if you are talking about housing units. (But the book is published in 2008 and works on labour rate of £15 per hour so can adjust accordingley)
The trouble with attempting to give you an idea of how much to charge is we dont know how many areas the grass is divided into. it could be a couple of massive lawns or dozens of bits. the strimming and blowing alone could take an hour and half if you need to go behind cars, up narrow snickets and the like, so i would go round the site with a pad and pen and imagine each portion done individually as James recommends. let us all know if you get the contract!
If any of the figures quoted above are anywhere near right I honestly can't see how it's a job worth having. Blimey, I wouldn't commit myself to turning up somewhere 18 times in a year just for a cup of tea, let alone having to do any work as well. It seems like a ridiculously small amount of money for a contract job, regardless of how small the patch of grass.
I recently lost quite a good contract with a company local to me who are turning over millions of pounds. 6 months later and no other contractor has been hired and it is a complete mess, so sometimes in business you just dont know what they're thinking!
Stuart said: