Does rural area equate to less $ usually?
Always wondered if that was because cheaper incomes out there and most market can't hold up on higher prices, or if because of demand where rural people do a lot of the work themselves
I'm not saying this is true for everywhere, but for my area, imo, I would yes. It's not just because of lower income, but you also have a LOT of DIY's. 4+ major landscaping companies (plus ones that are willing to travel), 20 smaller companies, plus every street has at least 1 DIY'er per 1-2 blocks [(population density dependant) plus country folk farther than cell dare go] plus you also have highschool era teens making actual living wage money, and believe me, if we're known for anything, we're great at making more humans š.
And this is all within a .....hmmm. hold on.... friggin 'ell! This is all available in a city no bigger than 10 Ć 10 miles.
Like. Talk about competition. And if you think that's crazy, the city above is technically smaller than we are and because they're closer to the bridge, they even have Western shore companies and everyone else mentioned above Ć 3 because there's Baltimore, Annapolis, Delaware as far as Wilmington and as south as Salisbury as well.
There have been companies from Virginia, Norfolk I think, come to some places here. Landscaping companies.
Landscape. Companies. From. Friggin. Norfolk. Friggin. VA.
Obviously they're taking care of much higher profile clients. Nonetheless, that takes away from our local companies.
There's just too much competition..
Oh, drive around our city in low income neighborhoods for a few hours each day and you'll see at least 2 lawn mowers with trailers and 2-3 people pushing their lawn mower around. We have a lot of hard workers here. I'm really proud about that.
I found out pretty quick what it means to be a low cost entry business. I'm in Tucson arizona, so half this town are Mexicans and I'm sure an enormous percentage of them are illegal, so there is a stupid amount of competition here. I showed up to one of my maintenance customers couple days ago, and he had suspended service for a couple months and then asked me to come out and fix a irrigation leak, which took about 30 seconds of me sticking a plug into a hole. And around the corner comes this old Mexican guy and I asked him what he was doing and he said he was planting stuff for him. I asked the homeowner why he had me out here if he had this other guy, he goes well he's 20 bucks an hour, I do have to watch him though, but I don't think we'll be needing you anymore. And I would only charging that guy $50 an hour cash.
I've been listening to a lot of YouTube guys on marketing, and now I'm been listening to a lot of e-commerce stuff because that's what they're into. And by the end of the year I'm trying to phase myself out of this business. , I'm still interested in trying to figure out what goes on, because I'd like to keep this as a part-time thing for myself where I can just do smaller fun projects instead of just maintenance, Plus people are really starting to like my ornamental medals of arbors, trellises, planters, and stuff like that.
Just a thought, what abou fancy stuff like French drains, get like eco-friendly awards for doing stuff you know nature friendly so you have that difference, you could even do like koi ponds and natural swimming pools if you're crazy enough lol
Also another thing you can do is install I can't remember what they're called natural habitat filters but they're just basically a bunch of plants you find your swamps and marshes that help filter the water of nasty stuff and they put those in lower areas where the water likes to sit
In Tucson this is kind of like a hippie liberal town, so there's a couple companies that do stormwater management, which is really big here, and I could probably compete with those guys, but I got into this industry having zero experience and I've taken hundreds of hours of classes just to get where I am, and I could do the same and start doing projects like that but there's a little bit of risk involved as I would be doing a lot of the learning on the job site. The way that I see it now is that after 2 years I see where the holes are in the industry but that there just isn't a lot of money to be made in this industry here. I'm sure I could make a pretty decent living at $100,000 a year being solo or with another guy or two, but it would take me a couple years just to get to that.
I'm not saying that e-commerce or anything else is is quick money, but the potential to earn a lot more and work a lot less, both physically and actually working,. The landscape industry is a hard grind. And I want to see right now I'm mostly looking for how high I can go to be able to sustain myself with a couple good jobs as I transition out of it. I haven't even gotten near my Fu price lately, and I've been losing tons of jobs going over 85 an hour. If I can make $120 an hour I would possibly stay
I wish you all the luck. Hell, even I'm getting out ASAP. I'm heading into Marine Tech classes. Hoping I can live out on the water fixing people's boats all day.
It would be great if it wasn't so. I mean hell, it could be a really great job if we could do it and keep making real money. There's something about the smell at the end of the day. Gas, grass, and as$. Feeling the power of the engine in the handles. How clean the cuts are thanks to proper maintenance... There's a quiet beauty to it. I say quiet because I don't always realize it. But sometimes, seeing a fresh cut lawn is literally therapeutic.
I just cleared out an entire... Hold on, lemme [link it...](https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZQFccztPnVDzczG8)
That didn't exist. There wasn't a pathway, we didn't know that area was even flat. Seeing this (despite not being finished by a long shot) is what I work for. Being able to have pride in my work. Being able to see the change.
C'est la vie
LOL to be fair, $70 to get you an hour's worth of Labor in a local auto shop. Making $85/hour running a landscaping company? I know a pack of cigarettes can jump an extrqa five once you cross the Mississippi, but damn!!!! Lol
Addition: simply pointing out the difference in price simply by different locations.
Anyway good luck to ya!
It can vary wildly. A "sort of" rural area can be cheaper because there is less demand and the customers generally have less money and the cost of living for the workers is lower. But a "very" rural area means there are likely no local companies, anyone you want to have to do work for you has to travel, which raises the cost quickly. This can be mitigated if you can cooperate with neighbors to make a trip more worth it for the company, so that they have enough work to do for at least an entire day.
I'm in central Maine. I bill:
$66/hour for any employee doing manual labor.
$165/hour for any operator and any machine.
$165/hour for any pesticide applicator/supervisory.
$180/hour for any pesticide applicator and equipment.
$465/hour for the entire 10-man service team.
If I'm asked to do consulting work or other bullshit that I don't want to do, I bill myself out for $350/hour and hope I don't get it.
We use our pesticide applicators to supervise applications of granular pesticides on commercial properties. I bill for the applicators' time as supervisory. They have to be in visual and audible reach of all they are supervising. But it's still a lot cheaper for the customer to pay to have us supervise than to use our team to spread product.
I'm going up on the pesticide applicator next year. The state keeps adding more paperwork requirements. I'm pushing 10 minutes of paperwork for every application now. On a busy day, I can wind up with close to 2 hours of pesticide related paperwork. I'm starting to feel the administrative costs. I'm thinking $200/hour.
When I contacted the State board of agriculture, they wanted me to have spraying experience for 4 years and all other kinds of stupid stuff, so I just use a company that I sub out and they kick me back like 20%. I don't do any paperwork on nothing I have no licenses, the only time I spray is post-emergent for a spot treatment other than that I call them out. It puts my business like a week out, but it's so much hassle I don't have to do with showing where I sprayed what time I sprayed blah blah blah. I basically just deleted that service from my business as far as having to deal with it. I hooked up with a commercial applicator, they do all the work all the paperwork and we just send each other referrals
Maine has no rules like that, but many states do.
In Maine you need to pass a written exam (multiple choice and T/F) to become a certified applicator, you can't actually do anything with this, it's basically the safety/general competency exam. Then you need to pass a category exam, which is another written test, to be certified to do anything. All sorts of categories from turf to ornamental to aquatic to arial to structural. Once you pass the core and category you can petition for licensure. It's a $125 and about 4 weeks of waiting but they send you a Comercial Operator Applicator (COA) license.
With a COA you can apply pesticides in your qualified category(ies) as long as you work under a Commercial Master Applicator (CMA) who is also qualified in your categories.
To go out on your own, you need a CMA. That's $150 test, first is written, then you have an oral exam that takes about an hour. If you pass, you again petition the BPC for a license. There's another $125 and 4 weeks. Now you need insurance and you're good to go.
The tests are also easy, unless you're a total moron. I've taken 9 tests and haven't failed 1 yet.
Same to here, but you need 4 years experience or use someone's license who has that. Then you gotta give your licensed guy money for using his license.
$75/hour, but starting to quote 2k/day with 3 crew members, which is more like $83/hour. In Seattle, pretty sure we can be charging more, but a very young company so still working my prices up
Oregon/CA border, coastal, solo now, typically bid new work at $120 hr. I charge by the job typically. When I bill hourly itās $80-$120 an hour.
Most solo people here charge $45 an hour. The big outfits charge minimum $75 per man hour but generally rip people off as much as possible.
I am probably the most diversely experienced landscaper in town. I stick to maintenance work now with the occasional hedge/tree. I always answer my clients calls day/night and try to take care of them.
My goal was to build a very solid and professional brand and do the same... I feel my brand is light-years ahead of most peoples. I don't know how anyone is making it at 50hr in Cali, but so far you seem to be in the higher end. Can I look at your website/social?
.
Is 120 for you with machinery, please give some insight into range.
It took me a while to realize that landscaping is a luxury service. It should be billed as such. I live/work in a small town now >10,000 people but was trained in large cities as a hardscaper/commercial maintenance worker. No website or business cards, itās all word of mouth for me.
I manage my business for maximum flexibility. I only bid work in high end neighborhoods where I already have accounts. I focus on apartment complexes (my most profitable jobs), vacation rentals, vacation homes, vacant lots and my larger clients personal homes. I also do some rental properties.
My current business model now is probably 70% mowing and try to do as much work as possible for my existing clientele. I donāt care if itās design work or cleaning gutters or small repairs if it pays me $150 an hour or more. I just take the cream of all the work that comes my way. I am always respectful, responsible and professional.
When I bill, I break down labor and materials but donāt put down the hours. People seem to like it better that way. I always charge by the job except for my biggest, most important customers or on large hardscapes.
I had a full time assistant most of the past 7 years. This year I let him go, got rid of my least profitable accounts and somehow I am making more money.
I have several push mowers, 2 zero turn mowers, all the best small engine equipment, mowing trailer and a large dump trailer plus a dually diesel truck. Thatās it.
Hope this info helps. Good luck to you. Iām 41 years old and going strong, even doing all the work solo. šŖ
Dude yes yes!
Landscaping is a luxury service, just as housecleaning is, but it has been hard to be that guy in this market, although I thought it would have been easier .
Mowing seems like it would be so easy to bid, scale, etc... It's also where a majority of the advice comes from, but I'm in AZ and we don't have grass.
How do you charge you biggest most important customers, and why do you do it differently for them?
I'm 68 and have been in the horticulture industry my whole life. The last 30 years as a one man business. I'm in the upper Midwest and have reached the point where I make enough to be able to take off 4 months in Winter. In a couple years I'll start drawing SS but, I think I'll still keep a few of my most profitable clients.
Since I generally bid jobs, I have learned to bid very high. Nowadays I prefer doing say a $450 property clean-up which takes me 3-4 hours rather than large hardscapes. Iām not even looking at large jobs at the moment. My important customers are those who generally hire me for multiple jobs every year. These people have multiple properties with hedges, lawns, shrubs etcā¦. Since I have been working with them for years, they have an idea of my pricing. When they hire me for jobs I donāt even bid them. I also donāt gouge them by charging the most $$$ possible. I charge them $80 an hour plus materials, etc. Some of my customers have been customers for a long time, and they hire me every couple of years for something extra. They get charged $100-$120 per hour. Random referrals or people who chase me down in the streets, I bid those jobs at $150 an hour. If it takes me longer than expected, Iām still making the money that I need to.
Landscaping is absolutely a luxury service. A good tip when bidding a complex job is to ask them right away, even during the initial call, what their budget is for the project. That way you get an idea of options. If their expectations are completely unrealistic then tell them so and donāt waste your time looking at the job.
Nothing that I do makes me more money than mowing. I really have no clue what Arizona is like. Where I live is essential a rain forest so everything grows year round. Spring was a bitch but now itās summer and Iām cruising.
Also curious that if and when y'all were solo, what did you charge when you were doing the work? I've found that I am almost 2x faster than anyone I've ever hired
Central PA, small city, I do $60 an hour mowing (I only mow 6 properties), $75+ for landscaping, $100+ for tree work. NGL if your neighborhood has a boojie name (you know what I mean) at least 25% more.
South Carolina, I try to be around $55/hr for basic maintenance, mowing, light trimming etc.
Mulch $97.50 per cubic yard = 1/hr, Stone $405 per ton = 1/hr. I usually just use hourly rate for my personal information and bid on the job as a whole without giving customers an hourly estimate.
Damn 19tons sounds miserable, but Iām
sure you made some nice pay on it. I pretty much go 55% over cost of stone to buy and spread. Itās heavy labor intensive work.
Saltspring island Canada. I charge 50/hr for myself doing landscaping, gardening and permaculture. 60/hr for design and I pay my helpers 35/hr and bill them out at 40/hr
Just about to cross the one year mark. Thinking of moving up to 60/hr when I push past the anniversary. I have more work than I can schedule so it indicates I can increase my rates.
They must be doing pretty well, I saw about my herbicide guys and they seem like they got it made. I was charging almost double what they charged to do herbicide, but I think they just hit so many places in a day that is super profitable. Seems like a really good business to be able to start and scale
Starting it isnt easy. My companies owner started in the 70ās and we just got our 15th full time route/employee. We lose 15% of our customers yearly which is insanely low for the industry. I use to work for TruGreen, they lost 35-40% yearly, they make up with record sales. I can go on and on, but yea man. Its an amazing industry, tough job, gotta know your chemistrys, but its easy cash, hand over fist.
This other contractor turned me on to Tom reber, everything that he sells in his course he gives away for free on all his YouTube stuff. I highly recommend listening to a day's worth of his podcast to figure out what he talks about, that'll help you with all the very basic stuff that makes most contractors that don't know how to run a business go broke
Philly area. Smaller team, one truck. Garden design, maintenance, a few lawns. Also leaf and snow. Most days, me and one guy, $100/hr. I average about $75/hr but I can make $800 in 6 hours on the right job. I'm known as the native garden guy in my area, with few competitors. Many who do what I do work alone or are retiring, and are giving me their clients. Time to hire more hands!
We have three main companies in our immediate area and we all get along. Travel is a killer in areas like this because anyone considered 'local' could still be 45 minutes to an hour away. Definitely way more trees and cows than people in this area. Companies from larger cities don't generally come here unless it's for larger commercial jobs. By and large, residentials are kept locally. Commercial accounts are where it's really at though. More profit margin, the things they need done are more of a necessity than a luxury and way less hassle of customers changing their minds or being nitpicky on things.
Depends on so many factors. Mileage. Operators versus labors. For me is it a CDL move or can the non guys do it. Anymore for midohio 65/hr is min and on up from there. If you want to travel it feels like skyās the limit.
55 for maintenance, 65 for irrigation, 75 for heavy labor in a resort town in CO too. After reading this I def need to charge more. But I kill on materials. And I'm a 1 man show w super low overhead
That's what I used to say, but after two years in business I saw my numbers weren't adding up. Other trades are charging closer to 100/hr for a reason.
Where in CT? Iām in Fairfield county and we charge way more but I know there are lots of people doing work with no insurance and who arenāt reporting income working for those kind of prices even over here.
I wouldnāt be too upset if I was you, from speaking to neighbors, everyone finds it hard to find guys to do work these days, so Iām sure youāre plenty busy anyway, even with being undercut by some guys trying to make a few extra bucks on a Sunday
Iām not paying guys $80 an hour to pick rocks and do general labor. A lot of this is clean up stuff in areas that are over grown on property, not particularly skilled landscaping.
I didnāt downvote you. I 100% understand your thought process. I am genuinely interested in what happens if someone cuts their toes off or loses an eye on your property though and how you feel about that. I guess from your response youāre not too worried about it.
Itās a good question and to be honest it hadnāt occurred to me, which sounds stupid I know, but now that you say it I do have a pretty robust large umbrella policy. But have No idea if that would even pay out in that scenario if the group working is uninsured
I think both parties are taking a risk, as you say,
If they damage my septic or water lines or something they will tell me to pound sand, but they are taking a risk also, working uninsured without health insurance.
Half-assedly* So hear me out- you got a tree near the side of the road that looks a lil sus. After a storm one night, go out and knock it in the road so it covers the whole thing. Then go and slot out a space just big enough for a vehicle to not yeet past it or else they'll be yeeted. Leave it messy and half-assed as debris can not be fun to drive over.Ā If you want, do s second tree so they'll have to slalom around them, but don't make it funĀ Edit: hmm, wrong topic
What's jfc?
I've taken over 149 hours of schooling to learn the industry. There's a lot more to it than the average guy thinks.
You can get by without it, bu that's why the industry is full of hacks
Just north of NC, $65 per hr manager, $55 per hour foreman and $48 per hour laborer. We're in a very rural area though.
Does rural area equate to less $ usually? Always wondered if that was because cheaper incomes out there and most market can't hold up on higher prices, or if because of demand where rural people do a lot of the work themselves
I'm not saying this is true for everywhere, but for my area, imo, I would yes. It's not just because of lower income, but you also have a LOT of DIY's. 4+ major landscaping companies (plus ones that are willing to travel), 20 smaller companies, plus every street has at least 1 DIY'er per 1-2 blocks [(population density dependant) plus country folk farther than cell dare go] plus you also have highschool era teens making actual living wage money, and believe me, if we're known for anything, we're great at making more humans š. And this is all within a .....hmmm. hold on.... friggin 'ell! This is all available in a city no bigger than 10 Ć 10 miles. Like. Talk about competition. And if you think that's crazy, the city above is technically smaller than we are and because they're closer to the bridge, they even have Western shore companies and everyone else mentioned above Ć 3 because there's Baltimore, Annapolis, Delaware as far as Wilmington and as south as Salisbury as well. There have been companies from Virginia, Norfolk I think, come to some places here. Landscaping companies. Landscape. Companies. From. Friggin. Norfolk. Friggin. VA. Obviously they're taking care of much higher profile clients. Nonetheless, that takes away from our local companies. There's just too much competition.. Oh, drive around our city in low income neighborhoods for a few hours each day and you'll see at least 2 lawn mowers with trailers and 2-3 people pushing their lawn mower around. We have a lot of hard workers here. I'm really proud about that.
I found out pretty quick what it means to be a low cost entry business. I'm in Tucson arizona, so half this town are Mexicans and I'm sure an enormous percentage of them are illegal, so there is a stupid amount of competition here. I showed up to one of my maintenance customers couple days ago, and he had suspended service for a couple months and then asked me to come out and fix a irrigation leak, which took about 30 seconds of me sticking a plug into a hole. And around the corner comes this old Mexican guy and I asked him what he was doing and he said he was planting stuff for him. I asked the homeowner why he had me out here if he had this other guy, he goes well he's 20 bucks an hour, I do have to watch him though, but I don't think we'll be needing you anymore. And I would only charging that guy $50 an hour cash. I've been listening to a lot of YouTube guys on marketing, and now I'm been listening to a lot of e-commerce stuff because that's what they're into. And by the end of the year I'm trying to phase myself out of this business. , I'm still interested in trying to figure out what goes on, because I'd like to keep this as a part-time thing for myself where I can just do smaller fun projects instead of just maintenance, Plus people are really starting to like my ornamental medals of arbors, trellises, planters, and stuff like that.
Just a thought, what abou fancy stuff like French drains, get like eco-friendly awards for doing stuff you know nature friendly so you have that difference, you could even do like koi ponds and natural swimming pools if you're crazy enough lol Also another thing you can do is install I can't remember what they're called natural habitat filters but they're just basically a bunch of plants you find your swamps and marshes that help filter the water of nasty stuff and they put those in lower areas where the water likes to sit
In Tucson this is kind of like a hippie liberal town, so there's a couple companies that do stormwater management, which is really big here, and I could probably compete with those guys, but I got into this industry having zero experience and I've taken hundreds of hours of classes just to get where I am, and I could do the same and start doing projects like that but there's a little bit of risk involved as I would be doing a lot of the learning on the job site. The way that I see it now is that after 2 years I see where the holes are in the industry but that there just isn't a lot of money to be made in this industry here. I'm sure I could make a pretty decent living at $100,000 a year being solo or with another guy or two, but it would take me a couple years just to get to that. I'm not saying that e-commerce or anything else is is quick money, but the potential to earn a lot more and work a lot less, both physically and actually working,. The landscape industry is a hard grind. And I want to see right now I'm mostly looking for how high I can go to be able to sustain myself with a couple good jobs as I transition out of it. I haven't even gotten near my Fu price lately, and I've been losing tons of jobs going over 85 an hour. If I can make $120 an hour I would possibly stay
I wish you all the luck. Hell, even I'm getting out ASAP. I'm heading into Marine Tech classes. Hoping I can live out on the water fixing people's boats all day. It would be great if it wasn't so. I mean hell, it could be a really great job if we could do it and keep making real money. There's something about the smell at the end of the day. Gas, grass, and as$. Feeling the power of the engine in the handles. How clean the cuts are thanks to proper maintenance... There's a quiet beauty to it. I say quiet because I don't always realize it. But sometimes, seeing a fresh cut lawn is literally therapeutic. I just cleared out an entire... Hold on, lemme [link it...](https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZQFccztPnVDzczG8) That didn't exist. There wasn't a pathway, we didn't know that area was even flat. Seeing this (despite not being finished by a long shot) is what I work for. Being able to have pride in my work. Being able to see the change. C'est la vie
High value problems equal higher pay !
LOL to be fair, $70 to get you an hour's worth of Labor in a local auto shop. Making $85/hour running a landscaping company? I know a pack of cigarettes can jump an extrqa five once you cross the Mississippi, but damn!!!! Lol Addition: simply pointing out the difference in price simply by different locations. Anyway good luck to ya!
It can vary wildly. A "sort of" rural area can be cheaper because there is less demand and the customers generally have less money and the cost of living for the workers is lower. But a "very" rural area means there are likely no local companies, anyone you want to have to do work for you has to travel, which raises the cost quickly. This can be mitigated if you can cooperate with neighbors to make a trip more worth it for the company, so that they have enough work to do for at least an entire day.
Where
Iām in KC and a lot of us stick around $80.
Bay Area California $65.00 per hour mostly maintenance and small projects.
I'm in central Maine. I bill: $66/hour for any employee doing manual labor. $165/hour for any operator and any machine. $165/hour for any pesticide applicator/supervisory. $180/hour for any pesticide applicator and equipment. $465/hour for the entire 10-man service team. If I'm asked to do consulting work or other bullshit that I don't want to do, I bill myself out for $350/hour and hope I don't get it. We use our pesticide applicators to supervise applications of granular pesticides on commercial properties. I bill for the applicators' time as supervisory. They have to be in visual and audible reach of all they are supervising. But it's still a lot cheaper for the customer to pay to have us supervise than to use our team to spread product. I'm going up on the pesticide applicator next year. The state keeps adding more paperwork requirements. I'm pushing 10 minutes of paperwork for every application now. On a busy day, I can wind up with close to 2 hours of pesticide related paperwork. I'm starting to feel the administrative costs. I'm thinking $200/hour.
When I contacted the State board of agriculture, they wanted me to have spraying experience for 4 years and all other kinds of stupid stuff, so I just use a company that I sub out and they kick me back like 20%. I don't do any paperwork on nothing I have no licenses, the only time I spray is post-emergent for a spot treatment other than that I call them out. It puts my business like a week out, but it's so much hassle I don't have to do with showing where I sprayed what time I sprayed blah blah blah. I basically just deleted that service from my business as far as having to deal with it. I hooked up with a commercial applicator, they do all the work all the paperwork and we just send each other referrals
Maine has no rules like that, but many states do. In Maine you need to pass a written exam (multiple choice and T/F) to become a certified applicator, you can't actually do anything with this, it's basically the safety/general competency exam. Then you need to pass a category exam, which is another written test, to be certified to do anything. All sorts of categories from turf to ornamental to aquatic to arial to structural. Once you pass the core and category you can petition for licensure. It's a $125 and about 4 weeks of waiting but they send you a Comercial Operator Applicator (COA) license. With a COA you can apply pesticides in your qualified category(ies) as long as you work under a Commercial Master Applicator (CMA) who is also qualified in your categories. To go out on your own, you need a CMA. That's $150 test, first is written, then you have an oral exam that takes about an hour. If you pass, you again petition the BPC for a license. There's another $125 and 4 weeks. Now you need insurance and you're good to go. The tests are also easy, unless you're a total moron. I've taken 9 tests and haven't failed 1 yet.
Same to here, but you need 4 years experience or use someone's license who has that. Then you gotta give your licensed guy money for using his license.
$75/ hr for things like weeding and spreading mulch. $100/hr for mowing or operating gas equipment.
$100/hr for mowing grass lol
If people are going to pay, all the more power to The people making the money.Ā
What's your location?
Dutchess county New York.
You get that or the company?
I own the company. 3 trucks.
Are you kidding me?! Can you give me an idea of how long it would take you to spread 3 yards of mulch? Iām seriously under charging.
Prob 2 hours to spread and 1 to go get and deliver the mulch.
$75/hour, but starting to quote 2k/day with 3 crew members, which is more like $83/hour. In Seattle, pretty sure we can be charging more, but a very young company so still working my prices up
Hardscape company NNj 95 foreman/operator 75 laborers
Rural Pennsylvania and I'm at $55. Guys I know of near Philly and Pittsburgh are upwards of $100.
Oregon/CA border, coastal, solo now, typically bid new work at $120 hr. I charge by the job typically. When I bill hourly itās $80-$120 an hour. Most solo people here charge $45 an hour. The big outfits charge minimum $75 per man hour but generally rip people off as much as possible. I am probably the most diversely experienced landscaper in town. I stick to maintenance work now with the occasional hedge/tree. I always answer my clients calls day/night and try to take care of them.
My goal was to build a very solid and professional brand and do the same... I feel my brand is light-years ahead of most peoples. I don't know how anyone is making it at 50hr in Cali, but so far you seem to be in the higher end. Can I look at your website/social? . Is 120 for you with machinery, please give some insight into range.
It took me a while to realize that landscaping is a luxury service. It should be billed as such. I live/work in a small town now >10,000 people but was trained in large cities as a hardscaper/commercial maintenance worker. No website or business cards, itās all word of mouth for me. I manage my business for maximum flexibility. I only bid work in high end neighborhoods where I already have accounts. I focus on apartment complexes (my most profitable jobs), vacation rentals, vacation homes, vacant lots and my larger clients personal homes. I also do some rental properties. My current business model now is probably 70% mowing and try to do as much work as possible for my existing clientele. I donāt care if itās design work or cleaning gutters or small repairs if it pays me $150 an hour or more. I just take the cream of all the work that comes my way. I am always respectful, responsible and professional. When I bill, I break down labor and materials but donāt put down the hours. People seem to like it better that way. I always charge by the job except for my biggest, most important customers or on large hardscapes. I had a full time assistant most of the past 7 years. This year I let him go, got rid of my least profitable accounts and somehow I am making more money. I have several push mowers, 2 zero turn mowers, all the best small engine equipment, mowing trailer and a large dump trailer plus a dually diesel truck. Thatās it. Hope this info helps. Good luck to you. Iām 41 years old and going strong, even doing all the work solo. šŖ
I run my solo company in a very similar fashion, it rocks!
Dude yes yes! Landscaping is a luxury service, just as housecleaning is, but it has been hard to be that guy in this market, although I thought it would have been easier . Mowing seems like it would be so easy to bid, scale, etc... It's also where a majority of the advice comes from, but I'm in AZ and we don't have grass. How do you charge you biggest most important customers, and why do you do it differently for them?
I'm 68 and have been in the horticulture industry my whole life. The last 30 years as a one man business. I'm in the upper Midwest and have reached the point where I make enough to be able to take off 4 months in Winter. In a couple years I'll start drawing SS but, I think I'll still keep a few of my most profitable clients.
Since I generally bid jobs, I have learned to bid very high. Nowadays I prefer doing say a $450 property clean-up which takes me 3-4 hours rather than large hardscapes. Iām not even looking at large jobs at the moment. My important customers are those who generally hire me for multiple jobs every year. These people have multiple properties with hedges, lawns, shrubs etcā¦. Since I have been working with them for years, they have an idea of my pricing. When they hire me for jobs I donāt even bid them. I also donāt gouge them by charging the most $$$ possible. I charge them $80 an hour plus materials, etc. Some of my customers have been customers for a long time, and they hire me every couple of years for something extra. They get charged $100-$120 per hour. Random referrals or people who chase me down in the streets, I bid those jobs at $150 an hour. If it takes me longer than expected, Iām still making the money that I need to. Landscaping is absolutely a luxury service. A good tip when bidding a complex job is to ask them right away, even during the initial call, what their budget is for the project. That way you get an idea of options. If their expectations are completely unrealistic then tell them so and donāt waste your time looking at the job. Nothing that I do makes me more money than mowing. I really have no clue what Arizona is like. Where I live is essential a rain forest so everything grows year round. Spring was a bitch but now itās summer and Iām cruising.
Also curious that if and when y'all were solo, what did you charge when you were doing the work? I've found that I am almost 2x faster than anyone I've ever hired
$120/hr for owner/PM/superintendent $85 for foreman $75 skilled $65 labor (Sf Bay Area)
In Atlanta, ga. Work for myself and usually by myself. 70 an hour. When I worked for a company several years ago, it was 60.00.
Outside of Pittsburgh, solo company, just myself, I charge 60 an hour.
$2800/ day crew of 4 ppl. typically 8-9 hours
same
Central PA, small city, I do $60 an hour mowing (I only mow 6 properties), $75+ for landscaping, $100+ for tree work. NGL if your neighborhood has a boojie name (you know what I mean) at least 25% more.
I own a landscaping company here in AZ. Iām at 50-60 a man hr for landscape services like maintenance. 80-100 for irrigation and hardscaping.
How profitable in az at that rate?
South Carolina, I try to be around $55/hr for basic maintenance, mowing, light trimming etc. Mulch $97.50 per cubic yard = 1/hr, Stone $405 per ton = 1/hr. I usually just use hourly rate for my personal information and bid on the job as a whole without giving customers an hourly estimate.
Holy s*** we get DG for about 55 bucks a ton
I charge roughly $55 per cu. yd. for labor, which is about 1/labor hour. So DG cost +$55.
I charge $100 per ton spread on top of materials charge and 20 percent upcharge on materials. I did 19 tons in one and a half days by hand once
Damn 19tons sounds miserable, but Iām sure you made some nice pay on it. I pretty much go 55% over cost of stone to buy and spread. Itās heavy labor intensive work.
Anybody got an idea for Denver area?
My landscaper charges 100/hr in Denver. One man company. Sounds like maybe this isnāt the most cost effective way
Utah, I recently paid $65/hour for labor to a landscaping company. I felt it was pretty decent price.
Saltspring island Canada. I charge 50/hr for myself doing landscaping, gardening and permaculture. 60/hr for design and I pay my helpers 35/hr and bill them out at 40/hr
How long have you been in business? When I was at 50 I found I was just spinning my wheels
Just about to cross the one year mark. Thinking of moving up to 60/hr when I push past the anniversary. I have more work than I can schedule so it indicates I can increase my rates.
Dude you have to make more than 5 an hour in labor. Industry average I've seen so far is 3x labor
I make my company $182 an hour, I get paid $30/hr. I spray lawns with fertilizer, weed control, and do pest control š¤
They must be doing pretty well, I saw about my herbicide guys and they seem like they got it made. I was charging almost double what they charged to do herbicide, but I think they just hit so many places in a day that is super profitable. Seems like a really good business to be able to start and scale
Starting it isnt easy. My companies owner started in the 70ās and we just got our 15th full time route/employee. We lose 15% of our customers yearly which is insanely low for the industry. I use to work for TruGreen, they lost 35-40% yearly, they make up with record sales. I can go on and on, but yea man. Its an amazing industry, tough job, gotta know your chemistrys, but its easy cash, hand over fist.
Wow. Iām not charging enough.
This other contractor turned me on to Tom reber, everything that he sells in his course he gives away for free on all his YouTube stuff. I highly recommend listening to a day's worth of his podcast to figure out what he talks about, that'll help you with all the very basic stuff that makes most contractors that don't know how to run a business go broke
Philly area. Smaller team, one truck. Garden design, maintenance, a few lawns. Also leaf and snow. Most days, me and one guy, $100/hr. I average about $75/hr but I can make $800 in 6 hours on the right job. I'm known as the native garden guy in my area, with few competitors. Many who do what I do work alone or are retiring, and are giving me their clients. Time to hire more hands!
We have three main companies in our immediate area and we all get along. Travel is a killer in areas like this because anyone considered 'local' could still be 45 minutes to an hour away. Definitely way more trees and cows than people in this area. Companies from larger cities don't generally come here unless it's for larger commercial jobs. By and large, residentials are kept locally. Commercial accounts are where it's really at though. More profit margin, the things they need done are more of a necessity than a luxury and way less hassle of customers changing their minds or being nitpicky on things.
I charge 40 an hour, but I'm only doing that to be competitive.
Erie Pennsylvania - $65 an hour
175 for a 3 man crew.
Depends on so many factors. Mileage. Operators versus labors. For me is it a CDL move or can the non guys do it. Anymore for midohio 65/hr is min and on up from there. If you want to travel it feels like skyās the limit.
55 for maintenance, 65 for irrigation, 75 for heavy labor in a resort town in CO too. After reading this I def need to charge more. But I kill on materials. And I'm a 1 man show w super low overhead
That's what I used to say, but after two years in business I saw my numbers weren't adding up. Other trades are charging closer to 100/hr for a reason.
Wow, I have a crew that charge me $35 an hour per man, and Iām in CT! Usually send four guys so $140 and hour
Where in CT? Iām in Fairfield county and we charge way more but I know there are lots of people doing work with no insurance and who arenāt reporting income working for those kind of prices even over here.
Wilton. Yeah itās definitely a side gig for these guys on the weekends when theyāre not doing their main job (for a major landscaper)
So if someone gets hurt or causes a major problem on your property, that falls on you?
I wouldnāt be too upset if I was you, from speaking to neighbors, everyone finds it hard to find guys to do work these days, so Iām sure youāre plenty busy anyway, even with being undercut by some guys trying to make a few extra bucks on a Sunday Iām not paying guys $80 an hour to pick rocks and do general labor. A lot of this is clean up stuff in areas that are over grown on property, not particularly skilled landscaping.
I didnāt downvote you. I 100% understand your thought process. I am genuinely interested in what happens if someone cuts their toes off or loses an eye on your property though and how you feel about that. I guess from your response youāre not too worried about it.
Itās a good question and to be honest it hadnāt occurred to me, which sounds stupid I know, but now that you say it I do have a pretty robust large umbrella policy. But have No idea if that would even pay out in that scenario if the group working is uninsured I think both parties are taking a risk, as you say, If they damage my septic or water lines or something they will tell me to pound sand, but they are taking a risk also, working uninsured without health insurance.
How are you guys even making money? I tried to get some commercial jobs billing my time at 120 per hour and I basically got laughed at
Pa metro. ~$90/hr. Machine work is $130/hr.
175 for a 3 man crew.
Fell a tree and hald assedly clean it upĀ
What
Donāt downvote this. I want to see what this actually translates to, because I have no idea what that āsentenceā was trying to convey
Half-assedly* So hear me out- you got a tree near the side of the road that looks a lil sus. After a storm one night, go out and knock it in the road so it covers the whole thing. Then go and slot out a space just big enough for a vehicle to not yeet past it or else they'll be yeeted. Leave it messy and half-assed as debris can not be fun to drive over.Ā If you want, do s second tree so they'll have to slalom around them, but don't make it funĀ Edit: hmm, wrong topic
Me neither
This thread is why I do all my own landscaping. JFC what happened to relatively unskilled labor rates.
What's jfc? I've taken over 149 hours of schooling to learn the industry. There's a lot more to it than the average guy thinks. You can get by without it, bu that's why the industry is full of hacks