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going rate for grass cutting

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jimbopa
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 54 PA
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2002-01-26          34975

A large company approached me on cutting there lawn-about 5-6 acers every two weeks, what is a competitive rate for a service like that. No bagging involved and no schrubs

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going rate for grass cutting

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BCalvin,Texas
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2002-02-03          35260

Down here it's $25.00 an acre ....

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going rate for grass cutting

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kelley
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4 new hampshire
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2002-03-19          36506

what size mowing deck and horse power do you have? it all depends on how long it takes to mow 1 acre with what you use. ....

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going rate for grass cutting

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bubenberg@netzero.co
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2002-05-03          38118

in our region mowing every two (especially in spring or rainy summers)weeks costs us money. in order to do a nice job we have to mow over the same surface several times.if the grass is too high like this year we have seen in one week up to 5 inch growth you should not cut more than an inch at each passage so you mow the second and third passage for free. the spindle wear and tear, the gas , the extra time mowing and cleaning up cost money. who is going to pay that?

yes, during the summer recess here (july and august) we mow our lawns as needed. ....

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going rate for grass cutting

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-05-04          38132

It's a little hard to make comparisons. A large company likely has overhead like contractor insurance and employee benefits and taxes and a one-person operation may not. The rates may be different, and the grass gets cut in either case, but the products actually are different. If a consumer receives protection against loss from accidents etc., then it's a higher quality product and it should cost more. Accidents do happen and small companies usually have small assets. ....

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going rate for grass cutting

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bubenberg@netzero.co
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2002-05-04          38133

tomg, your points are very good. about the only way to compare is if you are within the same region with pretty much the same conditions, otherwise that does not work.

accounting for what it costs to do business is a much better way to go. but it takes a few years to get a handle on that raw data. during the start up phase it can cost quite a bit more to operate. some are very frugal, handy with mechanical repairs and live at home with their parents .... just too many variable... so the cost could be less.
i am no longer dropping a gate of my trailers under $29.00.
and have fully in mind to raise it to $35.00 next year ....

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going rate for grass cutting

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Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4297 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2003-05-06          54414

I am taking my shot at a small lawn care business since I am retiring from the Army. I came across a software package called Grounds Keeper Pro v5.1 that more or less suggests the following rate:

$20 per 1,000 square feet
.5 man hours per 1,000 square feet
$8 per hour employee pay

Not sure if this helps you out but hopefully can give you an idea to start from. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2003-05-06          54420

Without making this a course in Mathematics or Economics, here goes.

A rule of thumb for any kind of contracting is you multiply your base labour rate times 2.5 and add your expenses.

As an example, if you were paying an employee $10.00/hour and your expenses were $7.50/hour (fuel, amortized equipment, etc.) then it would be $10.00 x 2.5 = $25.00 + $17.50 = $37.50 / hour.

Now, it is a relatively simple calculation for how much you can cut in an hour. Multiply the width of cut (i.e. 6 feet) times the feet per hour it travels (miles times 5,280 feet) to give you the square feet per hour you will cut (theoretically, you will not get this because of lost time turning, overlapping, etc., realistically you will only get 80% to 85% of this number).

Again as an example, using a 6 foot cutter and travelling 5 miles (5 x 5,280feet = 26,400 feet) per hour, you would cut 158,400 square feet (26,400 feet x 6 feet) or 3.64 acres per hour (158,400 dived by 43,560 square feet to the acre), 3 acres per hour after taking 80% to 85% efficiency into account.

If you then divide the $37.50 / hour you need to achieve by your estimated production of 3 actres per hour, you get a cost of $12.50 per acre, and you will need to add to that the cost of getting to and from the job.

Best of luck. ....

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Kinney
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 2 Limington, Maine
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2003-05-06          54433

I cut grass for a living with a walker 42inch ghs both commercial and residential. The walker corporation sends out a quarterly magazine. In september they sent each commercial walker owner survey to determine how people charge and how much. In december the servey said" the average price in the usa is 39 per hour overall for all equipment in the use of triming blowing cutting etc. The highest price was 100 the lowest was 25 Here in southern maine my average is 30.00 ....

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