Are we all rubbish?

[Mark Bolam]

not really, You price the job at an easy friday pace, so your 4 hour job can be done in 3 or even 2 if you have to, thats where you make the cash. I have done over 1k with a 2 man squad doing 4 or 5 jobs in one day, no effort and half a load of chip...

 

Oh bugger.

I thought you meant we could actually work at an easy Friday pace all week....

[Pat Ferrett]

We spend more on kit to do more a day to charge more to come out of it with less, but we own our kit which ends up worthless and knackered as do we.

Its a crud job for hippies who have rich parents or partners.

[Gareth Dalzell]

Trust me, pricing virtually every job at a day rate is crazy, I know, I did it for years, and while I did I turned over 60-90k a year now I turn 180-260k and am much better off. Ok I have a much bigger setup now and commercial contracts etc, however it was making the leap away from being stuck in the day rate rut that allowed me to expand and win these contracts.

 

Try pricing 2 hours + hourly rate and see how you get on, unless you try you will never know.

 

I think it is also important not to get to stuck just on a set hourly rate. As long as you are normally hitting your target hourly rate, what about looking at the job from as a high margin job or low margin.

 

Some operation are more specialist and command a higher rate. For example hedge cutting may require less skill than high level crane job so price accordingly.

 

If you have a high overhead set up then perhaps you need to apportion some of these overheads on the higher margin jobs and then you can be more competitive on jobs were price is more sensitive.

 

I don't see why the fact we have loads of lovely machinery means that all our customers have to be burdened by this overhead unnecessarily, it should be paid for by the customers who benefit from them.

 

It also means that a client starts to realise that your company can do every aspect of there work costed more accurately.

[Mark Bolam]

It doesn't, but it does enrich your life. I did say it wouldn't suit everyone but it works for me. I also spend 2 days a week (Thu/Fri) at home with my little girl because you can't put a price on the value of that!

 

You are spot on there mate.

I normally spend Mondays with Isabella and love it. She is my little secret weapon pricing jobs for pensioners!

 

Here she is learning an important industry necessity - the tea break.

[Tom D]

Point taken Mark, I am over simplifying here, the amount of kit required and haulage all have to play a part.

 

The main thing you have to do is stop blurting out a day rate when you price a job, look at it and think about all aspects, like who else is pricing it, are they cheap or expensive? (know your competitors). will this guy pay more? is he going to be a pain in the ass? will there be loads of "can you just" jobs? (I always ask the client if they want anything else doing, pointing out any potential "can you justs" before I give them a price, that way I get paid for the can you just jobs.) you can also just tell the client that its £50 per hour for anything else that they might want doing..

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

We spend more on kit to do more a day to charge more to come out of it with less, but we own our kit which ends up worthless and knackered as do we.

Its a crud job for hippies who have rich parents or partners.

 

You didn't mention the "down" side to it Pat!

[Tom D]

I don't think Tom is advocating charging by the hour, merely estimating to the hour how long a job will take and then quoting that price.

I am pretty wary of telling customers exactly how long a job will take, and avoid it if possible.

 

Spot on there Mark never let them know, and never mention a day rate..

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

You are spot on there mate.

I normally spend Mondays with Isabella and love it. She is my little secret weapon pricing jobs for pensioners!

 

Here she is learning an important industry necessity - the tea break.[ATTACH]139889[/ATTACH]

 

 

Im starting the personal development days early!

[Robert_S]

Oh bugger.

I thought you meant we could actually work at an easy Friday pace all week....

 

you can

infact, i only work a friday afternoon

[Brett]

I have a base hourly rate.. the minimum I am willing to invest resources for return.

every factor increasing the difficulty and technicality of the job increases the price.

 

when you price the job who are you actually competing against?

-every gardener with a hedge cutter. or the 3 teams in your area that can do the job with the right kit, skill and efficiency?

 

would you charge the same day rate for 2 man days trimming 5ft hedges as you would for 2 man days dismantling Sycamore leaning over conservatory?