Key factors for profitable mowing

Coming up with an accurate bid for mowing is not difficult if you know the level of profit you want to receive for your efforts and you build your bid accordingly. To do so you must take these factors into consideration:

• Equipment needed
• Hourly production of the equipment
• Mowing time required
• Trimming time required
• Level of difficulty of the job
• Travel time
• Any contingencies

Add all of these factors into your pricing picture. Do not omit any of them. Some are more subjective than others, for instance, a job's difficulty. In that case, carefully measuring and walking a property and your experience should allow you to make a reasonable estimate of how difficult it will be to mow and maintain.

Base your bid on the total number of manhours needed to complete the job. For example, if you already have determined that your hourly overhead cost is, say, $28.40, and you desire a 10% profit margin (the minimum that would be acceptable), then a job requiring 1.5 manhours would result in an hourly charge of $37.33 ($28.40 x 1.5 x .111 = 10% or $37.33).

Knowing the production possibilities of each piece of equipment is critical to estimate the manhours necessary to mow a given area. A simple formula that can help you determine this is to multiply the mph ground speed of the unit by the width of cut in inches and divide by 120. Why 120? We're basing mowing production on 80% productivity, which allows for overlaps, turns and differences in terrain.

Using this formula with a mower with a 48-in. cut, operated at 4 mph, we can expect to mow 1.6 acres per hour (4 mph x 48-in./120 = 1.6 acres per hour) on most properties.

A quick way to calculate trimming time and blowing time is to take a given percentage for each. In many cases it will average out to between 25-30% of the mowing time. You will want to increase or decrease your bid accordingly if the time is different. The point is, don't forget to include these manhours in your bid.

The point is, don't shortchange yourself. You're working in a competitive market with very tight margins.

Related articles:

"Making the cut," by Ron Hall, Landscape Management, September 2005.

"Technology boosts mower fuel economy," by Matt Gersib, Landscape Management, September 2005.

"Big names promote mowing game," by Ron Hall, Landscape Management, September 2005.