As winter nears, I’m working very hard to finish leaf cleanup before a significant snow storm hits. This can make my customers upset and can make their property a challenge to clean after the snow melts. Now, fall seasons are not all the same. Sometimes leaf’s fall late in the season making it difficult to clean them before a storm hits.
I can’t wait to get me a bigger truck, like a mason dump. This will make my life much easier. I can set up a vacuum system to suck up all my leaf’s instead of working double by stuffing my trailer 10 feet high with leaf’s. This can make your expenses higher, because now you have to pay your employee extra time to help load the leaf into the trailer.
This is the biggest investment to a lawn care business, the vehicle. Be ready to haul large amounts of debris. If you start up with a small truck, save up for a bigger truck asap. It will come handy when you start to get bigger jobs ETC…
I don’t have a big truck yet, but will make it happen next year. DEFINITELY!
The trickiest part of fall cleanups is the estimating. Be extra careful when estimating a job. I learned the hard way, and so will you. You can only get better at it by your experience in the field. I normally walk the property, and see how the layer of leaf is. Also i would check if they are wet as well. Wet leaves are much difficult to blow, and Cary to your truck. I would also check to see if property has leaves from previous year piled up in a corner somewhere.
Calculate your time on the job and come up with an hourly rate. This is the way i do it. Don’t forget to include dumping fees and add an extra hour for transportation. Remember time is money, specially when you have an employee or two.
$15 to $20 per hour per employee.
$35 to$45 an hour for the owner.(you)
I normally charge $65 to $70 an hour for me and my helper. That’s only labor. Materials and dump cost are separate.
Good luck! ( Now lets make some money! )
I can’t wait to get me a bigger truck, like a mason dump. This will make my life much easier. I can set up a vacuum system to suck up all my leaf’s instead of working double by stuffing my trailer 10 feet high with leaf’s. This can make your expenses higher, because now you have to pay your employee extra time to help load the leaf into the trailer.
This is the biggest investment to a lawn care business, the vehicle. Be ready to haul large amounts of debris. If you start up with a small truck, save up for a bigger truck asap. It will come handy when you start to get bigger jobs ETC…
I don’t have a big truck yet, but will make it happen next year. DEFINITELY!
The trickiest part of fall cleanups is the estimating. Be extra careful when estimating a job. I learned the hard way, and so will you. You can only get better at it by your experience in the field. I normally walk the property, and see how the layer of leaf is. Also i would check if they are wet as well. Wet leaves are much difficult to blow, and Cary to your truck. I would also check to see if property has leaves from previous year piled up in a corner somewhere.
Calculate your time on the job and come up with an hourly rate. This is the way i do it. Don’t forget to include dumping fees and add an extra hour for transportation. Remember time is money, specially when you have an employee or two.
$15 to $20 per hour per employee.
$35 to$45 an hour for the owner.(you)
I normally charge $65 to $70 an hour for me and my helper. That’s only labor. Materials and dump cost are separate.
Good luck! ( Now lets make some money! )
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