Pricing Basics?

[legendrider]

How do you guys go about pricing your work. ie. removals, pruning,etc?

 

[rbtree]

Lately, high! Shootin for $35K by Friday.. last 4 weeks!

 

[Nickrosis]

Originally posted by rbtree
Lately, high!

And that about sums up the most favorable method of bidding. Next?

 

[rborist1]

:Eye:

 

[NeTree]

I try to break it down by how many hours the job will take. That part requires some experience, but eventually you get good.

I figure so many hours X my crew rate and that's my bid.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by netree
I try to break it down by how many hours the job will take. That part requires some experience, but eventually you get good.

I figure so many hours X my crew rate and that's my bid.

Yup. That, and the equipment used.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Dang RB, keep that up, that's over 1.8 million dollars a year!

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by MasterBlaster
Yup. That, and the equipment used.

That's figured into the crew rate; along with the size of the crew.

Obviously a 3 man crew with a chip dump and chipper is more than a 2 man crew with the same chip truck and chipper.

Figure so much for each piece of equipment per hour, as well.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Not just equipment used, you have to add overhead too. Just because you're not grinding a stump, doesn't mean you can skip the payment on the stumper!

 

[NeTree]

If you own vs sub the stumping, then yes, that's correct. (In my case, I sub it out to a friend.)

Same holds true for other large equipment.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Stumping was just an example.
If you sub, then it's not overhead.

 

[rbtree]

I wish, Mike....I meant $35K by this Friday, since apr 25, the day before the storm.

For me, that's a lot. Normally I have a three man crew, myself included. I 'm on the job most of the time, so with bidding, paperwork, equipment maintenace, etc, it's hard for me to consistently generate $1600 every day. I do add another guy or two as needed, and recently brought in another arborist and his helper for a couple days. If I had a slightly better and larger crew, and hustled a but more work, we could really make some $. Not sure I want to get that much bigger, as it aint easy to keep on top of it all, especially since I prefer to be on the job, being as I'm so anal about the job getting done right every time.

Re pricing jobs, for someone just starting out, it migjht be hard to shoot for and average a similar hourly rate as other compaines, due to efficiency, crew competence, and other variables. As well, rates differ by location.

I shoot for $ 75 per manhour, with some travel and dumping time allocated per job. This is enough to include the truck and chipper. On a large job ,where I bring in extra unskilled labor, I might not add the full hourly rate for them. But, if the job is a no haul, I don't give deals for only needing a pickup truck.....

On small jobs, we have a $180 minimum, sometimes higher, or lower if the folks want to wait till I have a nearby job.

 

[Lumberjack]

I figure it by the estamated man hours in the job, risk associated, liability associated, known headaches such as traffic or working over a school, ect.

For basic removals I charge $125 an hour for me, 2 groundies a truck and a trailer. I haul to my house and have a burn pile that is burnin right now. I figure how many loads, where it is in the city or county.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

think of a number and double it

 

[Dadatwins]

Old rule for me was if I was getting every job I priced I needed to raise up a bit. Same if I was getting nothing I would lower a bit. Different parts of the country will have different prices for the same job. Not going to get the same price for a removal in poorer neighborhood that you get in upscale. Although the poorer area will probablty pay you quicker without grief. Also depends on time of the year. If I had a dead oak in New York to remove in January that I knew I could firewood out pretty quickly I would adjust price. In Virginia firewood not a big issue but disposal cost are involved. Price according to market also the old supply and demand comes in handy. Unfortunalty you might get beat up on a few jobs but with some practice and knowing what the locals charge (the good ones, not the hack & slash specialist) it is not that hard.

 

[Lumberjack]

How much would you charge to remove this tree?

It is at a day care, and the tree is over the infant room. A leader broke over into another tree in a storm back in 2001. The stump is too be ground, and cleaned up. Minimal, perferably no damage to the other tree when removing the split limb. The clean up on the tree that the leader is resting on is extra money.

This is .2 mb, so it aint too big, but it is bigger than normal.

 

[Stumper]

Carl, You took good pics-but i still find it hard to evaluate a removal based on pics-I'd probably bid it at $850. --Of course it would then turn out to be worth $1500.

 

[Lumberjack]

I will tell what I bid after the bids are in.

 

[rbtree]

Carl,

I agree with Stumper. Your collage is nice, but each pic is to small to analyze effectively.

The tree looks to be only 45-60 feet tall, and about 3 feet at the butt? Is there room to fall it, with a hefty pull line on the back leaners, after felling the easy stem? If so, the job might be easy. Otherwise, either the tree needs to be guyed to itself and ground perhaps to make work easier and safer. Or use a crane.

My low est, at our much higher rates: Tree down, chipped, wood left for someone else to deal with- $ $900, Grind stump $200, haul grindings $150.

high price if lots of rigging needed...$1200-1800..+ stump

 

[Lumberjack]

Originally posted by rbtree
Carl,

I agree with Stumper. Your collage is nice, but each pic is to small to analyze effectively.

I figured that, notice its name 50%.

Here is the full size one. .6mb