Tree removal cost calculator

[NEKS Tree Svc]

Yep- depending on price, and if i can enter updated variable #'s

I like the calc , for $30 as explained in your first post on this thread, if i could enter in updated variables for labor, or others, as my company grows, then yep I would buy it. I dont have a smart phone right now, but being in rural KS along with the added benefit of mobile upload of deposits, your calc would give me the 2nd reason i need for a smart phone as long as i could enter updated variable numbers as explained. I have extensive knowledge programming, so let me know what the cost is when you know for sure.

 

[Fairbanks Stump]

Give it away .... to your customers

Who cares if all your competition Knows what your prices are! it pre qualifies your phone calls! if they know what you are charging before they call! you should convert 100% of your calls, the more info you give away the more they want to Know ..... Hell my customers want to learn so much often they put on their gloves and help my crew drag brush and watch! all for the privilege of paying for an Expert to do the rest! :cool2:

 

[NEKS Tree Svc]

Giving it away, i see 2 sides to it

Who cares if all your competition Knows what your prices are! it pre qualifies your phone calls! if they know what you are charging before they call! you should convert 100% of your calls, the more info you give away the more they want to Know ..... Hell my customers want to learn so much often they put on their gloves and help my crew drag brush and watch! all for the privilege of paying for an Expert to do the rest! :cool2:

I have had the same happen to me, customers help because they want to learn a thing or two. I wouldn't mind the customers having it, but if the local competition got it, then I see a whole new bag of worms to deal with. I stand by my work, and won't loose any business, but I dont want even more competition drama, local drama anyway. I don't care about the guy 100 miles from me.

 

[Fairbanks Stump]

give it away!!

if you do more estimates than Jobs - improve your salesmanship!
if you do more Jobs than estimates - Raise your prices

It is a vicious cycle but if you Know your Market , Customer Base, And industry it is not nearly as tricky as it sounds! I tell any one that asks any thing they want to Know as well as give it all away on My website, or FB. I live in a small town with NO surrounding community for 365 miles, I charge nearly 3 times as much as my competition and still do 5 times as much work all year! im just sayin what has worked for all 3 businesses that II have developed in the last 20 years

 

[stltreedr]

Who cares if all your competition Knows what your prices are! it pre qualifies your phone calls! :cool2:

Exactly- the point is they spend their "search time" on my website and not the competition. Therefore, they never even call the other guys. Customers have a real good Idea of what they are getting into before I ever show up. The price doesn't matter to me- I get undercut all the time and they don't even know what my price is. If the competition knows what my price is, they will undercut it, but not by much.... If there's only a few percent difference in price, I will win the job because my customers like me and the way I do business.
I rarely win jobs where customers are shopping for the lowest price anyway.

 

[stltreedr]

Giving it away-

I thought I already was. The problem with the mobile app is that I can't afford to spend $10K on something to just give away. Break even- I would think about it, just because I think it's cool.


I already spent about $5K getting the web application built, but that was also a whole new website.

 

[millbilly]

I'm not one to knock another, but there are so many little things that I personally look at to evaluate price. The one good thing I like about the web site is this.
I do a lot of work for a builder. In our many years, we have developed a working relationship. I go do the job then I bill him. Now when he complains about the price. I just say, "plug in the numbers and see for yourself". He then replies, " Are you outta your fkn mind". Then we both laugh and shake our heads at how far off base your calculator is.
Just curious, does skill and experience factor in somewhere? Equipment size and type? Or is this app for the yahoo's in a pickup and a wild thing?
Take what I said with a grain of salt. I commend you for trying to make life better.

 

[stltreedr]

Believe me, you're not going to hurt my feelings. The program is for whoever wishes to use it- We would all be lucky if all the yahoos in pickups started using it. That would raise the market price for true professionals, and most would go out of business because nobody is going to hire 'toothless joe jackson' when their price is the same as a real outfit.

And no, skill, expertise, equipement don't really matter when it comes to prices- Prices are set by the market. If you have more expertise, better equipment, better skills you should be able to profit more, but market price is really the same. If you are a national champion tree climber you don't get to charge more, you get to get done faster.

So what I'm gathering is that you are using the calculator on a regular basis, showing your clients, and comparing your prices...Cool

 

[treecutterjr]

Have you thought of posting your app on KICKSTARTER or some similar site where people make donations/ invesments towards your Kickstarter idea to help you raise money? Might be a way to help get a mobile app off the ground.

 

[stltreedr]

Have you thought of posting your app on KICKSTARTER or some similar site where people make donations/ invesments towards your Kickstarter idea to help you raise money? Might be a way to help get a mobile app off the ground.

Interesting website, I had never heard of Kickstarter...Cool Idea though. I will think about it- but I've never been much on asking for money from others with nothing going to them in return.

Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Kiwi as]

I'm intrigued...

Stumbled across this forum and thread and I'm quite intrigued as to how you guys price your work. I live outside of the US and all quotes are based on an hourly rate. Machinery has an hourly rate, labour has an hourly rate, and this is simply multiplied by how many hours the job will take. You guys seem to price by volume. How do you guys work out a formula? I'm trying to figure out whether your system is simply a streamlined version of pricing on an hourly rate.

 

[Topbuilder]

well, I just spent about an hour typing out a really long reply to your post, and when I hit the send button AS crashed again. I'm going to have a beer and a good weekend.

Shaun

I have had that happen. I copy it to a different program to run it through a spel cheker, then post. If it gets lost I still have it.

 

[treecutterjr]

Interesting website, I had never heard of Kickstarter...Cool Idea though. I will think about it- but I've never been much on asking for money from others with nothing going to them in return.

Thanks for the heads-up.

You can actually post what the donater/investor receives for their level of contribution. For example: $10/$20 donation may get you a company shirt or a free copy of the app when it's finished; or if you went with a subscription model then maybe different levels of money would get you a month or year of free use. Etc. etc. Kickstarter is similar to your app. It helps screen your potential customers before hand. People that are not interested in the app won't contribute. Those that are: will. You can gauge interest for it and raise funds to create it all at the same time. And if you don't reach your fund raising goals the money just goes back to the contributors.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[tidy]

I'm intrigued...

Stumbled across this forum and thread and I'm quite intrigued as to how you guys price your work. I live outside of the US and all quotes are based on an hourly rate. Machinery has an hourly rate, labour has an hourly rate, and this is simply multiplied by how many hours the job will take. You guys seem to price by volume. How do you guys work out a formula? I'm trying to figure out whether your system is simply a streamlined version of pricing on an hourly rate.

That sounds much like how the organised companies do quotes, they know their plant and labour costs down to the hour, the quote ends up being estimated time multiplied by the rate charged for plant and labour.

 

[Climb-Ax™]

Hey Guys
There has been a lot of interest in having a stand alone application for a salesman/arborist to use while bidding jobs. Thanks to all of you who have PM'd me about that. I spoke to my computer gurus about having a downloadable version on my website, but it seems the way to go might be to have a mobile app available for purchase on the itunes and android market. This is VERY expensive on the front end, and I don't know if it's going to be worth it to spend more than $10K up front to get this going. I am going to start a new thread and see how much interest there is out there. At $30 per download, I would have to sell 350 of these to break even.

The app would have adjustable pricing, and customizable printable invoices so you all could use your own logos/ phone numbers, etc. If anyone is interested in pre-ordering, maybe we could work out a good deal, that way I can get a feel for the demand, and wouldn't have to bear the entire cost.

Those of you who haven't tried the calculator, check it out at Tree Removal Cost Calculator

Thanks.

I have interest in your calculator, I would like to contact you to discuss.

 

[stltreedr]

I have interest in your calculator, I would like to contact you to discuss.

Pm me or call me on the number listed on my website.

Fyi we have a mobile site in development now that should be available for beta testing in april.. if you or anyone else are interested in doing some beta testing let me know.

 

[luckydad]

I would be interested in this also.

 

[jefflovstrom]

The day I would need your calculator is the day I should quit my job,,,,
Jeff

 

[stltreedr]

There you are, Jeff... I've been waiting for you... How about a paid celebrity endorsement???

Anyway-it looks like 75% of the voters in this poll would at least consider our application, depending on price. Which is great! The mobile site has been in development for about 8 months now, which is longer (and more expensive) than it was supposed to be, but it really does look good. I will go through all of my old PM's and try to get a couple dozen testers.

Jeff- seriously now, I would love for you to be one of our testers... I know you don't NEED this, because you've been doing this for a long time, and likely very good at it... But I would really like to get input from you or someone who feels the same way.

 

[jefflovstrom]

There you are, Jeff... I've been waiting for you... How about a paid celebrity endorsement???

Anyway-it looks like 75% of the voters in this poll would at least consider our application, depending on price. Which is great! The mobile site has been in development for about 8 months now, which is longer (and more expensive) than it was supposed to be, but it really does look good. I will go through all of my old PM's and try to get a couple dozen testers.

Jeff- seriously now, I would love for you to be one of our testers... I know you don't NEED this, because you've been doing this for a long time, and likely very good at it... But I would really like to get input from you or someone who feels the same way.

I was not trying to be mean, I just don't see how it could do me any good. I also have not checked it out so I should not comment on it. What is the name of the app?
Jeff