# I need some help. Estimate on 1.5 acre lot for next year



## bearpaw (Mar 21, 2009)

Hello Fellas,

I am somewhat new to pushing snow. I have a 1.49 acre lot with 4 light poles and only one sidewalk in front of building that I need to bid on. The lady that owns the building told me the guy that does it now charges her $65 an hour. She thinks he is too expensive. She wants me to be able to tell her exactly what it will cost her for 1-3 inches, 3-6 inches, 6-9 inches and so on. This is the first commercial account I've estimated. How long will this lot take me and how much do I charge her. I really need to land this one guys! Thanks for all of your input.


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## JDiepstra (Sep 15, 2008)

Have a picture of it? Square? Rectangle? Odd shaped? I have a pain in the neck lot that is one acre. It has 4 odd shaped islands, a curved drive and some backdragging. Takes an about an hour. I think you could do this in an hour if it is straight and easy. What size plow do you have though? I can tell you this if she thinks $65 an hour is too much, she is going to be a huge pain to deal with!


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## Rc2505 (Feb 5, 2007)

I love these building owners that think 65 an hour is to much. The only way it's to much is if the current guy is charging her 4 hours to plow a 3 inch snowfall each time it snows. I am sure with an 8 ft blade you should be able to push that lot in about an hour to an hour 15, as long as it isn't odd shaped. If thats the case I would be somewhere around 80 to 90 dollars for 1-3 inches, 120 to 135 for 3-6 inches, and 160 to 180 for 6-9 inches. Anything over 9 inches would be an hourly charge, and I would plow with the storm 2 to 3 plows, just to keep the wear and tear off my truck, with a total amount of hours charged.


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## Camden (Mar 10, 2007)

bearpaw;771965 said:


> Hello Fellas,
> 
> I am somewhat new to pushing snow. I have a 1.49 acre lot with 4 light poles and only one sidewalk in front of building that I need to bid on. The lady that owns the building told me the guy that does it now charges her $65 an hour. She thinks he is too expensive. She wants me to be able to tell her exactly what it will cost her for 1-3 inches, 3-6 inches, 6-9 inches and so on. This is the first commercial account I've estimated. How long will this lot take me and how much do I charge her. I really need to land this one guys! Thanks for all of your input.


I'm from Brainerd as well. $65 an hour is a very common hourly rate in our area. I don't bid on any properties based upon a per hour rate. It's all per push or seasonal.

Because you can't send private messages, send me an e-mail and I'll help you figure out what to charge majorleaguelawn AT gmail DOT com


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

I'm with Roy anything under a certain size should be seasonal or per push.


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## Brant'sLawnCare (Jun 29, 2007)

I would be around $100/push for 1-3 inches. I usually just give one price. Don't usually break it down into different prices for different amounts of snow.


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## JDiepstra (Sep 15, 2008)

Brant'sLawnCare;772525 said:


> I would be around $100/push for 1-3 inches. I usually just give one price. Don't usually break it down into different prices for different amounts of snow.


Ok then what do you do if it is over 3"?


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## cretebaby (Aug 23, 2008)

JDiepstra;772527 said:


> Ok then what do you do if it is over 3"?


Push it again


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## JDiepstra (Sep 15, 2008)

cretebaby;772566 said:


> Push it again


LOL so obvious it went right over my head!

What if 6" builds up between plows?


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## nicksplowing (Oct 5, 2005)

*$100 is to cheap even if all your doing is plowing *


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## cretebaby (Aug 23, 2008)

JDiepstra;772682 said:


> LOL so obvious it went right over my head!
> 
> What if 6" builds up between plows?


Guess you should have plowed faster

We only average one snow a year over 5'' in 24 hrs


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## Burkartsplow (Nov 1, 2007)

140 for the 1-3, 220 for 3-6 and 300 for 6-9 or somewhere in that range per push. that is just for plowing. that does not include salt. But these are cleveland prices so you are going to have to go by what your market is. So if you are there 2 times in a day and it is in between 1-3 inches each time then you make 280. I think it is fair and another scenario is if it snows at night and stops by the time you have to plow and there is lets say 4 inches down then you charge 200. I would charge another 30 for the walks.


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## Brant'sLawnCare (Jun 29, 2007)

JDiepstra;772527 said:


> Ok then what do you do if it is over 3"?


Sorry, didn't finish my thought. I was gonna say if I priced it out per inch it would be around $100/push for 1-3 and $180-200 for 4-6. In my contracts, I don't allow more than 6" to accumulate before we plow. So if we have a 10" storm, everything would be plowed at least 2 times. It's too hard on the equipment and people will get stuck if you let snow pile up. And this is just a rough guess from not seeing the place. It sounds like it is fairly open and easy to plow.



cretebaby;772566 said:


> Push it again


Exactly! lol:waving:


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## Brant'sLawnCare (Jun 29, 2007)

nickplowing1972;772683 said:


> *$100 is to cheap even if all your doing is plowing *


I don't know, around here one guy underbid me on a job plowing 3.5 acres, 2 of which are wide open. He charged less than $350/push. I'd rather get a couple 1-1.5acre lots that are easy and charge around $100+ to plow them, compared to some of the other prices I've seen around here.


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