# Professionals Help me PLEASE. PRICING



## appellstriping (Sep 8, 2011)

Im bidding on a contract in the North East area, they sent me this form below to fill out for bid. The Lot/lots are about 25-50 cars, There open 8am-10pm.. If you guys have ANY insight on pricing something like this that would be awesome.


Plow 
(2-6
inches)
(Per
Push) Price??

Plow
(6+
inches)
(Per
Push) Price ??

Shovel
(2-6
inches)
(Per
Push) Price??


Shovel
(6+
inches)
(Per
Push) Price??

Salt
Lot
(Per
Push) Price??

De-ice
Walk
(Per
Push) Price??

City
Walks
Shovel
(Per
Push) Price??

City
Walks
De-ice
(Per
Push) ]Price??

Seasonal/
Annual
Flat
Rate


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## erkoehler (Sep 25, 2008)

Good luck!


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## Puddle of Oil (Sep 20, 2008)

uhhhhhhhh, you have to figure that out yourself bud. Figure the cost involved to complete the job and find your hourly rate. Good Luck, your gonna need it.


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## appellstriping (Sep 8, 2011)

I try and build my business on strategy and balls, not luck...but thanks


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

You don't even have a base for us to work with if your price is good or not.


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## ponyboy (Dec 19, 2006)

What does it cost you to do it,truck pymt,insurance,gas,time with travel included,is it u or labor we need more info


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## NickT (Feb 1, 2011)

If you built your business on strategy and balls how can you have no idea what to charge???


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## JDiepstra (Sep 15, 2008)

Geez we need a lot more info!


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## Raymond S. (Jan 8, 2008)

So is your strategy to get on here and ask people to price your work for you? I guess it takes balls to do that. 
You'll get a better response if you direct questions to productivity, technique, products, salt application rates, etc. Nobody is going to set your prices for you.


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## swtiih (Nov 30, 2008)

No idea what this place looks like , where the snow will be pushed , what the sidewalks look like or how big they are. Post a picture and how much time you think it will take and you may gets some better responses.


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## NorthernSvc's (Mar 12, 2006)

appellstriping;1308613 said:


> im bidding on a contract in the north east area, they sent me this form below to fill out for bid. The lot/lots are about 25-50 cars, there open 8am-10pm.. If you guys have any insight on pricing something like this that would be awesome.
> 
> Plow
> (2-6
> ...


 there... your welcome...


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## samjr (Mar 18, 2008)

*come on guys be nice*

Guys this guy is new to the site so lets give him a bit of slack 
U guys all got a good pont so lets see if he can put up some pics or google map it for us will help abit to man Thumbs Up All the info u can give and i bet the guys here well put u right on the $$$$ I know how it was to be new here tymusic But the info u well take home is unreal 
INFO INFO INFO MAN THE GUYS HERE ARE LIKE JOHNNY 5 THEY NEED INPUT

PS.GOD I LOVE THIS SITE


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## grsp (Oct 19, 2008)

every market is different, but in the lake effect snow belt of northwest indiana here is our rule of thumb. you need to (I should say HAVE) to start with the basics when working on contracts like this. if you want to build your business, and have your head held high every time you turn in a bid knowing its right. you need to know your price based on square foot. and that needs to be broken down even further based on equipment, and the difficulty of the property you are bidding (or even different sections of a bigger property). we use goilawn.com and are very happy with it. i find it very, very accurate. you can use the free google earth, but you ALWAYS get what you pay for. now you have your price for a basic 2" snow storm. and 99% of the time, this is gonna happen. now the other 1% we have included in our contract when snow accumulation is above 6+. i simply take my 2" push price and multiply it by 1.5 and i go one step further and include a blizzard charge (LAKE EFFECT) 10+ inches of snow is charged 2.5 and i know the comments are coming. how can you let 10 inches of snow accumulate. believe me when the lake effect train starts rolling and add 50 mph winds off the lake, you go back to a property you plowed 2 hours ago, and you can't believe your eyes!!! but back to the topic. the same facts go for the sidewalks. not so much for the salting though. for the most part you just salt at the end of the storm. but you still need to know what your going to charge per square feet. now the seasonal rate is just going to fall into place. it kinda sounds like your relatively new to this snow fighting game. but you can go to weather services like weatherworks.net, and they have 5 year snow amount averages. in our area, for example, i base it on 30 pushes, and 34 salts. that might seem a little high. but when the client wants to pay seasonal, they really want an insurance policy against mother nature. and we all know how much insurance costs. this bidding GAME is not all that hard when you have the right equipment to play with. get your numbers together, and have confidence in them. numbers never LIE!!! as far as the game goes, you have to play by the rules. INSURANCE, TAXES, LICENSES, DOT #'S, STROBES, AND SO ON..........................otherwise you will get caught one day, and the "PROFESSIONALS" will just eat you for breakfast. 

i hope this helps. i kinda got an a rant there, but you got some pretty harsh responses. i am not necessarily going to give you MY magic eight ball with all the answers, but this should help.


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## BuffaloSnow11 (Sep 17, 2011)

grsp;1308828 said:


> we use goilawn.com and are very happy with it. i find it very, very accurate. you can use the free google earth, but you ALWAYS get what you pay for. now you have your price for a basic 2" snow storm. and 99% of the time, this is gonna happen.
> 
> but you can go to weather services like weatherworks.net, and they have 5 year snow amount averages. in our area, for example, i base it on 30 pushes, and 34 salts.


I use go-isnow.com which is the sister site of go-ilawn. you need the hyphen in the url btw for anyone looking for the site. i have gotten my measurements off go-isnow but how did you figure your price off those measurements?

i also tried to go to weatherworks.net... which is an *appliance *website.


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## Wayne Volz (Mar 1, 2002)

*We can help you*

If you want to know your costs per hour to calculate your pricing, we have a CD that will do that for you. It called know why you charge what you charge. All the information you enter into this CD is based on your overhead and use-rates. It will calculate your truck, plow, and spreader costs to determine your break-even point. Then you can add what you want to to establish your selling price. You can use this CD for any service that you offer.
Check it out on our website www.profitsareus.com.

Once you've established your selling price, our snow bidding package will help you as well.

Snow & Ice Management Bidding Package Includes:

#1 Snow & Ice Management Manual � this is a comprehensive manual covering all aspects of snow & ice management for both residential and commercial accounts. Also includes application rates for many different deicing materials.

#2 Snow & Ice Management CD full of templates for contracts, route sheets, hours of operation sheets, Who�s first, proposal formats, don�t take the risk template for clients, sample invoices, sample marketing forms and much more. All these templates are in Microsoft Word format and are completely customizable to your business.

#3 Snow & Ice Management Quick Estimator CD � calculates per push, per event, hourly or season contracts. Also calculates material application rates for both granular and liquid applications for any deicing material that you may be using. This CD also calculates time and material for application of material, and hand labor as well. This CD runs in Microsoft Excel and is not software. You simply fill in the blanks and you have your estimate.

Go to www.profitsareus.com or call us at 800-845-0499 to order. Feel free to call us with any questions you might have as well. Being a full-service lawn & landscaping business myself since 1979, I know what a contractor is looking for; something simple, accurate and professional. This package is it.


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## Spucel (Feb 6, 2011)

Raymond S.;1308750 said:


> So is your strategy to get on here and ask people to price your work for you? I guess it takes balls to do that.
> You'll get a better response if you direct questions to productivity, technique, products, salt application rates, etc. Nobody is going to set your prices for you.


Haha:laughing::laughing:


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## plowmesnow (Sep 28, 2011)

Hey guys... I'm not even close to where you guys are so I will share my pricing stragities if you promise not to come in my area. If your in my area then don't read this 

why don't you give a seasonal price.
go to the last 2 years of weather reports in the area and come up with the average seasonal snow events.
In my area it is between 16 and 20
for a lot that size I would say $100 per push 
x 18 events
= $1,800 plus salt
also have in the contract if their is more than 8 inches of snow in a 24 hour period it would be an extra $150
Hope this helps a little, I'm new too...here and the business.
I'm hoping my pricing isnt lowballing cause I don't mean to do that but their are only around 18 events here.


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

plowmesnow;1317348 said:


> Hey guys... I'm not even close to where you guys are so I will share my pricing stragities if you promise not to come in my area. If your in my area then don't read this
> 
> why don't you give a seasonal price.
> go to the last 2 years of weather reports in the area and come up with the average seasonal snow events.
> ...


I have all the info I need, I'm moving to Canada to dominate the snow market there!wesport


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## swtiih (Nov 30, 2008)

when you get to the border just make sure you tell them your there to visit and not work.
they are a little sensitive to Americans working up there


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## plowmesnow (Sep 28, 2011)

Well tried to help buddy out a little seems like the seniors like to raze the new guys.......glad everyones enjoying themselves.....nothing better to do i guess...


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## Luther (Oct 31, 2007)

Please tell us how you are helping out a bud when you have no idea how big his lots are, have no information on how many sidewalks he needs to do, the level of service the client is asking for, his costs, the weather in his region, etc, etc....

Garbage in, garbage out.



plowmesnow;1317348 said:


> why don't you give a seasonal price.


Umm, he asked for this in his original post.


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## Wayne Volz (Mar 1, 2002)

*Amen*



TCLA;1317516 said:


> Please tell us how you are helping out a bud when you have no idea how big his lots are, have no information on how many sidewalks he needs to do, the level of service the client is asking for, his costs, the weather in his region, etc, etc....
> 
> Garbage in, garbage out.
> 
> Umm, he asked for this in his original post.


Amen to that!


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