# Lost another one



## Krafty17 (Nov 12, 2009)

New to the site have been lurkin for a while but first time posting on this side. Im am fairly new to bidding on the snow removal jobs, so feel free to tell me if I am off my rocker or not. Bid on a subdivision couple days ago. The stats are 1.5 miles long total distance. One culdesac, one main street and one street that y's off. I figured three pass. My bid for this job was at $230.00 per push. For salt I figured 3000 sq ft per bad a total of about 40 bags. At $20.00 per bag spread, came to $800 I don't think it will take that much salt so I bid salt at $600.00 Per application. So total bid that I submitted was 230 per push and 600 for salt application. Almost done with the rambling. Talk to the customer this after noon and he has a contracting company that is going to do this for $275.00 total salt and pushing. Is this crazy or am I way off on my estimating?? Any thoughts are gladly welcomed.


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## PLOWTIME (Jan 16, 2004)

A mile and a half total? so is it you drive 1.5 miles in 3 passes or is it 1.5 x 3 passes? You also have to figure out how long you think it will take. your price does seem high.


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## Burkartsplow (Nov 1, 2007)

Your salt price is WAY TO HIGH. I MEAN OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! Your plow price is high also. The thing is they are spreading bulk salt most likely and it is a road that gets traffic and you are not going to need 40 bags of salt to do the job. The cars driving on this road will bring in salt also off the main road and that will help the melting process also. Good Luck on your next one.


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## WMHLC (Jul 31, 2005)

If you can get that price, you are good. If you can get that kind of money you are going to have a solid gold plow. In my area i bet that would go for $125 with salt included. You could have that plowed in about 15mins and salt at the same time


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## Krafty17 (Nov 12, 2009)

I deffinetly agree that I am probaly high that is why I am posting on here to get some feed back. Total length of road is 1.5 miles long. 3 passes total each pass would be 1.5 mile long. The culdesac is large and where the y is a bigger area. I may be way off but there is no way that will take 15 min. I projected 1.5 hours and a little extra for drive time there. Where am I off on my salt? It seems like everyone is posting that one bag of salt will cover 3000 sq ft is this correct? I think that seems to be low but in the past I have only delt with bulk salt this is my first year with bags. In my area $125 and hour seems to be the norm for plowing and $20 - $25 a bag for salt. 

You are saying that it $125 at 15 min. I am going to guess you are chaging $100 an hour at 15 min that would be $25 for plowing leaving $100 for salt rate it at 2$0 a bag and you are spreading 5 bags of salt for 1.5 mile??? I cant imagine that being enoug are you using bulk or bag??

Sorry for ramblin this is eating me up this is the only the second one I have had trouble with.


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## doo-man (Feb 22, 2009)

I figured your price too be high also and your salt calculation very high to.

I am in the same boat as you using bagged and I probably would use 4-5 bags also but I know my customer cost wouldn't be $20 per bag I would probably be somewhere around $15 applied It's not too difficult to spread on your way out and it would take maybe 5 min at most to drop it. 

What kinda mark up are you trying to achieve on your bagged product? 100% 150% or 200% ????

I would have probably bid the total job somewhere around $150 per push w/salt applied and could knock it down a little and still make money on it !!


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## In2toys (Jan 25, 2006)

Not sure about the salt end of it, I Can't see it taking 1 1/2 hours to do that... as long as there aren't a butt-load of speed bumps.


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## Krafty17 (Nov 12, 2009)

Man well I guess I am really going to have to rethink this one here tonight. Thanks for all the input!!!


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## Rc2505 (Feb 5, 2007)

4.5 miles of road way at 10mph would take about 30 minutes at 15 mph would take about 22 minutes and at 20 mph would take about 15 minutes. So a light 2 to 3 inch snow would take 15 minutes to plow plus the cul-de-sac and the y area. I don't know how big they are, but I would guess maybe 5 to 8 minutes extra for the y and 10 to 15 for the cul-de sac. a heavy snow of 6 inches or so would take longer, but your still in and out in less than an hour. Salt on the other hand should be somewhere around 10 to 15 bags. You will need very little in the main part of the road, but will apply heavier in intersections, and the Y. So to sum up the whole deal I would say you should have been somewhere around 200 in salt by your caculations, and somewhere around 100 to 125 for the plowing. I hope this helps out a little. In my area this total job would have gone for 225 with salt.


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## Snowpusher78 (Dec 20, 2009)

When figuring small commercial jobs i try for $100 and hour, figure using one truck and estimating the time, As far as salt goes im with the other comment above about 15 a bag u r already there anyway in my opinion so salt is just extra money, What i do is take the price of the salt per bag and double it is how how i charge to salt.


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## clark lawn (Oct 7, 2005)

you should be in and out of there in no more than 45 minutes. salt direct cost would be about 50 bucks (using bulk). i would be at about 200-225


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## KAG (Jul 19, 2007)

For me I think the plowing is right on target. I think I'm high on my plowing but I also figure if I am going to but up in the middle of the night and put all the wear and tear on equipment I might as well get paid for it. The salt pricing is another matter.


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## bristolturf (Dec 20, 2008)

I know that some contractors use per mile figures when plowing roads for HOA and such. Usually around 125 or so per lane mile and then generally around $50/ culdesac. Thats not my price but its generally what people get so your talking 237.50 for plowing and then for roads you would need about 300# per lane mile (according to the DOT you should be near 300-500/mile) so your at like 525lbs of salt plus some for the cul and y I would figure around 600#. I would just go light on the salt since it will get brought in by the cars My bid would have been around $325 for that plowing/salt per visit for a 2-4" snow fall. For roads i dont do the whole 2-4 4-6 6-10 thing since they always need to be opened up so I always make sure that there is a truck that can hit them.


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## drivewaydoctor (Nov 26, 2008)

Why not really throw the client for a loop and offer a monthly flat rate? Go in at something like $1100 per month unlimited plowing with salt included. Use the sales pitch that the client is only paying for 4 pushes and every other push is free. Lock them in for 3 months under contract. (Jan, Feb, Mar) and as you hit the end of Feb and most of March you'll probably be doing little plowing so it will be mostly profit.

Just some food for thought...


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