# First commercial property



## jonny72888

So I was approached about plowing this lot. 35000 Sq
Brand new pavement, plenty of room to push.
Was thinking 1-3 $250 3-6 $250 and $75 every inch over 6.
What should I be looking at for sanding/salt? 
As reference town plays $70 per hour for a 8ft 1 ton.


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## JMHConstruction

Your 1-3 and 3-6 numbers are the same.


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## JustJeff

I don't know about pricing where you live, but our company bids one truck with a 7'-6" blade to clear 40,000 Sq. Ft. per hour. And most of our trucks have much larger blades on them, so it gets done much quicker. So, to me, 250.00 for 1"-3" (on a lot that gets done in less than an hour) sounds expensive to me. If you can get it more power to you. Looking at your pricing it looks like you're going to wait until the storm's over and then go push it one time? If that's the case, the higher prices for the larger number of inches looks pretty good. You start pushing more than 8"-9" you're working your truck pretty good.


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## Randall Ave

175.00 for 1-3. 250 seems a little steep.


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## jonny72888

Less than 200 isn't worth it. I can make more doing driveways in the same time.


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## JustJeff

Bid it how you want. You're the one who asked for advice. Do what you've gotta do.


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## ktfbgb

Yep you would never get that around me. That's an $85 lot per push here. Done in 30 min. That's plowing only. No shoveling. We don't use salt here, if they wanted it cindered which we do a lot of here, that would be an additional $120 per application.


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## Defcon 5

That would go for less than half that here...


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## JustJeff

This is my smallest lot. It's exactly a half-acre of plowing plus the sidewalks. It's a hundred bucks for me as a sub to plow, do the sidewalk and salt. 30 minutes in and out.


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## jonny72888

So what are you guys thinking?


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## jonny72888

I could go up in the amount. 4in per pass or 6in.


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## JMHConstruction

I believe they're suggesting to go down if you want to land it.


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## leigh

jonny72888 said:


> So what are you guys thinking?


 I just bid a lot that's 36000sq ft .Its actually layed out in the same way as your lot.Concrete wheelstops in each parking spot.I bid at 275,350 and 400 for my increments.245 for treated salt on lots and walks,about 200 ft of sidewalks and 3 entrances. 1 loading dock.125 hr for skid if relocating needed.I got it,no questions asked.I'm in sw ct.I think its all location,location, location!


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## jonny72888

leigh said:


> I just bid a lot that's 36000sq ft .Its actually layed out in the same way as your lot.Concrete wheelstops in each parking spot.I bid at 275,350 and 400 for my increments.245 for treated salt on lots and walks,about 200 ft of sidewalks and 3 entrances. 1 loading dock.125 hr for skid if relocating needed.I got it,no questions asked.I'm in sw ct.I think its all location,location, location!


What were your increments?


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## jonny72888

I could make this work


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## JustJeff

Don't understand your "sub-total" number. I would also charge more for machine work. If you lose a little on plowing, make up for it on machine work.


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## leigh

jonny72888 said:


> What were your increments?


.5- 3" 3.1- 6", 6.1- 9" per push,I just make up a # if I have to come back to clean up when cars are moved if it's a "bad timing" event.If its a big storm I just bill multiple times according to whats on the ground at the time of each push. Wacky increments I know,but there's a method to my madness lol.Trade secret.


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## jonny72888

The sub total is just there because of how my software works. So for $390 they would get plowing up to 4in, salt and about 350ft of sidewalk done.


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## ktfbgb

jonny72888 said:


> Less than 200 isn't worth it. I can make more doing driveways in the same time.


That's actually really good. If you can make $400 an hour on residential driveways then I would stay with that. I guess it's even more than that as you said you can make more than $200 in a half hour on the resis. Stick with what's making all that moneyThumbs Up


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## jonny72888

I'm averaging $200 per hour for residental.
Im guessing that lots going to take a hour to do. Plow and shovel 2 20ft walkways.


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## ktfbgb

That lot would take me 30 min or less. From the picture it's a dream lot unless there is something I'm not seeing. It's almost 100% windrowing, at least that's how we would do it here. I didn't see the walks so they are probably hidden by the trees in the pic. If they are 5 foot wide and there is only 40 feet of them that will only take 5min with a pusher shovel. Push it into the lot, windrow everything to the non building side depending on what section of the lot you are in and that's it.


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## ktfbgb

Also you said that the pavement is brand new so you should be able to get a great scrape at a higher speed without worry of damage to the truck or plow.


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## jonny72888

Blue is 6ft fence
Orange is where they want the snow 
Red is walkways (only the back building is included in the plow price) 
Purple are the street entrances


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## ktfbgb

Ok with that description then the hour to do the property is more likely then. It didn't look like there were that many walks in the image. As for plowing the orange areas are where I would put it except for where the fence is. I would ask if you could windrow that long push up against the fence. If not then a V plow is gonna be your best friend to carry all that snow to the end.


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## leigh

Don't forget where you are-"taxachusett's"! You got to price for your area.I'm sure somewhere that would be a 100$ lot,not in your area though. How bad do you want job? If you really want it,lower your #'s.But be carefull,that's a slippery slope.You can turn yourself into a desperate perpetual lowballer who never sees a profit.In your area you can bid jobs at a rate of 200$ an hour including 1/2 your travel time to jobsite,45$ per hour for sidewalks.Know your costs and stick to them.Also you mentioned you can make 200$ an hour doing driveways.Just remember that many times your sitting home while the commercial guys are plowing and salting a 1/2" event.


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## Mark Oomkes

Defcon 5 said:


> That would go for less than half that here...


It would go for aboot 1/4 of that here\hear.

PS And I could still make money at that. That lot is no more than a half hour to plow.


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## jonny72888

ktfbgb said:


> Ok with that description then the hour to do the property is more likely then. It didn't look like there were that many walks in the image. As for plowing the orange areas are where I would put it except for where the fence is. I would ask if you could windrow that long push up against the fence. If not then a V plow is gonna be your best friend to carry all that snow to the end.


I have a xv2 on a f350 6.7 so it should be fine. 
I figure it's a hour to do the back walks and plow the lot. The front walks are going to be a hour themselves. 
I'm getting prices all over the map for sanding. $90-$300.


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