# Pricing by the SQ-ft



## SnoFarmer (Oct 15, 2004)

Pricing by the SQ-ft 
How many do it this way and what are the
Pros& cons of such a method.

Some recent posts came up on the subject but it got locked down .
http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=164757

So I thought I would " start a new thread" on the subject.

Thanks :waving:


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## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

Only use Square Feet to find out acreage in commercial lots, from there it's priced by acreage in 1/4 acre increments.
Resi's are either $35.00-75.00 per push depending on size, no measuring it's all visual.
A big thing is knowing what the market will bare, you can be under or over bidding work.
So at the end of the day there is no cookie cutter approach to bidding IMO, you can have a baseline and that's aboot it.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Unless you're selling real estate, you ain't selling square feet. Or foots.


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## born2farm (Dec 24, 2007)

We use sq. ft. measurments and a set price per sq/ft to come up with a base price on commercial. From there we take lot difficulty and efficiency of chosen equipment to tweak the numbers where we feel comfortable.

We tried to put a system in place for bidding, but unless your always doing wide open square lots, there has to be some tweaking done.


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

All our stuff is commercial, save for HOA's.

We measure square footage and use production rates for the level of difficulty for the property. Estimator spreadsheet turns square footage into time based on production rates, and turns that time into a final price based on the equipment(s) we assign to the lot.

The whole idea behind the system we're using is so that anyone can assign a lot a level of difficulty and bid the property.

HOA's pay a flat rate per driveway 1-15 feet, 16-20 feet, and 21-30 feet in length multiplied by 1.5 for double width, no square footage needed.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

John_DeereGreen;2067205 said:


> All our stuff is commercial, save for HOA's.
> 
> We measure square footage and use production rates for the level of difficulty for the property. Estimator spreadsheet turns square footage into time based on production rates, and turns that time into a final price based on the equipment(s) we assign to the lot.
> 
> ...


I'd be interested in seeing that.

If I PM you my number, will you text me that too?


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## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

Mark Oomkes;2067211 said:


> I'd be interested in seeing that.
> 
> If I PM you my number, will you text me that too?


JDG be warned if you give Mooks your cell number he's been known to drain a cell battery in aboot 4hours.......


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

BUFF;2067216 said:


> JDG be warned if you give Mooks your cell number he's been known to drain a cell battery in aboot 4hours.......


Or, we could get a huge group text from everyone we want from plowsite and wouldn't need plowsite anymore.

Wouldn't that be fun? Thumbs Up


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

Mark Oomkes;2067211 said:


> I'd be interested in seeing that.
> 
> If I PM you my number, will you text me that too?


The production rates are still a work in progress, but I'll gladly share any info that might help.



BUFF;2067216 said:


> JDG be warned if you give Mooks your cell number he's been known to drain a cell battery in aboot 4hours.......


Mine's on life support almost constantly anyway...


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

John_DeereGreen;2067237 said:


> Mine's on life support almost constantly anyway...


He's full of crap, he was sending just aboot as many as me..............and Greg combined.


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## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

John_DeereGreen;2067237 said:


> The production rates are still a work in progress, but I'll gladly share any info that might help.
> 
> Mine's on life support almost constantly anyway...


He's not worth support.................when it dies it dies.....


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## Longae29 (Feb 15, 2008)

I measure the square footage of every parking lot. I then plug that into the excel spreadsheet I created. Next I change the efficiency field for square footage per min that should be able to be achieved ranges from 500-1100 based on our historical numbers. Lastly I input $/hr. This gives me my per push price.

That same square footage number also kicks into the deicing portion of the spreadsheet where I change #/acre and $/lb.

I found this is more consistent than sticking a thumb 6" away from my nose and sayin "I kin plow dat much in aboot a hour"


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

My thumb and nose are extremely accurate. 

The problem is it can't be taught.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

BUFF;2067244 said:


> He's not worth support.................when it dies it dies.....


If I had feelings, they'd be hurt.


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

Take your hardest site, and the $# you were the happiest with, divide the previous' sq meter by the laters dollar amount then multiply that decimal point by the new sites area squared in meters. Put the result down as your estimate and maybe put quotes around "Estimate"... 
Make sure there's still enough if you add multi year/ property/ senior/ referral/coupon/prepay/family/friend discounts...


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## SnoFarmer (Oct 15, 2004)

I don't know why I never thought of pricing it this way.
I just eye balled it, and gave a # that I wanted for the service being provided.

Yet, when I did seal~coating it was sq footage then the fuge factor,
Smooth, new , old , rough, cracks, and other hinders.


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## cet (Oct 2, 2004)

Mr.Markus;2067268 said:


> Take your hardest site, and the $# you were the happiest with, divide the previous' sq meter by the laters dollar amount then multiply that decimal point by the new sites area squared in meters. Put the result down as your estimate and maybe put quotes around "Estimate"...
> Make sure there's still enough if you add multi year/ property/ senior/ referral/coupon/prepay/family/friend discounts...


For the majority on here you might have to translate this to "feet". They have enough trouble with colo(u)red money let alone metric.


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

I did my part...take it or leave it.

https://www.google.ca/search?sclien....0...1c.1.64.tablet-gws..0.11.850.U7c9vmMeBAg


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

Longae29;2067248 said:


> I found this is more consistent than sticking a thumb 6" away from my nose and sayin "I kin plow dat much in aboot a hour"


That's what we are going for.

I'm like Mark, I can look at a property and know within a few minutes of how long it'll take to push it and salt it, and how much salt it'll take. But I can't teach that gut instinct to someone that doesn't know what they're doing.

By measuring square footage and being able to easily determine which production rate category the lot falls in, anyone with the ability to measure a property and count islands, light poles and other obstacles can easily and accurately (in theory) estimate plowing time, salting time, and salt required. Ultimately, my goal is to have production rates based on the number of obstacles in the lot combined with where the snow has to go. The second part is what's a little harder to teach someone if they haven't plowed snow.


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