# 62,000 square foot lot



## Lawnguy1 (Sep 12, 2006)

I am bidding a 62,000 sq ft. plaza lot that is all straight runs using an 05 F-350 with an 8' Fisher blade. The front area is an acre with no obstacles two smaller parking areas on either side and a 3 lane pass going across the back of the building. The contract is less than one mile of my house- They would like a per trip price with salt included. 

Could anyone give me a good idea of what I should be charging for this? I would really like to get the contract but I don't want to cut myself short. I've been plowing residential for 3 years and I want to move up to some commercial work.

I am thinking in the ballpark of between $150-200 a trip plus salt?

I am not sure what the going rate is or what I should even use to salt with??

Thanks for you input.


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## shamp (Jul 4, 2006)

I would say that price is a little low for that lot. Your looking at little over 1-1/2 acres so it should take you roughly 1-1/2 to 2 hrs. to clear 2"- 4" of snow most guys average around 120- 150 per hr. I would set the contract for say since your new to doing commercial lots at 125 per hr bill for 2 hrs. = 250.00 for plowing. best way to salt is with a v-box and get bulk salt but since your only looking at 1 lot so far you may wont to save the money and go with tailgate spreader. The normal for price is twice what you pay.


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## Gicon (Oct 1, 2005)

Lawnguy, just a little food for thought. You said you have been doing residential for 3 years. Now you are ready to graduate. You are interested in this good sized lot, and I agree, I think it will take a good 2 hours and thats on a small storm. Now you are willing to get paid $150 for 2 hours of commercial plowing. Now, I dont know how your residential market is out there, but here, driveways are $30 a pop, any efficient guy could do 10 per hour. Thats 20 driveways in 2 hours, and $600, instead of $150 or $200.


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## Lawnguy1 (Sep 12, 2006)

*Bid is submitted*

I wrote up the bid for $250 a trip plus $150 for salting the entire lot.


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## PLCI (Nov 8, 2004)

Here's some basic salt calculations, your starting point should be 300lbs per acre for a light application working up to 1000lbs for a heavy application to combat hard pack.

Salt	Yards

300#	0.32

500#	0.53

700#	0.75

1000#	1.07

Plowing 8' blade no obstacles, These should be used only as a gauge.

Plow	62000

968sf/min	1.07

726sf/min	1.42

581sf/min	1.78

484sf/min	2.13

386sf/min	2.68

363sf/min	2.85

If you get the account, I would highly recommend measuring the property so you have the actual size. The in the winter keep detailed records on the time it takes you to plow the lot. Then next summer use these simple charts and create your own production times. It will make bidding commercial work a lot easier.

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## Grn Mtn (Sep 21, 2004)

Lawnguy1 said:


> I am bidding a 62,000 sq ft. plaza lot that is all straight runs using an 05 F-350 with an 8' Fisher blade.... They would like a per trip price with salt included. ...I am thinking in the ballpark of between $150-200 a trip plus salt?... what I should even use to salt with...


Commercial has been killed in our area the last 2 years, too many plow company's and some big ones just killing us in low pricing. 3 years ago you easily could have got that lot for $300-$400 p/trip with salt, now its half that, good luck.

the best way to make money salting is with a vbox because bulk is cheap, I wish I had gotten one in the beginning. My salt cost (not what I pay for it but what it really costs me) is just over $5 a bag, 3X more expensive than bulk.

I like commercial because its mostly forward driving, not backblading. But your insurance is going to go up:realmad:


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