# Sidewalk pricing help



## Landcare16 (Dec 15, 2016)

Hello guys, I am new to this site and have a bid I need help with. I got a call from a guy who wants a bid for sidewalks. Their are approximately 3 miles of sidewalks at 3 feet wide. He wants them done only when it snows 5 inches plus. We plan on using garden tractors with blowers on the front. How should I price this? I was thinking by square foot but I'd like to hear what you are getting per square foot. I am on the Pa and Deleware boarder. 15 minutes from Newark De.


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

I'm assuming you got your expenses together? How long will it take you with equipment, Labor, Material, Profit? Liability's, WC? Figure that all up than compute to SQ FT. Make sure your coverd.


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## Landcare16 (Dec 15, 2016)

Yes I do have this all together. The thing is I don't know how to begin pricing this. I'm not sure what a reasonable profit is for sidewalks.


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

Landcare16 said:


> Yes I do have this all together. The thing is I don't know how to begin pricing this. I'm not sure what a reasonable profit is for sidewalks.


Cool, I'm not from your area, I'm sure you can draw more than I could, I just don't know what to tell you, You have to be competitive for your area plus be happy with the profits. Anything I do is based on time, Not bid that way but you have to have some idea how long it will take you. Do you think it will take you 3HRS to clear 3 miles? How much hand work is involved.

Unless somebody from your area responds it is really tough to send you in the right direction. Do it on your own, Make sure your happy, No shame in getting your feet wet, You will be okay, Again just cover your @$$. Would you be happy with $100.00 per hr for 3hrs work with a small tractor. I base my skid on $125.00per hr. I do sidewalks with my bombi this is based on $175.00 per hr. So if I could do 3 miles of walk in a hr I would want $225.00 for 3 mile of walks. Somebody else may have some better advise. Good Luck


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## Landcare16 (Dec 15, 2016)

FredG said:


> Cool, I'm not from your area, I'm sure you can draw more than I could, I just don't know what to tell you, You have to be competitive for your area plus be happy with the profits. Anything I do is based on time, Not bid that way but you have to have some idea how long it will take you. Do you think it will take you 3HRS to clear 3 miles? How much hand work is involved.
> 
> Unless somebody from your area responds it is really tough to send you in the right direction. Do it on your own, Make sure your happy, No shame in getting your feet wet, You will be okay, Again just cover your @$$. Would you be happy with $100.00 per hr for 3hrs work with a small tractor. I base my skid on $125.00per hr. I do sidewalks with my bombi this is based on $175.00 per hr. So if I could do 3 miles of walk in a hr I would want $225.00 for 3 mile of walks. Somebody else may have some better advise. Good Luck


Thanks for that. I guess I'll just have to take a shot at it and see how it turns out


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

Landcare16 said:


> Thanks for that. I guess I'll just have to take a shot at it and see how it turns out


There you go, Don't let it stress you out. Bid it, Hump it out and see where you come out. Stay on the high side with a 5'' trigger depth. I don't know about the 5'' +, I would want more for anything over. Personally 5'' is more than enough for one event. Do you have to salt the walk? If you do a small tow behind drop spreader will help you out. Thumbs Up


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## Landcare16 (Dec 15, 2016)

Yes they would like it salted as well. That shouldn't be a problem to price out its just the plowing I'm having trouble with. Snow rates are pretty high around here to so I'm taking that into consideration too.


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

Landcare16 said:


> Yes they would like it salted as well. That shouldn't be a problem to price out its just the plowing I'm having trouble with. Snow rates are pretty high around here to so I'm taking that into consideration too.


You have to stay high anyways because of the trigger. I know you won't have a problem estimating the salt, But how are you going to apply it in a 3' walk 3 miles long. If you score it your going to need a small drop spreader. You complete the whole job with 1 pass and move on. You got to give a good performance in a timely manner. The quicker you move on to the next one you are more profitable. If you add one more client than your competitor because your equipped better and faster means a lot at the end of the season. If not for any other reason you get more home time.


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## leigh (Jan 2, 2009)

5 " plus? I'd hate to show up after a couple of 2-4" storms .It's possible to have 2 feet of snow on walks before you hit trigger! Somethings not right here.


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

leigh said:


> 5 " plus? I'd hate to show up after a couple of 2-4" storms .It's possible to have 2 feet of snow on walks before you hit trigger! Somethings not right here.


For sure!


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

I would charge on the high site, simply for the trigger. Not only are you going to have a hell of a time with that after a few light storms, you're really taking on a lot of liability. I'd be too stressed with 5" on the ground and foot traffic. Like Leigh said, you could end up with a lot of hard packed snow before you show up.


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

There's no way...

RUN!!!!


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## tpendagast (Oct 27, 2012)

Landcare16 said:


> Hello guys, I am new to this site and have a bid I need help with. I got a call from a guy who wants a bid for sidewalks. Their are approximately 3 miles of sidewalks at 3 feet wide. He wants them done only when it snows 5 inches plus. We plan on using garden tractors with blowers on the front. How should I price this? I was thinking by square foot but I'd like to hear what you are getting per square foot. I am on the Pa and Deleware boarder. 15 minutes from Newark De.


BOOOOO

so what happens if it snows 3 times in a row but its only 3" each time, and people walk all over the sidewalks?
now its like a packed down tank trap, you want to come by with a garden tractor and a snowblower and all your stuff will be busted before you finish the 3 miles.

I wouldnt even entertain that bid, why would you keep that equipment around and running waiting for "only the big storms"?
how would you get it down to concrete after its packed down?


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## tpendagast (Oct 27, 2012)

in theory, not withstanding an undoable trigger which basically negates it being worthwhile, but for the sake of the math and science of it...

assume 2 miles per hour.
That gives you 1.5 hours to do the job.
double that time just because, of well, everything that happens in a snow event and you have 3 man hours.
I'd think $100/hour would cover it.
So its a $300 clear.

then salt it.
it would take approx 400 lbs of salt (IF youre not trying to melt all the pack from previous unplowed snow)
Which would be another $200 applied.

Figure it's a $500 job, in a perfect world where every event is 5" plus.

Factor in the head aches of the previous issues and you're looking at something that would cost thousands of dollars, PLUS you have trip hazards and liability issues from the uneven surface of the walks after you clear them.

I would suggest selling up, go with a liquid applications on the sidewalks and plow/snow blow everything 1.5" or more.

You could be $500 per precip event and still be cheaper than one single scenario following their "trigger" they want to stick to.


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## ktfbgb (Jan 31, 2016)

Also what are the obstructions on the sides of the walks? You said that they are only 3 feet wide. Typically the smallest front mount blower for a tractor is 48". Also I have a really small scut. It's a JD 2305 and the wheel base is really narrow. I'm not sure if they come much narrower or not but I believe mine is 43". So do you have green space between the road and sidewalk that you can run the outside tires on? If it's just a curb then one wheel is going to be dropped off on the road angling the tractor making the blower useless as it won't be able to conture that much. And if you do have green space to run the tires on are there landscaping features or mailboxes within them? If so if they aren't far enough off the walk for a 48" blower to pass between then again it will be useless. Just some stuff to think about.


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## Foybles (Nov 13, 2015)

Sometimes, I review work like this and when I've had to reinvent the wheel just to do the bid, I walk away and find a better client.


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