# IS This CRAZY or am I expecting to much!



## LCS Inc. (Oct 15, 2008)

Ok, here is the deal. Friend call me up this evening and says "hey, I know you just got a plow for your truck wanna help me with a subdivision that has 22 houses?" Of course I say- yep what's it entail? He goes on to tell me that the low bid is at $220 for 22 homes (drive, sidewalks out front , including sidewalks to front door) and that we can get it if we go cheaper. I said so your telling me they want us to do that for $11 per push. I told him to go fly a kite. Am I wrong or does this sound feedable- maybe I'm in left field here I don't know!


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## tom_mccauley (Dec 10, 2007)

No, you were WELL within the realm of the real world to tell him to fly a kite!!!, I hope he has a lot more buddy's that aren't all that smart!!!!!! (or maybe a few ******** ones!)


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## tls22 (Sep 30, 2007)

I guess he is not ur buddy anymore!:waving:


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## bribrius (May 5, 2007)

he is lying to you because he wants to keep all the money.
he is not your friend.
its really much, much more than that he just doesnt want you to know it.


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## big acres (Nov 8, 2007)

bribrius;607579 said:


> he is lying to you because he wants to keep all the money.
> he is not your friend.
> its really much, much more than that he just doesnt want you to know it.


gotta' wonder? we would be charging at LEAST a $100 for the walks alone. don't walk away -RUN!


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## hoskm01 (Oct 17, 2008)

22 houses, 220 dollars, thats 10 bucks a pop, not 11. Even worse.


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## Superior L & L (Oct 6, 2006)

$8 per drive and $2 per side walk WOW he will be raking in the money. Although i can typically do 14-16 drives per hour when there next door to each other so the plowing isnt to bad but no walks!!


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## turbo38sfi (Nov 24, 2006)

Yea, he's tryin to f' ya big time there...unless you misunderstoond and the 220 figure was your cut.
I would cut a deal if I scored a whole subdivision like that..with no walks I'd want a min of 30/drive (IF you score the whole street). The normal drive is 35 here in NH. I wouldn't touch that cause I don't do walks, but at least 35each.


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## hydro_37 (Sep 10, 2006)

I won't even drop my blade in a driveway for $10


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## Superior L & L (Oct 6, 2006)

turbo38sfi;608257 said:


> Yea, he's tryin to f' ya big time there...unless you misunderstoond and the 220 figure was your cut.
> I would cut a deal if I scored a whole subdivision like that..with no walks I'd want a min of 30/drive (IF you score the whole street). The normal drive is 35 here in NH. I wouldn't touch that cause I don't do walks, but at least 35each.


these drives are two cars long by two cars wide and you would charge $30.00 per drive. I guess you dont do many condo complexs! So if i do 15 driveways per hour i would be able to get $450.00 per hour ............not bad or $660 for less than 1.5 hours work for all 22 units :redbounce i want to plow were your plowing


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## Kramer (Nov 13, 2004)

Superior L & L;608553 said:


> these drives are two cars long by two cars wide and you would charge $30.00 per drive. I guess you dont do many condo complexs! So if i do 15 driveways per hour i would be able to get $450.00 per hour ............not bad or $660 for less than 1.5 hours work for all 22 units :redbounce i want to plow were your plowing


So what do you think the association budgeted per unit for snow removal?

With a foot of snow I'm thinkin he can shove the $10 / unit. With 3" I'm still thinking he can shove the $10.

Stand alone residentials as stated above go for $30-$35 depending on size. With the units ganged together you save a lot of windshield time but from $35 down to $10, I'd be walking away. Even at $20 each I'd probably walk away. Somewhere around $25 would be the lowest around here if you had a bunch together. I don't view it as dollars per hour--- you're providing a service for each unit.......if you beat the crap out of yourself and your truck to do more per hour, you should benefit in income....whats it worth when they're looking out the window at you at 4am and your plow is having issues...are they helping you out---so if you do 10 an hour that means you should charge $6 each to make your $60/hr???


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## dirtmandan2 (Nov 2, 2007)

I think if you really pushed it it would take 10 mins minimum per house, plow it and shovel both walks... thats 6 per hour and more than likely only 4 to 5 per hour depending on the snow... If I was really hungry I dont think i'd do it for less than $440


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## ducatirider944 (Feb 25, 2008)

hydro_37;608298 said:


> I won't even drop my blade in a driveway for $10


I'll drop mine for $10 but I won't put the truck in gear till they give me another $20!


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## LCS Inc. (Oct 15, 2008)

Thanks for all your input! I spoke with him and told him unless we could get $25 per unit I wasnt interested!


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## Young gun (Mar 11, 2007)

I'd have no problem clearing the drives for $10. per unit. In fact I have a project that has 128 units that we clear at $10. per unit. One caveat, shoveling is a seperate price and billed out hourly. One Bobcat with 74" blower, most snow under 4" we can clear all 128 units is under 4 hrs. You can do the math. 
With shoveling somewhere in the $15 per unit price and you would make money.


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## plowtime1 (Nov 1, 2007)

always remember the other side of the fence...it's called CAM; don't cut yourself short.


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## turbo38sfi (Nov 24, 2006)

Superior L & L;608553 said:


> these drives are two cars long by two cars wide and you would charge $30.00 per drive. I guess you dont do many condo complexs! So if i do 15 driveways per hour i would be able to get $450.00 per hour ............not bad or $660 for less than 1.5 hours work for all 22 units :redbounce i want to plow were your plowing


Yes, that's the going rate up here. a standard 2 car drive is 35 bux. At least that's what my customers pay me. I'm sure there are some guys out there that would charge 15 bux for a driveway like that up here too, you find that all over the place.


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## Gicon (Oct 1, 2005)

I wont put shovelers on the ground at a plow account of mine for less than $45, and that is minimum sized driveway, and one short walkway. I would never think of doing that exact same job for $10 or $20 or $30. The fact that they are next to eachother only increases your own productivity. Its not a free for all for all the neighbors to get their snow moved for a 20 dollar bill. Let him have it. He will work his ass off for nothing. You wont see him around next year.


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## Young gun (Mar 11, 2007)

To clear this up, I as well will not do individual driveways for less than $35 per drive. However for a HOA or Condo project you can't look at them as single units. It's really just one customer. Increasing one's productivity is important to their own bottom line, but to be more efficent, especially when we are talking about the time line to clear snow after it stops falling is what make one company excel over the next. And not by my choice, but the price does come down.


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## Gicon (Oct 1, 2005)

The point of taking on Condo complexes is to MAKE MONEY doing them. Not to provide $10 driveway clearing. If thats what you are going to do, stay out of the complex, and go take on more driveway work which you told me, is far more lucrative.


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## Young gun (Mar 11, 2007)

Whoa, it's not my thread. I'm just offering advice on bidding unit price. I have over 400 units and not all get bid at $10 per drive. These associations have given me copies of other bids and the majority of the proposals were hourly proposals. So again: Under 4" of snow, one 873 bobcat and 74" blower 128 units in under 4 hrs. Snow over 4" and I typically have two clearings at $10 per unit. I've watched a competitor clear an 88 unit project with 3 trucks and the time as well as quality of job looked terrible.


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## NielsenServices (Sep 11, 2009)

So if I am reading into this correctly, most if not everyone would charge town home or condo associations as if they were individual units???


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

NielsenServices;837777 said:


> So if I am reading into this correctly, most if not everyone would charge town home or condo associations as if they were individual units???


I would be surprised if you would get any pricing it that way.I guess it all depends on how you look at a condo complex or hoa. I always priced them to be a solid bill paying account and make a smaller profit and make it up other places, thats just the way I priced them.

As far as 22 driveways for 220.00....if all you had to do was plow I would say AROUND HERE that would be an average price, but we average 100" of snow a season. 22 driveways (assuming) they are typical 2 car driveway should only take about 1.5 hrs. But the shoveling too...thats a different story.


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## buckwheat_la (Oct 11, 2009)

i am sure i am about to become hated on this post, but i have a question, what is the amount of inches that incure service, because if you are going to be doing it on a two inch trigger, you are going to make good money, i know this because i have a couple of condos (both 50 unit complexes) that are senior complexes, and they go on about a 1inch trigger, meaning we go through all the units with two shovels, in about a 2 hour most days, that is 50/hour/person, don't think that is too bad at all, maybe i am off my rocker


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## big acres (Nov 8, 2007)

this thread is two years old.


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## cet (Oct 2, 2004)

big acres;838201 said:


> this thread is two years old.


Unless you are living in the future it is only 1 year old. What difference does that make anyways?


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

cet;838210 said:


> Unless you are living in the future it is only 1 year old. What difference does that make anyways?


Now he's doing it 8.00 a unit.


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## big acres (Nov 8, 2007)

cet;838210 said:


> Unless you are living in the future it is only 1 year old. What difference does that make anyways?


Right... thought I read 2007. Still, some wrote like the OP would be getting back to them any minute... probably not realizing it was an old thread.

It was a public service announcementussmileyflag


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## fordzilla1155 (Jan 10, 2004)

And subbed it out for 6 to USM


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## iceyman (Mar 1, 2007)

who then subbed it out for $4 to this guy


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## ProScape Canada (Jul 18, 2009)

Well, he's saving on fuel costs :laughing:


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