So I have been a busy fool for far too long and I decided with help of LJN and other online forums to give the prices a go that seem the standard.
Block paving from 80m2
Patios from 50m2
Turfing from 12m2
Fencing 50 per metre for a panelled fence 60 per metre for a closed board fence (height being 1.8m)
Decking from 75m2
And every single quote I have done, they have all got a lot cheaper and not buy Crap Company’s, good companies with a good name.
Am I way out? I know one thing; I can’t go back to earning a wage and not making a profit for my own company.
I even went and worked for a garden company to see where I was going wrong and I wasn’t, I worked harder than any member of staff and better.
This year I have made a 2k lose on one job, profits on two small jobs and that’s it I am on the verge of being bankrupt, 15 jobs I have priced for and on all of them when I emailed the customer they all said price was the key factor.
Any help via email or on here would be great.
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Replies
Some questions;
Firstly I would ask; do you have a pricing method (ie I have spreadsheet that gets used for every job and this gets filled in) ?
Secondly, where do you tend go over budget (ie make a loss) - on labour or materials ?
Next, do you include a contingency in your quote ?
Lastly, do you know your business costs and thus have an internal rate per hour for using above.
Consistency is key as you can then see where you are loosing out.Once you know that you can make some sensible business decisions...
Try focusing on the types of jobs you know you make healthy profit on. I.e. Work to your strengths.
The loss i made was on one job and it was my own fault as i did not make it clear with the customer.
Yes to question 1,2 and 4.
But i will go over this again.
A D Landscapes said:
My point is the last 15 jobs i have lost out on have been down to price, the above sums are my standard pricing formulas for all the jobs do they seem really high?
[edit] ok I misundertood your numbers above - I thought that you were going to state costs for a 50m2 patio - your saying from £50 per M2...?
It's going to be hard on an open forum to disect your prices (and only you know your costs that you need to survive).
Are you saying you are over priced on labour AND supplies ?
A D Landscapes said:
the price is in units / stated per m2
seems ok to me dan. but im not scientific, although i may use this now !
i use : that will take 1 day, 2 days , 4-5 etc. for me absolute min is £100 day (could be 5-6 hrs on site for that) plus travel / materials ordering/ collection / quoting/ collecting payment / getting fuel/ loading up ...
but ive been getting more days work on that , waste away is extra now as im doing more refuse removal.
2k is a massive hit to take, feel for you there.
Can only comment on the fencing prices as that's the only hard landscaping I do, but they seem like keen prices. Closeboard seems on the cheap side, I charge around 90 - 100 per m. That doesn't include waste away or clearing old fence or vegetation. Some I win, some I lose. Referrals seem to work better as I guess the prospect is already 'warm' and probably knows already roughly the costs involved.
Perhaps diversify ? Plenty of soft landscaping/clearance/maintenance work around this time of year. It's a bit more running around but not so much of a big deal if one customer/job doesn't come through.
Russell Francis said:
block paving sounds a bit high to me if its standard. basic block paving around 60 and adjust accordingly depending on what materials they go for.
I would never ever price paving per sqm. always quote that on an approximate duration basis, The same goes with the turfing.. because no two jobs are ever the same the price has to vary. regardless of if you use the same materials. and to be fair i do the same with decking as well!
the fencing is about right..
Do you employ anyone else?
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