So what’s your guys best funny story of someone telling you your price was too high, or what they expected to pay but it was way in left field? Share them down below!
Too many to tell honestly, now my company is established enough that people in my town are banging on my door to get their landscaping and lawns done by me!! I give them estimates or invoices and they all bitch! bitch! bitch! hahaha Im at that point where I can tell just but how you talk to me through phone, text, email, and in person wether we will work out or not. And when I go on landscape design quotes I always ask at some point what their budget is or how much they think something like this will cost just to get a feel for if they're tire kickers or not.
I watched this video this morning. About six hours later I'm mowing a three-stop and this guy asks me how much to just bust his front yard. His front yard is smaller than a miniature golf green, and he told me he doesn't need me to trim or anything. "Just cut it" he says. Also, the guy is super nice. He always hollers over to me and asks how I'm doing. His German Shepard greets me regularly. Just a great guy. "Ten Bucks" I reply. . . SHOOT - Brian just told me NOT to do that.
Brian's Lawn Maintenance I am not in lawns... I build cabinets... but one time a guy told me he would pay 3000 for 10500 to 15000 worth of cabinets... he told me there was some guy that did them for cheap... I told him to go with him... the guy called me a week later and played me for the cabinets
I started when I was 12 and my first customer ever was $20 and then last year I was 18 the price went up slowly sense then to $50 per cut. Now I did end up losing him as a customer but your worth what your worth. You live and learn. #Jared'sLawnCareLLC
We have been doing the maintenance + mulch for this condo for 18 years and got fired because a much younger kid quoted the weekly cut by almost half of what we were originally doing it for. He couldn't do the mulch or any additional work so they had to contract all the other maintenance out. Fast forward 2 years they asked for us to rebid... we upped our price by $40 more per cut then what we were doing it for 2 years ago:) it pays to do PROFESSIONAL work. Thanks Brian.
Maannnn have I got a good one for you. Had a lady call me about cutting a tree down. I take a look quote her $1000 she says that's too much someone else on social media could do it for cheaper. I told her cheaper isn't better and keep in mind my insurance covers up to 4 million in damages. She isn't interested. I leave and 2 weeks later she's ranting online how this guy came and dropped the tree right into her in ground pool breaking all the concrete including the pool wall. Needless to say no insurance. Everyone starts telling her off for being cheap and how she should have verified insurance b4.
I went solo(fertilizer) 5 years ago and no looking back. I have more business than I can handle and turn down work every week that isn't worth the $$$. At the end of each season any slow payers or general pain in the "A" people get dropped before the next season starts. Once I decided to not tolerate a-holes, my business improved because my attitude got better!
My best one was a $10,000 retaining wall, the guy says, will you take $5,000 . I said sure , when you get the other $5,000 we’ll finish the job... The look on his face was priceless
Funny story: Some guy wanted me to use his own equipment to cut his grass so he could get a better deal, and his lawn was about an acre. I repeatedly told him no because I need to use my own gear, but just for fun, I asked what he thought a fair price was... and he said $10. I then declined and he emailed me a long speech about how since I am young I need to take whatever work I can get, and I just started laughing. Keep the videos coming Brian, I really enjoy them and the tips you provide for young business owners like myself.
Just bidded a .15 acre property. Im still growing so ill do biweekly here and there but im starting to go weekly. Told them biweekly will be $40 and almost immediately they said the kid next door cut it for $15 the previous year. I was like "great! but my company supports child labor laws so here's my price call me if you want to sign up"
I was going to give a leaf cleanup estimate for an old lady a few weeks back. I get to the house and walk around with her to look at what needs done and she's asking me "you give senior discounts, right?" So I just say yes even when I know I'll charge normal price. I told her $175 and she immediately said that she has a guy that could do it for $80 and that she wad on a fixed income. Literally as she is telling me that, her husband opens the garage door to a brand new Buick and Lincoln. First off, why are you getting other guys to give you estimates if you have a cheap guy??? And have brand new cars. Will never let people screw my prices
I actually just had a guy last week who I gave a quote to for 9 yards of mulch. I quoted him $850. He asked me if I could do it for $500. When I told him that was a little low he gave me probably a 10 -15 minute talk on the average American income and why my price was too high. By the end of his spiel I told him that it wasn’t going to work out and that he should find somebody else.
I’ve been through stuff like this. Here’s what I say in the nicest way possible. If you don’t have money to spend, you’re not someone who gets your property mulched. If you wanna save money and still have the work done. DO IT YOURSELF. Simple concept
I just got a second hand Mighty Mac Allen chipper shredder. I'm rocking Tanaka and Ego. I've been led up many a garden path. The style is expensive. Thanks for the video
Was mulching a regular customer's house when there elderly neighbor asked me to spread a 3 yard pile of mulch she had delivered an hour earlier. I told here $100 bucks, she agreed. After I was finished she didn't like the color of the mulch, dyed red hate the stuff, and wanted me to clear out the beds and take it away. She ordered the mulch and we agreed on the price right next to the pile of red mulch. She went inside and her even older husband came out and handed me $80 and told me that's all I'm giving you and turned around and went inside. Later that year, husband asked me to mow while they were on vacation. Told him $60 for a minimum charge yard. He replied the boy down the street would do it for $10. Go talk to the boy down the street, was my retort as I got in my truck and drove away. Haven't seen either one since.
No kidding. I dropped down to a one man operation this year. I have half the accounts I had ten years ago but make more money. That's EXACTLY what I tell people. I'm covered up, not hard up for work so I don't barter
We had someone claim we stole her $2 hand shovel. A week later she called back to say she found it, but when we mowed today we left ruts in the yard. Only thing was, we didn't mow her yard that day.. Needless to say it was time to part ways lol
I work in the neighborhood where average price to mow the lawn is $25. I work for this customer for about 7 years and one day she tells me that some landscaper quoted her $16.50 and she asked me if I drop the price. I kindly offered her to give that guy my phone number, so he works on my own lawn. We don't cut her grass anymore, but she asked us to do garden maintenance, because the 16.50 guy can't tell the difference between flowers and weeds. Thank you for your inspiration and motivation.
There ya go bud. I feel ya. I've had a few tell me "$18", I just look at them and go "to be honest, if he's paying taxes and does a good job, you should go with him b/c that's a great price". It never ends up happening, and they always call me and say $25 is fine.
For my business, I offer price match for bids that are provided only from professional and licened business. 1 customer was showing me another bid and wanted me to match the price. The FUNNY part, he was trying to make me match the required 50% down payment with the other conpany. I explained to him that was your down payment, and upon completion (at the bottom of his invoice) states another x dollars was due. He demanded i would match the downpayment total for my whole job. LOL no.
This is so true, I can relate to everything you said lol, I had a lady call me looking for regular lawn care as her existing gardener had quit, and literally told me how much she was was going to pay me based on what her previous gardener was charging. We have this problem in the UK also, when you go in with a competitive price based on the quality of service you provide and you get well my other gardener only charged...my response is if you want some drunk guy on a push bike rocking up at your home with a four pack thats your choice, if you want a professional tradesman who is on time / insured / registered / paying tax etc...you pay accordingly for that level of service. We are constantly fighting these weekend warriors looking for beer money, fortunately though more and more people are realising that you get what you pay for.
I was working a leaf job. The neighbor came over and said I need to pick hers up as they all came from the yard I was working on. Told her that I did not feel it was fair for me to charge my customer for working in someone else's yard. However I would be happy to work at picking up her leaves at the same rate. I think its a smarter business move to name your price and if, for what ever reason its declined, then be the bigger person by disengaging the conversation without being demeaning to anyone. To me that's a mark of maturity and professionalism.
I have a couple of boys that just got out of high school, one of which lost his lower arm in a skiing accident a couple of years ago. They are trying to do some mowing for a few bucks. I refer folks that are tightwads to them. Everyone wins. The boys win, the customer gets a cheaper, albeit potentially lower quality job, and I have not offended a potential future customer.
I had a customer that moved in next door to two properties I take care of and his father lived with them and stopped me one day and asked me how much and I said $45 since I was already there and he said I was way too high and declined. The next week the son came out and asked me and I said $50 because I kinda figured where it was going and the son hired me so it cost them $5 extra a trip. Kinda funny how that worked out.
Great video Brian! Raised the prices this year for our company because we do great quality work, and we know what we are worth! Anyways... had this customer for 5 years price of his cut was 25$ raised it to 30$ this year complained it was too much yet whole family are doctors and driving there brand new corvette, shaking my head not worth my time!
One had a customer who called for a fall leaf clean-up. I gave the wife a email with the price and she agreed and scheduled us to come out . We come out and get the yard clean, all beds, everything super clean. I go in to hand over invoice and the wife was not home just the husband (older couple , he was a veteran very nice guy in his late 70s) . I give him the invoice and says wow $265.00 for the leaf clean up. I explain that it was the last clean-up of the year no other clean-up was done earlier in the fall. We brought two truck one with our back pack blowers, little wonders , rakes, tarps. And our leaf vac truck to suck them up. He tells me the last guys he has last year he wold give them $40 bucks each. I asked him what happen to them. He said they had to go back to their country . I told him we were fully insured had 4 guys , two trucks, equipment so that’s why our price was what it was. At 40 bucks I couldn’t even pay to dump the leaves lol.
Great story! Wow yeah some people don’t understand that they are also paying for the consistency. I bet if they called you back next year you would be there for them. Not somewhere else.
I just had a lady call me a week ago that wanted her gutters cleaned. 2 story house 15 gutter sections. I told her my price and she said whoa, my last guy who did it only charged me $30 to do it. I said where's he at now and she said oh well he don't do this line of work anymore. Ding ding ding, and would $30 be the reason? Lol.
I bid a job once that was several acres and the grass was knee high. It was so big, and with all the weedeating, it was 2 days work. I bid it at $1,200-$1,500. Big job! The guy laughs at my bid then tells me i must mean $120 because that’s what someone else bid it at! I laugh back at him and told him I need to talk to this guy because I want to sell him ocean land in Kansas. I’ll even sell him the bridge that goes over it cheap. He was like I think $120 is fair. I said I bet you do bud, you take care! Haha.
Funny I had some similar it was over an acre of land, on a hill and about 3ft tall. I charge him $2000 to cut only $2500 to haul debris and he said he knew someone who would do it for $500. I just said ok and walked away
I do trees I told customer 1500 (which was low) to remove huge dead pecan over there house they had a guy do it for 800$ 2 weeks later I ran a chainsaw in there living room
lol people would get upset when I explained to them that my insurance did not cover tree work and that I would NOT give them a bid for it no matter what.
All the time Man. Saw a guy 20 feet up. No line. No lanyard. No PPE. Lowes husky limbing a pine with his woman in the Toyota Corolla running in the driveway.
The only time I do trees is if they're fairly small and in a place that I'm not like to destroy anything by felling them. I'm pretty good at felling, but you never damn well know. Sometimes there's rot inside the tree that you can't see and even a precision cut might not be enough for it to fall the way you want it to.
Window cleaning. But had a person request a quote. Gave my price. Person says “ wow” last guy did it for not even half of that!” I say. “ why are you not using him anymore?” Customer “ well he stopped coming around” I say “ you know why?” .......silence.. “ he’s dead. He starved to death” Customer. “ Can you do them today?”
I had a local grocery store, right on the main street here in town, that I was doing for $70 and had been doing it for that for several seasons. Times were changing and it had always been worth more than that anyway, due to a lot of trash on the property and size but I needed the work. As the next season was approaching, I had planned to call them and go up. Before I could do that, they called me and asked if I would do it for less. I said, "NO...I was actually going to go up this year." They said, "Well, we found someone who will do it cheaper." I said "OK...thanks for your business for the last several years and good luck." About two or three weeks later, they left a message for me with my wife, wanting to know what I would charge just to trim and edge because the new guy didn't do that. And, it was obvious that he didn't. The sidewalks especially looked like crapola. I never even called them back. They continued to look like crap for the remainder of the season. BTW...I no longer need the work...
in my area I’m competing with a lot of retired pensioners looking for extra cash in hand, they’re the low ballers but they don’t care, because they’re slow, do a bad job and don’t have anything else to do in their spare time. When someone tells me that the last guy did it for cheaper, we normally come to a mutual agreement and meet half way, or if it’s still too low, I normally just compare my other customers and tell them it wouldn’t be fair to them if I quoted a cheaper price. I sometimes put myself in their shoes and say: if you’re going to charge more at least I deserve an explanation. Sometimes prices can be overwhelming for them so I always explain how it goes down in the lawn industry and why my rates are what they are, at least that way they know why they are paying what you’re asking for because on the first day, they don’t know you, they don’t know if you’ll do a good job.
Hey brian, im a 16 yearold that has a small landscaping buisness. I love working outside so i enjoy doing landscaping very much. I charge 30 to $40 a lawn. I am not the most expensive but also not the cheepest. Although i dont have insurance i make a contract saying i can not sue the costomer if i get hurt and if i damage anything i have to replace it. Im not here to steal jobs from you guys but to save up for community college and also a house. I work my ass off and hustle every day, every hour. whether its school related (i go to a trade school to become an electrician) or for my business. I put it this way, every dollar i make now is one more closser to a million. Everyone has dreams, im on the trail to meeting mine
Dude...Working without insurance is a huge gamble that you should NOT be taking. Insurance isn't that much. What if a rock comes out from under your deck at about mach 9 and takes out a kid's eye? How you gonna "fix" that. You are in BIG trouble. What if you hit a piece of steel that kills someone? It is just the pinnacle of foolishness. Million bucks of liability at a minimum. Your rates are based on how much business you do and you should not lie about this to get a better rate. If you get caught, not only might you be hammered for insurance fraud, they might also refuse to pay that accidental death claim you just made. Insurance companies are always looking for a reason to NOT pay. It's just the cost of doing business.
I put a bid in on a residential 12 yard mulch job last month. 5 of those yards were making new landscape beds and planting new shrubs WITH a year warranty on the plants. My bid came in around $1,700 and she flipped. After I explained to her that all that money isn't going straight into my pocket, she calmed down and said she'd think about it. Got a call two weeks later saying "can you do it for $900 if you use newspapers instead of landscape fabric?" She wasn't happy when I told her it would probably cost her more in labor if I used the newspapers.
Had a crazy old lady call me during the Spring boom and said, “I’m a senior citizen on a fixed income. You’re going to mow my yard and you’re going to do it for cheap.” I told her we have a $40 minimum but we weren’t going to be able to take on her property. She practically yelled back at me, “$40 FOR A SENIOR CITIZEN?!” Nothing against seniors on fixed incomes but if they lead with that in the conversation you know they are going to be a pain.
I’ve had that happen. I’m only 13 so I don’t have a lot of expenses just my mower and I charged the guy $25 cuz I really wanted the job and then I found out other professionals were charging $80-$100! Could’ve charged him 60 and he would said yes (all my yards are around $30 each). Great vid Brian!
Most common thing i run into is additional work that comes with lawn mowing i.e shrub trimming , weeding , mulch and so on . I always get a crazy look when I charge $40 a man and I work with one guy so $80/hour . Thats what I shoot for anyway . They tell me my price is too high and I just smurk and say " But you dont have a problem paying $40 for a yard that takes 20 min to do ? " LOL I guess most just think you're supposed to be happy to get additional work so it should be cheap ? I dont know honestly , I am really thinking of going to strictly mowing , no bagging , mow and go type business model . Make my money during peak season and storing money away for the slower parts of the year . The extra work also screws up scheduling when I have a ton of yards to mow too . Good video Brian!
I literally got to the point where the customer ($300k house) wanted me to trim all his hedges,rake up the debris, haul it off.. Last guy did it for $35.. My response, "Please tell me you still have his number, "No why', because you might want to call him back. Well he went out of business... Smh
Gave a bid for mowing in a high end gated area. Property was good size and had a spare lot. Wanted the spare lot cut biweekly, told them $85 for everything, person goes "I thought every property in this area was $35." Have a nice day, on to the next! Couldn't agree more. Keep it up.
Lol yeah I've gotten those too. Costs me $20 in gas and a set of dull blades for those empty lots. I don't do any of them anymore, it's just not worth it. Plus I hate the crazy bugs that come from those fields. Nasty
Yea, wasn't overgrown or anything just more to mow. Still not gonna do everything for $35. Needless to say we didn't provide any services to that individual. Have also had people ask for senior citizen discounts. Still takes same amount of time, fuel, etc to mow an elderly persons as a young persons lawn.
I was doing a job years ago($1,400.00 labor job) to completely Trim up all of the shrubs,deadwood and prune the trees,including the tops of four15-20ft. Trees. The client and I had a nice understanding on the job and we went over every single thing that I would be doing.Later that day,she complimented the work when she got home(at this point, I had done ALL of the deadwooding and a rough trim on all of the shrubs). I had a 6x12 trailer full of the brush from her job,which I was planning on dumping the next day. Near the end of the day, she randomly asked me how I was going to shape the top of the 50-60ft. Trees on her property????? I was like,”oh ma’am, that wasn’t part of the 4 trees that we discussed for the shaping. I showed her where I had quoted it for the top of only those trees(the ones that I could reach). She said,” I WONT pay you if those aren’t trimmed…. Ummmm,what? I told her that there was no way that I could reach those,and that I never quoted that. She stated that,”the guy down the street gave her a quote for them.” To which I replied,”Why didn’t you use him for the job then?” This was also the first time she had even mentioned these trees throughout the bidding/job. I got my equipment and went home for the day,wondering if she’d reach her senses. That didn’t happen and she still wanted me to trim these monster trees that you’d need a bucket for(plus the price would be way more for these services). Early the next morning, I cut my losses and drove my trailer back to her house. I dumped ALL of the brush on her front grass,making sure that it wasn’t in the street or covering the fire hydrant. As I was headed to a different job, she called me up furious. Told me that ,”she was a lawyer and could sue me if I didn’t get the brush and dump it(she wasn’t paying for anything at this point). I told her that she was changing the job and ripping me off in the process. I also told her that I had done $500.00 worth of work so far and to call a different company to chip the brush up. Wasn’t my problem anymore. People are crazy. Only time in 9 years I cut my losses like that. Busier than I ever have been in my life and loving it. I still think of that lady and laugh.
I had a lady call me and ask me if I could mow her yard. She had about a 4 acre country property and after some convincing, she agreed to my price. I was surprised but went with it. After the first couple mows for the season, she told me that she wanted me to also take her trash cans to the end of her driveway, pick up her mail, and paint an old wrought iron bench she had while I was there every week. To top all that she asked if I could be on call if she needed some firewood brought in for the evenings..... I politely called her and told her no and that I didn’t do those services. Her response..... “WELL FINE!” “click”. One of the weirdest ones I’ve gotten so far! Enjoy watching your videos Brian, keep up the good work!
Your so right about customers telling the price! I saw a Facebook ad $20 to cut my lawn. And some landscaping company commented "You wouldn't tell an electrician or a plumber how much you would pay them. Call me if you need an estimate."
I absolutely love this video! Teaches self-worth. I value your advise so much Brian! I've been building my business since may and I've learned a lot! One day I was doing a property and the front door neighbor asked to get an estimate on 2 lawns side-by-side. My avg. Price is $50 biweekly and it was about the right size and when I told her she flipped cause she had a guy do the work for $20 a lawn. My $100 vs. His $40. I said if you want to save money go with him however if you want it done professionally call me. And I turned my back and walked away. And we are talking half an acre or grass shrubs and palm trees.
The price is the price. Take it or leave it. I am not there to drive down the market rate for my industry in my area. My minimum charge for a mow was $35, didn't matter how small the lawn was. My story is kind of the opposite of what you asked for. I had a word-of-mouth customer call me out for a bid. We walked the property in an extremely high end neighborhood. I told him when to expect my bid via email, and he said " I have heard about your work. I don't care what number you give me, you have the job." I did NOT gouge him, but I did make good money on servicing his property and it was a year round contract with snow removal, and they didn't even live there in the winter.
I had a customers Daughter call me up and said I took advantage of her Mother. I charged her $200 for a leaf clean up which is more than fair. It took me about 3 hours and I had to haul them away. Luckly, I have a place to dump for free. She said that I should only work for $10 dollars per hour because leaf clean up isn't skilled labor. She also said that she would clean them up, but between work and going back to college she didn't have time. By this time, I had enough of her shit. I told her, well obviously you're not majoring in business. She said, SCREW YOU! and hung up. Lmao! Dont have them as a customer anymore.
Keith Dougherty I'm 19 and I work in almost all of the trades from construction to mechanics and welding and trees etc etc. But, I also run my own businesses on most of it and started an engineering and a business degree, these other kids my age though.....i HATE my generation so bad but atleast here in Texas it's not nearly as bad as elsewhere. When I was in california........
How did you determine $200 is "more than fair"? If you're raking and leaf blowing it is unskilled labor. If you come in with a leaf vac system then it falls into skilled labor or typical bill rate. Its why you see crews of immigrants with backpack blowers do leaf cleanup at estates and apartment complexes. Probably billed at $25 hour per man and employee gets $10 to $15.
onagoodday627 I do have a leaf vac, but I didn't use it on that job. I still had my truck, trailer, commercial ztr riding mower, backpack blower and a walk behind with a side bagger. That stuff is not cheap. Not to mention, taxes and insurance. That job, I could have got $250 to $300. I under bid it :( The cost of living is high where I live. IMO, yes, leaf clean up isn't skilled labor, but a business is a business. If she wanted to, she could have found a kid down the road to do it for $10 an hour.
Mobile mechanic here, whenever a customer tries to tell me a price I always tell them a shop doesn't negotiate neither do I, my prices are literally half of what shops charge you take it or leave it
Flooring mechanic here,lady agrees too pay me 200 for doing her basement steps with a little carpet that was left over from doing her house ,when I got done she tried too pay me with all kinds of old things she had that should have been thrown out years ago including an old iron and ironing board. i got my money
I agree Brian. I have been in the business for a few weeks now and working a commercial property cleanup/ lawn maintenance. Locked in the price at 550, not including the dump fee going to and back from the landfill. thats gonna be added to that 550. I think i gave the customer a good rate considering how much time is involved in the job. i probably should have went up to 650. Im learning from my mistakes and slowly growing.
No way! This happened to me tonight! A lady walked over to me while I was cutting a yard a few houses down and she asked how much I would charge to cut her lawn for a one time thing (I normally don’t do one time but I was already there and had extra time) I told her my price of $50 (fairly overgrown edge) and she said “well my guy does it for $30 but he can’t come because his mower is broken down” I wanted to say “one I don’t care what your guy charges I will charge what I am worth, two no wonder he only charges $30 your yard looks like crap and he’s unreliable. She ended up settling for $50 but bitched the whole time.One times are the best...
Man I rarely get people to talk my prices down. Most of the time they just don't respond to my emailed bid or they tell me "they're gonna think about it" and I never hear back haha. Price shoppers are not my customers lol.
I told one that I have a schedule and that if she wanted it done let me know right then, otherwise I'd walk away. She basically told me she was shopping around. I told her while she was shopping around her lawn and bushes were getting bigger and whoever she gets to do it will end up charging her more anyhow.
Man I’ve been watching your stuff for a few weeks. Love it!!! I’m that weekend guy that started out with small gear side work but I charged top dollar and I have never cut a yard that I didn’t get the return call for because like y’all I take pride in my work. I had a lady say that took you twice as long as the guys that used to do it. “The big guys in my area” I asked where are they. She said “well they didn’t do a good job” “Will you come back next week”. She lives next to my wife’s grandmother who I had only started cutting to help her out and now here I am starting a lawncare business because everyone in that neighborhood was fed up with the people doing it. Thanks for all the info you put out it’s helping me charge properly so I don’t hurt the full time guys that actually do good work. This is my second year at it and I am right where I want to be with my work load
Yeah, mine was $65/hour, unless it called for something bigger than a mower. Bobcat was $85/hour plus mobilization, backhoe was $125/hour plus rental and mobilization, loader was $225/hour plus rental and mobilization, it went up from there for excavators and motor graders. Everything had a 2 hour minimum as well. Basic lawn maintenance was different, as I just shot for a straight $65/man hour.
@@jdawg122182 not all areas of the country are like that. Plus, with bid work, if something unexpected comes up, you are screwed. There are benefits to both ways, of course. The trick is to know when to use which method.
Donnie Hauge just told one of my clients that and she was like no no no how is that possible??? You didn’t had to pay for college to do this so I told her yeah but my equipment it’s not cheap what the hell you want me to only charge you for my time but what about my equipment??? It’s need to make money too or how I can keep getting more or fixing it ??
I can totally relate to this, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one. The other day this lady asked how much I would charge just to trim around house, shed, etc.. with string trimmer. This lady had about an acre with a bunch of trees and multiple obstacles to trim around and so I told her $40. She freaked out and said, “ I got people that work way less than that.” If she already had a cheap price, then why is she asking me? Because she wanted to see if she can get it even cheaper! So much for her cheap guys, haven’t even shown up all year to weed eat.
This is Will from Heavy Hitters Lawn Care! I just had a lady get mad because I went to cut her yard. Collected the money she left out. It started to rain so I had to leave and later that night she calls at 8pm and wants me to return her money!!! I’ve been cutting her grass for 2 years now and felt offended that she didn’t trust me. I returned he money and have not cut the grass since....🤷🏿♂️
I don't know how I missed this video, but this was my week with 2 customers last week! No is a beautiful word! I told a customer that there is a difference between frugal and being a Cheapskate! His face when I told him how pricing works for those of us that pay taxes and insurance! 😂👍👍👍
I love it when I bid a job and the costumer says the last guy did it for half of my bid lol then I ask them what happened with the last guy lol then silence lol
I just started raising prices and passing on customers this season and it has definitely payed off. I had someone asking for mulch installation, quoted him $150 and he said that was too much. Just told him I understand, let me know if you change your mind and that was it. Last season was pretty much "take any job that comes across" and it resulted in a lot of time in the sun with not enough to show for it. Dont get me wrong, it was a foot in the door with repeat customers and some good practice for stuff I had never done before, but it was an investment, not a sustainable business model. Those repeat customers this year pay a competitive price thats up to market standards and get a better job than last year. They love it and everyone is happy. Know your worth
Good talk! Yards are $30 minimum here in Denver and if they are super long and overgrown, I charge double cut. Also I am doing pre payment and CASH. Keep up the good work BOSS.
Working for a company. A co worker got a side job and offered to pay me. He went to bid the job on his own, with out help. He wasn't the smartest. He bid a apartment complex, for shrub and, tree trimming, and 10 yards of mulch for $750. After arriving and started working. He realized he was going to loose money. He still had to pay me and another co worker 200 each for the work we did. He ended up paying for the mulch out of pocket. And didnt make anything actually Lost around $400. Poor guy.
I work for a decent size company and whenever anyone comes up to us and asks us to mow their lawn and say “how much do you guys charge to mow” without me looking at the yard or can you give me a price on a cleanup i just give them a business card and let my boss deal with it lol
💯💯💯 Never feel bad about quoting what you're worth! You get what you pay for and you DON'T get what you DON'T pay for. The worst: back and forth "free estimate" abuser that emails, calls and wants to meet on site before or after HIS work hours several times with no regard to your time or effort.
Gearing up to start cutting and landscaping next year. As a refrigeration technician I get what you’re saying entirely. I was trying to explain this to my partner and he doesn’t want to give up work. My best response was we would be leaving money on the table by wasting our time with it.
I personally just started doing yards I have 3 yards right now I charge $40 for my yards because they are 3/4 an acre each and I don’t have a 80,000 rig I have about a 6,000 rig, I don’t have a drug habit either lol, I also push mow the yards with a little 22 in toro. So we are not all bad just trying to grow my business not to say there aren’t people out there that do that stuff.
Fishing Kentucky do your thing, but undercut your time and worth. If you don't raise your price, you will grow rapidly at that price and burn your self out.
Lol I am still learning, you bet. Why do you think I'm trying to share this vital information with new people? Boy, you nailed it. I wasn't insulting the folks coming up. Did you watch the video, or just run to the comments?
Robin from Perfect Property Maintenance Kings here, i quoted a 40ft tall maple tree for a customer that has been with us for 5 years now and quoted her 1800 for hauling it away and cutting it down and the stump grinding. She says ohh no the Chinese guy across the street said he will do it for 600$ because he is doing a lot of them on our street. I said ok no problem..... hope he has the insurance to cover damages when it leans on the roof.
Old boy who I know was retiring from his one and only garden job. He wanted me to take over. 'OK' says I. 'The lady pays me £5 an hour and all the tea I can drink' says old boy. 'I charge £15 an hour and I don't stop for tea' I reply. He looks at me as if I'm mad, 'Well she won't pay that!' He mutters. I pat him on the shoulder and say 'well it is 2017 not 1950' and wander off. Laugh....
Lol I feel you man! I had a guy going back and fourth with me and this other lawn service about how he was charging $55 and I told him $50 and then he came back with “my guy is charging me $45 can you do it for less?” And I hit him with the “that’s cool, that’s a great price I wouldn’t go any lower than that AT ALL! I will not go lower than $50. If it doesn’t work out hit me up!!” Like these people don’t think we’re we dump our waste we get charged, fuel is $$ and maintaining equipment takes $$$ And time! This guy keeps asking me to do a retaining wall but he keeps insisting it needs to less $$$! Lol. Good stories bro!!
I pruned some bushes for a older lady and only charged her $60 to help her out it was three hours of work, she asked my why I charged her $20 an hour and thought that was to much, she was used to paying a druggie $20 to do it. I told her because I brought 1,000’s of dollars in equipment to do the job to be efficient, and I don’t get payed by the hour, I was professional but I never went back
About two months ago I did a power washing job for about 180 for two and a half hours. I checked with the customer before hand to make sure we were good to go. I finish the job, go to my other accounts for that day. A little after I get home I get a call from my client saying that what I charged was way to steep and few 15 year olds get that kind of pay. I told her that we had already agreed on a price beforehand. I told her that she should find a new yard guy.
I bid a million dollar property with half acre of mowing with lots of landscaping to edge. I bid it 50 per mow. Would have rather been at the 75 mark but wanted to get into the neighborhood. She laughed at me and said I’ve never paid over 25 per mow. I laughed back at her and said. I would stick with the company that mowed it for that cost. 25 wouldn’t even pay for gas, crew costs. No wonder they live in a house like that. Tight wads.
Had a client I had to chase payment from, after several months I had enough. I knocked on her door and told her she needed to find another lawn care service. The look on her face was priceless.
I was just talking to my wife about this. I'm so tired of getting the yards no one else will do! I had a family member that works at a motorcycle shops that customizes high end bikes, he wanted a bid, I hit him with 300 bucks a week, BIG property, and he called me over the weekend and said "We can do 100 bucks if you come today". I said no way man. He got offended..lol I have no problem helping people out, elderly, etc! I feel God wants me to, but not a high end bike shop. And definitely not going to let him name the price and tell me to be there that day.
I was an idiot and took a huge yard for a hundred..I was polite and told her I was going to be raising my prices and competing with the rest of the industry she freaked out and fired me …got a quote for 400 bucks a week.. called me and offered me 350 ..I told i don’t need her business.
I had someone inquire from sod Installation. They wanted me to remove the old yard, bring in a yard of compost, bring in new sod all for $650 we were dealing with 1000 sq.ft . I let him go to someone else!!! Can't be working for peanuts in this Texas heat!!!!!
I'm 15 and I bid a 10 yard mulch job for one of my weekly mow accounts at $80 per yard when the going rate is $100 in my area. They said it was too much and that they would do it them selves to only save a few hundred when they are very well off people. They also switched to biweekly and their lawn was a jungle when the called and it took me and another guy 2 hours so I charged for a double cut. It's so annoying how people think that just because your still in school that they can walk all over you🙄 but I'm gonna be laughing when they realize how much 10 yards really is and they'll be out there all weekend😂
I get it - I'm in the pool service industry. Most people don't necessarily want the cheapest, some do, but most want to think they're getting the best deal. The customer needs to be able to recognize your value over others. If they can't see it, you need to be able to articulated it - if you can't or they don't understand it, be prepared to lose the job. And sometimes, it's for the best. As our company has grown I've really started listening to my intuition regarding bad customers and it has been extremely helpful in reducing my stress regarding the deadbeats, the cheapskates and the "I want some free stuff" accounts.
Man been working for my uncle since I was like 12 just turned 30 made 3 quotes even cut my profit by like 100 bucks on 6 pallets of sod. The guy was like well I cant afford that and that's to much. I legit in my head said well sorry dude find some side jobber that will lose money on this job I have taxes and employees to pay plus delivery.
I had one like that before. I was like.. that's the point, to make it look like a golf course / look manicured. They wanted me to alternate each stripe each week to make it look more matte. I couldn't stand it. Dropped.
I had a guy once that wasn’t happy with his current lawn care guy and told me he was paying $35. I told him immediately I wasn’t touching his yard for less than $50 and there’s a reason he wasn’t happy with his service. He never gave me specifics on how he wanted it cut. After I’m finished he pays me , says he’s happy and I leave. Come back the next time to cut again and he says that “ his wife wasn’t happy with the direction i cut the yard. “ I went up and down and apparently she wanted it side to side. Needless to say he’s back to his original guy. And still not happy.
Brian so true on keeping our prices up for what we do! These low ballers will so realize they don't have a business. They are just busting their butts for absolutely nothing! I can't tell you how many times we get calls from customers saying my lawn guy disappeared. I told one of my new clients "want to know why he disappeared?" Because he was charging you a ridiculously small amount and soon realized he needed to quit the business because he wasn't making any money. He was basically cutting you for free.
Personally I am 19 years old and have been cutting since I was 10. I do multiple different jobs and average out at around 20 yards a week. I do all this alone. I have multiple stories like the one you also have. I am pretty firm with my prices and very competitive with other companies. One of the funniest stories I have is actually backwards from yours. I had a woman once who I quoted her yard at $50. She said ok thats fine I will give you $75 to do it. It baffled me and hit me in a weird way. To say the least I took the job with no questions haha.
Jordan Oglesby I told this guy I’d do his lawn for $50 and he gave me $100 because he thought I meant just $50 for the front only, not backyard. I tried giving his money back but he was very happy with the service?
I did that once to a street vendor in Cancun. Walking by the first time he tried to haggle me down to $15 for a blanket but I walked on by. I wanted one but didn't want to carry it all day before heading back to the boat. So on our way back, I told him I'd take two blankets for $40. He was probably laughing at me but I know he's trying to make a living too.
had a customer call me for a spring clean up.. huge property, tons of sticks and leaves. I charged 200, he said he had a guy for 85. I sad good luck. 2 weeks later I get a call back from him asking me to come back and re do the cleanup because all they did was blow the leaves into the corner and didn't pick up a single stick. I still told him 200 and after wasting 85 on the other guy he agreed, but said... Greg, I never made 200 dollars in a day when I was growing up.
I work for an equipment rental company. I know how people are over prices of rental. Landscape companies are the only ones who never give us any crap. The majority of the public want something for nothing. So I understand completely what you definitely go through!!!
As a homeowner, I've learnt from experience that you usually get what you paid for... and at the end of the day the thing that matters (to me at least) was that the job was done right. How do you keep, or rather - How do you know that your prices are competitive with the other lawn-care companies in your area and how do you adjust prices against competition ?
Jason Coelho Most Landscaping companies know their competitive prices from Clients and most of us are buddy-buddy with atleast a couple of other companies. We can see the price range out there. I'm 16 years old and just started my landscaping business this year. I had a horrible problem with undercharging and now I'm starting to charge more per lawn. I'm extremely competitive with the Landscaping companies in my area because quite frankly. I've never seen such shitty quick work in my life.
100% totally agree. In regards to pricing, it's just kind of simple math knowing the industries numbers, but I will say anytime I don't get work, I just say "hey off the record, what did they bid this for", or "what did you end up going with if you don't mind me asking". I'd say 4 out of 5 times folks give me the #. Usually I'm within 5-10%. You just kind of dial it in over time. I have said many times before, you don't learn by winning. You learn by losing. And I have lost a LOT over the last decade. Thus I am getting pretty razor sharp on things. But, I will tell you straight up, I still am learning every single day, now more than ever. It's definitely an exciting time!
Spot on. I would add that you have to know how much it costs for your company just to exist first, THEN you have to know how much it costs you to operate your business. THEN you dial in where you need to be in your market rate. Also, a lot of companies just call competitors and ask what their rates are, as if they were a potential customer.
I had someone who wanted me to mow a church on a 3 acre lot and they told me that they would pay me 15$ an hour. I said that's not my rate and I can't do the job for that cheap. They said that's what the last kid told them he would charge and I explained that the kid probably didn't have decent equipment or insurance but if they wanted the job done for that much they could always call him back. I was then told that the kid isn't doing lawns anymore so I said, probably because he realized he couldn't afford to do the job at 15$ an hour
A couple years back had a customer who wanted a mowing estimate. Showed up , walked around and it was an easy $40 lawn. Knocked on door and spoke with a lady told her the price. She told me no no that is way too high my last guy did it for $25. I said Lady you better find that guy's number and walked back to the truck.
Our minimum charge for a small yard is 35 and goes up depending on lawn sice .. most people whant to may 25 that doesn't pay for your gas. Labor and the cost of the equipment.
That's my favorite, "I've gotta guy who...." I'm the same way as you Brian, "Good luck with them" and usually in a few weeks I'll get a text or voicemail "this guy is unreliable, let's it get over grown, looks terrible, I paid them & they never came back" type of message. I tell customers you pay for quality I just try to be consistent with what I do and take a lot of pride in my work.
Looked at a lawn that was just under a foot high, rough terrain, and about 3/4 of an acre. I quoted her along with my explanation of why so. She says " Well, I have never paid more than $50 for any of my lawns". My first thought was "Well, where are these people now?". Of course, I didn't say this to her. I just said "ok, if at any point they don't work out for you, here is my flyer. I appreciate your time". Btw... I quoted her $75 for basic knock down, $90 with trim and knock down, $110 for trim-mow-bag. Does this sound right? I am in NE Ohio.
I appreciate these stories. I'm new to the business and have already experienced a few of these scenarios. Was really wondering of it was my own misfortune. I feel much better now lol.
Hi Brian, it Rene with Mow Texas Lawn and shredding just Starting out my Lawn business and I'm very excited and been following your blog. I also will be putting up videos on big projects with my 45 hp tractor and shredding. I will be doing small lawns also. I can't wait to kick it off
Can't agree more, don"t say no just say that you can't do the job and service them the way they deserve at that price, so when they don't get what they expect from the other guy they will want to come back to you. I would also point out that someone not insured or licensed will cost way more with one claim on their homeowners policy if they hurt themselve doing the work. I once was eager and worked like Brian and burned out so the next year I raised my prices 25% and lost half my jobs, but ended up making more profit for that yea, go figure. Just as a note the half that I had lost were all back as my customers within 2 years at the higher rate anyway because it isnt about the cost, its about the service that you provide.
I’m not a lawn care guy I’m a auto detailer and it’s the same problem. I have guys ask pricing for 50-60k pick ups and never want to pay what is quoted. They always say do it for less than half of what’s quoted I never respond to price shoppers. They’re the worst ppl to do work for will always find an excuse to not pay or ask for a discount
This isn’t exactly what you asked for, but I get annoyed when they expect me to show up the same day. My “favorite” is when an apartment group calls the day before a big corporate inspection and wants us to come clean up the whole property... and they usually want it to be free because we already do maintenance.
Definitely soaking my head right now in the information you are giving me because I've been going and beating myself up with all this that you were talking about right now
Just a couple months ago I had a gentleman who was Hindu or Indian and they requested through HomeAdvisor wanting or seeking services for lawn care. So I come out give a fair bid and the name of this development had country club in the name sounded fancy and lot of these yards were very nice yards. The lot size was about between .3 and .4 of an acre. During season he has it fertilized often so I told him it would be $65 every week includes mow trim and edging of the sidewalks every two weeks. So he'd try to tell me that that was too expensive and 1/2 Price Harry would mow his yard three times for fifty bucks. So I explain that I do not drop my gate for less than 35 no matter what and depending how big the yard was the prices go up from there. I tried to explain to the guy that gas prices wasn't like they were five six years ago but as a business owner were always wrong in the customer always seems right no matter what they say. I told him that if he plans on having me coming back after half price Harry destroys his yard it's probably going to be double.
Customers who feel as if they are ALWAYS right, to the point to vocalize it, are no customers of mine. The only person who can pull that ish on me is my wife.
I got a story for you Brian! It's opposite though, I was the (potential) customer. Couple neighborhood kids knock on my door maybe 11-13 year old kids. Asking if I would like them to cut my lawn. I actually was really happy they were ambitious enough to knock on the door so I wanted to hire them even though at the time I was broke. My yard took me about 20 mins to cut with a push mower pretty easy! I ask the boys what they would charge me for my yard the kid looked me dead in the eyes with a serious face and said 55 bucks! In my head I was laughing but I wasn't harsh with the kid or anything. I asked the kid what he had for equipment, again with a very serious look on his face he said I don't have equipment I'll need to use yours and he explained he has no way of getting gas to fill my equipment! I tried negotiating him down to a reasonable price but he wouldn't budge haha! I hope I didn't discourage his entrepreneurial attitude!
Me and my step dad run our own construction company. It’s not huge usually a 4 or 5 guy crew for big jobs. We are fully licensed and insured so no funny business from us, but we have a repeat customer who is ALWAYS trying to get us to do work basically at cost so little to no profit to us. Obviously that’s not how it works and we go through it every time. (we only keep working with him because of the amount of work he has and we’ve been working with him for about 10 years) but we were doing this apartment remodel for him. The whole apartment down to studs and basically replace everything in the place that hasn’t been cleaned in like 7 years (the tenant was a hoarder) so we clean it. We sanitize it. We do everything. And he knows the whole time what it’s gonna cost. The job ends and we go to get paid. So for the 3 months it took to fix the place (between the city permits, new electric, plumbing, new walls etc.) we hand home a bill for roughly 35k.....he comes back and tries to pay 13k.....after a month of us not fixing anything at his main business he relents and pays what is owed.
One time I had a customer who wanted her flower bed FULLY cleaned and just down to the dirt, so thats what I did and when I told her that It would be $200 which is low at that for the work done, she started cussing and going on a whole thing about how a kid shouldn't charge that much for busy work. She wanted to pay $90 and I told her $125 no less, if not ill just put it all back. Needless to say she paid.
I ran a lawn service years ago & had a customer whose dad owned an oil company at one time. She was well off and had a nice home. She had a sunroom added on that took up some of the lawn. I cut her grass and left her the bill, she sent me a letter asking how could I charge her the same amount when there was less lawn to cut with the new addition. Plus she typed the question in red ink. Couldn't believe it, she has a 12K addition built then wanted me to charge her less because of less area to cut. Same lady came running out one day telling me my brand new Toro self-propelled mower with a blade clutch wasn't picking up. I told her I paid over $600.00 for the mower and it was their best one at the time. I should have walked away then.
Here is one for you. It happened six/seven summers ago. A guy called us to mow his lawn and to prune and weed the beds in his pool area. He said it was wife’s birthday present. He wanted 4 guys dressed in short black shorts and work boots only. No shirts or hats!. We where to get all dirty and sweated up and to dance by his wife. LOL. My wife overheard the call and it all ended there! I doubt if I would of ido the job anyway as he only waned to pay $ 100.!
i had a client tell me that she was only going to pay me for the cost of the mulch, 12 yards of mulch, n not a penny more. she wanted me to install for free. i no longer speak to her lol , some people are crazy. from tac pac ground maintenance in pa. love the videos keep them coming, i learn alot from the channel
Once bid a mowing for a potential client needing only the front yard mowed. Would have taken maybe 12 minutes, told him $35 (which is my bare minimum). He then paused and said "You could use my mower, you wouldn't have to use your big mower". My response was "That would cost you more". 😂
I quoted a woman $450 for monthly maintenance of her large, well-manicured property full of bushes, trees, and other things she wanted kept up. She wanted a monthly total, so that's what it would be. The woman threw my estimate down in the driveway, said it was highway robbery and that her last guy (who had apparently been doing it for 20+ years) did it for $100/month. I tried to explain that I couldn't afford to do it for that price. She ran inside and slammed the door on me. I'm actually glad I didn't get it.
I started out my business doing tree and shrub removal. I quoted a tree job at a rental property for 800.00. The tree was dead and hung over a small portion of his house, his fence, his neighbors yard and his mailbox. After I told him the quote he stated to me that his son had a friend who said he would do it for 300.00. I asked the guy what he was doing calling me if he could get it done for 300.00. He stated that he just wanted a second opinion. I told the customer that I hoped that the son's friend had insurance, that if he needed anymore assistance call me and to have a good day. Needless to say, he didn't call back haha.
So what’s your guys best funny story of someone telling you your price was too high, or what they expected to pay but it was way in left field? Share them down below!
Too many to tell honestly, now my company is established enough that people in my town are banging on my door to get their landscaping and lawns done by me!! I give them estimates or invoices and they all bitch! bitch! bitch! hahaha Im at that point where I can tell just but how you talk to me through phone, text, email, and in person wether we will work out or not. And when I go on landscape design quotes I always ask at some point what their budget is or how much they think something like this will cost just to get a feel for if they're tire kickers or not.
I watched this video this morning. About six hours later I'm mowing a three-stop and this guy asks me how much to just bust his front yard. His front yard is smaller than a miniature golf green, and he told me he doesn't need me to trim or anything. "Just cut it" he says. Also, the guy is super nice. He always hollers over to me and asks how I'm doing. His German Shepard greets me regularly. Just a great guy. "Ten Bucks" I reply. . . SHOOT - Brian just told me NOT to do that.
What do you charge per hour/acre I am starting up a Lawn Care Business and don’t know what to charge
Brian's Lawn Maintenance I am not in lawns... I build cabinets... but one time a guy told me he would pay 3000 for 10500 to 15000 worth of cabinets... he told me there was some guy that did them for cheap... I told him to go with him... the guy called me a week later and played me for the cabinets
Lol
I'm 14. Someone wanted me to cut their grass for $10. WOW. He said I should be happy with that money for my age. I told him $30
Lol. That's awesome, good for you buddy. By the time your 17 you'll make more money then him with that attitude. Good luck!
Dominic Rosiak I started at 14 as well I’m 17 now keep it up!
I started when I was 12 and my first customer ever was $20 and then last year I was 18 the price went up slowly sense then to $50 per cut. Now I did end up losing him as a customer but your worth what your worth. You live and learn. #Jared'sLawnCareLLC
Dominic Rosiak Good for you buddy. If it’s $30 to everyone else then it’s $30 to you.
Exact same thing happened to me. Except im 15.
We have been doing the maintenance + mulch for this condo for 18 years and got fired because a much younger kid quoted the weekly cut by almost half of what we were originally doing it for. He couldn't do the mulch or any additional work so they had to contract all the other maintenance out. Fast forward 2 years they asked for us to rebid... we upped our price by $40 more per cut then what we were doing it for 2 years ago:) it pays to do PROFESSIONAL work. Thanks Brian.
Booya!
Maannnn have I got a good one for you. Had a lady call me about cutting a tree down. I take a look quote her $1000 she says that's too much someone else on social media could do it for cheaper. I told her cheaper isn't better and keep in mind my insurance covers up to 4 million in damages. She isn't interested. I leave and 2 weeks later she's ranting online how this guy came and dropped the tree right into her in ground pool breaking all the concrete including the pool wall. Needless to say no insurance. Everyone starts telling her off for being cheap and how she should have verified insurance b4.
Karma ha
Omg I love stories like that. She got exactly what she deserved. And you know what... next time... she'll still try to find the cheapest quote.
That’s an amazing story 😂
I went solo(fertilizer) 5 years ago and no looking back. I have more business than I can handle and turn down work every week that isn't worth the $$$. At the end of each season any slow payers or general pain in the "A" people get dropped before the next season starts. Once I decided to not tolerate a-holes, my business improved because my attitude got better!
So all you do is fertilize the lawns?
My best one was a $10,000 retaining wall, the guy says, will you take $5,000 . I said sure , when you get the other $5,000 we’ll finish the job... The look on his face was priceless
Steve D. That's great lol
Lol
haha, that hilarious!
Nice lol.
Awesome reply
Funny story: Some guy wanted me to use his own equipment to cut his grass so he could get a better deal, and his lawn was about an acre. I repeatedly told him no because I need to use my own gear, but just for fun, I asked what he thought a fair price was... and he said $10. I then declined and he emailed me a long speech about how since I am young I need to take whatever work I can get, and I just started laughing. Keep the videos coming Brian, I really enjoy them and the tips you provide for young business owners like myself.
10 dollars for 1 acre holly hell lol some people hu
Love it buddy. Nice work!
You could make more money at Mc D's.
Most people don’t take care of their small engines and equipment. You would have spent half the day fixing poor machines for your $10 .
@@gamer-uf4tb "That's like... a dollar an hour!"
-Napolean Dynamite
Just bidded a .15 acre property. Im still growing so ill do biweekly here and there but im starting to go weekly. Told them biweekly will be $40 and almost immediately they said the kid next door cut it for $15 the previous year. I was like "great! but my company supports child labor laws so here's my price call me if you want to sign up"
I love that one hahajahahahha
I was going to give a leaf cleanup estimate for an old lady a few weeks back. I get to the house and walk around with her to look at what needs done and she's asking me "you give senior discounts, right?" So I just say yes even when I know I'll charge normal price. I told her $175 and she immediately said that she has a guy that could do it for $80 and that she wad on a fixed income. Literally as she is telling me that, her husband opens the garage door to a brand new Buick and Lincoln. First off, why are you getting other guys to give you estimates if you have a cheap guy??? And have brand new cars. Will never let people screw my prices
Mj Gamble "I live on a fixed income" ...get that a lot. My reply: Try living on a variable income. Wanna trade?
She said she was on fixed income, not her husband. J/k 🤣
I actually just had a guy last week who I gave a quote to for 9 yards of mulch. I quoted him $850. He asked me if I could do it for $500. When I told him that was a little low he gave me probably a 10 -15 minute talk on the average American income and why my price was too high. By the end of his spiel I told him that it wasn’t going to work out and that he should find somebody else.
Lol
I’ve been through stuff like this. Here’s what I say in the nicest way possible. If you don’t have money to spend, you’re not someone who gets your property mulched.
If you wanna save money and still have the work done. DO IT YOURSELF. Simple concept
I just got a second hand Mighty Mac Allen chipper shredder. I'm rocking Tanaka and Ego. I've been led up many a garden path. The style is expensive. Thanks for the video
$100 per yard is a reasonable price I think! That’s what I charge
9 yards of mulch is a lot of mulch...especially when your broke like this guy claimed.
Was mulching a regular customer's house when there elderly neighbor asked me to spread a 3 yard pile of mulch she had delivered an hour earlier. I told here $100 bucks, she agreed. After I was finished she didn't like the color of the mulch, dyed red hate the stuff, and wanted me to clear out the beds and take it away. She ordered the mulch and we agreed on the price right next to the pile of red mulch. She went inside and her even older husband came out and handed me $80 and told me that's all I'm giving you and turned around and went inside. Later that year, husband asked me to mow while they were on vacation. Told him $60 for a minimum charge yard.
He replied the boy down the street would do it for $10.
Go talk to the boy down the street, was my retort as I got in my truck and drove away.
Haven't seen either one since.
good for u .He still owes u 20 bucks
No kidding. I dropped down to a one man operation this year. I have half the accounts I had ten years ago but make more money. That's EXACTLY what I tell people. I'm covered up, not hard up for work so I don't barter
Boom!
Yup, love my one man operation with a bit of assistance here and there.
We had someone claim we stole her $2 hand shovel. A week later she called back to say she found it, but when we mowed today we left ruts in the yard. Only thing was, we didn't mow her yard that day.. Needless to say it was time to part ways lol
Lol welcome to the world of dealing with hoomans like that
Grass Daddy was up
I work in the neighborhood where average price to mow the lawn is $25. I work for this customer for about 7 years and one day she tells me that some landscaper quoted her $16.50 and she asked me if I drop the price. I kindly offered her to give that guy my phone number, so he works on my own lawn. We don't cut her grass anymore, but she asked us to do garden maintenance, because the 16.50 guy can't tell the difference between flowers and weeds.
Thank you for your inspiration and motivation.
There ya go bud. I feel ya. I've had a few tell me "$18", I just look at them and go "to be honest, if he's paying taxes and does a good job, you should go with him b/c that's a great price". It never ends up happening, and they always call me and say $25 is fine.
For my business, I offer price match for bids that are provided only from professional and licened business. 1 customer was showing me another bid and wanted me to match the price. The FUNNY part, he was trying to make me match the required 50% down payment with the other conpany. I explained to him that was your down payment, and upon completion (at the bottom of his invoice) states another x dollars was due. He demanded i would match the downpayment total for my whole job. LOL no.
This is so true, I can relate to everything you said lol, I had a lady call me looking for regular lawn care as her existing gardener had quit, and literally told me how much she was was going to pay me based on what her previous gardener was charging. We have this problem in the UK also, when you go in with a competitive price based on the quality of service you provide and you get well my other gardener only charged...my response is if you want some drunk guy on a push bike rocking up at your home with a four pack thats your choice, if you want a professional tradesman who is on time / insured / registered / paying tax etc...you pay accordingly for that level of service. We are constantly fighting these weekend warriors looking for beer money, fortunately though more and more people are realising that you get what you pay for.
I was working a leaf job. The neighbor came over and said I need to pick hers up as they all came from the yard I was working on. Told her that I did not feel it was fair for me to charge my customer for working in someone else's yard. However I would be happy to work at picking up her leaves at the same rate. I think its a smarter business move to name your price and if, for what ever reason its declined, then be the bigger person by disengaging the conversation without being demeaning to anyone. To me that's a mark of maturity and professionalism.
Agreed!
I have a couple of boys that just got out of high school, one of which lost his lower arm in a skiing accident a couple of years ago. They are trying to do some mowing for a few bucks. I refer folks that are tightwads to them. Everyone wins. The boys win, the customer gets a cheaper, albeit potentially lower quality job, and I have not offended a potential future customer.
I had a customer that moved in next door to two properties I take care of and his father lived with them and stopped me one day and asked me how much and I said $45 since I was already there and he said I was way too high and declined. The next week the son came out and asked me and I said $50 because I kinda figured where it was going and the son hired me so it cost them $5 extra a trip. Kinda funny how that worked out.
Haha nice
Great video Brian! Raised the prices this year for our company because we do great quality work, and we know what we are worth! Anyways... had this customer for 5 years price of his cut was 25$ raised it to 30$ this year complained it was too much yet whole family are doctors and driving there brand new corvette, shaking my head not worth my time!
One had a customer who called for a fall leaf clean-up. I gave the wife a email with the price and she agreed and scheduled us to come out . We come out and get the yard clean, all beds, everything super clean.
I go in to hand over invoice and the wife was not home just the husband (older couple , he was a veteran very nice guy in his late 70s) . I give him the invoice and says wow $265.00 for the leaf clean up.
I explain that it was the last clean-up of the year no other clean-up was done earlier in the fall. We brought two truck one with our back pack blowers, little wonders , rakes, tarps. And our leaf vac truck to suck them up. He tells me the last guys he has last year he wold give them $40 bucks each. I asked him what happen to them. He said they had to go back to their country . I told him we were fully insured had 4 guys , two trucks, equipment so that’s why our price was what it was. At 40 bucks I couldn’t even pay to dump the leaves lol.
Great story! Wow yeah some people don’t understand that they are also paying for the consistency. I bet if they called you back next year you would be there for them. Not somewhere else.
I just had a lady call me a week ago that wanted her gutters cleaned. 2 story house 15 gutter sections. I told her my price and she said whoa, my last guy who did it only charged me $30 to do it. I said where's he at now and she said oh well he don't do this line of work anymore. Ding ding ding, and would $30 be the reason? Lol.
I bid a job once that was several acres and the grass was knee high. It was so big, and with all the weedeating, it was 2 days work. I bid it at $1,200-$1,500. Big job! The guy laughs at my bid then tells me i must mean $120 because that’s what someone else bid it at! I laugh back at him and told him I need to talk to this guy because I want to sell him ocean land in Kansas. I’ll even sell him the bridge that goes over it cheap. He was like I think $120 is fair. I said I bet you do bud, you take care! Haha.
Funny I had some similar it was over an acre of land, on a hill and about 3ft tall. I charge him $2000 to cut only $2500 to haul debris and he said he knew someone who would do it for $500. I just said ok and walked away
I do trees I told customer 1500 (which was low) to remove huge dead pecan over there house they had a guy do it for 800$ 2 weeks later I ran a chainsaw in there living room
lol people would get upset when I explained to them that my insurance did not cover tree work and that I would NOT give them a bid for it no matter what.
Your comment cracks me up. I love that story. I love how people don't think we know anything except how to mow grass. lol
All the time Man. Saw a guy 20 feet up. No line. No lanyard. No PPE. Lowes husky limbing a pine with his woman in the Toyota Corolla running in the driveway.
The only time I do trees is if they're fairly small and in a place that I'm not like to destroy anything by felling them. I'm pretty good at felling, but you never damn well know. Sometimes there's rot inside the tree that you can't see and even a precision cut might not be enough for it to fall the way you want it to.
Lmao 😂 that is awesome
Window cleaning. But had a person request a quote.
Gave my price. Person says “ wow” last guy did it for not even half of that!”
I say. “ why are you not using him anymore?”
Customer “ well he stopped coming around”
I say “ you know why?” .......silence..
“ he’s dead. He starved to death”
Customer. “ Can you do them today?”
Lol
Hahahaha
Lololol
This is gold lmao
This is great LUL
I had a local grocery store, right on the main street here in town, that I was doing for $70 and had been doing it for that for several seasons. Times were changing and it had always been worth more than that anyway, due to a lot of trash on the property and size but I needed the work. As the next season was approaching, I had planned to call them and go up. Before I could do that, they called me and asked if I would do it for less. I said, "NO...I was actually going to go up this year." They said, "Well, we found someone who will do it cheaper." I said "OK...thanks for your business for the last several years and good luck." About two or three weeks later, they left a message for me with my wife, wanting to know what I would charge just to trim and edge because the new guy didn't do that. And, it was obvious that he didn't. The sidewalks especially looked like crapola. I never even called them back. They continued to look like crap for the remainder of the season. BTW...I no longer need the work...
in my area I’m competing with a lot of retired pensioners looking for extra cash in hand, they’re the low ballers but they don’t care, because they’re slow, do a bad job and don’t have anything else to do in their spare time.
When someone tells me that the last guy did it for cheaper, we normally come to a mutual agreement and meet half way, or if it’s still too low, I normally just compare my other customers and tell them it wouldn’t be fair to them if I quoted a cheaper price.
I sometimes put myself in their shoes and say: if you’re going to charge more at least I deserve an explanation. Sometimes prices can be overwhelming for them so I always explain how it goes down in the lawn industry and why my rates are what they are, at least that way they know why they are paying what you’re asking for because on the first day, they don’t know you, they don’t know if you’ll do a good job.
Hey brian, im a 16 yearold that has a small landscaping buisness. I love working outside so i enjoy doing landscaping very much. I charge 30 to $40 a lawn. I am not the most expensive but also not the cheepest. Although i dont have insurance i make a contract saying i can not sue the costomer if i get hurt and if i damage anything i have to replace it. Im not here to steal jobs from you guys but to save up for community college and also a house. I work my ass off and hustle every day, every hour. whether its school related (i go to a trade school to become an electrician) or for my business. I put it this way, every dollar i make now is one more closser to a million. Everyone has dreams, im on the trail to meeting mine
Thank you for your videos, they have inspired me and are helping me throughout my journey.
Dude...Working without insurance is a huge gamble that you should NOT be taking. Insurance isn't that much. What if a rock comes out from under your deck at about mach 9 and takes out a kid's eye? How you gonna "fix" that. You are in BIG trouble. What if you hit a piece of steel that kills someone? It is just the pinnacle of foolishness. Million bucks of liability at a minimum. Your rates are based on how much business you do and you should not lie about this to get a better rate. If you get caught, not only might you be hammered for insurance fraud, they might also refuse to pay that accidental death claim you just made. Insurance companies are always looking for a reason to NOT pay. It's just the cost of doing business.
I hear ya osbornes5, fhank you for the information.
He is 16, he can't get a GL policy.
You aren't necessarily stealing jobs from anyone, you are working. $30-40 can be reasonable depending on the yard and your market rate.
I put a bid in on a residential 12 yard mulch job last month. 5 of those yards were making new landscape beds and planting new shrubs WITH a year warranty on the plants. My bid came in around $1,700 and she flipped. After I explained to her that all that money isn't going straight into my pocket, she calmed down and said she'd think about it. Got a call two weeks later saying "can you do it for $900 if you use newspapers instead of landscape fabric?" She wasn't happy when I told her it would probably cost her more in labor if I used the newspapers.
Had a crazy old lady call me during the Spring boom and said, “I’m a senior citizen on a fixed income. You’re going to mow my yard and you’re going to do it for cheap.”
I told her we have a $40 minimum but we weren’t going to be able to take on her property. She practically yelled back at me, “$40 FOR A SENIOR CITIZEN?!”
Nothing against seniors on fixed incomes but if they lead with that in the conversation you know they are going to be a pain.
I’ve had that happen. I’m only 13 so I don’t have a lot of expenses just my mower and I charged the guy $25 cuz I really wanted the job and then I found out other professionals were charging $80-$100! Could’ve charged him 60 and he would said yes (all my yards are around $30 each). Great vid Brian!
Most common thing i run into is additional work that comes with lawn mowing i.e shrub trimming , weeding , mulch and so on . I always get a crazy look when I charge $40 a man and I work with one guy so $80/hour . Thats what I shoot for anyway . They tell me my price is too high and I just smurk and say " But you dont have a problem paying $40 for a yard that takes 20 min to do ? " LOL I guess most just think you're supposed to be happy to get additional work so it should be cheap ? I dont know honestly , I am really thinking of going to strictly mowing , no bagging , mow and go type business model . Make my money during peak season and storing money away for the slower parts of the year . The extra work also screws up scheduling when I have a ton of yards to mow too . Good video Brian!
I literally got to the point where the customer ($300k house) wanted me to trim all his hedges,rake up the debris, haul it off.. Last guy did it for $35.. My response, "Please tell me you still have his number, "No why', because you might want to call him back. Well he went out of business... Smh
good one I will start raising my price
Gave a bid for mowing in a high end gated area. Property was good size and had a spare lot. Wanted the spare lot cut biweekly, told them $85 for everything, person goes "I thought every property in this area was $35." Have a nice day, on to the next! Couldn't agree more. Keep it up.
Lol yeah I've gotten those too. Costs me $20 in gas and a set of dull blades for those empty lots. I don't do any of them anymore, it's just not worth it. Plus I hate the crazy bugs that come from those fields. Nasty
Yea, wasn't overgrown or anything just more to mow. Still not gonna do everything for $35. Needless to say we didn't provide any services to that individual. Have also had people ask for senior citizen discounts. Still takes same amount of time, fuel, etc to mow an elderly persons as a young persons lawn.
I was doing a job years ago($1,400.00 labor job) to completely Trim up all of the shrubs,deadwood and prune the trees,including the tops of four15-20ft. Trees. The client and I had a nice understanding on the job and we went over every single thing that I would be doing.Later that day,she complimented the work when she got home(at this point, I had done ALL of the deadwooding and a rough trim on all of the shrubs). I had a 6x12 trailer full of the brush from her job,which I was planning on dumping the next day.
Near the end of the day, she randomly asked me how I was going to shape the top of the 50-60ft. Trees on her property????? I was like,”oh ma’am, that wasn’t part of the 4 trees that we discussed for the shaping. I showed her where I had quoted it for the top of only those trees(the ones that I could reach).
She said,” I WONT pay you if those aren’t trimmed….
Ummmm,what? I told her that there was no way that I could reach those,and that I never quoted that. She stated that,”the guy down the street gave her a quote for them.” To which I replied,”Why didn’t you use him for the job then?” This was also the first time she had even mentioned these trees throughout the bidding/job. I got my equipment and went home for the day,wondering if she’d reach her senses. That didn’t happen and she still wanted me to trim these monster trees that you’d need a bucket for(plus the price would be way more for these services).
Early the next morning, I cut my losses and drove my trailer back to her house. I dumped ALL of the brush on her front grass,making sure that it wasn’t in the street or covering the fire hydrant. As I was headed to a different job, she called me up furious. Told me that ,”she was a lawyer and could sue me if I didn’t get the brush and dump it(she wasn’t paying for anything at this point). I told her that she was changing the job and ripping me off in the process. I also told her that I had done $500.00 worth of work so far and to call a different company to chip the brush up. Wasn’t my problem anymore.
People are crazy. Only time in 9 years I cut my losses like that. Busier than I ever have been in my life and loving it. I still think of that lady and laugh.
I had a lady call me and ask me if I could mow her yard. She had about a 4 acre country property and after some convincing, she agreed to my price. I was surprised but went with it. After the first couple mows for the season, she told me that she wanted me to also take her trash cans to the end of her driveway, pick up her mail, and paint an old wrought iron bench she had while I was there every week. To top all that she asked if I could be on call if she needed some firewood brought in for the evenings.....
I politely called her and told her no and that I didn’t do those services. Her response..... “WELL FINE!” “click”. One of the weirdest ones I’ve gotten so far!
Enjoy watching your videos Brian, keep up the good work!
Matthew Hawk sounds like she was fishing for a new”Cabana Boy”
Your so right about customers telling the price! I saw a Facebook ad $20 to cut my lawn. And some landscaping company commented "You wouldn't tell an electrician or a plumber how much you would pay them. Call me if you need an estimate."
Exactly
I absolutely love this video! Teaches self-worth. I value your advise so much Brian! I've been building my business since may and I've learned a lot! One day I was doing a property and the front door neighbor asked to get an estimate on 2 lawns side-by-side. My avg. Price is $50 biweekly and it was about the right size and when I told her she flipped cause she had a guy do the work for $20 a lawn. My $100 vs. His $40. I said if you want to save money go with him however if you want it done professionally call me. And I turned my back and walked away. And we are talking half an acre or grass shrubs and palm trees.
Love it pal, totally
If a customer low balls, I offer to pay that client that same price to do it themselves. They usually decline.
This is good! Im going to use this one.
Genius LMAO I'm stealing that one from ya , you know that lawyer isn't trying to do that
The price is the price. Take it or leave it. I am not there to drive down the market rate for my industry in my area. My minimum charge for a mow was $35, didn't matter how small the lawn was.
My story is kind of the opposite of what you asked for. I had a word-of-mouth customer call me out for a bid. We walked the property in an extremely high end neighborhood. I told him when to expect my bid via email, and he said " I have heard about your work. I don't care what number you give me, you have the job." I did NOT gouge him, but I did make good money on servicing his property and it was a year round contract with snow removal, and they didn't even live there in the winter.
I had a customers Daughter call me up and said I took advantage of her Mother. I charged her $200 for a leaf clean up which is more than fair. It took me about 3 hours and I had to haul them away. Luckly, I have a place to dump for free. She said that I should only work for $10 dollars per hour because leaf clean up isn't skilled labor. She also said that she would clean them up, but between work and going back to college she didn't have time. By this time, I had enough of her shit. I told her, well obviously you're not majoring in business. She said, SCREW YOU! and hung up. Lmao! Dont have them as a customer anymore.
Keith Dougherty I'm 19 and I work in almost all of the trades from construction to mechanics and welding and trees etc etc. But, I also run my own businesses on most of it and started an engineering and a business degree, these other kids my age though.....i HATE my generation so bad but atleast here in Texas it's not nearly as bad as elsewhere. When I was in california........
How did you determine $200 is "more than fair"? If you're raking and leaf blowing it is unskilled labor. If you come in with a leaf vac system then it falls into skilled labor or typical bill rate. Its why you see crews of immigrants with backpack blowers do leaf cleanup at estates and apartment complexes. Probably billed at $25 hour per man and employee gets $10 to $15.
onagoodday627 I do have a leaf vac, but I didn't use it on that job. I still had my truck, trailer, commercial ztr riding mower, backpack blower and a walk behind with a side bagger. That stuff is not cheap. Not to mention, taxes and insurance. That job, I could have got $250 to $300. I under bid it :( The cost of living is high where I live. IMO, yes, leaf clean up isn't skilled labor, but a business is a business. If she wanted to, she could have found a kid down the road to do it for $10 an hour.
If she knew you came in with all of that equipment and still thought it was a $10 an hour job, then she definitely deserved what you said.
$200 was a bargain for three hours of work from a pro.
Mobile mechanic here, whenever a customer tries to tell me a price I always tell them a shop doesn't negotiate neither do I, my prices are literally half of what shops charge you take it or leave it
Flooring mechanic here,lady agrees too pay me 200 for doing her basement steps with a little carpet that was left over from doing her house ,when I got done she tried too pay me with all kinds of old things she had that should have been thrown out years ago including an old iron and ironing board. i got my money
@@gregorymandile2321 lmao I would have threaten to undo my work
I agree Brian. I have been in the business for a few weeks now and working a commercial property cleanup/ lawn maintenance. Locked in the price at 550, not including the dump fee going to and back from the landfill. thats gonna be added to that 550. I think i gave the customer a good rate considering how much time is involved in the job. i probably should have went up to 650. Im learning from my mistakes and slowly growing.
No way! This happened to me tonight! A lady walked over to me while I was cutting a yard a few houses down and she asked how much I would charge to cut her lawn for a one time thing (I normally don’t do one time but I was already there and had extra time) I told her my price of $50 (fairly overgrown edge) and she said “well my guy does it for $30 but he can’t come because his mower is broken down” I wanted to say “one I don’t care what your guy charges I will charge what I am worth, two no wonder he only charges $30 your yard looks like crap and he’s unreliable.
She ended up settling for $50 but bitched the whole time.One times are the best...
Lol, love it.
Man I rarely get people to talk my prices down. Most of the time they just don't respond to my emailed bid or they tell me "they're gonna think about it" and I never hear back haha. Price shoppers are not my customers lol.
I told one that I have a schedule and that if she wanted it done let me know right then, otherwise I'd walk away. She basically told me she was shopping around. I told her while she was shopping around her lawn and bushes were getting bigger and whoever she gets to do it will end up charging her more anyhow.
Man I’ve been watching your stuff for a few weeks. Love it!!! I’m that weekend guy that started out with small gear side work but I charged top dollar and I have never cut a yard that I didn’t get the return call for because like y’all I take pride in my work. I had a lady say that took you twice as long as the guys that used to do it. “The big guys in my area” I asked where are they. She said “well they didn’t do a good job” “Will you come back next week”. She lives next to my wife’s grandmother who I had only started cutting to help her out and now here I am starting a lawncare business because everyone in that neighborhood was fed up with the people doing it. Thanks for all the info you put out it’s helping me charge properly so I don’t hurt the full time guys that actually do good work. This is my second year at it and I am right where I want to be with my work load
Im pretty sick of the lowballers but im upping my pricing for next season to $50-$60 minimum. Need to start making decent profit
$50.00 a man hour, take it or leave it....I got work to do
Yeah, mine was $65/hour, unless it called for something bigger than a mower. Bobcat was $85/hour plus mobilization, backhoe was $125/hour plus rental and mobilization, loader was $225/hour plus rental and mobilization, it went up from there for excavators and motor graders. Everything had a 2 hour minimum as well.
Basic lawn maintenance was different, as I just shot for a straight $65/man hour.
@@thatrealba I never put per hour rate. Just bid the job. I don't want customer seeing what I make an hour
@@jdawg122182 not all areas of the country are like that. Plus, with bid work, if something unexpected comes up, you are screwed. There are benefits to both ways, of course. The trick is to know when to use which method.
Donnie Hauge just told one of my clients that and she was like no no no how is that possible??? You didn’t had to pay for college to do this so I told her yeah but my equipment it’s not cheap what the hell you want me to only charge you for my time but what about my equipment??? It’s need to make money too or how I can keep getting more or fixing it ??
@@osmanreyes7195 saying no b****, I was working while Mommy and Daddy was paying for your college.... I hate those kinds of people 😡
I can totally relate to this, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one. The other day this lady asked how much I would charge just to trim around house, shed, etc.. with string trimmer. This lady had about an acre with a bunch of trees and multiple obstacles to trim around and so I told her $40. She freaked out and said, “ I got people that work way less than that.” If she already had a cheap price, then why is she asking me? Because she wanted to see if she can get it even cheaper! So much for her cheap guys, haven’t even shown up all year to weed eat.
Ernestly Contend for the Faith Yep exactly!
This is Will from Heavy Hitters Lawn Care! I just had a lady get mad because I went to cut her yard. Collected the money she left out. It started to rain so I had to leave and later that night she calls at 8pm and wants me to return her money!!! I’ve been cutting her grass for 2 years now and felt offended that she didn’t trust me. I returned he money and have not cut the grass since....🤷🏿♂️
I don't know how I missed this video, but this was my week with 2 customers last week! No is a beautiful word! I told a customer that there is a difference between frugal and being a Cheapskate! His face when I told him how pricing works for those of us that pay taxes and insurance! 😂👍👍👍
Lol truth
I love it when I bid a job and the costumer says the last guy did it for half of my bid lol then I ask them what happened with the last guy lol then silence lol
I just started raising prices and passing on customers this season and it has definitely payed off. I had someone asking for mulch installation, quoted him $150 and he said that was too much. Just told him I understand, let me know if you change your mind and that was it. Last season was pretty much "take any job that comes across" and it resulted in a lot of time in the sun with not enough to show for it. Dont get me wrong, it was a foot in the door with repeat customers and some good practice for stuff I had never done before, but it was an investment, not a sustainable business model. Those repeat customers this year pay a competitive price thats up to market standards and get a better job than last year. They love it and everyone is happy. Know your worth
Good talk! Yards are $30 minimum here in Denver and if they are super long and overgrown, I charge double cut. Also I am doing pre payment and CASH. Keep up the good work BOSS.
Working for a company. A co worker got a side job and offered to pay me. He went to bid the job on his own, with out help. He wasn't the smartest. He bid a apartment complex, for shrub and, tree trimming, and 10 yards of mulch for $750. After arriving and started working. He realized he was going to loose money. He still had to pay me and another co worker 200 each for the work we did. He ended up paying for the mulch out of pocket. And didnt make anything actually Lost around $400. Poor guy.
I work for a decent size company and whenever anyone comes up to us and asks us to mow their lawn and say “how much do you guys charge to mow” without me looking at the yard or can you give me a price on a cleanup i just give them a business card and let my boss deal with it lol
💯💯💯
Never feel bad about quoting what you're worth! You get what you pay for and you DON'T get what you DON'T pay for.
The worst: back and forth "free estimate" abuser that emails, calls and wants to meet on site before or after HIS work hours several times with no regard to your time or effort.
Gearing up to start cutting and landscaping next year. As a refrigeration technician I get what you’re saying entirely.
I was trying to explain this to my partner and he doesn’t want to give up work. My best response was we would be leaving money on the table by wasting our time with it.
I personally just started doing yards I have 3 yards right now I charge $40 for my yards because they are 3/4 an acre each and I don’t have a 80,000 rig I have about a 6,000 rig, I don’t have a drug habit either lol, I also push mow the yards with a little 22 in toro. So we are not all bad just trying to grow my business not to say there aren’t people out there that do that stuff.
That is so true this “big guy here” acts like he’s a profesional when in reality he is still learning. Some are trying to expand their business.
Fishing Kentucky do your thing, but undercut your time and worth. If you don't raise your price, you will grow rapidly at that price and burn your self out.
Lol I am still learning, you bet. Why do you think I'm trying to share this vital information with new people? Boy, you nailed it. I wasn't insulting the folks coming up. Did you watch the video, or just run to the comments?
Brian's Lawn Maintenance yea I wasn’t trying to dog on you I enjoy your content and your work ethic a lot. Just trying to get out another pov,
I think Brian was responding to Eric Miranda.
Robin from Perfect Property Maintenance Kings here, i quoted a 40ft tall maple tree for a customer that has been with us for 5 years now and quoted her 1800 for hauling it away and cutting it down and the stump grinding. She says ohh no the Chinese guy across the street said he will do it for 600$ because he is doing a lot of them on our street. I said ok no problem..... hope he has the insurance to cover damages when it leans on the roof.
Old boy who I know was retiring from his one and only garden job. He wanted me to take over. 'OK' says I. 'The lady pays me £5 an hour and all the tea I can drink' says old boy. 'I charge £15 an hour and I don't stop for tea' I reply. He looks at me as if I'm mad, 'Well she won't pay that!' He mutters. I pat him on the shoulder and say 'well it is 2017 not 1950' and wander off. Laugh....
Lol I feel you man! I had a guy going back and fourth with me and this other lawn service about how he was charging $55 and I told him $50 and then he came back with “my guy is charging me $45 can you do it for less?” And I hit him with the “that’s cool, that’s a great price I wouldn’t go any lower than that AT ALL! I will not go lower than $50. If it doesn’t work out hit me up!!” Like these people don’t think we’re we dump our waste we get charged, fuel is $$ and maintaining equipment takes $$$ And time! This guy keeps asking me to do a retaining wall but he keeps insisting it needs to less $$$! Lol. Good stories bro!!
I pruned some bushes for a older lady and only charged her $60 to help her out it was three hours of work, she asked my why I charged her $20 an hour and thought that was to much, she was used to paying a druggie $20 to do it. I told her because I brought 1,000’s of dollars in equipment to do the job to be efficient, and I don’t get payed by the hour, I was professional but I never went back
About two months ago I did a power washing job for about 180 for two and a half hours. I checked with the customer before hand to make sure we were good to go. I finish the job, go to my other accounts for that day. A little after I get home I get a call from my client saying that what I charged was way to steep and few 15 year olds get that kind of pay. I told her that we had already agreed on a price beforehand. I told her that she should find a new yard guy.
I bid a million dollar property with half acre of mowing with lots of landscaping to edge. I bid it 50 per mow. Would have rather been at the 75 mark but wanted to get into the neighborhood. She laughed at me and said I’ve never paid over 25 per mow. I laughed back at her and said. I would stick with the company that mowed it for that cost. 25 wouldn’t even pay for gas, crew costs. No wonder they live in a house like that. Tight wads.
Had a client I had to chase payment from, after several months I had enough. I knocked on her door and told her she needed to find another lawn care service. The look on her face was priceless.
I was just talking to my wife about this. I'm so tired of getting the yards no one else will do! I had a family member that works at a motorcycle shops that customizes high end bikes, he wanted a bid, I hit him with 300 bucks a week, BIG property, and he called me over the weekend and said "We can do 100 bucks if you come today". I said no way man. He got offended..lol
I have no problem helping people out, elderly, etc! I feel God wants me to, but not a high end bike shop. And definitely not going to let him name the price and tell me to be there that day.
Nope. Stand your ground or they can go get their busted push mower and tackle it!
I was an idiot and took a huge yard for a hundred..I was polite and told her I was going to be raising my prices and competing with the rest of the industry she freaked out and fired me …got a quote for 400 bucks a week.. called me and offered me 350 ..I told i don’t need her business.
I had someone inquire from sod Installation. They wanted me to remove the old yard, bring in a yard of compost, bring in new sod all for $650 we were dealing with 1000 sq.ft . I let him go to someone else!!! Can't be working for peanuts in this Texas heat!!!!!
Truth!
I'm 15 and I bid a 10 yard mulch job for one of my weekly mow accounts at $80 per yard when the going rate is $100 in my area. They said it was too much and that they would do it them selves to only save a few hundred when they are very well off people. They also switched to biweekly and their lawn was a jungle when the called and it took me and another guy 2 hours so I charged for a double cut. It's so annoying how people think that just because your still in school that they can walk all over you🙄 but I'm gonna be laughing when they realize how much 10 yards really is and they'll be out there all weekend😂
Lol love it. And very true pal. Stick to your prices and act like a Pro and you'll keep crushing it.
I get it - I'm in the pool service industry. Most people don't necessarily want the cheapest, some do, but most want to think they're getting the best deal. The customer needs to be able to recognize your value over others. If they can't see it, you need to be able to articulated it - if you can't or they don't understand it, be prepared to lose the job. And sometimes, it's for the best. As our company has grown I've really started listening to my intuition regarding bad customers and it has been extremely helpful in reducing my stress regarding the deadbeats, the cheapskates and the "I want some free stuff" accounts.
I could tell stories for dayssssss!!!!!!! Cutting grass for 20+ years!!!!!
Man been working for my uncle since I was like 12 just turned 30 made 3 quotes even cut my profit by like 100 bucks on 6 pallets of sod. The guy was like well I cant afford that and that's to much. I legit in my head said well sorry dude find some side jobber that will lose money on this job I have taxes and employees to pay plus delivery.
@@busybeezlawnservices4125 Don't under rate yourself brother. You know what your worth.
i had a old guy and he yelled at me cuz he didn't like the stripes he said "wtf are all these lines my yard"
I had one like that before. I was like.. that's the point, to make it look like a golf course / look manicured. They wanted me to alternate each stripe each week to make it look more matte. I couldn't stand it. Dropped.
was pretty annoying i kind of found it funny tho but eventually i dropped him he was one of those overlooking customers anyway
I had a guy once that wasn’t happy with his current lawn care guy and told me he was paying $35. I told him immediately I wasn’t touching his yard for less than $50 and there’s a reason he wasn’t happy with his service. He never gave me specifics on how he wanted it cut. After I’m finished he pays me , says he’s happy and I leave. Come back the next time to cut again and he says that “ his wife wasn’t happy with the direction i cut the yard. “ I went up and down and apparently she wanted it side to side. Needless to say he’s back to his original guy. And still not happy.
Brian so true on keeping our prices up for what we do! These low ballers will so realize they don't have a business. They are just busting their butts for absolutely nothing! I can't tell you how many times we get calls from customers saying my lawn guy disappeared. I told one of my new clients "want to know why he disappeared?" Because he was charging you a ridiculously small amount and soon realized he needed to quit the business because he wasn't making any money. He was basically cutting you for free.
Exactly!
Personally I am 19 years old and have been cutting since I was 10. I do multiple different jobs and average out at around 20 yards a week. I do all this alone. I have multiple stories like the one you also have. I am pretty firm with my prices and very competitive with other companies. One of the funniest stories I have is actually backwards from yours. I had a woman once who I quoted her yard at $50. She said ok thats fine I will give you $75 to do it. It baffled me and hit me in a weird way. To say the least I took the job with no questions haha.
Jordan Oglesby I told this guy I’d do his lawn for $50 and he gave me $100 because he thought I meant just $50 for the front only, not backyard.
I tried giving his money back but he was very happy with the service?
I did that once to a street vendor in Cancun. Walking by the first time he tried to haggle me down to $15 for a blanket but I walked on by. I wanted one but didn't want to carry it all day before heading back to the boat. So on our way back, I told him I'd take two blankets for $40. He was probably laughing at me but I know he's trying to make a living too.
had a customer call me for a spring clean up.. huge property, tons of sticks and leaves. I charged 200, he said he had a guy for 85. I sad good luck. 2 weeks later I get a call back from him asking me to come back and re do the cleanup because all they did was blow the leaves into the corner and didn't pick up a single stick. I still told him 200 and after wasting 85 on the other guy he agreed, but said... Greg, I never made 200 dollars in a day when I was growing up.
Haha
I work for an equipment rental company. I know how people are over prices of rental. Landscape companies are the only ones who never give us any crap. The majority of the public want something for nothing. So I understand completely what you definitely go through!!!
I say pass all the time. I also don't give away my work. Especially on the landscaping side!
As a homeowner, I've learnt from experience that you usually get what you paid for... and at the end of the day the thing that matters (to me at least) was that the job was done right. How do you keep, or rather - How do you know that your prices are competitive with the other lawn-care companies in your area and how do you adjust prices against competition ?
Jason Coelho Most Landscaping companies know their competitive prices from Clients and most of us are buddy-buddy with atleast a couple of other companies. We can see the price range out there.
I'm 16 years old and just started my landscaping business this year. I had a horrible problem with undercharging and now I'm starting to charge more per lawn. I'm extremely competitive with the Landscaping companies in my area because quite frankly. I've never seen such shitty quick work in my life.
100% totally agree.
In regards to pricing, it's just kind of simple math knowing the industries numbers, but I will say anytime I don't get work, I just say "hey off the record, what did they bid this for", or "what did you end up going with if you don't mind me asking". I'd say 4 out of 5 times folks give me the #. Usually I'm within 5-10%. You just kind of dial it in over time.
I have said many times before, you don't learn by winning. You learn by losing. And I have lost a LOT over the last decade. Thus I am getting pretty razor sharp on things. But, I will tell you straight up, I still am learning every single day, now more than ever. It's definitely an exciting time!
Spot on. I would add that you have to know how much it costs for your company just to exist first, THEN you have to know how much it costs you to operate your business. THEN you dial in where you need to be in your market rate.
Also, a lot of companies just call competitors and ask what their rates are, as if they were a potential customer.
I had someone who wanted me to mow a church on a 3 acre lot and they told me that they would pay me 15$ an hour. I said that's not my rate and I can't do the job for that cheap. They said that's what the last kid told them he would charge and I explained that the kid probably didn't have decent equipment or insurance but if they wanted the job done for that much they could always call him back. I was then told that the kid isn't doing lawns anymore so I said, probably because he realized he couldn't afford to do the job at 15$ an hour
A couple years back had a customer who wanted a mowing estimate. Showed up , walked around and it was an easy $40 lawn. Knocked on door and spoke with a lady told her the price. She told me no no that is way too high my last guy did it for $25. I said Lady you better find that guy's number and walked back to the truck.
Our minimum charge for a small yard is 35 and goes up depending on lawn sice .. most people whant to may 25 that doesn't pay for your gas. Labor and the cost of the equipment.
That's my favorite, "I've gotta guy who...." I'm the same way as you Brian, "Good luck with them" and usually in a few weeks I'll get a text or voicemail "this guy is unreliable, let's it get over grown, looks terrible, I paid them & they never came back" type of message. I tell customers you pay for quality I just try to be consistent with what I do and take a lot of pride in my work.
Looked at a lawn that was just under a foot high, rough terrain, and about 3/4 of an acre. I quoted her along with my explanation of why so. She says " Well, I have never paid more than $50 for any of my lawns". My first thought was "Well, where are these people now?". Of course, I didn't say this to her. I just said "ok, if at any point they don't work out for you, here is my flyer. I appreciate your time". Btw... I quoted her $75 for basic knock down, $90 with trim and knock down, $110 for trim-mow-bag. Does this sound right? I am in NE Ohio.
$250 an acre if it's been maintained
I'm in Trinidad (Caribbean). Demolition job costing 10K. Guy wanted it done for 2K. Madness!!
I appreciate these stories. I'm new to the business and have already experienced a few of these scenarios. Was really wondering of it was my own misfortune. I feel much better now lol.
Hi Brian, it Rene with Mow Texas Lawn and shredding just Starting out my Lawn business and I'm very excited and been following your blog. I also will be putting up videos on big projects with my 45 hp tractor and shredding. I will be doing small lawns also. I can't wait to kick it off
Sweet!
Can't agree more, don"t say no just say that you can't do the job and service them the way they deserve at that price, so when they don't get what they expect from the other guy they will want to come back to you. I would also point out that someone not insured or licensed will cost way more with one claim on their homeowners policy if they hurt themselve doing the work. I once was eager and worked like Brian and burned out so the next year I raised my prices 25% and lost half my jobs, but ended up making more profit for that yea, go figure. Just as a note the half that I had lost were all back as my customers within 2 years at the higher rate anyway because it isnt about the cost, its about the service that you provide.
Exactly 100% agree.
I’m not a lawn care guy I’m a auto detailer and it’s the same problem. I have guys ask pricing for 50-60k pick ups and never want to pay what is quoted. They always say do it for less than half of what’s quoted I never respond to price shoppers. They’re the worst ppl to do work for will always find an excuse to not pay or ask for a discount
This isn’t exactly what you asked for, but I get annoyed when they expect me to show up the same day. My “favorite” is when an apartment group calls the day before a big corporate inspection and wants us to come clean up the whole property... and they usually want it to be free because we already do maintenance.
Yep, been there!
Definitely soaking my head right now in the information you are giving me because I've been going and beating myself up with all this that you were talking about right now
Just a couple months ago I had a gentleman who was Hindu or Indian and they requested through HomeAdvisor wanting or seeking services for lawn care. So I come out give a fair bid and the name of this development had country club in the name sounded fancy and lot of these yards were very nice yards. The lot size was about between .3 and .4 of an acre. During season he has it fertilized often so I told him it would be $65 every week includes mow trim and edging of the sidewalks every two weeks. So he'd try to tell me that that was too expensive and 1/2 Price Harry would mow his yard three times for fifty bucks. So I explain that I do not drop my gate for less than 35 no matter what and depending how big the yard was the prices go up from there. I tried to explain to the guy that gas prices wasn't like they were five six years ago but as a business owner were always wrong in the customer always seems right no matter what they say. I told him that if he plans on having me coming back after half price Harry destroys his yard it's probably going to be double.
Customers who feel as if they are ALWAYS right, to the point to vocalize it, are no customers of mine. The only person who can pull that ish on me is my wife.
I got a story for you Brian! It's opposite though, I was the (potential) customer. Couple neighborhood kids knock on my door maybe 11-13 year old kids. Asking if I would like them to cut my lawn. I actually was really happy they were ambitious enough to knock on the door so I wanted to hire them even though at the time I was broke. My yard took me about 20 mins to cut with a push mower pretty easy! I ask the boys what they would charge me for my yard the kid looked me dead in the eyes with a serious face and said 55 bucks! In my head I was laughing but I wasn't harsh with the kid or anything. I asked the kid what he had for equipment, again with a very serious look on his face he said I don't have equipment I'll need to use yours and he explained he has no way of getting gas to fill my equipment! I tried negotiating him down to a reasonable price but he wouldn't budge haha! I hope I didn't discourage his entrepreneurial attitude!
Love it!
Me and my step dad run our own construction company. It’s not huge usually a 4 or 5 guy crew for big jobs. We are fully licensed and insured so no funny business from us, but we have a repeat customer who is ALWAYS trying to get us to do work basically at cost so little to no profit to us. Obviously that’s not how it works and we go through it every time. (we only keep working with him because of the amount of work he has and we’ve been working with him for about 10 years) but we were doing this apartment remodel for him. The whole apartment down to studs and basically replace everything in the place that hasn’t been cleaned in like 7 years (the tenant was a hoarder) so we clean it. We sanitize it. We do everything. And he knows the whole time what it’s gonna cost. The job ends and we go to get paid. So for the 3 months it took to fix the place (between the city permits, new electric, plumbing, new walls etc.) we hand home a bill for roughly 35k.....he comes back and tries to pay 13k.....after a month of us not fixing anything at his main business he relents and pays what is owed.
One time I had a customer who wanted her flower bed FULLY cleaned and just down to the dirt, so thats what I did and when I told her that It would be $200 which is low at that for the work done, she started cussing and going on a whole thing about how a kid shouldn't charge that much for busy work. She wanted to pay $90 and I told her $125 no less, if not ill just put it all back. Needless to say she paid.
Haha
I ran a lawn service years ago & had a customer whose dad owned an oil company at one time. She was well off and had a nice home. She had a sunroom added on that took up some of the lawn. I cut her grass and left her the bill, she sent me a letter asking how could I charge her the same amount when there was less lawn to cut with the new addition. Plus she typed the question in red ink. Couldn't believe it, she has a 12K addition built then wanted me to charge her less because of less area to cut. Same lady came running out one day telling me my brand new Toro self-propelled mower with a blade clutch wasn't picking up. I told her I paid over $600.00 for the mower and it was their best one at the time. I should have walked away then.
Here is one for you. It happened six/seven summers ago. A guy called us to mow his lawn and to prune and weed the beds in his pool area. He said it was wife’s birthday present. He wanted 4 guys dressed in short black shorts and work boots only. No shirts or hats!. We where to get all dirty and sweated up and to dance by his wife. LOL. My wife overheard the call and it all ended there! I doubt if I would of ido the job anyway as he only waned to pay $ 100.!
What the lol. Folks are crazy!
i had a client tell me that she was only going to pay me for the cost of the mulch, 12 yards of mulch, n not a penny more. she wanted me to install for free. i no longer speak to her lol , some people are crazy. from tac pac ground maintenance in pa. love the videos keep them coming, i learn alot from the channel
Ha I love the "if I buy it will you spread it" folks. I chuckle, then say bye Felecia.
Much respect Brian! No lowballers allowed...lol.
Once bid a mowing for a potential client needing only the front yard mowed. Would have taken maybe 12 minutes, told him $35 (which is my bare minimum). He then paused and said "You could use my mower, you wouldn't have to use your big mower". My response was "That would cost you more". 😂
I quoted a woman $450 for monthly maintenance of her large, well-manicured property full of bushes, trees, and other things she wanted kept up. She wanted a monthly total, so that's what it would be. The woman threw my estimate down in the driveway, said it was highway robbery and that her last guy (who had apparently been doing it for 20+ years) did it for $100/month. I tried to explain that I couldn't afford to do it for that price. She ran inside and slammed the door on me. I'm actually glad I didn't get it.
I started out my business doing tree and shrub removal. I quoted a tree job at a rental property for 800.00. The tree was dead and hung over a small portion of his house, his fence, his neighbors yard and his mailbox. After I told him the quote he stated to me that his son had a friend who said he would do it for 300.00. I asked the guy what he was doing calling me if he could get it done for 300.00. He stated that he just wanted a second opinion. I told the customer that I hoped that the son's friend had insurance, that if he needed anymore assistance call me and to have a good day. Needless to say, he didn't call back haha.