HOW to Install MULCH (For BEGINNERS)
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- Опубликовано: 24 янв 2024
- In our lawn care businesses we are always looking for ways to be more efficient. Mulching services are no different. It is true that you can buy bulk mulch for a lesser rate than bagged mulch, but most of the time it makes sense to use the bagged. I have timed myself, and our employees using bulk mulch vs bagged mulch. 9 times out of 10 the cost savings of the bulk material is NOT worth it. The reason is because we are so much more efficient with bags of mulch. We can do about twice the amount of work with bagged compared to bulk, therefore LABOR COSTS are much higher with bulk mulch vs bagged mulch. The cost savings of bulk are simply not worth it. Furthermore, even if I am working solo, I rather work faster and do twice the amount of jobs using bags, rather than save $30-50 and only get half the amount of work done. The math just doesn't make sense. Unless you are doing huge volumes of mulch, shoveling that stuff into a wheel barrow is for the birds... Just use bagged. You're not a rookie for doing so. You're smart and efficient.
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-Jonathan C. Christian
Im over here in north texas and my experience with bagged mulch lately has been terrible. Most of the mulch bags have white mold and its noticeable when you throw the mulch on the beds. Looks very ugly
Interesting, luckily, we have not ran into that yet
Same, in Dallas. Especially noticeable after rainy days. So ugly
That happens up here in Ontario as well. Especially the bagged mulch that is first for sale in the spring. You can tell it’s been stored outside, froze over winter, a lot of mold in it.
Bagged mulch is also much more expensive than getting bulk mulch from a landscape supplier. One property I used bagged mulch and it costed me $300, the next year I did bulk mulch and it costed me $90
Usually the mold goes away after one rainy day
Pro tip…. Blow all that junk left from the ornamental grass cutting off the sidewalk before mulching. Then do a final light blow off of the sidewalk just to remove any mulch spill over. That way there is nothing on top of the fresh mulch to clean up
I 100% agree, on the bag vs bulk quandary. Bulk is a little less expensive, but so much easier to handle. Thanks for all the great content you put out. 🙏
Totally agree!
I've cut my share of wires early on in my business to check for wires before trimming! Good advice😊
Yes! Thank you!
@FloridaTurfPros if you will wrap duct tape around those grasses before the initial cut, it will save you a huge amount of cleanup time.
Great job and info. Only thing I do different is upsell premergent. Namely the product named Preen which you can pick up at any big box store. I've noticed significant weed reduction in its application.
Preen is great
How much domyou charge per yard for mulch. Material and installation and do you charge more for bed cleanup?
John, awesome video. Definitely a change in pace from your instructional style. BTW, how do you charge for mulch install? Do you price it by yard installed or per hour?
We charge per yard
@@FloridaTurfPros How much do you charge per yard?
Love this work video man! I prefer bagged over bulk mulch too. I actually buy my mulch by the bag for $3.25 after tax from a landscape supply place here near Austin Tx. I also hate the red mulch lol. I’ve followed your tip on not double touching the mulch from another video and it has sped up my time exponentially.
Awesome! Glad it is working out. I can't stand to see guys pick the mulch up out of the trailer, then put it into a wheel barrow, drive it to the spot, then drop it on the ground... only to have to pick it up again! 😂
Whats the landscape place called im also in Austin
How often are you cleaning out old mulch? I haven’t really tried to sell mulch jobs or bush trimming/pruning cause I’m not very competent in “landscaping” yet. Which is why I’m here trying to learn.
Never cleaned out old mulch. Unless it is being over applied over the years there really is no reason to clean out old mulch. It should naturally breakdown over time in the soil
Switched to bagged mulch a few years ago. I have 500 bags delivered in the spring for all the small jobs so I don’t have to go pick up a few bags here or there. When I need to bags or more, I go and pick it up. Cost for me is about $20 more per yard than bulk mulch, but loading, application and cleanup time is cut in half.
50 bags or more (typo)
This is the exact reason I prefer bagged as well. Can store it easier, it loads and unload, easier, and clean up as a breeze. We saved so much in labor by not doing bulk.
Thanks for the content!
My pleasure!
If under 3 cubic yard (45 bags) is calculated to do the job; I'm purchasing bags. Easier clean up and if any bags are leftover; I can take them back to the store for a refund. Over 3 cubic yards; I'm buying bulk and bringing my 4 tire wheelbarrow and connect it to my gravely 36 to install
I used to use a blower truck for mulch. It's like an 18 wheeler with a hose that sprays mulch. You do a bunch of homes in a day.
I've seen those before and they can put out the mulch!
For us it makes sense to do bulk mulch. This is why
1.) Most of our flower beds here require 2 yards of mulch. My trucks hold exactly two yards of mulch. We are able to carry a pitchfork, 2yrds, 1 barrow and multiple tools on the truck and finsh each property with a truck load.
2.) It is much cheaper for us at $35/Yard for bulk
3.) Our mulch yard is much closer to our service area, shop and clients then a store like Home depot/ Lowes.
Great video and perspective on bagged mulch!
Sounds like you got it worked out!
Good information.
Thank you for this video, I've only done one mulch install to date and i used bagged mulch as well. I've heard all the pros and con between bagged and bulk and still haven't decided where i stand on the matter. But I hope to start landing more of these light landscaping jobs to help boost my income and experience. I absolutely love your content and informative videos. Please keep up the good work and wishing you the best for this 2024 season.
So nice of you
awesome video. good tips
Glad you liked it!
Oh man let me know if you find a good distributor for bulk black mulch in our area. LOL
Great points as always!
Excited to see you around town sir!
I’m ready for 2024!
What about mulch that is compressed into a pallet cube. If you use it on one job would you still use bags?
I really like bags because I can easily store what's not used/leftover for the next job.
What do you think about bark blowers?
Need to be doing a ton of volume for justify, but they are amazing machines.
How many bags ? Or square feet was that job ? Just wondering how you came up with $630 in profit maybe I’m not charging enough. I know you trimmed the shrubs too. Maybe in another video, you could do more of a breakdown explaining the process. Thanks love the video by the way and the dump trailer is awesome. Hope to be pick one up this year.
This day had 2 jobs... The second job I did not film. I made 630 profit on the full pallet of mulch over both jobs. I completed both jobs in less than 3 and a half hours including mulch pickup.
That make’s since. Thanks for the help. I did buy your postcard template this will be the first year doing a mailing. Hopefully it pays off.
Hey Jon, unrelated to the work you are doing. Curious what work pants and boots you prefer?
Check in the description of this video... there is a link to the boots I normally wear. This video I had on a pair of Justin boots. I tend to use boots on the pricier side, as I want a very comfy and rugged pair. Regarding pants, I buy the Wrangler straight fit jeans/khaki colored at walmart. They're thinner than normal denim jeans, and are only about $22. I usually buy like one or two at a time on grocery shopping visits.
@@FloridaTurfPros thanks so much Jon I appreciate it. Gonna try the Walmart pants.
How bout an electric wheel barrow? I'm thinking of getting one this season.
Those things are wild. I've never used one but have always wondered if they were worth it.
My poles don’t switch out very easily like yours do 😢been going on 3 years and I still can’t use my extensions. I used grease and tried to pry it open some more so the poles can go in… they just don’t! It’s sad man cause they are expensive!
Sorry to hear that
Weird question for ya. What kind of sneakers/boots/shoes do you like to wear. Personally I wear Nike cross trainers just because walking up to 20-30k steps a day puts a hurtin on my tootsies.
Nothing for the weeds boss ? Love your channel already
We treat after install.
Hey man enjoy your content! How would you price a Mulch job, there’s always a client that buys 100 bags of mulch for us to install recently have been correcting pricing for all my fathers business. Curious how you would go about that. I feel like we have been doing much services for to low of a price.
Depends, we're usually around $8 a bag if we are buying and installing. Can go up or down with volume of course, but I think you should probably be getting somewhere around 4-5 a bag for just the labor.
@@FloridaTurfPros awesome will take this information as a good starting point. Thank you for the Reply!
FTP is right. Many companies charge $100+ per yard of mulch delivered and installed. So if the bag is $3 and it takes +-14 bags per yard than the cost is about $42/yard in material. Cost to install at $4.50 is $63. Total per yard is $105.00.
@@shannonp4037 not sure that would would work where I am at. It cost over 350 for 5 yards of cedar mulch. So that leaves just a little over 150 labor
Cedar is different. You need to charge a per yard install fee plus add delivery to it. Even bagged is just under 1 yard per hour in most cases. Take your cost of product, add delivery expenses and then your per yard price.
Have ya ever installed pecan mulch ?
It gives a wonderful aroma after a rainfall .
No, but it sounds wonderful!
@@FloridaTurfPros
How much do you charge to install a bag of mulch?
I personally feel they both have a best option for the right application. Bags can be cleaner but sometimes bulk mulch can be cheaper. We mostly have done bagged just cause those areas that you can't get wheelbarrow or loader into.
I def prefer bagged.
@@FloridaTurfPros same here.
I'm getting bulk for $25 yard but bag is easier in some applications.
@@jaratoll8739 exactly. i feel they both serve a purpose in the right applications.
In Ohio our houses average 5-10 yards of mulch. Some as much as 25-30 yds. I just keep filling up my dump trailer every morning durning mulch season. We only use black triple shred. We use kartmate on a lot of the mulch jobs. We put down 600-800 yds of mulch a year
I’ve heard this about northern markets. I would honestly look really hard at buying one of those rigs that blows mulch into the flowerbeds if I was doing that much mulch.
We do all our mulch in 6 wks so its not worth it yet for me. But i have thought hard about the trailer mate. Feels like it is more single use then. Dump trailer can be used for more jobs them
I wish we could do bagged. It's at least $20 more per yard for us unless we catch the half-price deal at Home Depot. And we used Virago one time...there were dyed pine cones and chunks of 2x4 in the mulch. So it's Scotts if there is a sale, or bulk only.
Dang, luckily I haven't ran into any quality issues with bagged as of yet.
5 for $10 at home depot for spring black friday
And you bought a SthiL blower you always had echo? Just testing the waters?
My buddy gave it to me for a good deal. Still love the ol 580T though
did you get a bulk rate deal by buying the pallet?
Typically yes, but no, not on this particular load there were no bulk rate specials.
the quality in bagged mulch is questionable at times. been finding odd plastics and large stake like pieces in the bags the last year or 2. definitely easier to transport tho
Interesting. Luckily, we have not ran into this issue yet.
How many bags of mulch come in a full pallet
Most the time the vigoro comes 65 on a pallet but other manufacturers may have more or less.
bags are better for me .. but before I pour the mulch , I give a good rake, clear the dry hey , as much as possible, then pour , less bending
Here in northern states vs a state like Florida, we have every bulk landscape material readily available and locally produced. So for bulk mulch it’s fresh and cheap. Higher quality ground & dye from local suppliers that are within 5 miles from any populated area. Where as bulk mulch doesn’t sell so it sits and rots. Never once seen a good looking bag of mulch here in Ohio.
Also why didn’t you blow the bed out before mulching, prevents the 10 minutes of hand picking at the end.
Good points. I have yet to run into mold issues with bagged mulch here. Ya, I did blow the beds out prior, there was just a pile of that grass caught up in the plants.
@@FloridaTurfPros Ahh gotcha, I was hoping I was wrong and that was the case haha. But yeah if bag mulch was better quality up here compared to our bulk it’d definitely have its purpose. It’s almost like they purposely stock shelves with the worst of the batch lol. I’ve seen a pallet just opened and every bag has huge wood chips lacking dye with white mold everywhere.
Keep the videos coming, excited for another season!
I don't know about you guys but we get a yard of finely shredded mulch for $25 a yard
28 here for bulk. It ends up being 12 more per yard to use bagged instead of mulch for us. So on five yards it's an extra $60 to use bagged instead of bulk. But I can complete 2 jobs with bagged in the time it takes us to do 1 job with bulk. I've tested this numerous times in different ways, and it almost always makes sense for us to use bagged.
lmao @ 6:58 i swear i thought i was playing call of duty for a second 😂
I love bagged mulch for smaller residential jobs. That said, We do big yardage for our commercial properties where we bring it in by the tractor trailer load. Bagged wouldn't be at all practical for most of our jobs.
Ya, it really depends. I found myself taking too long on some smaller residential projects then started to time and realized that bulk was taking us way too long, so we switched back to bagged. The labor savings was definitely worth it.
Aayyyyeeeee from Houston
Yeah a cubic yard of bagged mulch is $44.96 I can get it loose for $25 a cubic yard. It’s not that much more quicker especially since I pull I. The yard I’m out in 5 minutes.
Yes! RED MULCH IS GROSS!
This is true 👆
It’s honestly the worst. So tacky.
groundup pallets with red paint
Ha ha I work at a massive green house. I get all the bulk mulch I want (Biomass).
Pine,oak.....
Quicker getting it into wheelbarrow longer time getting it out
This is a good point...
Bag mulch is only good for tiny flowerbeds.
I guess tiny is perspective. At what point would you justify bulk over bagged?
I usually use bagged mulch as well. Easier to handle. Price is pretty similar per yard as well. $65 - $70 a yard
Bagged is def more expensive in my market, but we can do twice as many jobs in the same amount of time with bagged so it's worth it.
@@FloridaTurfPros My son and I did 6 yards in 1 day between the 2 of us last year. We had the mulch delivered and dumped in a driveway. We used pitchforks and shovels to load into a Harbor Freight trailer and then pulled to where it was needed. Then shoveled it out to where it belonged. We were exhausted. Sounds like the bags may be an easier option? I'm old and not the most fit. He is young and skinny but not in shape.
Or take 5 gallon buckets and put them on trailer and get bulk mulch dumped on it
that's interesting.
should have checked out those zero turns they be selling haha..
Bagged cost way more
whatever stablziing you did on this video never di again lol it is sobad the swerving and the distortion was headache causing
I agree. After I pulled up the video footage I realized the gopro was trying some wicked stabilization and I need to get that figured out!