Hey Brian, I’m 18 and I’m going full time lawn care/landscaping this year. It’s crazy how much great information is on TH-cam because of people like you. Thank you for doing what you do man!
Good luck, I was thinking about doing this myself and I am almost 40, if you start now at 18 and your serious, you could set yourself up for life, go out there and get it!!
people look at me crazy when i tell them i make $100-$250 an hr with my leather business. watching this bc i want to build my lawncare business and this has been such a great help!
Guys, remember: We ALL have different markets. I'm in the Virginia/DC Market, what we charge here is not going to jive with a lower populated, lower income area. Brian is spot-on with the Bi-Weekly thing and the Create the LIFESTYLE you want. There's a market and plenty of work for all of us out there. Just gotta get up and GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!
In my market you have to do bi-weekly or you wont have any lawns. Commercial usually will be weekly but not residential. In summer the grass barely grows in 2 weeks.
I'm 19, and writing up a bid tonight for my first commercial account. This video couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks Brian for this information
@@glenlohane-adayinthelife7361 well... the guy never replied to me, which I thought was abit rough, esp considering it was a large well known company with a rigid tendering process. But in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't get it. I'm over mowing lawns to tell you the truth, its not my calling. I take my hat of to the guys that do this all day every day.
@@glenlohane-adayinthelife7361 thanks mate, yeah i still have about half a dozen yards. i just the ones i enjoy doing + getting out and about is great and its always good to have a chat to the folks. I'm going to try my hand at selling real estate, i still have all my gear, so ill certainty be putting it to work cleaning up these property's to get on the market. I'll see what the next 12 months brings, hopefully nothing like the last 12.
Owner operator here in Michigan. 👋 Yes we all need to stick together and not perpetually undercut each other. We bid very similarly btw, great tips for others!
I’ve been saying this for years we all need to work together. Just like most barbershops in cities meet on prices we should do the same. Good point Brian.
@@dgoodinground not entirely correct. Price fixing is a result of the govt taking control and fixing prices, this occurs in communism. and after a while, once socialism starts to fail, you have 2 options, price fix, or go free market. You are referring to collusion. Active collusion is absolutely illegal, active which means all the barbers in the city activity get together and raise there prices together. This is absolutely illegal, plenty of people are in jail because of convicted of collusion.
I really appreciate videos like this. I am currently at 15 residential clients and I want to get mor before I go full time but no one i know owns a lawn business so all my info comes from TH-cam and I’m so glad people like you help folks like me and many others who are starting out. I wish everyone the best of luck
Me to man I’m 17 and I started a buisness landscape two years ago we get a lot of mulching and hardscaping but we need more houses to cut grass now there’s so much competition because if you tell client you’ll do for let’s say 50 an acre just an example another business would come and go it for way cheaper is so much competition now a days
All estimating is based on production numbers. Meaning I can mow X sf per man hour, edging, trimming, etc. All these numbers can be figured out by time and motion studies. Once you have that info you can price out anything from a .25 acre lot to 10-20 acres. Good content 👍🏼
Years ago, I worked at a commercial building that wanted me to get quotes on lawn care. I had quotes for $75 a week to $600+. The GM hired the service that turned in the highest quote!!! I’m sure that’s not always what happens, but it did in this case. Businesses don’t always want the cheapest quote!
This was an older complex with about 60% of it occupied; they were always late to pay and claimed that they didn’t have the money. I put up with that for two years, as I was just starting my business. No shrubs to trim and about 3 hours of labor for 175.00, but it was every two weeks and mostly crab grass. It's totally my fault for my misery, I should have walked away way sooner.
the NUMBER ONE question I have is, Who do you have to talk to in order to get a commercial client? big businesses are more of an entity than a single person, and they never seem to know who handles their landscape maintenance. Also you brought up a good point about working together for our prices. There really is enough out there for everyone, so cutting prices kind of hurts us all. Another thing I've noticed is when I get a new client who just dropped their service and switched to me, they're not looking for a lower price. They're willing to pay the same or even more for someone to really take care of their needs.
Great video Brian! Soooo agree with not shooting under prior company’s bid! It’s happening so much in our area that it’s really affecting ability to accept small commercial property’s. Remember guys we’re not just trying to create cash flow, goal is to create profit!!!
This was one of the most requested topics back from our 80K subscriber video! We finally had a nice day in MI and I wanted to do a commercial bid walkthrough to help you guys out! Again these prices are a GENERAL idea and example of what we would charge! The video isn’t exactly what YOU should do, this is just what works for our business! Hope that helps!
Hey brian, great info bro. Love the outro music too. Got a quick question. How do you find the commercial clients that have bids open. You hit the street and just ask businesses? Or do you go to a website and find them?? Thanks for what you do. Pretty amazing.
Times the winter work money x4 if your salting,that’s where the money is👍🏼. I agree 100% with the price raises with the cost of good laborers not bodies,good laborers. Great video lots of good info thanks for sharing.
I offered to mow my works property after we moved locations. Site is 4 acres with 1 acre of grass around the property. 700ft of steep ditch you can’t use a mower with 1000ft of chain link fence. I quoted $550 estimating a 5hr job. I also blew the parking lot on both sides and picked up nails and trash. Job took 7 man hours in actual work. My boss got multiple quotes after ranging from $175/cut biweekly to $575/cut weekly. Tough to compete with those super low rates so I said let them have at it. I was offering just to make some side money. We’ll see how it goes once they start mowing. A 3 man crew was mowing when we moved in.
Your wife must be very proud of how smart you are. I mean that as nice as I can say it. Until I saw your back story, I really thought you went to business school just listening to how you speak. Always very informative and professional. Kudos b. Keep it up. I think that is why so many people find your channel. You don't bullshit either. Not afraid of the pros and cons of running a business. Every so often we see glimpse of your personal life. Way to go rock star. Knuckles bro.
I agree with you Brian on the fact that we all should set the pay scale all the same or about the same . here where I live in Warsaw NY there are to many cut throats .I have been in business for about 2 years and have seen so many fly by night company's come and go and they make it harder for guys like us that are trying to make a live doing what we love to do. But my works Speaks volumes about my type of work that I do for the customer.i find your videos very inspirational so thank you for all that you do for me and others in our business.
I'm being real and comfortable saying this because I'm sure I'm not alone...."Got mad love for you bro". This is the best video period. You are 100% correct when you said that you never seen anyone put anything this descriptive out here for us. #MOTIVATION
Man I haven’t even watched the Video and I already like this video, I’m sitting here with pen and paper ready to take notes. All I can say is thank you , thank you 🙏🏻, love your channel keep up the good work .
Brian... I agree with your focus on medium to small commercials and homes. If you get one or two large commercials instead, they may be gone next year along with a huge % of your business. (You may not be able to fill out that huge hole, and end up with a bad down year as a result.)
This is the 7th time I've watched this, for other reason than your energy. 2 questions: 1. Do you still have this site as a client? Did you scale your quote with your rate increases? 2. Can you do more of these? 😁
Thank man for motivating me to go solo with my dad , this will help me out a lot when ever I get a commercial client . Currently 20 years old and can’t wait to see where I go from here . Greetings from New Jersey the garden state
Thank you for taking the time to do that video that was very informative and spot on. I also like the way you think in regard to people in the industry working together to get a better price on the work we do.
I'm so glad you brought up the Industry Standard pricing. I head a saying the other day that stuck with me & I love sharing great sayings!! When ppl. come through and under bid you bye a ton they're "On a Race To The Bottom"!! Hoping all is well, Dirty Jersey out!!
Thinking of starting lawn care myself currently employed working in pharma world, gonna try to do both while working fill time until the lawn care takes off end goal is to just run my own and make it successful and healthy love the info you provide and just wanted to say thanks for all the videos
Brian. Love your videos! . I do tree work in Oklahoma and I wish they would kind of be a little bit closer and competitive because the bids Here can go from $400 to 2000 on the same tree but some people so desperate for work will under cut everybody just to try to keep their workers busy or just stay afloat.
By far the most helpful video I've seen yet on here on how to bid commercial. Great job and I look forward to more videos and watching the growth of your company!
Spot on !! I am glad to see this video. It really helps the industry standards. Most lowballs are just under educated and do not know what it cost to run a business. Thanks for sharing.
Find out the acreage or square footage of the property first Square footage is very important to have when doing your figures... Whatever your square footage is on any property for example: 15000 square feet... Move the decimal over 2.. turning your square footage into a dollar form amount of 150.00 After you get your dollar figure amount from moving the decibel over two. Divide that number by 2... Which in this case would be $75... $75 for .344 of an acre... Keep in mind this would include all trimming and blowing fees... It at least gives you the rough figure... In some cases you may have extra trimming you might have to charge extra for... But it's easier to justify this way...
Great content as always. Really enjoyed this video. Definitely agree with your pricing of that site and reasoning for it. Also agree that we shouldn’t undercut each other. Cost of living goes up every year so why should our lawn prices go down. We as an industry have to think like other trades that continue to increase year after year
Pre emergent granular product instead of weeding would reduce your operating costs and make your business more efficient and professional and profitable
Good video. With how easy it is to take that plow off I would remove it to save the wear and tear on the front end of your truck when your not expecting snow for a few days. Just a tip
Takes 5 minutes, but I drop it off 15 minutes away. In MI the weather changes on a dime, usually I keep it on if snow is in the 10 day, like it was for us. Snow 4-8" Weds!
Agree with J and B Lawn Care below regarding avoiding or at least being cautious about signing on with Big Box companies. They almost all seem to hire separate Property Management companies and my experience has been only fair to really terrible with these third-party folks. In one case, I was hired by a guy over the phone for snow & ice management at a VERY large comm-tech company (whose name begins with "V") in my area. I stopped service after they stalled on a $2,000 invoice, and of course they paid up real quick and insisted I resume service. Then they ran up $10k and after chasing everyone in their accounting dept, they directed me to a Property Mgt company in Georgia. Turns out the guy who initially signed my contract was a Virginia SUBCONTRACTOR of the Georgia Property Mgt company, and nobody could tell me how to get ahold of this sub or his company. I persisted for 3 months and got all but $487 of my money. Plus I reported the whole thing to the State Attorney Generals of my state, Georgia, and Virginia (no response, of course). Moral of the story: Make them sign YOUR contract, or carefully read their contract, or do what I now do: refuse work for Property Management companies unless they are local. Oh, and way back at the start of the whole thing -- I insisted that guy on the phone sign MY contract.
Doing apartment complexes I charge for each building as it’s a separate house. Say there are 20 buildings, and normal you’d charge $50 per yard that size, I’ll charge $45 per building and then add extra for any fields or large grass areas around the buildings. Apartments are BIG money.
Say there are 20 buildings with an “average home sized yard” for example’s sake, and for something that size Id normally charge $50. I would cut them a discount per building and charge $45, sometimes $40. But at $45 per building for 20 buildings, that’s $900. If you have an efficient crew and can get 2-3 of those complexes done in a day that’s $1,800-$2,700 per day. I had 2 full time guys and 1 part time guy. I would bring the part time guy in on apartment days, put 2 guys on trimmers, myself and my most experienced guy on the 2 mowers, and we would get at it. Usually the guys trimming would be done first on those properties so they would grab blowers and have it all blown off by the time I’m finishing the last building. Park the truck somewhere in a central location, then start at one side of the complex and just systematically work through the entire property 1 building at a time. I have cleared $3,500 on apartment days. It took the whole day to do one 20 building complex, one 16 building complex, and one 15 building complex. 2 of them had common areas near the entrance with ponds, all 2 had playgrounds, and I highly recommend apartments for anybody wanting to make more money with less contracts. In theory you could have 1 crew if 4 men do nothing but apartments and have another 1 or 2 crews doing single family residential properties and you could make as much of not more money than some guys running 4-5 crews. It’s not any different than having all those buildings in 1 neighborhood spread out over like 3 streets. Having buildings that close you can knock out A LOT in a day.
Most of the time you can also pick up little 8-12 building complexes pretty easily because small complexes like that the owners don’t like hiring big companies to do them because they “think” it will be way more expensive 🤷🏼♂️
Great video Brian, I bid simulator to what you just what different numbers! I enjoy doing fertilization and irrigation systems, just for fertilization you need a license in order to do it!
Not lawn business just enjoy these vids, I do a 10 k yard $30 and trim, widow lady across street. Weed eater Sundaiwa cost $450 couldn't find cheaper Redmax
Hey Brian, thanks for all the great content. I’ve been trying to find where you have the link for your commercial bid sheet but with no success. Can you link me to that or direct where to go to get it. Thanks and also thanks for the help with the Kujos, fit great, feel great, and man are they durable. Ordered the boots to for this winter, definitely glad I went up a half size. Thanks again, Kevin.
Brian, I watch your videos all the time along with Jason Creel, Keith Kalfas, and Stanley “The Dirt Monkey” for advice and sound ideas when it comes to pricing and approaching work. It’s funny that you mention not bidding locations like Lowes, Home Depot, etc because I’m currently in a bidding negotiation for a year round weekly (52) maintenance service agreement with one of those previously mentioned that’s managed by an out of state property management company. My first initial bid was turned down because he said I was too high and they only wanted to pay a fraction of the bid. However, the scope of work is pretty extensive and whole nine yards for full landscaping is what they are requiring. The mowing is not too extensive with just under 3 acres to mow, trim, edge, and blow. I’m not an expert but felt I bid it accordingly. I could use some sound advice from someone such as yourself with familiarity bidding commercially.
Hey Brian thank you for your time this really helped me better understand and how easy it really is to itemize everything for roughly the same size job I’m bidding on.
Great video. Couple questions, I see a lot of folks charging their (X) amount per yard of mulch installed. What about bed prep, I.E. weeding & edging? It seems like the spring cleanup wouldn't cover that based on the price. Also, what about a delivery fee for the mulch? Industry standard seems to be about $25-$35 per truck load to get the mulch on site. If we as landscapers didn't have trucks to pick up mulch etc, we would be paying the supply yard a delivery fee. I see a lot of guys not charging for delivery and we don't like seeing guys leaving money on the table. Thank you for the great content.
Love your honesty. Many try to act bigger than they really are, you keep it real. A year or two i think both us will be able to do bigger business sites if we'd like. To me it's more of a head ache. And yea sir i average 120 a hr for my crew To make money like I like. We need to do 3 residential lawns an hr with one truck and 3 guys. So my numbers are rite on with you bud, give or take obviously. Thanks brother. You rock bud!!! Ha lol
The big money doesn't have to come from big businesses. Think of residential clients as well for creating a large profit margin. Targeting the right residential customer will often times lead to more loyalty (because those bigger companies often are price shopping and will fire you when someone cheaper comes around regardless of how satisfied they were with your service) and the less client turn over we have the better because it costs money to get new clients. Bigger jobs also take a lot of time in your day limiting you from taking on new customers which isnt a big deal until that business fires you and you had 30% of your workload into that job and you have to scramble to find a whole lot of work to keep your price the same because as use rates on equipment go down, the cost goes up. So hopefully those other 70% of clients don't mind a price increase or you can just eat the lost profit margin. Having those high quality residential clients also allow for a lot of opportunities for diversification into leaf removal, aeration, power seeding, landscaping and more with a wider range of clients to do this higher profit margin work for. Just a thought!
Way to share that info Brian. You have posted on a few videos of the weeding . It’s nobody’s favourite job . Truth be told it’s pretty high profit for you. Only takes hard work and a pail, you are already on site. The nice thing about many small commercial sites is if you lose one it doesn’t effect like losing a huge site. I’m not into that either. Thanks for sharing .
Totally buddy, 2 great tips. Hey if I’m pulling weeds, I’m totally fine with that! It’s relaxing as hell. If you price it right, it can be even more enjoyable lol 😏
I'm not even in the lawn business and I watched till the end. Fantastic breakdown and smart methodology brother. Nice. I'm just a home gamer with a Scag lol
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Picked up the tiger cat 2 after watching a bunch of your vids last year. I did a video on my channel about a week ago on installing that QwikChute that I saw you were running too. I appreciate all of your vids brother. I run a web design company here in FL and while the industries are completely different, the business skills and the "get paid for the little stuff" principals are critical. It's one of the main reasons small businesses go out of business. Don't be afraid to charge what you're worth. If guys/gals are in business, they need to make sure that the business gets paid as well as the owner-operator.
Great video I loved this format and your details on finances provided! Could you tell us how you go about finding commercial sites is it mainly calling property managers? Also side note what landscape conferences do you recommend besides the GIE?
Do you have a video explaining where exactly to put in bids? Do you go in to the places and talk to managers? Do you just email corporate? That’s where I’m lost .
Is that $100/yd for installed mulch include the price of the mulch/supplies? Or just the man hours it would take to install, not including supplies? Great video and info!
Awesome video this is the type of info I've been looking for specially starting this season I've been wanting to get into commercial properties. Thanks 👌
Great video. Pure class brother. I’m 16 years in business and I enjoy listening to your enthusiasm. Great advice with the under bidding each other. It gets old. Enough business to go around. Stop lowering the market. Thx Brian.
Great video Brian, really helpful to compare numbers with my business. I do similar 1 acre properties for commercial and smaller quarter acre residential homes. 1 quick question for clarification, you say $125 per hour for you and a guy. So that’s a $125 total for 2 man hours correct? Or $62.5 for 1 hour man hour depending how you look at it. Thanks again for the video!
$125 for the 2 man yeah. Usually it’s $75 an hr for any work I’m doing and $25+ for any helper we have on a job site. That’s what works great for my #’s
Brian this is from four years ago. How have your numbers been adjusted? If this was in 2020 before the pandemic struck and the inflation could you put out a new video with new numbers?
Hey Brian I just started a mowing business last season and I got a few business last year that approached me and needed somebody to mow but this season I am looking to expand and get more businesses my self and I am just trying to figure out how I should go about it and how to approach them and secure some more businesses this season
Brian can you link a recent video(s) on where and how to find these comm/HOA etc. I am finding it hard to get to these commercials as well as HOA's like who do we talk to? You can talk to a manager but obviously not the right person
Respect to you for having the balls to post a detailed video like this, probably why you have 80k+ subscribers
We're an open book brotha. I'm not saying I'm wrong, or right, it is what it is :) I'm still learning too, every single day. Ha! Thanks for the love.
Hey Brian, I’m 18 and I’m going full time lawn care/landscaping this year. It’s crazy how much great information is on TH-cam because of people like you. Thank you for doing what you do man!
Hey buddy that’s what it’s all about. Hope the content helps! Keep up the hard work 💪
Good luck, I was thinking about doing this myself and I am almost 40, if you start now at 18 and your serious, you could set yourself up for life, go out there and get it!!
Get it brother... 2020 is your year kevin make it happen, the sky's the limit bud.. hope you have a great season God bless.
Go Get it Kid! Work hard, be honest, and do what you say you're going to do. You'll be fine!
How’s it going for you?
people look at me crazy when i tell them i make $100-$250 an hr with my leather business. watching this bc i want to build my lawncare business and this has been such a great help!
Guys, remember: We ALL have different markets. I'm in the Virginia/DC Market, what we charge here is not going to jive with a lower populated, lower income area. Brian is spot-on with the Bi-Weekly thing and the Create the LIFESTYLE you want. There's a market and plenty of work for all of us out there. Just gotta get up and GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, how much do you think should be charge on average per hour of labor in VA/DC area working solo?
In my market you have to do bi-weekly or you wont have any lawns. Commercial usually will be weekly but not residential. In summer the grass barely grows in 2 weeks.
T5
I'm 19, and writing up a bid tonight for my first commercial account. This video couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks Brian for this information
Best of luck pal!
How did you do Jack?
@@glenlohane-adayinthelife7361 well... the guy never replied to me, which I thought was abit rough, esp considering it was a large well known company with a rigid tendering process. But in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't get it. I'm over mowing lawns to tell you the truth, its not my calling. I take my hat of to the guys that do this all day every day.
@@jackheinemann8780 Well, good that you know it's not for you. That's a gift. Hope you find something that you dig.
@@glenlohane-adayinthelife7361 thanks mate, yeah i still have about half a dozen yards. i just the ones i enjoy doing + getting out and about is great and its always good to have a chat to the folks. I'm going to try my hand at selling real estate, i still have all my gear, so ill certainty be putting it to work cleaning up these property's to get on the market. I'll see what the next 12 months brings, hopefully nothing like the last 12.
Owner operator here in Michigan. 👋 Yes we all need to stick together and not perpetually undercut each other. We bid very similarly btw, great tips for others!
I’ve been saying this for years we all need to work together. Just like most barbershops in cities meet on prices we should do the same. Good point Brian.
Price fixing is against the law
@@dgoodinground not entirely correct. Price fixing is a result of the govt taking control and fixing prices, this occurs in communism. and after a while, once socialism starts to fail, you have 2 options, price fix, or go free market. You are referring to collusion. Active collusion is absolutely illegal, active which means all the barbers in the city activity get together and raise there prices together. This is absolutely illegal, plenty of people are in jail because of convicted of collusion.
I really appreciate videos like this. I am currently at 15 residential clients and I want to get mor before I go full time but no one i know owns a lawn business so all my info comes from TH-cam and I’m so glad people like you help folks like me and many others who are starting out. I wish everyone the best of luck
Me to man I’m 17 and I started a buisness landscape two years ago we get a lot of mulching and hardscaping but we need more houses to cut grass now there’s so much competition because if you tell client you’ll do for let’s say 50 an acre just an example another business would come and go it for way cheaper is so much competition now a days
How is your business doing today
All estimating is based on production numbers. Meaning I can mow X sf per man hour, edging, trimming, etc. All these numbers can be figured out by time and motion studies. Once you have that info you can price out anything from a .25 acre lot to 10-20 acres.
Good content 👍🏼
Probably the best commercial pricing video on TH-cam. Love it!
Hey thanks pal. I really hope it helps 👍
Years ago, I worked at a commercial building that wanted me to get quotes on lawn care. I had quotes for $75 a week to $600+. The GM hired the service that turned in the highest quote!!! I’m sure that’s not always what happens, but it did in this case. Businesses don’t always want the cheapest quote!
This was an older complex with about 60% of it occupied; they were always late to pay and claimed that they didn’t have the money. I put up with that for two years, as I was just starting my business. No shrubs to trim and about 3 hours of labor for 175.00, but it was every two weeks and mostly crab grass. It's totally my fault for my misery, I should have walked away way sooner.
Thanks Brian,
This was the most useful video on lawn care that has ever been created. Very much appreciated
Wow thanks pal, I’m honored.
the NUMBER ONE question I have is, Who do you have to talk to in order to get a commercial client?
big businesses are more of an entity than a single person, and they never seem to know who handles their landscape maintenance.
Also you brought up a good point about working together for our prices. There really is enough out there for everyone, so cutting prices kind of hurts us all. Another thing I've noticed is when I get a new client who just dropped their service and switched to me, they're not looking for a lower price. They're willing to pay the same or even more for someone to really take care of their needs.
The Office Manager
Great video Brian! Soooo agree with not shooting under prior company’s bid! It’s happening so much in our area that it’s really affecting ability to accept small commercial property’s. Remember guys we’re not just trying to create cash flow, goal is to create profit!!!
And wealth ✅
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Amen. I'm in a time capsule. Go Bucks!
Brian thanks for taking the time to share your subject knowledge. This is very helpful for new owner/operators. I'm inspired, keep up the good work 👍🏾
This was one of the most requested topics back from our 80K subscriber video!
We finally had a nice day in MI and I wanted to do a commercial bid walkthrough to help you guys out! Again these prices are a GENERAL idea and example of what we would charge!
The video isn’t exactly what YOU should do, this is just what works for our business! Hope that helps!
Here comes your Snow 4 to 8 inches of it.
Hey brian, great info bro. Love
the outro music too. Got a quick question. How do you find the commercial clients that have bids open. You hit the street and just ask businesses? Or do you go to a website and find them?? Thanks for what you do. Pretty amazing.
Where can we go to get the contract you talked about in this video?
@@bigdogg1206 yes great question. I am finding it hard to get to these commercials as well as HOA's like who do we talk to
Times the winter work money x4 if your salting,that’s where the money is👍🏼.
I agree 100% with the price raises with the cost of good laborers not bodies,good laborers.
Great video lots of good info thanks for sharing.
I tried to budget $2K for snow 1500 for salt. It’s probably more I agree. 👍💪
I offered to mow my works property after we moved locations. Site is 4 acres with 1 acre of grass around the property. 700ft of steep ditch you can’t use a mower with 1000ft of chain link fence. I quoted $550 estimating a 5hr job. I also blew the parking lot on both sides and picked up nails and trash. Job took 7 man hours in actual work. My boss got multiple quotes after ranging from $175/cut biweekly to $575/cut weekly. Tough to compete with those super low rates so I said let them have at it. I was offering just to make some side money. We’ll see how it goes once they start mowing. A 3 man crew was mowing when we moved in.
Your wife must be very proud of how smart you are. I mean that as nice as I can say it. Until I saw your back story, I really thought you went to business school just listening to how you speak. Always very informative and professional. Kudos b. Keep it up. I think that is why so many people find your channel. You don't bullshit either. Not afraid of the pros and cons of running a business. Every so often we see glimpse of your personal life. Way to go rock star. Knuckles bro.
Hey thanks buddy that means a lot
Thanks for the tips! I like your attitude, yes we are competitors today but tomorrow we may need one another.
I agree with you Brian on the fact that we all should set the pay scale all the same or about the same . here where I live in Warsaw NY there are to many cut throats .I have been in business for about 2 years and have seen so many fly by night company's come and go and they make it harder for guys like us that are trying to make a live doing what we love to do. But my works Speaks volumes about my type of work that I do for the customer.i find your videos very inspirational so thank you for all that you do for me and others in our business.
I'm being real and comfortable saying this because I'm sure I'm not alone...."Got mad love for you bro". This is the best video period. You are 100% correct when you said that you never seen anyone put anything this descriptive out here for us. #MOTIVATION
Haha thanks pal 💯
Man I haven’t even watched the Video and I already like this video, I’m sitting here with pen and paper ready to take notes. All I can say is thank you , thank you 🙏🏻, love your channel keep up the good work .
You bet pal!
Brian... I agree with your focus on medium to small commercials and homes. If you get one or two large commercials instead, they may be gone next year along with a huge % of your business. (You may not be able to fill out that huge hole, and end up with a bad down year as a result.)
That’s another nugget, yep! If one account makes or breaks you, that’s never a good business model, imo.
This is the 7th time I've watched this, for other reason than your energy.
2 questions:
1. Do you still have this site as a client? Did you scale your quote with your rate increases?
2. Can you do more of these? 😁
Thank man for motivating me to go solo with my dad , this will help me out a lot when ever I get a commercial client . Currently 20 years old and can’t wait to see where I go from here . Greetings from New Jersey the garden state
Thank you for taking the time to do that video that was very informative and spot on. I also like the way you think in regard to people in the industry working together to get a better price on the work we do.
I'm so glad you brought up the Industry Standard pricing. I head a saying the other day that stuck with me & I love sharing great sayings!! When ppl. come through and under bid you bye a ton they're "On a Race To The Bottom"!! Hoping all is well, Dirty Jersey out!!
So true and so good. Thx brother!!
Brian in order to get better lawn quality and the need for more cuts. I recommend just adding a treatment of plug aireations.
Appreciate the transparency here Brian! I was surprised with the numbers tbh! Have a great 2020 season 😎
I greatly appreciate this video I’m sure you’ve helped 100s to thousands of people
Thinking of starting lawn care myself currently employed working in pharma world, gonna try to do both while working fill time until the lawn care takes off end goal is to just run my own and make it successful and healthy love the info you provide and just wanted to say thanks for all the videos
Awesome!
How's it going now man? Same boat here
Brian. Love your videos! . I do tree work in Oklahoma and I wish they would kind of be a little bit closer and competitive because the bids Here can go from $400 to 2000 on the same tree but some people so desperate for work will under cut everybody just to try to keep their workers busy or just stay afloat.
Thank you for the breakdown! This helps out. I fully agree on let all raise our price together instead of undercutting each other!.
By far the most helpful video I've seen yet on here on how to bid commercial. Great job and I look forward to more videos and watching the growth of your company!
Spot on !! I am glad to see this video. It really helps the industry standards. Most lowballs are just under educated and do not know what it cost to run a business. Thanks for sharing.
Find out the acreage or square footage of the property first
Square footage is very important to have when doing your figures...
Whatever your square footage is on any property for example: 15000 square feet... Move the decimal over 2.. turning your square footage into a dollar form amount of 150.00
After you get your dollar figure amount from moving the decibel over two. Divide that number by 2... Which in this case would be $75...
$75 for .344 of an acre... Keep in mind this would include all trimming and blowing fees...
It at least gives you the rough figure... In some cases you may have extra trimming you might have to charge extra for... But it's easier to justify this way...
Golden tips in this one! Thanks Brian!! 👍
Hey Brian! This video was incredibly informative. Thank you man! I know this videos take alot to make. I know we all really appreciate it!
Hey you bet buddy thanks for the kind words
Great content as always. Really enjoyed this video. Definitely agree with your pricing of that site and reasoning for it. Also agree that we shouldn’t undercut each other. Cost of living goes up every year so why should our lawn prices go down. We as an industry have to think like other trades that continue to increase year after year
Amen pal
Ooof..... Say that again in 2023 😮
Pre emergent granular product instead of weeding would reduce your operating costs and make your business more efficient and professional and profitable
Preemerg for garden beds? What product do you use?
@@samuelmckinley6327 teflon. Less expensive than snapshot
Great video Brian, I love how you keep your videos simple and practical!
Hey 3rd grade was the last year I aced. I try to teach at that level for guys like me 😂😎
Install price is on par
But almost all commercial expect previous years to be removed to prevent buildup.
That's surely 200yd!
Good video. With how easy it is to take that plow off I would remove it to save the wear and tear on the front end of your truck when your not expecting snow for a few days. Just a tip
Takes 5 minutes, but I drop it off 15 minutes away. In MI the weather changes on a dime, usually I keep it on if snow is in the 10 day, like it was for us. Snow 4-8" Weds!
Brian's Lawn Maintenance I hear ya from WI lol never know 😁
Loved this one Brian! Hope you'll do more of these types of videos in the future! Looking forward to the next one!
Brian brill info as usual. Landscaper here in Ireland with a deep thinking channel😊.
Agree with J and B Lawn Care below regarding avoiding or at least being cautious about signing on with Big Box companies. They almost all seem to hire separate Property Management companies and my experience has been only fair to really terrible with these third-party folks. In one case, I was hired by a guy over the phone for snow & ice management at a VERY large comm-tech company (whose name begins with "V") in my area. I stopped service after they stalled on a $2,000 invoice, and of course they paid up real quick and insisted I resume service. Then they ran up $10k and after chasing everyone in their accounting dept, they directed me to a Property Mgt company in Georgia. Turns out the guy who initially signed my contract was a Virginia SUBCONTRACTOR of the Georgia Property Mgt company, and nobody could tell me how to get ahold of this sub or his company. I persisted for 3 months and got all but $487 of my money. Plus I reported the whole thing to the State Attorney Generals of my state, Georgia, and Virginia (no response, of course). Moral of the story: Make them sign YOUR contract, or carefully read their contract, or do what I now do: refuse work for Property Management companies unless they are local. Oh, and way back at the start of the whole thing -- I insisted that guy on the phone sign MY contract.
This was very helpful please post more videos. Thanks 🎉
Doing apartment complexes I charge for each building as it’s a separate house. Say there are 20 buildings, and normal you’d charge $50 per yard that size, I’ll charge $45 per building and then add extra for any fields or large grass areas around the buildings. Apartments are BIG money.
Say there are 20 buildings with an “average home sized yard” for example’s sake, and for something that size Id normally charge $50. I would cut them a discount per building and charge $45, sometimes $40. But at $45 per building for 20 buildings, that’s $900. If you have an efficient crew and can get 2-3 of those complexes done in a day that’s $1,800-$2,700 per day. I had 2 full time guys and 1 part time guy. I would bring the part time guy in on apartment days, put 2 guys on trimmers, myself and my most experienced guy on the 2 mowers, and we would get at it. Usually the guys trimming would be done first on those properties so they would grab blowers and have it all blown off by the time I’m finishing the last building. Park the truck somewhere in a central location, then start at one side of the complex and just systematically work through the entire property 1 building at a time. I have cleared $3,500 on apartment days. It took the whole day to do one 20 building complex, one 16 building complex, and one 15 building complex. 2 of them had common areas near the entrance with ponds, all 2 had playgrounds, and I highly recommend apartments for anybody wanting to make more money with less contracts. In theory you could have 1 crew if 4 men do nothing but apartments and have another 1 or 2 crews doing single family residential properties and you could make as much of not more money than some guys running 4-5 crews. It’s not any different than having all those buildings in 1 neighborhood spread out over like 3 streets. Having buildings that close you can knock out A LOT in a day.
Most of the time you can also pick up little 8-12 building complexes pretty easily because small complexes like that the owners don’t like hiring big companies to do them because they “think” it will be way more expensive 🤷🏼♂️
Great video Brian, I bid simulator to what you just what different numbers! I enjoy doing fertilization and irrigation systems, just for fertilization you need a license in order to do it!
Great talking points!you Rock in the lawn and landscaping business!Brian……keep pushing!
Thanks pal
Sir…thank you!
Not lawn business just enjoy these vids, I do a 10 k yard $30 and trim, widow lady across street. Weed eater Sundaiwa cost $450 couldn't find cheaper Redmax
Favorite video Brian I recently entered a bid like this for a apartment complex
Hope you get it and at a fair price!
Awesome video helps out a lot. Another good topic would be how you run your payments and pay employees.
Awesome video! I’m just starting out and got my first plow this year! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this!
Glad I could help!
Hey Brian, thanks for all the great content. I’ve been trying to find where you have the link for your commercial bid sheet but with no success. Can you link me to that or direct where to go to get it. Thanks and also thanks for the help with the Kujos, fit great, feel great, and man are they durable. Ordered the boots to for this winter, definitely glad I went up a half size. Thanks again, Kevin.
Yep! www.LawntrepreneurAcademy.com!
Brian, great video(s) ! Thanks for being real and straight forward. ✌
You bet pal
I needed a video like this just breaking things down thanks!
Brian, I watch your videos all the time along with Jason Creel, Keith Kalfas, and Stanley “The Dirt Monkey” for advice and sound ideas when it comes to pricing and approaching work. It’s funny that you mention not bidding locations like Lowes, Home Depot, etc because I’m currently in a bidding negotiation for a year round weekly (52) maintenance service agreement with one of those previously mentioned that’s managed by an out of state property management company.
My first initial bid was turned down because he said I was too high and they only wanted to pay a fraction of the bid. However, the scope of work is pretty extensive and whole nine yards for full landscaping is what they are requiring. The mowing is not too extensive with just under 3 acres to mow, trim, edge, and blow. I’m not an expert but felt I bid it accordingly. I could use some sound advice from someone such as yourself with familiarity bidding commercially.
Sometimes those big sites pay crap!
Hey Brian thank you for your time this really helped me better understand and how easy it really is to itemize everything for roughly the same size job I’m bidding on.
Great video. Couple questions, I see a lot of folks charging their (X) amount per yard of mulch installed. What about bed prep, I.E. weeding & edging? It seems like the spring cleanup wouldn't cover that based on the price. Also, what about a delivery fee for the mulch? Industry standard seems to be about $25-$35 per truck load to get the mulch on site. If we as landscapers didn't have trucks to pick up mulch etc, we would be paying the supply yard a delivery fee. I see a lot of guys not charging for delivery and we don't like seeing guys leaving money on the table. Thank you for the great content.
You would price accordingly for both those services and fees yep, those are extra if and when needed 👍
Excellent video, very helpful for someone like me who is just getting into commercial accounts. Thanks for all your help!
Love your honesty. Many try to act bigger than they really are, you keep it real. A year or two i think both us will be able to do bigger business sites if we'd like. To me it's more of a head ache. And yea sir i average 120 a hr for my crew To make money like I like. We need to do 3 residential lawns an hr with one truck and 3 guys. So my numbers are rite on with you bud, give or take obviously. Thanks brother. You rock bud!!! Ha lol
That’s awesome to hear 👍
The big money doesn't have to come from big businesses. Think of residential clients as well for creating a large profit margin. Targeting the right residential customer will often times lead to more loyalty (because those bigger companies often are price shopping and will fire you when someone cheaper comes around regardless of how satisfied they were with your service) and the less client turn over we have the better because it costs money to get new clients. Bigger jobs also take a lot of time in your day limiting you from taking on new customers which isnt a big deal until that business fires you and you had 30% of your workload into that job and you have to scramble to find a whole lot of work to keep your price the same because as use rates on equipment go down, the cost goes up. So hopefully those other 70% of clients don't mind a price increase or you can just eat the lost profit margin. Having those high quality residential clients also allow for a lot of opportunities for diversification into leaf removal, aeration, power seeding, landscaping and more with a wider range of clients to do this higher profit margin work for. Just a thought!
Way to share that info Brian. You have posted on a few videos of the weeding . It’s nobody’s favourite job . Truth be told it’s pretty high profit for you. Only takes hard work and a pail, you are already on site. The nice thing about many small commercial sites is if you lose one it doesn’t effect like losing a huge site. I’m not into that either. Thanks for sharing .
Totally buddy, 2 great tips. Hey if I’m pulling weeds, I’m totally fine with that! It’s relaxing as hell. If you price it right, it can be even more enjoyable lol 😏
I'm not even in the lawn business and I watched till the end. Fantastic breakdown and smart methodology brother. Nice. I'm just a home gamer with a Scag lol
Haha well thanks! What SCAG you run?
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Picked up the tiger cat 2 after watching a bunch of your vids last year. I did a video on my channel about a week ago on installing that QwikChute that I saw you were running too. I appreciate all of your vids brother. I run a web design company here in FL and while the industries are completely different, the business skills and the "get paid for the little stuff" principals are critical. It's one of the main reasons small businesses go out of business. Don't be afraid to charge what you're worth. If guys/gals are in business, they need to make sure that the business gets paid as well as the owner-operator.
Great video I loved this format and your details on finances provided! Could you tell us how you go about finding commercial sites is it mainly calling property managers? Also side note what landscape conferences do you recommend besides the GIE?
Check our more recent videos about getting new clients and our marketing video, we touch on all of this!
New sub, just getting started on my journey. Thanks for this man!
You got this!
Do you have a video on how you find and approach new commercial clients ?
You help us new guys so much. Thank you! You & keith kelfas are awesome!
I didn’t hear a thing you said. All I could focus on was that GQ beaming in the sunlight 😍
Shine bright like a diamond 💎😎😂
Great content. It’s funny how I’m looking at picking up a few commercial properties this year too
Trying to be one step ahead of you guys 🤓
Do you have a video explaining where exactly to put in bids? Do you go in to the places and talk to managers? Do you just email corporate? That’s where I’m lost .
thanks for the help with theses detailed videos Brian. Is there a way to find out commercial sites who are looking for bids ?
Pure Gold!!! Thanks for all the tips Brian! 👍
Hey Brian, I gave this video a like before I even watched it. Thats how excited I am
Hot diggity! I feel ya ha! 30 days and we’ll be back at it!
Thanks for a great video Brian. You always have helpful content!
Your videos are awesome dude top of the line
Great video and information. My question is how do you get commercial customers? Thanks
Check out recent marketing videos! We cover a bunch of great tips on that topic
Lucky! Still lots of snow here!
4-8" Wednesday! I knew this was coming.. had to shoot the video when we could, ha!
thank you for your videos! they are helping grow my side business
Great video Brian lots of knowledge
Absolutely LOVE these kinds of videos
Fire video, Brian! Really helpful!
I think your advice should be used throughout. No company should price compete with their "competition", ever. They are all in it together, right?
It is a really nice form...thank you Brian
How are you getting clients? Cause don’t many commercial sites already have people doing it. Love the videos
Another great video and very professional, thanks
Is that $100/yd for installed mulch include the price of the mulch/supplies? Or just the man hours it would take to install, not including supplies? Great video and info!
We have the whole break down on the mulch video linked on the end card. It’s a solid 15 minute video 👍
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Watching it now, thanks!
We're about 125/yd including materials
Somehow i missed this video when it came out. Totally agree with everything you said in the video.
Awesome video this is the type of info I've been looking for specially starting this season I've been wanting to get into commercial properties. Thanks 👌
17:10 THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING FOR 3 YEARS! THANK YOU!
Great video. Pure class brother. I’m 16 years in business and I enjoy listening to your enthusiasm. Great advice with the under bidding each other. It gets old. Enough business to go around. Stop lowering the market. Thx Brian.
Amen buddy!
Thank you so much for this type of videos it really gave me an idea of how to bid shout out from nj
Great video Brian, really helpful to compare numbers with my business. I do similar 1 acre properties for commercial and smaller quarter acre residential homes. 1 quick question for clarification, you say $125 per hour for you and a guy. So that’s a $125 total for 2 man hours correct? Or $62.5 for 1 hour man hour depending how you look at it. Thanks again for the video!
$125 for the 2 man yeah. Usually it’s $75 an hr for any work I’m doing and $25+ for any helper we have on a job site. That’s what works great for my #’s
Brian this is from four years ago. How have your numbers been adjusted? If this was in 2020 before the pandemic struck and the inflation could you put out a new video with new numbers?
I can, yessir!
Thank you, Brian! Great video!!
NICE !!! GREAT VIDEO MAN !!👍🏼👍🏼
Hey Brian I just started a mowing business last season and I got a few business last year that approached me and needed somebody to mow but this season I am looking to expand and get more businesses my self and I am just trying to figure out how I should go about it and how to approach them and secure some more businesses this season
Keep watching good TH-cam videos, you’ll get there!
Brian can you link a recent video(s) on where and how to find these comm/HOA etc. I am finding it hard to get to these commercials as well as HOA's like who do we talk to? You can talk to a manager but obviously not the right person
Thanks! was really helpful keep up the good work