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Thread: 10 Acre School Quote

  1. #31
    Guest redbackmowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Quote Originally Posted by Antic View Post
    Talking about school quotes, there are quite a few in my area.After reading this thread I got motivated and spoke to a local Principal of a small Primary School.
    I gave the Principal a letter of introduction a few cards and we had a bit of a chat.

    The Principal said they have a fellow that comes in once a week to do odd jobs,mowing ect.....The place looks a bit of a mess as he leaves grass clumps all over the place,edging is very basic.
    I offered a much more proffesional finish and a free quote.

    The Principal was very receptive and said I would get a call if this fellow can't make it for some reason.This makes me think he may have a contract with them, or he might be just jolly on the spot when the work came up,don't really know how the schools work in this way.

    I was wondering do you guys know if schools are under some Government Department directive as far as school maintenance is concerned or is it up to the individual school to get there own situation organised.
    been awhile since i've been here but would like to answer. Qld state schools have their own employees - Schools Officers (my current job after 14years lawnmowing). The hours depend on school enrollments & not ground size. some guys may have only 8 hr a week to mow 10 aces especially in the country towns but most do 38hrs. i'm not sure what the private schools or those in southern states do. the main emphasis is on the kids safety. mowing during school hours is a stop start affair so factor this in your quoting. Even school holidays they may have kids their from vacation care so weekends are best to mow for an outside contractor. The kids are always in & out of classrooms, plus some parents have no idea of safety around rideon mowers. You'll need blue card to work with kids plus maybe they'll do a police check also. hope this helps with the quoting.

    cheers

  2. #32
    Member Mick's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Going to look at a High School today. They dont know if they want to get another machine or contract it out.

    Im in 2 minds whether I really want it or not. Theres about 11acres of ovals plus a few areas around buildings, have to be close to 12 acres all up. The thought of doing it before/after and or on weekends doesnt really work for me. If I can do the ovals during the day and then in between the rooms after 3pm (or vice versa) then I might be keen. It is for weekly mowing but dont know about winter, holidays etc.

    Im just trying to figure out a price and after re reading this thread I think I'll go more expensive than I have in the past. Im thinking around the $65/acre but even that may be too cheap.
    I spoke with a contractor thats done it before over xmas and he was upwards of $1000. Thats around $83/acre but wasnt weekly.
    My other problem is having to many eggs in one basket, again! Loosing a big job like this would be painful.

  3. #33
    Senior Member bb1's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Quote Originally Posted by Antic View Post
    Talking about school quotes, there are quite a few in my area.After reading this thread I got motivated and spoke to a local Principal of a small Primary School.
    I gave the Principal a letter of introduction a few cards and we had a bit of a chat.


    I was wondering do you guys know if schools are under some Government Department directive as far as school maintenance is concerned or is it up to the individual school to get there own situation organised.
    Here in victoria, its up to the school council to employ contractors or staff for this type of work. So best way is to approach the school

  4. #34
    Senior Member bb1's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    Going to look at a High School today. They dont know if they want to get another machine or contract it out.

    Im in 2 minds whether I really want it or not. Theres about 11acres of ovals plus a few areas around buildings, have to be close to 12 acres all up. The thought of doing it before/after and or on weekends doesnt really work for me. If I can do the ovals during the day and then in between the rooms after 3pm (or vice versa) then I might be keen. It is for weekly mowing but dont know about winter, holidays etc.

    Im just trying to figure out a price and after re reading this thread I think I'll go more expensive than I have in the past. Im thinking around the $65/acre but even that may be too cheap.
    I spoke with a contractor thats done it before over xmas and he was upwards of $1000. Thats around $83/acre but wasnt weekly.
    My other problem is having to many eggs in one basket, again! Loosing a big job like this would be painful.
    I would say $65 is to cheap especially if its all after hours work, although if you consider its a one stop job, and you dont loose time travelling between jobs, you could take a little cut on your normal rate, but 65 is to low.

    On the eggs in onebasket, I have a job thats worth 20K per year, so if I loose that yes it is a big hit on the income, but I look at it that it is a good income while you have it, and not having to worry about havoing to deal with 20 clients to replace it. I've had it for 6 years now, lost it for one year at one stage when they found someone cheaper (but came back as the quality was cra p). In that year I just beefed up my advertising and had it replaced quickly. Once I got it back, i had the oportunity to dump some of my PITA's. I know offer them 2 year pricing to lock it in, for a set time. I would never knock back an ongoing job because of all eggs in one basket.

  5. #35
    Senior Member edbeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    I'd go for it Mick. Weekly mowing with your machine, you'd nearly roll it between 3pm and beer o'clock on a Friday It will just make the first one taste so much better.

  6. #36
    Dedicated Member Cranbourne Lawnmowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    65 an acre for 12 acres is 780 bucks. At $120 hr thats 6.5 hrs you have to do the job. Do you have to do the wipper snipping too. I'd go to at least 80 an acre.

    All depends on how many acres you can do per hour though.

  7. #37

    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    Going to look at a High School today. They dont know if they want to get another machine or contract it out.

    Im in 2 minds whether I really want it or not. Theres about 11acres of ovals plus a few areas around buildings, have to be close to 12 acres all up. The thought of doing it before/after and or on weekends doesnt really work for me. If I can do the ovals during the day and then in between the rooms after 3pm (or vice versa) then I might be keen. It is for weekly mowing but dont know about winter, holidays etc.

    Im just trying to figure out a price and after re reading this thread I think I'll go more expensive than I have in the past. Im thinking around the $65/acre but even that may be too cheap.
    I spoke with a contractor thats done it before over xmas and he was upwards of $1000. Thats around $83/acre but wasnt weekly.
    My other problem is having to many eggs in one basket, again! Loosing a big job like this would be painful.
    You have been around long enough Mick to weigh everything up and work out whats right! You know what you like and dislike so maybe a discussion with the High School may help to sort out a few of your queries.

  8. #38
    Member Mick's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Thanks for the feedback guys! While Ive done ovals before but it was just short term, cut n drop kind of thing. No need to be overly fussy.

    This ones a bit different!

    I measured up every little bit of the place, practically. Turns out to be 12.2 acres. Got speaking with the grounds men or whatever they are. Nice guys! One of them came up to me when I was about done and gave me the prices from there last quote. That was for weekly cutting over the xmas break. Needless to say, that was very handy info!

    Im way off with my pricing and time it would take.

    So now, from everything Ive been told Im expecting 8 to 10hrs just mowing. This is due to how thick the grass is on the ovals and needing to slow down for best result, maybe some feathering of clippings on the actual playing fields. These arent cr@ppy ovals but well maintained and super thick.
    Also LOTS of small areas that while would be done on the rider, there are a lot of them scattered throughout the school! Painfully scattered!

    Time management will or could be an issue but if they can deal with me being out on the ovals while there are kids out there, I could start early around the buildings, do the ovals and if not finished, finish around the buildings. I could even do this over several days. Its not far from home but thats not the ideal way to do it.

    I spoke with another lawnie/friend and asked if he'd like to come in on it and give me a hand. He seems interested and could get the time down to 4 to 5hrs.

    Going to think more on it tomorrow. I wont put any prices up on here but it will be considerably higher than what I was thinking!

    Thanks again!

  9. #39
    Senior Member edbeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    How did you go with this one Mick?
    Just by chance this morning I did a gardening job for a lady who is admin at the local school. I asked her about the mowing there and she said 'Well I was going to ask you if you were interested."
    Contract comes up soon and the present contractor probably won't continue.
    But it seems like at this school they supply the equipment and put you on the payroll. Seems they set it up like this because the present gardener couldn't/didn't want to supply their own gear.
    Should know more this week. The block is 13 acres and includes all the mowing, trimming & hedging etc.

    Might be a good excuse to finally buy that bigger ztr

  10. #40
    Member Mick's Avatar
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    Default Re: 10 Acre School Quote

    Early days yet. There just figuring out wether to contract or buy another machine.

    Anyway, sounds like a good job for you though mate, Good luck!

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