Great video, we changed up our estimating process this year and basically increased our pricing 10-20% and it have changed everything. I think a big part of pricing this stuff out is equipment too. It is easy to under estimate if you do not have all of the stuff to do the job. Keep up the good videos sir.
Great info. Keep them coming! You can never go wrong by charging by the hour! You'll always put money in your pocket. At the end of the day, the key is to make money
How often do you recalculate your hourly rate? For instance if you purchase some equipment that makes a task more efficient by 50% are you passing that labor savings on to the client or is that a higher profit for the company.
great video...keep them coming. I landed on this one because I want to get into more hardscaping and let my guys do the regular mowing and routine property maintenance.
Good video chap,I run a landscaping business in the U.K. Just introducing sketch up into my quotations I have watched your vids on these they are great! Keep up the good work
As a customer of contractors, I would be very interesting in knowing what questions to ask the contractor so I know I will end up with a quality job. A lot of times contractors come in, pop a number off the top other head and say "yes we can do that", but they don't go into details such as guarantees, warrantee and the like. Another point would be, "how to be a good customer to a contractor". I always want to pay these people a fair price so they will be motivated to do a good job, not take short cuts and get the job done. But with sometime wild swings in price, I am not sure If I am getting a guy who did a bad estimate then starts taking short cuts mid job because he was off.
Don’t you look at a job, and bid on that job based on taking x amount of dirt out and using x equipment for x hours plus x amount of labor and so on- then if it does not go as planned you then do a change order and charge the difference?
Excellent vid. Ive been in the business for 20 yrs (maintenance, mowing,light install, and snow) and just this past year and a half Ive decided to expand my business into the hardscape arena. Upon my research, attendance at the HNA (ICPI classes), and after meeting with consultants I will agree there is a lot of mis leading and non detailed information out there. I believe a lot of these "seminars" and "meet ups" should be defined as nothing more than product pimps. It seems as if there is always a detailed element missing when trying to gather information from these sources. I think you can really set yourself a part from the rest as it seems you really know what your talking about. Really looking forward to your upcoming vids. Send me contact info if you do phone consults for general questions regarding beginning to end operations. I'm interested in design process, sales strategies (approach, and up sell elements), job function, and some "how to" questions. Thanks
Thank you! I go to every seminar I can but you are right... a lot of them are simply for companies to just show off their products. Thank you for the encouraging input! I am going to be doing videos like this one over the next few months on pretty much all of the topics that you mentioned but I'd be happy to answer more questions for you before then. Feel free to email me at josh@masshardscapes.com.
Thank you! Depending on the size of the job I can usually give a rough idea during the meeting but I usually turn over my estimates within a day or two so they don't have to wait long to get an actual price.
Yep! If you do any type of hardscape installation you should have a laser. I use it on every job I look at as well as during all of our installations! I would look at TopCon or Bosch Professional. They both make good lasers that aren't super expensive.
This is great content. These really help growing business. How do you develop what your % profit should be? Of across we always want more, but how do you bench mark yourself?
I agree but the successful companies are not making that little profit. I think that number is so low because of the large number or contractors in our industry that are uneducated... One of the many reasons I am making these types of videos. You may be able to find some like mine online but not mine exactly. If you'd like them just send me your email and I'd be happy to get them to you. Thank you for the compliment! I'm aiming to have an educational page like his but do things a little differently.
I know this video is from a few years ago, but i just wanted to add that you are conflating markup and margin in this video. If you want a 10% profit margin you need more than a 10% markup as they are not calculated the same way. Look into that if you dont know what i mean.
Great video, we changed up our estimating process this year and basically increased our pricing 10-20% and it have changed everything. I think a big part of pricing this stuff out is equipment too. It is easy to under estimate if you do not have all of the stuff to do the job. Keep up the good videos sir.
Great info. Keep them coming!
You can never go wrong by charging by the hour! You'll always put money in your pocket.
At the end of the day, the key is to make money
Exactly! To many guys in the industry struggling to make a living and pay their bills. It shouldn't be that way!
How often do you recalculate your hourly rate? For instance if you purchase some equipment that makes a task more efficient by 50% are you passing that labor savings on to the client or is that a higher profit for the company.
I am an old dog always willing to learn some new tricks after 30 years here in Ma. Landscaping Thank you
Good stuff man! Please keep it coming!
Thank you! Plenty more to come!
great video...keep them coming. I landed on this one because I want to get into more hardscaping and let my guys do the regular mowing and routine property maintenance.
Thank you! Plenty more to come. You will never regret getting into hardscaping. It is such a rewarding part of the business!
I categorize my overhead, material, labor, sales taxes, and profit
Good video chap,I run a landscaping business in the U.K. Just introducing sketch up into my quotations I have watched your vids on these they are great! Keep up the good work
Glad to hear they helped! Thank you!
As a customer of contractors, I would be very interesting in knowing what questions to ask the contractor so I know I will end up with a quality job. A lot of times contractors come in, pop a number off the top other head and say "yes we can do that", but they don't go into details such as guarantees, warrantee and the like. Another point would be, "how to be a good customer to a contractor". I always want to pay these people a fair price so they will be motivated to do a good job, not take short cuts and get the job done. But with sometime wild swings in price, I am not sure If I am getting a guy who did a bad estimate then starts taking short cuts mid job because he was off.
Holy crap! Awesome video man!
Well done, I agree with this approach.
enjoying your videos!!
Glad to hear it!
Many Thanks .Please make video about technical works in the site .Thanks again
Did you have link to the breakdown of hrs you estimate breakdown the one showed on video?
Good info. Thanx
What did you go to school for ?
great video. thankyou
What design software do you use?
Don’t you look at a job, and bid on that job based on taking x amount of dirt out and using x equipment for x hours plus x amount of labor and so on- then if it does not go as planned you then do a change order and charge the difference?
Thank you so much Man.
Your welcome!
Excellent vid. Ive been in the business for 20 yrs (maintenance, mowing,light install, and snow) and just this past year and a half Ive decided to expand my business into the hardscape arena. Upon my research, attendance at the HNA (ICPI classes), and after meeting with consultants I will agree there is a lot of mis leading and non detailed information out there. I believe a lot of these "seminars" and "meet ups" should be defined as nothing more than product pimps. It seems as if there is always a detailed element missing when trying to gather information from these sources. I think you can really set yourself a part from the rest as it seems you really know what your talking about. Really looking forward to your upcoming vids. Send me contact info if you do phone consults for general questions regarding beginning to end operations. I'm interested in design process, sales strategies (approach, and up sell elements), job function, and some "how to" questions. Thanks
Thank you! I go to every seminar I can but you are right... a lot of them are simply for companies to just show off their products. Thank you for the encouraging input! I am going to be doing videos like this one over the next few months on pretty much all of the topics that you mentioned but I'd be happy to answer more questions for you before then. Feel free to email me at josh@masshardscapes.com.
Good video Man, but what do you do? When client need to have a number or idea on project cost. You just guess.
Thank you! Depending on the size of the job I can usually give a rough idea during the meeting but I usually turn over my estimates within a day or two so they don't have to wait long to get an actual price.
Do you use a laser to figure out your grade? I'm thinking of getting one but not sure what to get or if I even need one?
Yep! If you do any type of hardscape installation you should have a laser. I use it on every job I look at as well as during all of our installations! I would look at TopCon or Bosch Professional. They both make good lasers that aren't super expensive.
MassHardscaper thanks
Betting the jobs definitely seems to be the hardest thing!
Excellent work. I approve
This is great content. These really help growing business. How do you develop what your % profit should be? Of across we always want more, but how do you bench mark yourself?
Thank you! Glad to hear they are helping. It's really up to you. The industry average is only 5-7% which is pretty low. We aim for about 10-12%.
I agree but the successful companies are not making that little profit. I think that number is so low because of the large number or contractors in our industry that are uneducated... One of the many reasons I am making these types of videos. You may be able to find some like mine online but not mine exactly. If you'd like them just send me your email and I'd be happy to get them to you. Thank you for the compliment! I'm aiming to have an educational page like his but do things a little differently.
I know this video is from a few years ago, but i just wanted to add that you are conflating markup and margin in this video. If you want a 10% profit margin you need more than a 10% markup as they are not calculated the same way. Look into that if you dont know what i mean.
Any tips on what school to go to in college to become a hardscaper
You don’t need college just a two day class with ICPI and get some experience
what is ncma stand for
National Concrete Masonry Association