Snow Plowing Estimating - Labor Time Hours

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Labor Time Data Handbook
by Nilsson Associates, Green Industry Consultants
www.nilssonbooks.com

For:
Landscaping Contractors
Lawn Care Service Providers
Parks & Recreation Managers
Snow Removal & Plowing Contractors

Labor Time Data Handbook - Contains over 500 field tested, time-studied labor hours data for landscaping and grounds maintenance job estimating and calculating labor time man hours for facility managers, parks and recreation departments, campus grounds, schools and university grounds. Bid with confidence, save time preparing bids, easily determine best crew size, make money on every job you get, never under or overprice a bid again, set realistic labor goals for employees. Includes labor hours for just about every job performed in landscaping and grounds maintenance by contractors and facility managers, parks, campus grounds functions and sports complex maintenance. For Green Industry Job Bidding, Pricing, Profits, Estimating Irrigation and Hardscape Jobs and for use in non-profit situations where budgeting labor hours, scheduling the work and determining total employee production man hours is desired.
These methods of collecting information was the basis for creating my Labor Time Data Handbook of Standard Work Times of man hours needed to perform the work. Included in my time study was all sorts of grounds maintenance and landscaping installation tasks and work that is normally done by landscaping and lawn care service companies. I timed things like Mowing, edging, trimming, pruning, snow plowing, ice control, tree planting, mulch, aeration, slit seeding, shrub beds, hardscapes, blowing leaves, lawn chemical applications, spring and fall cleanups, seed, installing sod, water gardening, flowers, and over 500 common job tasks to numerous to mention. I timed the different work tasks using many different types and sizes of power equipment was used during the timing trials for edger, trimmers, riding mower, walkbehind, weed eater, tractor, ztr, chainsaws, loaders, trucks, trailers, sprayers, hydroseeders, spreaders and the usual equipment of running a green industry company.

Labor Time Data
Table of Contents:
Introduction
How To Bid Contracts
Knowing The Scope of the Work
A Few Words About Profits
Units of Work
Service Frequency
Labor Times:
Aerification
Back Pack Spraying
Blowing
Cleanups
Dethatching
Edging
Grading
Granular Applications
Hydroseeding
Installing Flowers
Installing Pavers
Line Marking
Liquid Applications
Loading
Mowing
Mulching
Pavement Sweeping
Planting Shrubs & Trees
Pruning
Raking
Sanding & Salting
Seeding
Snow Blowing
Snow Plowing
Sodding
Staking & Guying
Stump Grinding
Trimming
Watering
Weeding
Reference Section:
Annual Sales Statistics
Calculating Equipment Costs
Employee Productivity
Fertilizer Recommendations
Mowing Height Recommendations
Grounds Maintenance Statistics
Labor Management
Landscape Construction Estimating
Non-Productive Time Cost Worksheet
Tables & Measures
MIscellaneous Formulas
Financial Formulas

How to order
Labor Time Data Handbook
Written by Nilsson Associates
Book # A-7, Price $69.50
To order online Click Here:

To order by phone call Toll Free 1-866-280-2252



Other
resources:
Sales Boosters
Job Estimating Package
FREE Job Pricing Guidelines
New Business Startup Package
Complete Operations Management System

Nilsson's Job Estimating Package has everything you need to evaluate job site specifications & work required, figure costs, how to price ~ lawns, grounds maintenance, price landscape installs, or complete a lawn analysis. You'll get step - by - step instructions, bid proposal outlines & customer contracts, labor hours job times. You'll get job price guides to compare your prices with the going rates, overhead costs, materials, profit ratios. You'll set realistic prices, and job labor hours goals based on field tested, proven, time studied labor hours for every job you bid. You'll know how to evaluate every job for total work hours required, the price to charge for the job, the profit you'll make, best crew size, job costs. You'll also get add-on service check lists to help you maximize sales by upselling customers on additional property improvements. Nilsson's Job Estimating Package includes a model bid example that takes you through the entire bid process step by step from work site information gathering, cost and profit calculations based on site conditions and specifications, outlines price proposal details, and customer contract writeup along with a cover letter outlining the work. Use the bid model as your permanent estimating guide and improve the accuracy of all your bids.


Nilsson's FREE Job Pricing Guidelines
When it comes to pricing lawn and landscape jobsnobody has more landscape industry pricing information than Nilsson Associates, Green Industry Consultants. Nilsson's Job Price Guides covers lawn care bids, job bidding & estimating for tree care, irrigation installation & service, pavement sweeping & maintenance, snow plowing operations, landscaping and hardscaping job bids for both commercial & residential customers as well as real estate management, parks & recreation departments, municipalities, college and university grounds. The prices cover; estimates & bids for grounds services, landscaping pricing estimates , estimating & bid the price seasonal work, year around commercial estimate contracts, price per square foot, best grounds maintenance & landscaping job to bid & pricing, price of lawn care, lawn mowing price, aeration pricing, lawns, commercial landscape job bid estimates, most all outdoor maintenance estimating & pricing, mulching prices, pricing chemicals, weeding & aerating pricing, fertilizer prices, prices for organic fertilizer, pricing weeds in beds, pricing pruning & trimming trees & shrubs, pricing commercial & residential snow plowing, hardscape pricing, pricing hydroseeding, irrigation service estimates for commercial & residential, pricing seeding lawns, pricing lawn sod, prices for slit seeding lawns, pricing edging lawn beds, spring cleanup prices, pricing fall cleanups, hourly price of pressure washing walks & patios, pricing trees, stump grinding prices, price for gutter cleaning, lawn dethatching price, price for shoveling snow, pricing salting, price for sanding.

For more information: Click Here for FREE Job Pricing Guidelines



__________________
Phil Nilsson
Nilsson Associates - Since 1975
Green Industry Consultants
Call Toll Free 1-866-280-2252
Visit The Bookstore

Profit Building Ideas - For Lawn and Landscape Professionals

Special Book Discounts

FREE JOB PRICING GUIDELINES

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FREE Job Pricing Guidelines

Nilsson's Job Pricing Guidelines are in use by lawn and landscape contractors nationwide. See what other landscapers are currently charging from price lists compiled and updated by Nilsson Associates. Avoid Pricing Too High - Avoid Pricing Too Low - Win More Bids. Compare Your Prices With Nilsson's Price Lists Before You Bid - Makes Pricing Lawn & Landscape Jobs Fast, Easy, Accurate, Competitive.

Nilsson's Job Pricing Guides takes the guesswork out of bidding, and helps build confidence in your bids before you present them to your customers. Makes Job Bidding easier, faster. Figure your price for a job, then compare your price with the list price before you bid, or use the price given in the price lists to bid on jobs shown below:

Includes Prices For:
Aerating lawns
Aerating Core
Back Pak Spraying lawns,
Bak Pak weeds shrub beds, curbs
Bed Edging - in lawns
Bed Construction
Cement Curbing Installation
Cement Borders Installed
Chemical Applications of lawn care chemicals
Deck Installations
Dethatching of lawns
Drain Gutter Cleaning to remove leaves
Drain Gutters Installed
Drain Gutter Screening
Edging Walks
Edging Beds
Fall Cleanups of lawns and beds
Firewood sales
Firewood Cords
Firewood Bundles
Firewood Delivery
Flower Installations Flats
Flower Pots
Grading & Filling of soil for lawns
Ground Covers - Plants
Ground Covers Mulch
Hardscapes - patios, stairs, walks
Hourly Rates lawn care
Hourly Rates - Landscape
Hourly Rates Landscape design
Hourly Rates Plowing
Hydroseeding of lawns
Hydroseeding Preparation
Hydroseeding Materials
Install Sod
Install Shrubs
Install Trees
Irrigation lawn Installation
Irrigation Service - lawns & beds
Irrigation Winterize
Irrigation Repair Rates
Irrigation Controllers
Landscape Designs - designing computer image landscapes
Landscape Lighting Installations
Landscape Lighting Fixtures
Landscape Floodlights
Landscape Solar Lighting
Landscape Grading
Landscape Installations lawns, shrubs, plants & trees
Lawn Aeration Spike
Lawn Aeration Cores
Lawn Care Service Chemical Applications Fertilizers Weed Controls
Lawn Chemical Applications
Lawns Fertilized
Lawn Mowing Riders
Lawn Mowing Walkbehinds
Lawn Mowing Trim
Lawn Weed Treatments
Lawn Treatment Programs
Lawn Chemical Prices - Acre, Square Foot
Lawn Grub Control Apps
Lawn Insecticide
Lawn Renovations - Slit Seeding, Reseeding, Elimination of Growth
Liquid Applications of Fertilizers, Weed Killers
Loam Installed for lawn building and planting beds
Mowing with walkbehinds
Mowing with ztrs
Mowing with riding mowers
Mowing with trim mowers
Mowing Residential
Mowing Commercial
Mowing Condominium
Mowing Sports Fields
Mowing Cemeteries
Mulch Installs
Mulch pine bark mulch
Mulch pine needles
Mulch Spraying
Organic Lawn Care of lawns
Organic Lawn Programs
Parking Lot Line Marking
Parking Lot Sweeping of sand and debris
Paving Installations and hardscapes
Pavers Stone
Pavers Concrete
Pavement Sweeping
Pavement and litter control
Pavement line marking
Planting Trees & Shrubs in landscapes
Pressure washing of houses, vehicles, walks
Pruning of shrubs,
Pruning trees
Pruning ornamental trees
Putting Greens Installations - artificial turf for golf
Retaining Walls Installed of wood, stone
Retaining Walls Timbers
Roto Tilling turf, soil, lawns
Roto Tilling gardens
Salting Roads
Salting Walks
Sanding Roads
Sanding Walks
Sanding & Salting of parking lots and roads for ice control
Seeding lawns
Seeding wildflowers
Site Work of grading, hauling, rock removal prior to seeding
Slit Seeding of lawns
Slit Seeders
Snow Plowing Prices
Snow Plowing and ice control
Snow Removal
Snow Plowing Driveways
Snow Plowing Hourly Rates
Snow Plowing By The Inch
Snow Plowing By The Storm
Snow Plowing Fixed Seasonal Rates
Snow Shoveling
Snow Blowing Walks & Driveways
Sod Installations on lawns
Sod Rolls Installed
Sodding from Pallets
Spraying Lawns
Spraying Weeds
Spraying Shrubs
Spraying Trees
Spraying Curb Lines
Spring Cleanups of lawns, beds and paved areas
Stone Installations for shrub beds, landscape areas
String Trimming Lawns
String Trimming Edging
String Trimming Obstacles
String Trimming Trees
Stump Grinding after removal and tree takedowns
Tree & Shrub Programs - fertilizing - weed & insect control
Tree Trimming of ornamental trees in landscapes
Trimming Shrubs
Trimming Trees
Trucking & Hauling of landscape materials
Vegetation Management for weed control, growth control
Weeding shrub beds
Weeds in lawns
Weeding Pavement
Weeding Parking Lot Curbs

Cluick here for more info: FREE Job Pricing Guidelines

About Nilsson Associates
Business consultant, speaker, nationally recognized best selling author, Phil Nilsson's articles are published in Lawn & Landscape, PRO Magazine, The Arborist and Landscaper Publications. Nilsson's books are endorsed by national trade organizations and are in use by thousands of landscapers, parks, municipalities, universities and property managers.
Nilsson owned and operated a successful Landscape Design-Build-Maintain firm for 15 years. Nilsson Associates are Consultants to the membership of the Professional Lawn Care Association of America.

When it comes to pricing lawn and landscape jobs nobody has more landscape industry pricing information than Nilsson Associates, Green Industry Consultants. Nilsson's Job Price Guides covers lawn care bids, job bidding & estimating for tree care, irrigation installation & service, pavement sweeping & maintenance, snow plowing operations, landscaping and hardscaping job bids for both commercial & residential customers as well as real estate management, parks & recreation departments, municipalities, college and univeristy grounds. The prices cover; estimates & bids for grounds services, landscaping pricing estimates , estimating & bid the price seasonal work, year around commercial estimate contracts, price per square foot, best grounds maintenance & landscaping job to bid & pricing, price of lawn care, lawn mowing price, aeration pricing, lawns, commercial landscape job bid estimates, most all outdoor maintenance estimating & pricing, mulching prices, pricing chemicals, weeding & aerating pricing, fertilizer prices, prices for organic fertilizer, pricing weeds in beds, pricing pruning & trimming trees & shrubs, pricing commercial & residential snow plowing, hardscape pricing, pricing hydroseeding, irrigation service estimates for commercial & residential, pricing seeding lawns, pricing lawn sod, prices for slit seeding lawns, pricing edging lawn beds, spring cleanup prices, pricing fall cleanups, hourly price of pressure washing walks & patios, pricing trees, stump grinding prices, price for gutter cleaning, lawn dethatching price, price for shoveling snow, pricing salting, price for sanding.


Other resources:
Sales Boosters
Job Estimating Package
FREE Job Pricing Guidelines
New Business Startup Package
Complete Operations management System

Click here for more info: FREE Job Pricing Guidelines

[lbtcadmin]

The Snow Plowing & Removal Business Handbook

The Snow Removal Business Book is a complete guide to just about everything there is to know about the winter snow plowing and snow removal maintenance business. Includes bidding methods, costs of snow plowing operations, scheduling the plowing routes and snow plowing trucks by capacity, how to maximize snow plowing and ice control revenues. Shows you how much to charge for the services. Shows the average time snow plowing takes to do the work. Shows different ways to bill clients for snow plowing ... such as by the storm, . per push, by the inch, fixed price annual contracts, hourly and by subcontract. How to manage a snow storm, plowing trucks, snow plow maintenace and overhaul, snow plowing employee training, snow vehicle . maintenance checklists, snow removal contract preparation and what to include for job specifications terminology, complete snow plowing bid proposal package, winter season contract language, best ways to sell snow plowing services, documenting a snow storm, dealing with damage claims, pricing the work . . .everything!

The Snow Plowing Book
Table of contents:
. How to find the best snow plowing accounts & make the most from a storm
. Tapping into the snow plowing business commercial accounts
. How to get snow plowing contracts that pay you even if it doesn't snow!
. Custom Designing of a commercial snow removal contract to fit site conditions
. How to properly price and profit from snow plowing, snow removal, ice controls, sand, salt, blowing, shoveling
. The Snow Plowing Bid Proposal Package - a complete outline sample contracts that fit any situation
. How to write Snow Plowing and Ice Management Specifications - and what to say to limit your liability
. How To Maximize each Snow Storm for Income from Plowing
. Documenting a Snow Plowing Event - why it's important to keep records - what's needed
. Snow Plowing Truck Maintenance & Repairs
. Snow Plows, Snow Equipment & Parts rundown lists to keep you plowing
. Suggested Spare Parts for Snow Plowing Vehicles
. Snow Plowing Business - Business Forms - Formats - Schedules

How to order
The Snow Removal Business Book
Book # C-8, Price $39.50
To order Click Here: or order by phone Toll Free 1-866-280-2252

What Your Colleagues say

"Nilsson Associates provides an important source of information, a highly respected PLCAA Consultant, and Best Selling author with our membership."
Professional Lawn Care Association of America

"Nilsson has some of the best ideas for the green industry ... their books have comprehensive in-depth coverage, knowledgeable step-by-step approach for business improvement"
PRO Magazine

"Our members have found your books extremely helpful. Thanks for your insight and creativity"
Professional Grounds Management Society

"Nilsson's books are must reads, and have helped our readers tremendously. Thanks for your continued support."
Jerry Siani, Landscaper Publications

"Your way of explaining the subject shows you know what we need to do to make money in this business, thanks."
H.L., Madison, Wisconsin

"Nilsson's series of books filled a void in our program ... Our students needed more insight into management, costs, profits, and how to successfully operate a business.
University of Tennessee, Horticulture Dept.



How to order
The Snow Removal Business Book
Book # C-8, Price $39.50
To order Click Here: or order by phone Toll Free 1-866-280-2252

Other
resources:
Sales Boosters
Job Estimating Package
FREE Job Pricing Guidelines
New Business Startup Package
Complete Operations management System
__________________
Phil Nilsson
Nilsson Associates - Since 1975
Green Industry Consultants
Call Toll Free 1-866-280-2252
Visit The Bookstore

Since 1975 - Profit Building Ideas - For Lawn and Landscape Professionals

[lbtcadmin]

Lawn & Landscape Job Time Information
www.nilssonbooks.com

How long will the job take ?
No matter how difficult it may be to prepare job bid contracts, you should know that it's impossible, absolutely impossible to bid on a contract without knowing time. I don't mean knowing time by looking at your pocket watch, I mean time for every part of the work. This is commonly referred to as knowing the scope of the work. How long does it take to mow grass, dig a plant a tree, prune a shrub, edge a sidewalk, travel to and from the worksite, get the equipment and vehicles ready to roll each morning? And when you take a look at the hundreds of tasks being performed, that alone clues you in to the fact that there are hundreds of times you can be wrong. That's why I said it's impossible to develop a contract bid without knowing time and the scope of the work.

Because of the tedious nature of knowing time, lots of folks just guess at it, and then use those guesses to prepare a job bid. It's not necessary to do that, and it's what I consider a form of "financial suicide". Why? Several reasons. The first is that if you're going to take the time and trouble to bid a job, the outcome should be a price that is not higher or lower than it has to be to produce an adequate profit. Here, we abandon the hit or miss approach by using intelligent work times ... or call them time standards assigned to labor hours and labor tasks. Standards are the average time it takes to perform a task, and to complete the work. The best standards of course are those that are proven because these give you a high level of confidence in the outcomes for pricing and production purposes. Proven time standards come with their own set of high confidence factors that you feel comfortable in using.
If you're going to do it often ... time it.

The most common standards to want if you do maintenance is the time it takes to mow lawns. That's because about 50% of the total time spent annually on an average customer account will be for mowing. If you don't know mowing times, that one thing will distort your bid price, your production time planning, and equipment allocations unless you "guess lucky". But why guess? All you need to do is measure for the scope of the work, adjust for worksite variables, assign a level of difficulty factor and then time ... the time ... it takes to mow using various sized equipment. Apply that information? No problem. First, larger areas are best mowed using high production equipment, with lessor productivity as you descend down, down to smaller and smaller lawn areas. When you have the square footage, you have the scope of the work. Using mowing tables depending on machine, then indicates the average mowing time. That's pretty straight forward. You visit the site and divide it into the approriate mowing category, and maybe end up with two or three different sized mowers needed for the job. On almost any site, you're likely to need several sized mowers if you are to produce the job using the fastest and best production method.

For example a site may require a rider to mow 50,000 square feet, a walk behind mower to mow 30,000 square feet, and a trim mower to take care of the smaller, tighter areas of 5,000 square feet. When you measure the site, you simply separate the areas measured into the right mower size category, rather than coming away only knowing that you have a total of 85,000 square to mow. Having that information and using it with a production table tells you how long each sized mower will be needed for the job. From that info you can assign the work, establish time goals, reserve a time block for equipment, decide on the best number of workers to do the mowing, and of course come up with a cost and price for the mowing. This same approach to job measurement can be used for other items found within the work specifications ... not just mowing. All you need is the job criteria from which to measure or putting it differently, when you know quantity, you understand the scope of the work.

How much work is there?
You'll never really know until you count it all. That's the same as saying that if you want to paint a house, to know labor time and the gallons of paint needed, you need to measure the walls, trim,and other surface areas to form the criteria and basis for your estimate. From there you arrive at material costs, labor time, price and have an idea of the tooling needed for the job. Material costs are known, labor time is known, price is known, so the only other cost is the overhead dollars to cover payroll taxes, insurance, equipment depreciation, rent, telephone, and other expenses that you can break down to an hourly basis for convenience sake when bidding jobs. That information can come from your tax return or financial statement which serves as your historical cost record. Using those figures takes much of the guesswork out of the bid process and instills a greator degree of bidding confidence as you get to know and use the numbers year after year. If somebody asks you what it costs to put a man in the field for an hour, you'll know the answer. You'll also know at what rate per hour you must charge to use for your pricing strategy.

In addition to knowing cost and price, when you know job time requirements, while a job is underway, you'll have figures to use to not only check your cost budget for the work, but actual on-site experienced job times to look at and compare. Your job estimate may indicate that the total job was supposed to be completed in let's say 100 man hours, but it took 120 or it took 90. When that happens ... a variation between estimated time and actual time to complete, then you look for the reasons for the variations. You may find that your standard times need to be changed up or down to imporve their accuracy to use on all future bids.

You sell time
The business of most service businesses is that they sell time. So time should be clearly understood and tracked as a vital part of labor, production and profit management. Of course you'll have to make certain that when you assign time to a job task that you use the best production method by selecting the most efficient equipment available.

Click here: for Labor Hours Time information




Phil Nilsson
Toll Free 866-280-2252
www.nilssonbooks.com