# how to price labor cost for Squre footage jobs.



## mandllawns (Jan 23, 2009)

i am new at landscaping, i need to know how to get labor charges invalved with sqfootage jobs, like gravel,sod,mulch,stonework etc.
thank you for you help.
mark


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## jerryh3 (Dec 10, 2007)

Amount of money desired divided by square footage.


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## beranbr (Jan 9, 2009)

Being in the landscaping business and construction business for a while now, I can honestly tell you that truly setting a certain dollar amount per square foot for particular job may get you in trouble. 

Remember that you are in business to make money and not friends. Though with good hard work that exceeds what clients expect will lead to happy clients that may end up being friends. Being that you are new to the business, it may take you a little while to figure out exactly the hours it is going to take you to do a job, unless you have previously worked for another company. 

Look at the job and try to figure out how long it is going to take you and if you are going to be able to use equipment to aid you in doing the job. I can't emphasis enough how important it is to look at the job and see what it is going to take to get the job done. I alway get phone calls asking what I charge for installing pavers, because I mainly do hardscaping. I never give a price per square foot, but tell them I would love to come an look at the job and give them a quote. You never know until you look at a job. I recently did a patio where I was unable to use equipment because of the location of the patio. Every bit of material had to be moved by hand to the location of the patio, which was about 75 yards away all up hill. So the price of labor was way up there because it took much longer than it would have if I could have used a skid steer.


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## mandllawns (Jan 23, 2009)

beranbr said:


> Being in the landscaping business and construction business for a while now, I can honestly tell you that truly setting a certain dollar amount per square foot for particular job may get you in trouble.
> 
> Remember that you are in business to make money and not friends. Though with good hard work that exceeds what clients expect will lead to happy clients that may end up being friends. Being that you are new to the business, it may take you a little while to figure out exactly the hours it is going to take you to do a job, unless you have previously worked for another company.
> 
> Look at the job and try to figure out how long it is going to take you and if you are going to be able to use equipment to aid you in doing the job. I can't emphasis enough how important it is to look at the job and see what it is going to take to get the job done. I alway get phone calls asking what I charge for installing pavers, because I mainly do hardscaping. I never give a price per square foot, but tell them I would love to come an look at the job and give them a quote. You never know until you look at a job. I recently did a patio where I was unable to use equipment because of the location of the patio. Every bit of material had to be moved by hand to the location of the patio, which was about 75 yards away all up hill. So the price of labor was way up there because it took much longer than it would have if I could have used a skid steer.


 
thank you so much, this is very helpful info, i am not invalved with hardscaping yet. but i feel i must get my feet wet for a while in doing basics be for i do realy hard stuff. ok thank you so much.

talk to you later
mark


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Since this is a DIY site, theads started by contractors asking what price to charge are strongly discouraged.


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