Hi I was wondering how to bid on a big job, I've never did a job this big. It consists of a validity of 1000 4ft trees & shrubs on a 5 acre unfinished future home site. Mostly wetland. The terrain is hilly & Rocky so I will be renting an auger. We won't be disposing any debris, they just want the plants put in the ground. I was thinking of charging them 6 to 7 k ^ that it should take us a lil over a week to complete, with 3 or 4 people. Does that sound ok or how should I do the bid or should info hourly? They have already purchases the plants & their already onsite, they just want us to put in the ground. I'm not licensed yet & just starting out. What do you all think? Thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome to NGA!

Just go to any search engine and type in 'how to bid on landscaping job' and you'll see all sorts of information!

Are you going to guarantee the trees if they die? I would be hesitant if they purchased and are currently caring for the trees and will care for them after you plant them, if they also want you to guarantee their survival. Are you going to have to come back for some kind of after planting care?

You have to decide how much its worth for you to plant one tree and multiply it by the number of trees. So if you charge $25 per tree, that would be $25,000. If you charge $10 per tree that would be $10,000. $6,000 or $7,000 for the job means you are charging $6 or $7 per tree. How long will it take you to plant each tree? How much are you paying your helpers?

I've only installed one garden on a new property; in a new development with new homes.

Re disposing of debris; there the building debris, hidden beneath the surface, soon became evident. There was a lot of small, sharp pieces of aluminum siding close to the house and elsewhere the main challenge was several long steel bindings of the kind used to hold stacks of bricks together. I couldn't dig down without removing parts or all of these.

Hi ya Mel 😎
Are ya figuring , on everything going right, with no problems ???
WELL ! You and I ? Know, how that goes. When, and how often, does everything go,... Just right ?🤔???

Most/all contactractors, tack on ten percent, to all jobs, to cover any unforeseeable problems, so they can stay on, or below bid price. People ! Just love it ! When there charged, LESS !!! 😀???
Sunny Borders, has a good point ! WITH ?😮??? Unforseen problems !

You even said, it was hilly, rocky, and wetlands/swampy !!!
Right ???

Best !😀 To you Buddy 👍😀
THAT'S !!! Philip !!! With ! ONE, L !!!


Good Nite.
😎😎😎

I'm sorry, but you have no business bidding on a large landscaping job unless you have considerable professional experience. Landscape contracting is a serious profession and is not something that inexperienced amateurs should be attempting to do. I am a professional indoor landscaper so I have a pretty good idea of the myriad of things that can go wrong and that you will never anticipate. Outdoor landscaping is a lot more complicated than indoor landscaping and it is not something I would ever attempt.

If you are serious about doing landscape contracting, I suggest that you work for an established company for a few years to learn what is involved. You cannot learn what you need to know here or anywhere else online.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck, but this is not the way to go about it.

I don't know about "no business bidding ---", but in terms of costing I do agree that it may well be advisable for you not to try to do so.

With the strong seasonality here at least, landscaping, especially maintenance, is a cut-throat business; and, to be frank, with many short-lived contracting companies employing whatever short-term staff they can get.

I would advise to look VERY carefully at the personality type of the people you might be working for. Are they the right plant material for a swamp/wetland and are you going to guarantee your work and for how long? I would be wary of anyone that would purchase that many plants that need care without a plan. Big red flag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who was their original contractor for this large project? What happened to them? There must be a story why they would have so many plants to be planted without a plan. There is a lot of money tied up in that decision.

Business License?

I don't know why this thread popped up, it's 3 years old.

LOL --

Lets see, had they planted 10 trees/bushes per hour, in a 10 hour day, they would get 100 in.
SO, in 10 days they would be done.
Hmmm, 7,000 dollars divided by 10 equals 700 dollars a day, 700 divided by 4 equals 175 dollars per person per day which equals 17.50 cents an hour.

It was a perfect world scam post.