Make BIG MONEY With Fall Leaf Cleanups in 2024!

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Hope these tips help you guys this fall with your leaf cleanup prices!

[@Greensolutionsgardenservice]

@@BriansLawnMaintenance thank you yes

[@danlaflamme9372]

Ty for numbers..big help.... always a argument in fall, does mowing or any equipment on a frosty lawn " burn it or hurt it" ??? Ty

[@GriffinLawnCare-ip9yd]

Hey guys! Always love your content man. You have been an amazing resource. We are not too far off on pricing here (we are a little lower), but we require a 3 visit minimum and always push for 6 visits. On an average home we are charging $275-$475, so by the last visit, we are on-site for maybe 20 minutes "touching up" and still charging the same flat rate. This makes up for the time lost on the first visit or two and keeps my guys working deeper into the season. This leads to my question, do guys find it better for profit margins and easier closing the customer to quote them with a transparent hourly rate or quote them with a standard estimate? I find customers aren't very receptive to being quoted $900-$1200 for a leaf clean- up but are willing to pay more than that if its broken up into multiple visits over the course of the entire "leaf season" to ensure their property is always clean. Just curious how others presenting the quote. Thanks!

[@byronn.2885]

I run solo and I have found it easy to charge $150 an hour with my Scag Windstorm. I just throw on a back pack blower and ride around with it so I can easily hop off and feed the blower from the landscape beds, corners or difficult to access areas. I bypassed the rider safety platform sensor so I can stage the blower and get off without the blower disengaging. I have used a leaf plow and found if the leaves are wet at all they roll up and pack together and are difficult to disperse into the wooded areas on my jobs. I don’t have a debris loader so not sure how it would work with that.

[@adrianrivera3570]

Thanks for the video. I was charging to low for our leaf cleanups for some customers. I’m going to raise my price

[@newenglandoutdoors9]

Frist year as a landscaper at 18. You have help me alot to learn how to bid for snowplowing and now fall clean up. Thank you

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

📈❤️

[@kimzdyb4125]

I thought of this 15 years ago, leaf plow /blower. Only difference between my idea and the one shown,is my set up has a jrco leaf plow with it being able to be flipped over the blower fan. No need to have plow on ground when not in use.

[@PxPunk80]

Here in Denver, I am at $285 minimum and that covers 1 hour. Just got a new Boss plow for my truck and excited to be doing more snow this year. I hope the snow holds off until I can clear my leaf cleanups, then on to snow, then on to spring 2025 with hopefully Trump as the President!

[@ryanreichel4009]

love seeing your numbers. These help a ton

[@ChadM-u5n]

What equipment is included in your hourly charge? ride on blower, backpack blower, leaf loader ect?

[@musimowingmoreinc9031]

Brian, hope to run into at equip this year. We have thst exact leaf plow. They do well at moving leaves but I find when you get to destination dont push hard inro leaf pile as they will compact and be more of a pain to suck up with debris loader. As far as charging for stand on leaf blower. I would just factor in to overhead. If you are more efficient with it on job site, your profit goes up. I also have a dump fee built in to cost for every customer. Even if it is 1 yd, you will eventually have to dump. Just 1 old landscapers process and thoughts.

[@billhull6842]

Brian, I know the stand on blowers would be great. I found that if I use my Sthl 800 backpack blower on the leaves that makes a big different and saves a lot of time.

[@handyscapersllc]

7:00 our dump yard lets us dump for free but we still charge $50 for disposal of leaves. Other materials we dump for free as well but only pay $7/ ton for soil. We charge $75 for heavier debris like soils, edgings, sod, tree material etc. Now if we dump concrete, pavers etc then we have to dump elsewhere and we are charged $35 to $125 per load. So we charge a flat $200/per load. We have a 2000 F350 7.3l power stroke w/ 5 stage tuner dually dump truck. We also have a 1994 F250 flatbed with a dump insert on top the flatbed.

[@gonzalezproservices8961]

Hey Bri, love the break down of your rates, always a great help/resource for all of us to gauge our prices to make sure we are in par with the industry and market rates, and a great question on how to charge for the ride on Billy goat, quite a conundrum to say the least. Cleary you want and need to make your huge investment back but you could argue that your doing just that by becoming more efficient, spending less time per customer which in turn allows you to pick up more work and making more money which is your ROI. Now with that said, you also need to consider the loss of potential billable hours on the job due to finishing up sooner so I would build it into your hourly man hour rate. Taking market areas out of the equation, I can't charge the same for a two or three man crew like you do if I don't have the same level/kind of equipment set up as you do so so I feel that your hourly man rate is reflective of market area and your equipment/set up, meaning what you bring to the table in exchange for your rate ( if this makes sense). I personally prepare all of my new customers and remind my reoccurring customer ahead of time, that the cost of leaf clean up is always variable depending on the weather. so they know ahead of time that if the leaf's are dry, less time & equipment will be needed to complete the job but if they wait till its gets late in the season, the run the risk of the leaf's being wet/frozen so if this happens, they will pay more cause it will either require more men/hours and more heavier equipment (ie; Billy Goat) to complete the job. Question for you ( and others) do you itemize your invoice, meaning show the breakdown of charges (ie; labor cost (xx hrs x rate), disposal fee, equip placement)? If you don't, it really doesn't matter cause you just show one final price (calc the numbers on your write up sheet) but if you do, I think you need to have this all polished up cause customers will take you to town if your not dialed it in on the invoice. Thanks!

[@mikesmith-ek1il]

I would love to have an in-depth conversation about how to charge for that billy goat. I’m in the same boat. The problem with adding it to the hourly rate is that smaller homes where it’s not needed really shouldn’t have to pay for it, and you might price your services to high to land work. The problem with charging a separate fee is that machine looks a lot like a mower to a home owner. It’s costs less than a mower to purchase. Pretty hard to say that a mower is included in a clean up hourly rate, but a similar looking machine is extra. And as a customer who makes the call to determine which machine to use. ?

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

For sure! My thoughts exactly which is why I love reading the comments and seeing how others are charging for its use.

[@kevint.9837]

I’ve got a ventrac I use with the blower and when I use it on a job I charge it out as another guy. And be where of the leaf plow every time I use it they pack in so tight it’s hard to suck them up even with the 37hp. So I try to blow when possible unless I’m pushing them in to the woods

[@AEPRO05]

Awesome video! At the moment we are charging an additional man hr for our debris loader. Just got the 37hp beast, working on a custom dump trailer mount at the moment. copying one of nicks designs he has on you tube. Love the content!

[@wilsonperea9460]

Brian & Team , Thank you always .🍃🍂🍁

[@CJ32522]

I am at $160 an hour for a 3 man team for leaf cleanups this year. I am not in the field this season, but my rate covers my overhead, payroll, and profit.

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Love it

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Love it

[@Kenlekach]

Do they sell a snow blade to use with this machine? Would be great for clearing driveways and sidewalks.

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Not sure on that but check Dawson Manufacturing and a Snow Mate accessory

[@travispoole5656]

I always consider the stand on blower worth 2-2.5 guys/hr. When I used a walk behind Billy goat blower I calculated it at 1.5 guys/hour over a guy with a backpack blower. The plow is easily 2 guys on blowers, especially when the pile starts getting 3’ tall. The plow pushes and holds easy and is usually on a zero turn of some kind and is quick back and forth. Enjoying the pricing videos lately 👍🏼 hoping to pull the trigger on a dump trailer and debris loader really soon.

[@harplockoutchattanooga6129]

Love you guys brain and the team

[@rontopping7811]

Buy a vanguard engine and put on shelf. They fail very often. Cylinder head gaskets and dropping valves.

[@ebudderips7237]

For stand on blower and leaf plow, id find the cost to rent per day, divide that cost for 8 running hours and then multiply that amount by 2 for a per hour cost on site. example $400/8 = $50 per hour, then $50x2 = $100 per hour to have on site.

[@robertslawnservices4317]

Hey Brian I'm from Kalkaska Michigan up north I charge $40 to 125 for debris removal is there a zero push back up here just say you're leaving money on the table And that's per property

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Love that feedback, thanks man.

[@sposatoas258]

What about acorns .. here in maine they are a big issue and God bless the goat for helping. 🐐

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Gosh I'm not sure about acorns best of luck with those!

[@sposatoas258]

@BriansLawnMaintenance thankfully the goat 3000 sends um. That unit is worth 2 good guys on a back pack. I ride that with a pack on. Lol

[@simonthebroken9691]

Thank you

[@jronmanlawn]

I do 3-4 leaf cleanups per property if needed. I try to track my time and charge based on that. I’m considering switching to a square foot rate. Not sure if it will be more profitable or not. I prefer multiple cleanups over one big cleanup. An $80 mow might be 2x or 3x price for a leaf cleanup. Total leaf price for the property would total maybe $720. Some of the properties I have had for a while are a different rate but any new property I pickup I am trying to charge the 2x-3x a mow rate for a cleanup.

[@Zwrld781]

One house could have e 2 trees where other same size could have 20…

[@dustinmoreland7742]

So based on the prices, they would be cut it half for a one man band on an hourly rate?

[@sickler3044]

Why charge extra to bring in the billy goat/leaf plow?

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

I mean why charge for a mower on a lawn. Same thing, lol.

[@brandonlillymain7852]

Love the knowledge brother...

[@Gardslawns]

I have the Ferris version and got teased by a rep for the attachment. I need one like yesterday lol

[@smoothlandin]

185 hr solo. Same setup, except all ferris. 225 hr with 2 man, 285 3 man. I make more money solo but some jobs its nice to have a helper, especially around 2pm. Leaf plow packs leaves tightly so if youre loading out make sure its super dry or do short pushes..

[@jr233-x6r]

i need to see the front attachment for the billy goat already

[@TonzX22]

Hey Brian, are you set on a dump trailer? Just wondering for your company wouldn't it be more versatile to have a nice red 😉 F350 with an aluminum dump body and build on that? That still leaves you the option to pull the trailer with if needed

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

We're hoping to expand to a dump trailer and multi crew setup for leaf cleanups. One pulling mowers one pulling a dump trailer or, at the end of the day of 2 leaf cleanup crews going out, someone coming back to just suck up the leaves. Divide and conquer!

[@Southernlawncare]

I always assumed if you can afford it and you got it then you should be able to do the job faster and make money faster. I never thought about charging extra for it.

[@Youyuppers]

Yeah right. My area seems dead.. not a single call in for fall services. Even some of my regulars just don’t want to spend the $

[@Greensolutionsgardenservice]

Brian don't you think is a pain in the ass with leaf clean up I know is good funds but is a guarantee that soon as you start the leaf blower up the wind starts blowing against you great vid tho Brian just started the leaf clean up service so I am still trying to work the price still

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Hah that's so true! ❤

[@JaimeAllison-y7q]

The hurricane replaces 2 people. You can charge extra for the efficiency plus you make money as time on the job is reduced

[@Tyler-ml3ft]

Petition for Billy Goat to make Mowers again 🙏

[@nocogarden]

Well, I don’t know anything about leaf plows, but I purchase any equipment to save time and improve efficiency. If it doesn’t do those things then I don’t buy it. I make more because I save time.

[@everettschlegel6520]

Brian just one thing buddy with the dump fee. You gotta remember the time you gotta take to get to the dump paying your guy to go dump the truck. You could charge him that $35 but make sure you tack on some extra time for them to run to the dump your fuel the wear and tear on the truck and your guys time just a thought yeah buddy Everett

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Yup you're right, great point. Thankfully our dump is only a mile down the road but you're still right and we should charge something in there with overhead for that.

[@teddyxruxpin]

​@@BriansLawnMaintenance Where do you dump in the area? Just wondering, the dump on Napier road seems more expensive. I'm in Westland, there doesn't seem to be anything really close.

[@markschmaus5580]

​@@teddyxruxpinIsn't there a dump by Ecorse and 275 ??

[@Erock242]

Get the bigger one.

[@arthurmaurer8448]

YES

[@OaklandsLawn]

Yeaaaaaa we’re gonna need to upcharge😂

[@mikesmith-ek1il]

Regardless of a separate charge or built into your hourly rate, We have no problem charging $50 per cubic yard removed. Using the truck costs money. Time to dump costs money. The dump insert or dump truck needs to pay for itself. Debris is just a reverse product. Mark it up, charge for it.

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Great suggestion, thank you!

[@amossnowdaharleyman9179]

Very high prices.

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

I always hear I'm low where I'm at lol

[@pipedope329]

i dont see how many average home owners are willing to pay that much to clean up leaves

[@ehexzs10]

Just sold my Dttach leaf plow. It was new. Used it once.

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

Oh no lol

[@ehexzs10]

⁠i would say i have small to medium leaf cleanups. The 37 hp wright mowers and bagger combo do everything i need

[@FTW1374]

Yeah solo lawn clean ups on your own arent worth it…you need a crew…and a dump trailer…ask me how i know 🤣🤣

[@Zwrld781]

Everyone needs to charge more, customer will simply pick the lowest bid. It’s leaf not rocket science. Know your worth. Please charge more

[@ericavenarius5370]

I charge every single customer dump fees. They would pay it if they did they job themselves anyhow.

[@BriansLawnMaintenance]

That's true!

[@snowrulesnate]

I charge $120/hr by myself, $175/hr for 2 guys and always charge a $40 dump fee. I just bought my first debris loader over the weekend (used). It’s a DL1401 by Billygoat. Hoping it helps my back, speeds up loading and compacts it in trailer so less going to dump!