Pricing Airspading

[matdand]

I've had one for a year and only sold a handfull of jobs, but I find it separates me from the others. Pricing has always seemed a bit odd to me. I was thinking about maybe going with a price per foot of radius, like 50$, with a minimum of 5 feet. This would include the airspading + organics + mulch. So 250$ min. and client decides how far out he wants to go depending on budget.

Now I know the further out you go, the more surface you have to cover. But I figure if I'm there with the machine, travel has already been covered, organics and mulch won't be much more...etc.

I think this would be an easy way to figure it out and transmit it to the client. What do you think?

 

[guymayor]

you know your marked and your soils; i like leaving the extent up to the client but perhpas go with square foot of area instead of radius.

and...are you using the same depth and spacing on each job?

hourly is always best; let em give you a max or you let them know when you hit a stopping point...or wait til they cry uncle!

 

[AspenArbo]

This is a great question. Its something I have been struggling with as well. I like the radius idea. I was thinking more of something based on DBH, but haven't gotten that far yet.
Hows git the golden ticket answer?

 

[treegazer]

I developed a pricing structure for all the air services provided by the company I worked for last year. Root crown excavation, core aeration and installing aerated mulch rings. Having spent the better part of 7 1/2 years of performing these services I have a pretty good idea of what is involved with assessing, selling, delivering the service, and setting up follow ups with the tree(s) and clients.

Making the pricing structure straight forward and easy for anyone to grasp was a main priority.

Root collars: charge a set up fee and x$s per diameter inch. the bigger the tree the potential for spending a lot of time exists. You can measure the trees with the client so they know that your not adding inches. Don't eyeball it, get a D tape. Leave no room for dispute.

Aerated Mulch Rings: charge a set up fee and x$s per diameter or square ft. Three size rings as standard offering, larger or custom beds by the square ft. For the standard offerings, the smallest has the highest cost for square ft, the price per square ft comes down as the area being worked increases.

Core aeration: charge a set up fee and x$ or ¢ per square ft. Typically with core aeration you will cover a greater area than air tilling so the cost per square foot was less than $1 from my cyphering. The cost per area included top dressing with compost.

I can't plug in the numbers that will work for you but I believe this structure is a viable way to set up pricing, packaging, and selling of these services.

I'm happy to discuss more. PM me.

 

[matdand]

Nice, thanks for the reply!!!

 

[macrocarpa]

I like the /ft formula idea. Good way to hopefully sell more jobs by giving the customer the power. I too only sell a handful/year and its usually a declining tree or girdling roots. Not many customers bite on being proactive for me. Right off the bat I pay $120/day for the compressor + diesel. I've been using the below products (cant find a reliable local source for compost). Any product suggestions, or do most just get local compost?

home depot has this stuff:
http://www.natureshelper.com/

I mix in 1-2 bag of these/dbh in:
http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=276&item=1936

 

[matdand]

I think the key is to have something easy to understand for the client and let them decide afterwards.

Macro, as far as amendments go, i too use baged stuff: mostly forest compost, vermiculite, perlite, basalt and myc. I try to line up as many jobs as possible to maximize my time with a compressor.