I’m a new homeowner and had quite a bit of hassle finding landscapers in my area to help with my yard - finally got my neighbors crew to do a spring clean up for me. I knew their hourly rate was $39 (which to me seems ridiculous), but I wasn’t sure how much time it would take.
I watched the 3 man team closely throughout the day as I wanted to see what they were doing (I want to handle this lawn myself eventually) - I have been maintaining most of it myself (all lawn cutting, bush trimming, weed pulling) and was surprised they took 7 hours and another 2 hours the next day, but they did seem to constantly be working - except during their lunch and a few smoke breaks.
The bill came a month later - charged for 40 labor hours - ~$1700 with tax. note - I am not in an expensive market! I am in Cleveland Ohio.
I won’t be arguing the $39/hour charge, as I new that when I took them on, but I do take issue with being charged 40 hours when they were physically on my property 27 hours, 3 of those hours were for lunch.
So my questions: 1) Curious if $39/ hour seems like a reasonable rate for general maintenance on a lawn. Not like I hired a tradesman to install a pergola, or some complex flower bed.
2) Anyone who is a small business owner of a landscaping company - how do you track the hours of your employees dedicated to a property? Do you just take their word for it? Is there check-in/productivity software/apps you use to make sure your customers are billed appropriately?
3) What would be the best way for me to address with the owner (who is a nice guy and seems very honest)? Besides being direct about my concern on the billing, should I offer him chance to provide free labor for the time he billed me or something? - My concern for him is he already paid his crew (and I think they either lied to him about the hours, or he is clueless).
Thoughts?
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