[Assured Services]

I know alot of us like to charge per aplication instead of per ton.
But today I am bid on a city job and the spec is per ton.
My cost of bulk salt is $49.00 per ton. What do you think the applied price per ton should be??
:argue :cash

 

[Adams Plowing]

you said you like to charge per application instead of by ton seeing as you already know that you would charge $X on a property that is "Y" Sq foot because it would take "Z" lbs of sand
you can just take the figure from what you charge on a lot that would take a ton to do and that should be around what to charge.

 

[Crimedog]

Are My Guestimations Correct?

Okay, for the last hour and a half, I have been surfing the other site, and crunching enough numbers to make my brain explode:headwall
I am wondering about applied salt prices. We only have a couple bids that want a salt bid, so we would be getting 50lb. bagged salt for $14 per bag. Am I correct in charging $25 per bag applied?
Next is application rates-I figure that for my area, it is going to be pretty cold, and believe that application rates will range from 500lbs. per acre to 1000 lbs. per acre. Now, here is where it gets confusing I took 500/42,673, and it was.011717. That is .011717 lbs. per sq. ft. and then 1000/42,673 and it was .023434 lbs. per sq. ft. I then added the two, and divided by two to get the average which was .0175755 lb. per sq. ft. I then took that times the lot that we are bidding on 58,350 which was 1025.53 lbs. then, divided by 50 to get # of bags which was 20.5 and times our applied bag rate (25/bag) Which was $512.76 . However, since we would only be salting after we plow, it would be .011717 * 58,350 = 683.68 lbs. of salt. 683.68/50 = 13.67 bags. 13.67 * 25 = $341.84 . :headwall
Since we would be salting only after we plow, we would probably only need the 500lbs. per acre, right? I am assuming that we would only have to apply more salt than that if it was really cold out. So we shoulc quote the lower price, right? Basically, I am wondering if my price per bag applied is close, and the application rate of the salt is close.
BTW, if it helps, we are bidding the plowing at $490 for 2-6".
Please, if you have any criticism about my numbers, or anything, please tell me, it will really help. Thanks

 

[Big Nate's Plowing]

be careful how you bid the salting, I have seen lots take a ton an acre to burn freezing rain down.

 

[Adams Plowing]

If you have the availibility to store bulk salt you might be better off to do that because if you are estimating using between 500 to 1000 per salting on a one acres worth of site and a ton is only 2,204.623 which means you would get between 2 saltings at 1000 lbs or a little under 4 and a 1/2 saltings outta the ton of bulk. also you could charge either price of 512.76 or 341.84 and make one hell of a profit considering bulk sand can be gotten for under $100 for a ton. as for carrying the salt if you just filling up a tailgate spreader just put salt for the run into those 16 gal rubermaid containers and just refill from the salt pile when needed... just seems like if you get more than 4 saltable events you would make out better and say its getting to the end of the season and you dont think you can use a whole ton then you can buy bags for the last storm or 2 and still make a profit because you charged at a bagged cost. IMO you might be better of with bulk. also if you have to drop a whole ton on one lot at bulk prices your still maknig a hell of a profit instead of possibly losing out on money

 

[Crimedog]

Seth, do my application rates seem close though? Also, the kicker would be that we are using an ATV with a spreader on the back (100lb. hopper). It spreads just a smooth pattern out to 1 15 feet. We just found a place that has bagged salt (bulk) at $3 per 50 lb. bag. So that is about $132 per ton. What do you think is a good ratio of salt price to application price? Now that we found this salt place, we were thinking 1:5. Meaning for a $3 bag of salt, it is going to cost the customer $15 to apply. Does this seem close?

 

[Adams Plowing]

your figures seemed to be alright but there will be storms where you could have to drop more salt just to melt it down but leaving yourself that 1:5 ratio on your priceing leaves you a comfort margin to cover for that and not lose money on the deal especially if your just giving them a flat rate on priceing for salting but then again if that place runs out of salt at $3 per bag and you end up having to pay the origonal price of $14 a bag that you had found it could turn out to become not very profitable to do real quick so you might want to still price them at around the origonal figures and if you can get it at $3 a bag all winter you just get more profit out of the deal. the biggest thing is making sure that your priced low enough to be competitave but high enough that you will still make a profit throughout the whole season. ya definatly dont want to undercut yourself and not cover expences incase of a raise in price of salt which can easily happen in a real bad winter if a hortage starts to happen.

 

[micah79]

Like Nate said. there is not a set formula for how much you will use. it can take a lot of salt during certain events. I would charge by the ton. Some storms may cost more than others. If you have to bid a set price for the season, then bid on the high side for salt usage. it will be a variable # of lbs used depending on the event.

 

[GeoffD]

be careful how you bid the salting, I have seen lots take a ton an acre to burn freezing rain down.

Thats because your melting from the top down, and not the bottom up. If you used pre salting, and salted during the freezing rain, the amount of salt required would be much less.

Geoff

 

[Big Nate's Plowing]

true

who in their right mind would pay $14 a bag for material? I get plain bags of halite for $2.99 a 50# and 4.25 an 80# I only pay $7 a bag on the caliber salt also. I myself would buy bulk and put it into totes for use if i had to pay that much a bag.

 

[JCurtis]

I always charge PER APPLICATION. Whether its a driveway or a parking lot no matter what.

Just some applications are larger than others and therefore have larger per APP prices

 

[JohnnyU]

Nate- Where are you getting Halite for $2.99? I was paying almost $5/50# last year!!! If I can get it at $3, that'd be great!!!

 

[Crimedog]

who in their right mind would pay $14 a bag for material?

Our planned salt supplier couldn't offer us bagged salt that would run through our spreader on the ATV, it was too big. But we found another, and that is where we are getting it for $3 a bag.

 

[tlc]

Bulk Salt

Bulk salt is $40 a ton ($175 in bags), which is a hell of a lot cheaper than the bags you guys are takling about. I used bags in the past and 2 years ago changed to bulk salt and Hoppers to spread it. If I did not make the move up I would be broke!

 

[Big Nate's Plowing]

$2.99 is if I take less then a skid, then it goes to $2.85 a bag

Crosby Equipment in Toledo

 

[KenP]

You could always bill it by the pound and charge a show up/ appilcation fee. After a few times you'll have a good idea how much you'll need per trip. The per pound price is the safest. I pay less for my salt, but last year I used 480tn of the 50#ers