Deck 29: Pricing Landscape Maintenance

Question 1

As firms grow, because of insufficient time or personnel, not every landscape job can be accepted.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

There are numerous job time charts published by industry trade groups that offer average times for the performance of typical tasks such as lawn mowing.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Because of the nature of maintenance, cost analysis often cannot illustrate different profit potentials for individual jobs.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The efficiency of different crews performing the same tasks can be compared if a cost analysis of their performance is done correctly and completely.

Question 5

Comparison pricing depends upon each site being distinctly different from previous projects done by the landscape company.

Question 6

The comparison method of pricing requires more time than unit pricing to develop a final price for a project.

Question 7

The most precise method of tracking job costs is unit pricing.

Question 8

An accurate analysis of the costs of doing a project is essential to developing a fair price to charge the clients.

Question 9

A company that operates by the belief that it can profitably do all jobs, regardless of size, has a firm grasp of its costs of operation and performance.

Question 10

Comparison pricing works better for residential projects than for commercial projects.

Question 11

A mowing job takes 45 minutes and must be done once a week for 22 weeks per year at $10.00 per hour. What is the labor cost per year?

A) $220.00
B) $990.00
C) $9,900.00
D) $165.00

Question 12

Winterization fertilizer for a lawn costs $12.00 per 25-pound bag. The lawn covers 10,000 SF and takes 25 pounds to cover 5,000 SF. What is the cost of the fertilizer for this job?

A) $12.00
B) $24.00
C) $33.33
D) $200.00

Question 13

For a patio that is 15' x 25', what is the maximum number of 1 SF pavers required to cover the area?

A) 40
B) 225
C) 375
D) 625

Question 14

The time required to perform a task is directly affected by what?

A) crew size
B) terrain
C) weather
D) All answers are correct

Question 15

Which is the best example of a unit of measurement adaptive to unit pricing?

A) truckload
B) thousand square feet
C) crate
D) per season

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT likely to affect the time required to perform a task?

A) material color
B) type of equipment
C) crew size
D) weather

Question 17

If a company upgraded its equipment by selecting tools that were faster and more efficient, which cost factor would be most directly affected?

A) material costs
B) design costs
C) labor costs
D) None of these answers is correct

Question 18

To convert the total annual time in minutes to annual labor hours requires what calculation?

A) multiplication by 24 hours
B) division by 60 seconds
C) division by 60 minutes
D) multiplication by 60 minutes

Question 19

If a job required three hours each time it was done and was done twice annually, and cost the company $450.00 per hour each time it was done, what error was made by the estimator who determined the total annual cost to be $1,350.00?

A) failed to separate the material costs from labor
B) used the wrong per hour cost
C) divided instead of multiplied
D) used the incorrect number of times performed

Question 20

What is wrong with using bucket loads as a unit of measurement?

A) not precisely measurable
B) not a standardized unit
C) difficult to quantify
D) All answers are correct

Question 21

____________________ is the most precise method of determining the correct price to charge a client.

Question 22

A unit cost analysis reduces all dimensions and quantities to units that are ____________________.

Question 23

The ____________________ of different crews performing the same task can be compared by cost analysis.

Question 24

Cost variables such as labor, materials, and site differences are reduced when projects are in the same ____________________.

Question 25

The comparison method of pricing is faster, but less ____________________ than the unit method.

Question 26

If a company had to raise its prices from one year to the next, yet did not raise its workers' wage rate or add any new equipment, the price increase was probably the result of an increase in their costs of ____________________.

Question 27

When pricing two properties that differ in size and complexity of their maintenance needs, the ____________________ method would be a risky method to use.

Question 28

In maintenance operations, there may be tasks that will have little or no material costs, but there will always be ____________________ costs.

Question 29

If a landscape company got a renewal of the maintenance contract for a property and the price for the renewal contract was 10 percent higher than the previous contract, the increase in price could be because they experienced an increase in their cost(s) of ____________________.

Question 30

The crew size and hours required to complete a task are documented on the ____________________.