Up charge Materials

[curbman]

Curious to see what everyone is upcharging plants, dirt etc. I've heard other guys around here upcharging by 40-50% just on material.

[custom patios]

i think id be workin at micky d's if i tried to tack on 40 to 50. my mark up on material usually just covers my time and expenes if i have to pick material up.other than that, i really dont try to make money on material. i dont know... maybe im not being too smart. any help?
steveo

[curbman]

thats the way I do it also, I was curious though because there are people out there on other forums saing they upcharge. If I'm doing this wrong and loosing money let me know looking for opions. Thanks guys.

[Mbella]

i think id be workin at micky d's if i tried to tack on 40 to 50. my mark up on material usually just covers my time and expenes if i have to pick material up.other than that, i really dont try to make money on material. i dont know... maybe im not being too smart. any help?
steveo

Same as you Steve. Let's face it, homeowners can buy this stuff for almost thee same price we pay. We're selling time, not materials.

[Colonial]

here is a question what are we talking about plants or hardscape material?

[CaptainsLS]

I add 10% BUT I also add 20% more material than the measurements tell me I need (after cuts). It gives extra wiggle room in case some part of the installation goes unexpected.

[Mbella]

here is a question what are we talking about plants or hardscape material?

Thanks for pointing that out...I was talking about hardscape materials. Reading toooo fast.

[MuirView Design]

C'mon now.....the question should be, do you show a markup on materials. We all have a bottom line that we need to make. Either you show it in a material markup, or you show in your manhour rate. Either way, the customer is going to pay a little extra. I think a 10-15% markup on materials is reasonable. Like Steve said, this is enough to cover our hassles. Sure they could go buy it themselves...but quite frankly most homeowners don't have time and they don't want to be bothered.....or perhaps they just feel intimidated by it all. That's why they call us. For that we should, just like any other contractor out there, make a little bit on the materials.

When it comes to plants....I double the retail price and that's my price for installation and warranty. I'm very upfront about this to customers. What they are paying for more than anything, is a trained eye. I promise them I will pick out the best plant I can find for the money and that proper placement, spacing, planting and facing will occur, as I have a vested interest in the life of the plant and the success of the design. For this they will pay double the price they could go buy it for, but the peace of mind they gain is worth it. I then charge an additional rate for bed prep, soil work, edging, haul away etc.

[NCSULandscaper]

plants i get 100% markup, sometimes more plus what it costs to plant(2.5 to 3x my cost is for the plant with install) with a 1 year warranty on all material regardless of the planting conditions, its up to the customer to call me about it, most never do but i can compete with the big box stores warranties and still come out good, and atleast 75-100% on dirt, mulch, stone etc.........i make alot of my money on materials markup, but i get alot of stuff cheap and at good discounts

[curbman]

we normally up charge materials and plant 10-20% to cover picking up materials (disel, time, etc.) and I didn't think that was unreasonable, but then I seen others charging 40-50%, wasn't sure if I was short changing myself.

[mrusk]

I used to just figure up my material and add on 10% to cover my time. I changed that. I am doing highend work and the larger the jobs, the larger the risk. I need to be well compensated for what i do and deserve top dollar.

Now everything gets marked up atleast 40%.

You do not know how many people tell me they prefer smaller jobs because they make more money on them. Thats whats wrong with this business. You should be making much more on larger jobs because there is much much more risk.

[MuirView Design]

plants i get 100% markup, sometimes more plus what it costs to plant(2.5 to 3x my cost is for the plant with install) with a 1 year warranty on all material regardless of the planting conditions, its up to the customer to call me about it, most never do but i can compete with the big box stores warranties and still come out good, and atleast 75-100% on dirt, mulch, stone etc.........i make alot of my money on materials markup, but i get alot of stuff cheap and at good discounts

I don't currently have the overhead to justify that kind of markup. I only charge half that and still can make a grand in a day on an install.

[Andrew Hardscape]

I do not mark up materials.

Although, if we are planting, and we are doin a warranty on the plants - the plants are marked up to cover the warranty.

But in terms of walls and patios - there is no mark up.

We sell labor.

The suppliers sell materials.

Just gotta set the labor prices accodingly....

[mckeeland]

We mark up materials to cover shortages on materials or the fudge factor and it gives us some where to work with if things go wrong. it depends on the size of the job. small job 20% and large jobs 10-15%. we too are selling labor, but are supplier gives us a small discount and i am not passing that onto the customer and i want to make sure if we have a little extra for the unforscene.

[NCSULandscaper]

I don't currently have the overhead to justify that kind of markup. I only charge half that and still can make a grand in a day on an install.


I have relatively low to average overhead, but i get wholesale prices half and sometimes below half of retail, why not charge retail for materials, thats why my markup is high, especially plant material, we are slap in the middle of nursery country around here, hundreds of nurseries in central NC and prices are great, large 3 gal plant material anywhere from $5.50-$10 per plant..........

[patpls]

Hey Guys, obviously there's all sorts of ways to do this but the way that is working for me is to let the client choose their desired hardscape product, then charge the retail amount plus a delivery fee. There's a lot of competition up here for the hardscape product so I'll shop around on the phone to find the best wholesale price and go with that supplier. If at the time of sending the estimate the client is yet to select their product I'll state a $ per ft/2 for the paver/block/stone at retail and if the selected price is different then an upcharge or down charge kicks in. I will narrow down the type of material with the client on site before pulling together a price though.