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So what's their hourly rate? Nine minutes is an awfully small divisor.Fair question.
Nine minutes to do the yard. This is probably a best case; it was the end of the day and they undoubtedly wanted to get home. You need to assume travel time as part of the cost; if the customers are closely located, it's reasonable to estimate that doing my yard added fifteen minutes to their task list. They do it weekly, so let's say one hour per month. They charge $175 per month; that includes special cleanup during spring and fall, which certainly takes longer. Still, with two people, let's say it's about $85 per hour.
As long as we're analyzing: By invoking the Google we can conclude that a standard residential mower has a swath of about 21". Commercial ones that seem to be about the size I saw through my window are about 52". Given overlap, it'd take me three passes for every one they took. Furthermore, even if I bought a mower that diverted power to its wheels, I'd still take a lot longer to traverse the yard once: the guy really flew. So say I'd be pushing (2-3mph) at a quarter the speed he was driving (8-12mph). Round down to be conservative, and in combination of the width and length figure it'd take me ten times as long to cover the same ground.
So: 1.5h per mow. Add a half hour for trimming the borders and scraping the impacted grass off the mower for storage. 4 mows per month says 8 hours per month, absolute minimum. My time is worth more than than the $23 per hour plus hayfever I'd get by doing it myself.
Plus, they actually do the job; I'd put it off as long as I could, be grumpy when I knew it needed doing but didn't want to, and resentful when I finally forced myself to do it.
Seems like a deal to me.
And there's an opportunity cost in addition to $23/hour, even if you were as calm as the Buddha and as punctual as the Dubai metro. You could easily assign a value to those 8 hours per month in terms of things created, other tasks done, or leisure.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big believer in hiring people with the right tools and the right skills to do jobs quickly and well which I'd otherwise do slowly and suckily.
Great analysis. I am all for paying for professionals as long as you've done the math to know what you're trading.
ReplyDeleteOpportunity cost arguments have their merit, but we have to be careful about applying them too liberally. If you weren't mowing your lawn, would you actually be using that time to compose a symphony say, or something equally productive? I often spend my free time drooling and staring at clouds, so maybe this feeling has too much personal background.
You could talk the company into a reduced rate if you sign your adjacent neighbors up. 3 lawns at one stop for "Worry free", reduced rate for you, AND you've improved the lives of the poor saps next to you that have been wasting their weekends thus far.