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Project Decomposition and Variable Identification

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How to charge for Landscaping, Retaining walls, Patios and Outdoor Construction

What happens here

For every new project, meticulously break it down into its individual tasks and identify all variables that will influence materials, labor, and overhead. This involves assessing factors like the quantity of materials needed (e.g., number of retaining wall blocks, cubic feet of soil, or type of pea gravel), the estimated time for each task, and potential access challenges due to existing structures like fences or decks. Look for details specific to the job, such as existing bushes or grading issues like a swale, as these will affect material removal and labor.

Goal: Understand all cost-driving elements specific to the current project.

Tools and materials

  • Measuring tape — Measuring dimensions of the project area
  • Pen and notepad — Taking detailed notes during site visits
  • Bushes N/A — Existing landscaping to be removed or preserved
  • Deck N/A — Obstruction or part of the project scope
  • Fence N/A — Obstruction or part of the project scope
  • Pea gravel N/A — Decorative element or drainage layer
  • Retaining wall blocks — Primary building material for a retaining wall
  • Soil N/A — Backfill or removal

What they say

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talking about overhead. But we have a system in place that we always break them down into their most basic components. Material, overhead, and labor. So, let's take a look at this project here. So, we're removing this retaining wall. And of this components of this job that comes to mind is labor. And that's determined by sight access, which there's not much on this project. You got it. They can take the fence out. They'd have to take the fence out here. And then we would get in here and work from above. So, I want to hear very quickly in under 30 seconds. Tim, what is your game plan? Take the fence out, use the miniacs, and work from up here to dig this out. And then what are we building? Two walls again. Just one wall. Where at? Right in the spot of the uh upper wall. Maybe as far back as we can get. Still keep it about 4 ft. Why do we care about 4T so we don't have to do engineering and then dig out more soil and put in geog grid? This is the first time that Tim's heard my idea and it's almost identical to his idea, but I'd like to actually push the wall back a little further and try to sell the customer on the idea that we're going to give them space around their swimming pool. Now, the only reason I want to push it back as far as possible is to give them that space. I don't care about the engineering. We can do that as a line item onto the rest of the project. We now have two different ideas that Tim and I were able to bounce off from each other. And what we'll do is we'll go back to the office and we'll break this project down into how many square feet this retaining wall is, what our access is, which affects our labor and our overhead. And then we can micromanipulate each one of those numbers because we understand and I hope you guys understand that when you make just a 3% change in a project, a literally a 3% change on a project like this will give you 50% more profit on this single job. A 5% change will give you a 75% bump in profit on this job. And if you can make a 10% change on a project like this, you'll gain a 100% bump in profit on this job or double your profits. You know what? You don't have to take my word for it. We actually have broken it down onto realworld projects where we showed exactly how to do that. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. So, I've got my price per square foot in my head. We have to We're going to have all them bushes to remove. um all this tiny pearl rock and um how many cubic feet of soil is going to have to be removed. Okay. On…

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