Landscape managers have to be good at their work. But to secure
clients and get the best profit they can get from their work,
they really have to be good at job bidding.

Estimating cost is a critical part of the process. And that’s
tough, especially for beginners, who have no experience to base
their estimates on.

A University of Georgia workshop in Athens March 20-21 will
introduce landscape managers to “Hort Management,” a
cost-estimating and job-bidding computer program the UGA faculty
has developed.

In a UGA computer lab, they’ll learn the basics of bidding
strategies. They’ll find out how to figure fixed and variable
costs, including overhead and labor. And they’ll see how to put
their bids into contracts to present to clients.

Learn computer program

They don’t have to know much about computers. Before they leave,
they’ll know how the software works and how it makes bidding and
cost estimating more efficient and accurate. They’ll even learn
how to tailor “Hort Management” to their own business.

Managers who don’t bid on jobs will still become better able to
figure labor costs, time and task data and cost comparisons.

The workshop is limited to the first 28 people who register. The
$75 fee provides a copy of the $50 software, lunch the first day,
refreshment breaks, parking passes, handouts and instruction.

The deadline to sign up is March 15.

The workshop will be in the bottom-floor computer lab (Room 1203)
of the Miller Plant Science
Building on the UGA campus in Athens, Ga. It will start with
8 a.m. registration on March 20 and end at noon the next day.

To learn more, call the UGA Extension Service horticulture office
at (706) 542-2340.