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Mowing Proposal for Augusta, OrApril 30, 2009

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Summer is approaching quickly. More and more people will be wanting to spend their time outside. That is why it is necessary to keep public areas of the town looking well-maintained. Cedar Hills has a lot of public space that the city is responsible for maintaining. The Augusta Memorial Golf course, Willoughby Park, and the five miles of Route 24, that runs in between the two, need to be mowed on a weekly basis.

Moe’s Mowers can provide these services for a total of $3223.50 per week. This price covers labor, equipment, fuel and safety measures. The price also includes the costs associated with fertilization and landscaping.

Here is a quick overview of our schedule. Our schedule is discussed in greater detail later in the proposal.

Monday- AM-North-East quadrant of Willoughby Park PM-North-West and South-West quadrants of parkTuesday- AM-South-East quadrant of park PM-1 mile of Route 24Wednesday- AM-1 mile of Route 24 PM-2 miles of Route 24Thursday- AM-1 mile of Route 24 PM- the first 6 holes of Augusta Memorial Golf Course, after the

last group has gone outFriday- AM-final 12 holes of course before groups can reach holes

We took great care in preparing our schedule. We carefully studied the usage of the land being mowed. We will be able to complete the job with the minimum amount of annoyance and interference with the people of Augusta.

Along with the need to keep the grounds manicured, summer also brings about higher gas prices. We cannot know what the exact price of gas will be in August, but we do use a conglomerate of ten different predictions of the cost of fuel to estimate our costs. If the price rises substantially higher, more than $1, than the estimate, we will have to assess additional fuel charges. Moe’s will be responsible for the extra cost of gas if the amount is under $1 more than our estimate.

If fuel is substantially less than our estimate we will discount the fuel cost and refund the city.

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SCHEDULE

Our team, of four men, can mow one mile of highway in approximately four hours. The mile includes the medians and the side of the road. One mile of road is roughly five acres. Willoughby Park is 10 acres, and Augusta Golf Course is 23 acres. We will be mowing a total of 45.5 acres.

Our method of mowing on the highway is determined by the amount of traffic. In the morning, as traffic is heading east, we will mow the North side of the highway. As the morning traffic dies down, we will move to the median. When the afternoon rush hour begins we will move to the South side of the highway. We work across the highway in this manner to protect our mowers and the commuters on the road.

Monday- AM-Work will begin at 8a.m., many of the early morning joggers are done and have left, and the park is still quiet at that time of day. We will begin mowing in the North-East quadrant (see map- Appendix 1) around the playground. Many parents bring their toddlers to the park in the late morning. Therefore we hope to finish mowing around the playground by 9:30 a.m. After completing the area around the playground we will begin mowing the rest of the North quadrant.

PM-After our workers come back from lunch around 1p.m., they will begin mowing the North-West quadrant. This has the soccer fields as well as the baseball field. All games scheduled for the fields occur after 5 p.m. This way we can mow the areas so that it does not interfere with people using the park.

The South-West quadrant of the park is basically one big open field. It covers two and a half acres and will take us about four hours to complete.

Tuesday-AM-On Tuesday morning our workers will finish mowing Willoughby Park. The South-East quadrant will take the longest to mow because of the rocky terrain and the fishing pond. We will have to use the standard walk-behind mowers. The team of four men should be able to finish the East quadrant by noon.

PM-After lunch on Tuesday, we will begin mowing the median and sides of Route 24. Our men should be able to complete one mile of the highway by 5pm.

Wednesday-

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AM-In the morning on Wednesdays we will be mowing up to the housing complex at Cypress Creek. We will start on the East end to avoid disturbing the residents. Our mowers will not be mowing near the houses at 8a.m. It will take us until noon to reach the housing complex. Housing starts approximately two miles West of Willoughby Park.

PM-After lunch on Wednesday we will be mowing the first two miles by the Cypress Creek complex. It will take us about five hours, because this section of the road has considerably less public space to mow. The housing begins only 100 feet from the highway, and residents are required maintaining their own yards.

Thursday-AM-We will complete the mowing along the last mile of road before reaching the golf course. This will take from 9:00 am until noon.

PM-On Thursday evening we will begin mowing the golf course. The course cuts off tee times at 4:30 p.m. We will begin mowing the first hole after the final group has moved through. Our workers will mow from around 4:30 p.m. until dusk (around 8:00 p.m. during the summer). We estimate that we will be able to mow the first six holes of the course before it gets dark.

Friday-AM-Since Friday is a busy day for the course, we will begin mowing before sunrise. Our crew will start around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Since there are no houses around the course, we will not disturb people in the area. Our mowers are equipped with bright headlights so mowing in the dark hours before dawn will not be a problem. We have used this method before at the Shadow Glen Golf Course, and it works quite well.

We should finish mowing the course by 9:30 am, well before any golfers make it to the final hole.

(There is a color coded map of the areas to be mowed and a weekly schedule with our proposed schedule in Appendix 2 and Appendix 3.)

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Delays due to the weather-It rains quite a bit here in Oregon. When it does rain we will try to alter our schedule to mow around the weather. The park and the golf course are our priority. If rain disrupts our schedule we will mow the park and the golf course as close to their normal schedule as possible.

If the weather prevents us from mowing all week the city will not be charged for the week. If we are only able to work on a partial schedule the city will be charged a reduced amount.

BREAKDOWN OF CHARGES

We take great care in preparing our budgets. Some charges are easier than others to calculate. We keep a close track of our fees and supplies used on the job. Fuel and labor charges are substantially more difficult to calculate.

To determine our labor costs, we must estimate the amount of time that a job will take. The numbers that we use are estimates, so there will be some discrepancies between the actual time that we work and our estimates. There will be times that we finish quicker than we expect, and there will be times that it takes us longer than planned. We have found that overall it averages out, and we usually end up very close to our estimate.

Fuel costs are by far the hardest to determine. This is mainly because we have no control over it. Fuel prices fluctuate because of the cost of oil and the current refining capabilities of the country. Generally prices rise during the summer. However, as we saw last year, they can rise more than anyone expected.

The best we can do is to use a number of different predictions of the future price of gas. We average ten different predictions in order to account for the occasional bad estimate. We must also estimate the amount of fuel that we will use. This is directly tied to the estimate for the time that it will take us.

The following table lays out our costs and gives the total weekly cost of our services.

Fee Rate (if applicable) TotalFuel 150 gal. @ $2.89/gal.* $ 433.50Labor 150 man hours @ $10.50/hour $ 1575.00Landscaping Supplies $ 500.00Administrative Fees $ 450.00License Fees $ 150.00Insurance $ 15.00Safety Equipment and Training $ 100.00Total $3223.50*Represents estimated average cost of gas from May 30 through September 30

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SAFETY MEASURES

Moe’s Mowers takes pride in our outstanding safety record. Accidents cost time and money. The main reason why our company is so safe is the intense planning that goes into a job. We study the location to be mowed so that we only are operating during low-traffic times.

When you work at in the dark there is always an increased chance of an accident. Our mowers have bright lights that light up 400 square feet around the mowers. This allows our employees to see and avoid any obstacles or animals.

We require all of our employees to be OSHA certified. Working with heavy machinery, like our mowers, requires that our staff be well trained and aware of possible accidents around them.

Another key to our excellent safety record is that we keep our employees safe too. All of our employees are required to wear protective goggles to protect from flying debris. Our mowers are not loud in comparison with others on the market, but being exposed to them all day, every day can cause permanent hearing loss. For this reason we also require them to wear protective ear guards.

Aside from the risks that our employees face from our equipment, they must be protected from outside dangers too. This is the reason why our mowers will not mow next to a busy highway. There is always a risk when you work near speeding cars, but we can decrease the risk by not foolishly putting our employees in harms way.

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EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE

Equipment-We will use a John Deere Wide Area Mower for most areas. It can mow an acre per hour at multiple heights. We cannot use it on the East Quadrant of Willoughby Park. The terrain is too rocky, so we will have to use push mowers. In order to even out the edges we use a Stihl professional edger.

LEFT- A John Deere 1600 Turbo Series II Wide-Area Mower is our workhorse. We can use it for big and small jobs. RIGHT- Our onsite foreman, Jerry Lewis, is mowing near the Oregon Capitol in Salem.

LEFT- We use a Toro Personal Walk Power Mower in areas that are too small or too rocky for our riding mowers. RIGHT- This is a Stihl FC 100 Edger.

All of our landscaping equipment and supplies are determined on a case by case basis. Amounts of fertilizer and grass seed are dictated by the terrain and the needs of the plants.

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Maintenance-We take good care of our equipment to ensure that it does not break down on the job. Our riding mowers undergo a full engine tune up every month. The smaller mowers and edgers require less maintenance and are serviced every three months.

Even though we take excellent care of our equipment, breakdowns will inevitably occur. All of our employees must know how to fix the equipment that they use and all the tools necessary are kept on the trucks. This ensures that when breakdowns happen they are taken care of quickly without needlessly delaying the work.

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PREVIOUS WORK

Moe’s Mowers has been in business in the Portland-Salem area for 17 years. We have provided lawn care services for the State of Oregon, prominent area golf courses and regional businesses. The following is a list of several of our satisfied customers.

Oregon State Capitol, Salem, Oregon-Moe’s Mowers has been mowing the grounds of the State Capitol since 2005. We take pride in maintaining the beautiful Capitol grounds throughout the year.

This is a view from the South side of the State Capitol in Salem, Or

Shadow Glen Golf Course, Portland, Oregon –Moe’s has been mowing the Shadow Glen course since it opened in 1998. Our company took an active role in the construction of the course. We helped design the course’s signature 16th hole. We developed the methods of mowing at night that we are planning to use at Augusta Memorial. Mowing in the early morning allows the course to look its best without interfering with the golfers.

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This is the 16th hole at the Shadow Glen Golf Course in Portland, Oregon

Riverfront Park, Salem, Oregon-Riverfront Park is one of our most challenging jobs. It experiences high traffic at all times of day, and it is often the site of concerts and events held by the city. However, we keep it in top shape throughout the summer.

This is Riverfront Park in Salem, Oregon

CONCLUSION

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Moe’s would like to thank the city council again for considering our proposal. We believe that our staff, service and professionalism are second to none. The plan that we have put together for the City of Augusta should satisfy all of your concerns. Our schedule and equipment allow us to perform the job on budget and within the timeframe that we have given.

If you have any questions about our proposal or services please feel free to contact George Merchant, our Client Coordinator, at (312)239-0096. He should be able to answer all of your questions.

We look forward to your decision, and to working with you in the future.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

“Moe’s is the best landscaping service that [the Capitol] has had. The Capitol grounds have never looked better than they do today.”

-John Ashcroft, Head of the Capitol Preservation Committee

“The people that work for Moe’s are very professional. They make our golf course look great without interfering with our business. Since Moe’s has been mowing our course we have seen our profits go up because we don’t have to shut down the course so it can be mowed.

-Larry Summers, Groundskeeper, Shadow Glen Golf Course

“Mow’s Mowers is the only landscaping company that we will use. Their staff is friendly and helpful, and they have worked to correct any problems that have arisen over the years that we have used them.

-John Murphy, Salem City Councilmember

APPENDIXES

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Appendix 1-Willoughby Park broken into quadrants-

Willoughby Park

Appendix 2-

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Soccer Fields

Baseball Field

North-West Quadrant North-East Quadrant

South-West Quadrant South-East Quadrant

Fishing Pond

N

Playground


This is a map of the area to be mowed. The sections are colored corresponding to the day that we plan to mow them.

Monday- GreenTuesday- Blue Willoughby ParkWednesday- YellowThursday- Red Friday- Orange

Route 24

Color-coded map of the area to be mowed

Appendix 3-

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Augusta Memorial Golf Course

Cypress Creek HousingComplex


This is a weekly calendar with our planned mowing scheduleMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

A weekly calendar of our planned mowing schedule

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North-East, South-East Next 3 miles of Last mile of Route Last 12 holes of North-West, quadrant of Route 24 24, and the 1st 6 Augusta and South-West Willoughby Park, holes of Augusta Memorial Golfquadrants of and 1st mile of Memorial Golf CourseWilloughby Park Route 24 Course

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