A federal grounds solicitation usually lists the areas, mowing heights, cut frequencies and the growing season. The Service Contract Act wage determination gives you the minimum wage and fringe benefits for each worker. What neither gives you is the part that moves the price most: how many hours each task takes, which class of worker does it, and how many of those workers you carry through the winter.
This guide builds a grounds price in that order, then prices an 88-acre campus in Harris County, Texas, on WD 2015-5233 rev 35. The tax and indirect assumptions match our burdened labor rate guide, except workers' comp, which is higher for outdoor crews.
1. Split the PWS into seasonal and year-round work
Go through the performance work statement (PWS) and put every task in one of three groups:
- Seasonal: mowing, trimming, edging and blowing, at the frequency the PWS sets for the growing season.
- Year-round: litter and debris pickup, shrub and bed care, irrigation checks, leaf removal, storm cleanup.
- Periodic or on call: aeration, fertilizer and herbicide applications, pruning, tree work.
A weekly cut over a 32-week season is 32 cuts. If the PWS sets mowing by grass height instead of a calendar, the number of cuts is your estimate, so write it down as an assumption and check it against the incumbent's history if the agency shares it. Walk the site if you can. Slopes, ditches, fence lines and the distance between mowing areas change the hours more than the acreage does.
2. Turn acres into labor hours
Hours per year = acres ÷ acres per hour × cuts per year
Use a separate production rate for each mower type and area
A wide tractor deck on open turf covers far more ground per hour than a zero-turn working around buildings, signs and trees. Use rates you have measured on your own jobs, by equipment and by type of area. The rates in the example below are assumptions, not a standard.
Trimming, edging and blowing follow the number of obstacles and the length of curbs and walks, not the acreage. Estimate them in hours per cut from the site walk, not as a percentage of mowing time.
3. Match each task to a class on the WD
Each service employee must be paid at least the WD wage and receive the WD fringe benefits for the class of work performed (FAR 52.222-41(c)(1)). The grounds classes on WD 2015-5233 rev 35 for the Houston area:
| Code | Occupation | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 11210 | Laborer, Grounds Maintenance | $17.44 |
| 11260 | Pruner | $15.49 |
| 11090 | Gardener | $23.50 |
| 11270 | Tractor Operator | $21.47 |
| 23440 | Heavy Equipment Operator | $24.54 |
| 31361 | Truckdriver, Light | $21.12 |
| 99410 | Pest Controller | $20.48 |
The WD says each class has the duties described in the SCA Directory of Occupations. Compare what your crew will actually do with those descriptions before you assign hours. If a task fits no listed class, the contractor must request a conformed class and rate on SF 1444 (FAR 52.222-41(c)(2)); see how to read an SCA wage determination.
Grounds crews often switch tasks during the week. Under 29 CFR 4.169, a worker who does work in two classes in a workweek must be paid the higher rate for all hours that week, unless your records show which hours went to each class. If a tractor operator spends 472 hours a year on laborer work and you have no time records by class, those hours cost $21.47 instead of $17.44: $4.03 × 472 = $1,902.16 a year in extra wages, before taxes and markups. Price the split only if you will track it.
4. Seasonal and year-round crews cost differently per hour
The WD rates are the same for both. The burden is not, for four reasons:
- Holidays. An employee who does no work in the week a named holiday falls is generally not owed that holiday, unless the layoff is a subterfuge to avoid paying it (29 CFR 4.174(a)(2)). A seasonal crew is owed only the holidays that fall in weeks they work.
- Vacation. Vacation vests on the anniversary date after a year of continuous service (29 CFR 4.173). Whether a winter layoff breaks service depends on the facts, and the reason for the absence is the main factor. DOL's own examples treat a temporary layoff, such as a mess hall closed three months for renovation, as no break (29 CFR 4.173(b)(1)). If the same people come back every spring, plan for vacation. Temporary and part-time employees are owed benefits in proportion to their time on covered work (29 CFR 4.176(a)).
- H&W. Health and welfare is owed on all hours paid, holidays included, up to 40 a week and 2,080 a year (29 CFR 4.175(a)(1)). For 2026 that is $5.92 an hour, or $5.42 on contracts covered by EO 13706, effective August 10, 2026. Hawaii has its own rates of $2.51 and $2.01. See SCA health and welfare rates for 2026.
- Unemployment tax. FUTA and SUTA are charged on a wage base per employee. A seasonal worker hits the same base in fewer hours, so the cost per hour goes up: in the example, $285 a year is $0.15 per productive hour for a year-round laborer and $0.23 for a seasonal one.
The net effect in our example: a seasonal laborer costs less per productive hour, mostly because the crew carries 40 hours of PTO instead of 168. The saving is real only if you can rehire and train a crew every spring. Price the turnover you expect.
5. Equipment and fuel as other direct costs
- Equipment: tractors, mowers, trimmers, blowers, trailers and a truck. Spread the purchase cost over the years you expect to use it, or use the lease cost, and add maintenance and repair.
- Fuel: gallons per year from your equipment hours, times a price per gallon.
- Materials: mulch, seed, fertilizer and chemicals, if the PWS makes them the contractor's.
- Markups: these costs usually carry G&A and fee but not labor overhead. Use the same bases your accounting system uses.
In option years, labor and ODCs follow different rules. FAR 52.222-43(b) makes you warrant that your prices include no allowance for the increases the clause adjusts for later. That adjustment covers wages and fringe benefits required by a new WD, plus the related social security, unemployment tax and workers' comp, but no overhead, G&A or profit (FAR 52.222-43(d) and (e)). It does not cover fuel or equipment. So hold labor at the current WD rates in every option year, and escalate equipment and fuel by your own estimate.
Worked example: an 88-acre campus in Harris County
Assumptions: 72 acres of open turf mowed by tractor at 3.0 acres per hour, and 16 acres around buildings mowed with zero-turn mowers at 1.0 acre per hour, both weekly over a 32-week season from mid-March to late October. Trimming, edging and blowing take 20 hours per cut. One full-time laborer works all year on policing, beds and shrubs. Mowing other than the tractor, and all trimming, is Laborer, Grounds Maintenance work, and time is recorded by class.
Seasonal workers are paid 32 weeks × 40 hours = 1,280 hours. Five of the WD's eleven holidays fall in the season (Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day). It is the crew's first season, so no vacation is due. Year-round workers get eleven holidays and two weeks of vacation. Standard H&W of $5.92, paid into a health plan; not covered by EO 13706. SUTA 2.7% on a $9,000 wage base, workers' comp 5.00% of payroll, overhead 10%, G&A 8% and fee 6%. Replace every assumption with your own.
Hours
| Task | Math | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Tractor mowing | 72 ÷ 3.0 × 32 | 768 |
| Zero-turn mowing | 16 ÷ 1.0 × 32 | 512 |
| Trim, edge and blow | 20 × 32 | 640 |
| Seasonal laborer hours | 512 + 640 | 1,152 |
| Year-round laborer hours | One FTE | 1,912 |
Laborer bill rate, seasonal and year-round
| Line | Seasonal | Year-round |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 1,280 | 2,080 |
| PTO hours | 40 | 168 |
| Productive hours | 1,240 | 1,912 |
| Wage per productive hour | $18.00 | $18.97 |
| H&W per productive hour | $6.11 | $6.44 |
| Annual wages | $22,323.20 | $36,275.20 |
| FICA, 7.65% | $1,707.72 | $2,775.05 |
| FUTA, 0.6% × $7,000 | $42.00 | $42.00 |
| SUTA, 2.7% × $9,000 | $243.00 | $243.00 |
| Workers' comp, 5.00% | $1,116.16 | $1,813.76 |
| Taxes and insurance per productive hour | $2.51 | $2.55 |
| Direct labor cost | $26.62 | $27.96 |
| Overhead, 10% | $2.66 | $2.80 |
| G&A, 8% | $2.34 | $2.46 |
| Fee, 6% | $1.90 | $1.99 |
| Bill rate per productive hour | $33.52 | $35.21 |
Wage and H&W per productive hour are the hourly rate × paid hours ÷ productive hours: $17.44 × 1,280 ÷ 1,240 and $5.92 × 1,280 ÷ 1,240 for the seasonal column. The same build for a seasonal Tractor Operator at $21.47 gives $39.41 per productive hour.
Annual price
| Step | Math | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Tractor Operator, seasonal | 768 × $39.41 | $30,266.88 |
| Laborers, seasonal | 1,152 × $33.52 | $38,615.04 |
| Laborer, year-round | 1,912 × $35.21 | $67,321.52 |
| Labor | $136,203.44 | |
| Equipment | Assumed | $14,000.00 |
| Fuel | 1,800 gal × $3.25 | $5,850.00 |
| G&A on ODCs | 8% × $19,850.00 | $1,588.00 |
| Fee on ODCs | 6% × $21,438.00 | $1,286.28 |
| Annual price, base year | Labor + ODCs | $158,927.72 |
| Price per mowed acre per year | $158,927.72 ÷ 88 | $1,806.00 |
Values are rounded to the cent at each step. The tractor needs 768 ÷ 1,240 = 0.62 of a seasonal worker. One seasonal tractor operator can cover it and spend the other 472 productive hours on laborer work, which is why the time records in section 3 matter. The remaining 680 laborer hours are about half of a second seasonal worker. Make sure the crew you schedule fits the cuts the PWS requires each week.
Option years
Labor stays at $136,203.44 in every year. Equipment stays at $14,000.00. Fuel is assumed to rise 4% a year from $3.25 a gallon, rounded to the cent, with G&A and fee on top.
| Period | Fuel per gallon | Annual price |
|---|---|---|
| Base year | $3.25 | $158,927.72 |
| Option year 1 | $3.38 | $159,195.60 |
| Option year 2 | $3.52 | $159,484.09 |
| Option year 3 | $3.66 | $159,772.58 |
| Option year 4 | $3.80 | $160,061.07 |
| Five years | $797,441.06 |
If a new WD raises the rates after award, you recover the wage and fringe increase under FAR 52.222-43. See FAR 52.222-43 price adjustment, step by step.
Checks before you submit
- The WD number and revision match the one attached to the solicitation.
- Every PWS area has a production rate, a cut count and hours against it.
- Each task is priced at the class your workers will actually perform, and you will keep time records by class if a worker crosses classes.
- Seasonal workers carry the holidays in their season, and returning crews carry vacation.
- Labor is flat across option years; only equipment, fuel and materials escalate.
Find the grounds rates for your county
See Laborer, Tractor Operator and every other class on the WDs for your place of performance.
Open the free WD lookupAcres in, bid price out.
SCA Bid Pricing Pro burdens every labor class the same way, adds your equipment and fuel, and prices the base and four option years, with checks that must read OK before you submit.
Related guides
Sources
- SAM.gov: Wage Determination 2015-5233, revision 35
- eCFR: 29 CFR part 4, sections 4.169, 4.173, 4.174, 4.175 and 4.176
- Acquisition.gov: FAR 52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards
- Acquisition.gov: FAR 52.222-43
Last reviewed: November 2026. This guide is a pricing aid and general information, not legal or tax advice.