Budgeting Cancel The title field is required!

1. James Bezanson

   

   0 posts
   
   12/5/2011 8:12 PM

   I was wondering what percentage of Golf Course maintenance budgets are Labor, including Superintendent, assistants and Mechanic? Our Current Labor % is 46% of our operating budget. That seems to be a little low. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this. I can't find any articles giving %'s for operating budgets for golf courses. I heard 60 to 65% is a good range.
   
   Thanks
   Jamie Bezanson

   
   
   
   
2. Andrew Cross

   

   5 posts
   
   12/5/2011 9:12 PM

   We are a mid to high end public and our labor budget is 66% of the total budget. This year my owner wants me to give very nice raises to the crew but cut back on total numbers of staff so our initial budget forecast is 68%. We are a fairly labor intensive Don Ross design so its very difficult to cut back on staff. But we are looking to get creative.

   
   
   
   
3. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   12/6/2011 3:12 AM

   58% here.

   
   
   
   
4. McCallum David K

   
   12/6/2011 7:12 AM

   We are generally in the range of 55-58% like Andy. With some budget cuts from last year 2011 may have been a tad higher since no salaries were cut.

   
   
   
   
5. Kevin Girt

   

   0 posts
   
   12/6/2011 7:12 AM

   Percentages can be misleading without all of the facts. I'm at a Jack Nicklaus Signature course that could be the number one course in the state (really!), my salary is okay but I have no spray or irrigation techs, no mechanic and my crew consisted of me, my girl friend (which gave us a chance to see each other) and 3 boys that were all under 22 years of age. Labor percent? 85. I'm sure others out there are in a similar boat, but budgets that go from 0 to 99,999, 100,000 to 149,999, 150,000 to 199,999 and so forth all will have various percentages.

   
   
   
   
6. Michael Vogt

   

   2 posts
   
   12/6/2011 9:12 AM

   Jamie:
   Percentages alone should be suspect when comparing figures from course to course. In areas where labor is plentiful I would suspect the percentage would be low. Golf course businesses that purchase water could also skew the percentage. Courses with bent in or near the transition have bigger fungicide budgets. Similarly; like Andrew said, high labor costs (hand labor) could increase labor relative to other expenses. In as many budgets I have run across the labor percentages are 40% - 75% including associated labor burdens.

   
   
   
   
7. James Schmid

   

   1 posts
   
   12/7/2011 2:12 PM

   leahmarie said: I was wondering what percentage of Golf Course maintenance budgets are Labor, including Superintendent, assistants and Mechanic? Our Current Labor % is 46% of our operating budget. That seems to be a little low. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this. I can't find any articles giving %'s for operating budgets for golf courses. I heard 60 to 65% is a good range.
   
   Thanks
   Jamie Bezanson

   
   
   
   Why does that seem a little low? Because you don't have enough staff to accomplish the tasks required to meet your goals and expectations? Or are you just saying that the number 46% doesn't look right to you? Who cares what the percentage is?

   
   
   
   
8. Cummings John C

   
   12/14/2011 7:12 PM

   leahmarie said: I was wondering what percentage of Golf Course maintenance budgets are Labor, including Superintendent, assistants and Mechanic? Our Current Labor % is 46% of our operating budget. That seems to be a little low. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this. I can't find any articles giving %'s for operating budgets for golf courses. I heard 60 to 65% is a good range.
   
   Thanks
   Jamie Bezanson

   
   
   I've been told by the USGA TAS that 52-55% is usually good.

   
   
   
   
9. Keith Fellenstein

   

   0 posts
   
   12/15/2011 10:12 AM

   schmiddy78 said:

   leahmarie said: I was wondering what percentage of Golf Course maintenance budgets are Labor, including Superintendent, assistants and Mechanic? Our Current Labor % is 46% of our operating budget. That seems to be a little low. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this. I can't find any articles giving %'s for operating budgets for golf courses. I heard 60 to 65% is a good range.
   
   Thanks
   Jamie Bezanson

   
   
   
   Why does that seem a little low? Because you don't have enough staff to accomplish the tasks required to meet your goals and expectations? Or are you just saying that the number 46% doesn't look right to you? Who cares what the percentage is?

   
   
   
   Agreed...use the suggested percentage as a guideline only. Ultimately expectations should define whether or not you have enough labor to provide the desired conditions. If you do...good on ya, if you don't, make the case to the powers that be.

   
   
   
   
10. James Smith

    

    112 posts
    
    12/15/2011 12:12 PM

    I would say that in a normal year my percentage was around 65% but with severe cuts we are now around 80-85% We have elected to cut out other items and keep 7 full time employees in my department so we can at least keep the course groomed which makes it look like it is well kept. my board does know that we are letting the health of the turf suffer by not sticking with our programs but what choice do we have? It does me no good to apply a fertilizer application if I do not have the proper staff to cut them. So we work our butts off keeping everything looking as good as possible.