How do you determine how much to charge for lawn mowing when starting the business? Someone recently asked us about this very thing on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. Here are some suggestions.
Before anything else, submit your question and location in the lawn care industry topic. Another local lawn care business owner should be able to tell you what the going fee is. Do you know somebody who works there? Is another question to ask yourself. If so, inquire how much it costs for each lawn.
One further suggestion was to talk to local lawn care services to see what it would cost to have them maintain your grass. Consider soliciting bids from friends who do in the absence of your lawn. Having three quotes will give you a decent notion of what to charge. You can also calculate the price per square foot by dividing the total by the area of your lawn, which you will now know. This ought to provide you with a rough estimate. Know that the costs associated with operating your lawn care business can vary widely from those of another owner.
The next consideration is whether to charge per square foot or hour.
Kurt Chance states, “The first thing you always want to do when making an estimate is genuinely walk the site and don’t rush to get in and out. This happened to me once, and I was taken aback when I finally arrived. There were four ditches in the front yard that I had no idea about until I started mowing. Fortunately, it still took about how long I anticipated, and the cost was about correct.
If you’re starting a lawn care business, charging by the hour might be best. When quoting a time frame, “you want to quote quality, not time,” writes mowboy.com’s Joel LaRusic. To rephrase, it’s preferable to say something like “I’ll perform this set of services, to your satisfaction, for $50” rather than “I’ll spend an hour at your house for $50.” You can utilize your hourly fee as a starting point, but you don’t have to disclose it to the client. You should use the fact that, as you become more proficient at your work, you may save time for both you and the consumer.
Kurt went on to elaborate. When evaluating the cost of a large property, I first calculate how long it will take me to do the job. If I have to, I’ll divide it into more manageable chunks. Then, I determine my hourly rate or the amount I hope to earn from the property and set a price. When I have to mow a commercial property, I usually divide it into the number of sections I think I’ll need to cut, plus the time it will take me to go there and back.
Formula-based per-square-foot pricing is another, more sophisticated option. More practice is needed when working with formulas, as accuracy is crucial. Always double-check your procedures to ensure the most precise estimate possible. If you’re sure of your prices, though, you can use recipes like:
Lawn mowing pricing per 1,000 square feet.
The cost of fertilizing a lawn of 1,000 square feet.
Amount of money needed to prune a hedge in linear square feet.
If you want to make up your formula, how do you do it? You will need a measuring or surveyor’s wheel to tour the land and calculate the square footage. According to Joel, “many jobs, such as fertilizers and overseeding, are quoted per 1000 square feet.” When you’ve been in business for a while, you know exactly how much it costs to keep the lights on every hour. Time spent mowing a lawn of 1,000 square feet can be estimated, and a target profit margin can be set. Add your overhead costs to your profit margin to calculate the price per square foot to cut a thousand square feet of grass.
Have you grasped the concept? You’ll need to take precise measurements, but calculating the size of a lawn is a breeze once you have the correct formulas. Of course, you’ll have to use your best judgment; for example, it would cost more to mow a steep slope than a level one.
Which pricing strategy is best for your company? Hourly rates simplify things when you’re first getting started. As your business expands, you’ll need to develop algorithms to assist you in placing more precise bids on varying-sized properties. Mowing larger estates increases the importance of square foot estimates for lawn size. Your offers can maintain a consistent profit margin regardless of the size of the property. It’s common for novice lawn care business owners to charge a fair fee for smaller homes but to either break even or lose money on larger ones. This occurs because they incorrectly estimate how long it will take to mow a property, and as they go on to larger properties, their error becomes increasingly significant. One of the most critical factors in achieving success is bidding on properties that reliably yield your target profit margin. Growing lawn care businesses often fail because they incur losses while maintaining huge accounts. Avoid having this occur to you.
Spend time learning and money expanding your enterprise. Be a rebel in the lawn care industry by reading our free e-book. Our lawn care advertising materials are completely free of charge. Our 30-day free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Billing & Scheduling Business Software is available, as are hundreds of logo templates, flyers, door hangers, online templates, and lawn care business contracts. Here learn more about gopher software, click here. Check out our Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business show GopherHaul, and our podcast over at http://www.gophergraphics.com.
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