How to price lawn care jobs

1Know your cost per crew hour

Your cost per hour is the floor under every price. List what a crew hour costs: pay and payroll costs for everyone on the crew, the truck and trailer, equipment wear and fuel, insurance, and overhead like your phone, software and office time.

Your numbers will be different, and that is the point. If you work alone, count your own time at what you would pay someone else to do it. Owners who skip this step often find at tax time that they have been working for free.

2Set a target rate above your cost

Cost is what you spend. Your target is what you charge, and the gap between them is your profit. In the example above, a target of $60 an hour before overhead, plus 15% overhead, means each crew hour brings in $69.

Pick a target you can defend. It has to cover a slow day, a rainout and the day the mower breaks. The mowing price calculator uses exactly this setup: an hourly target and an overhead percent.

3Choose a pricing method for each job

There is no single right way to price. Most owners use two or three methods, depending on the work. Here are the five you will meet.

1. Per visit, by time

Estimate the minutes on site, add the drive, and multiply by your rate. It is the most accurate method for a lawn you can walk or measure.

2. By lot size bands

Group lawns into size bands and charge one price per band. It is fast to quote and easy for a customer to follow. Using the same math as above for each band:

Each band is priced at its top size, so a lawn at the bottom of a band pays a little more than its time. That is the trade for simple quoting.

3. Per 1,000 sq ft

A rate per 1,000 sq ft scales smoothly with the lawn. At $5 per 1,000 sq ft, an 8,000 sq ft lawn is $40, and a 3,000 sq ft lawn would be $15, which is why you pair this method with a minimum charge.

4. Hourly, for cleanups

Spring cleanups, leaf removal and overgrown lots are hard to measure ahead. Charge by the crew hour, with a minimum number of hours.

5. Flat or season contracts

A flat season price gives you steady, predictable income, and the customer knows the monthly cost. Work it backward from the per-visit price.

4Price for how often you visit

A lawn cut every two weeks has grown longer than one cut weekly. It takes more passes, more bagging and more wear on the mower. So the visit costs more even though you come less often.

The free mowing price calculator starts with these multipliers, which you can change to fit your area and grass. They are a starting point, not a rule everyone follows.

Check one row: $39.10 × 1.5 = $58.65, rounded up to $60 for a monthly visit. A one-time cut is higher still, because you carry the cost of coming out just once.

5Add drive time and a minimum charge

Every stop has fixed minutes before the first blade of grass is cut: the drive, unloading and trimming around the edges. Small lawns carry the same fixed minutes as big ones, so they are the ones that lose money.

• Set a minimum visit charge and say it up front.
• Charge more for stops far from your usual route.
• Cluster customers by street, because a short drive between stops is the cheapest way to raise your hourly income.

The crew capacity calculator shows how many stops a crew fits in a day once drive time is in the math.

6Bid one-off jobs with markup

Jobs with materials need a different formula. Add labor, materials and other costs, then overhead, then a markup for profit. The free bid estimator does the same steps.

Markup is not margin

A 25% markup is added to cost, but the profit is a smaller share of the price: $148.90 ÷ $740 is about 20%. Owners who treat the two as the same number price lower than they meant to.

7Price add-ons, then raise prices every year

Extras like bagging clippings, edging along a long driveway or blowing off a patio take real minutes. Price them by time, so customers can pick what they want and you are paid for what you do.

Costs rise every year, so prices should too. If fuel, parts and pay together push your cost per crew hour from $50.60 to $53.10, that is about 5% more, and a flat price quietly shrinks your profit.

• Raise prices on a fixed date each year, like January or the start of the season.
• Give written notice before the change. Check your service agreement for how much notice it promises.
• Say what changed, in a sentence: fuel, insurance, labor.
• Raise every customer, not only the ones who complain least.

A few customers may leave. Check whether those lawns were worth keeping at the old price. If a lawn only worked at a price below your cost, losing it makes room for a better one.