How Much Do Lawn Maintenance Workers Make

Show Your Employees That They Can Make A Difference In Your Company

A lot of keeping my employees happy was about input. I designed a process of how to get the most jobs done in a day, and then I would ask them: if you could change the schedule, how would you change it?

Taking their suggestions to heart means a lot to them. Maybe they thought of something that you havent thought of, for example. I think that it doesnt matter what job you work at, what you truly want is input into what theyre doing.

Everyone wants the ability to offer suggestions, and I dont think that changes, even if youre at a summer job or mowing lawns!

Edward Ramsden, Owner of Enviromasters

Create Your Business Plan

Suppose youre ready to transform your nebulous idea for a lawn care business into a glorious reality. In that case, youre going to need a business plan.

Youll use your plan as a detailed outline to get you where you are right now to where you want to be. Its a must for all business owners who want their company to thrive.

Having a business plan means youll accomplish your entrepreneurial objectives sooner rather than later. Itll help organize every detail of getting your business off the ground, exponentially increasing the chances that your lawn care business will be a smashing success.

If you dont need a bank loan, your business plan can be short, sweet, and to the point.

Just remember:

Your lawn care business plan should accommodate your needs, and not the other way around.

Have it be a reflection of you in all your wonderful uniqueness.

According to the Small Business Administration website, there are two categories of business plans:

• Traditional
• Lean startup

Traditional business plans are what most entrepreneurs use, and they require a ton of detail and work. They can get so convoluted and complicated, that they can be dozens of pages long.

Lean startup business plans are far less structured because they focus like a laser-guided missile on only the most essential facts.

They can be completed in sixty minutes or less, and are usually no longer than a single page. Heres an example of one.

Here are some of the sections you might want to include:

Landscaping And Groundskeeping Workers

As of 2011, general landscaping and groundskeeping workers reported an average annual income of $25,650 and an average hourly wage of $12.33. Half of all general landscaping and groundskeeping workers earned hourly wages of between $9.28 and $14.29. In general, those who were employed by the government or by elementary and secondary schools tended to make more money than the employees of private contractors. Those in the Northeast and on the Pacific Coast reported higher average wages than the rest of the nation, and those in the Southern states reported some of the lowest.

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How To Get Started With Commercial Lawn Care Contracts

Commercial lawn care contracts are centered around building relationships. From the very beginning, you should be focused on getting to know the property managers and real estate board members in your service area.

1. Make contact with them.

You can do this through phone calls, emails, postcards and flyers, or meetings.

Even though some property managers wont necessarily be looking for a contractor right now, they might be in the future. The objective is to build a relationship so you can ensure youre the one who gets the job.

2. Make sure you have quality references from previous clients.

Ed explains that referrals are one of the most important parts of landing commercial clients.

If they offer a fixed contract, theyll want an established company for it. Theyre not just going to hire anybody to do it. They want to see a reputation.

Most commercial clients will want to call the property managers youve worked with in the past. So, tailor the references you give based on the client for the best results.

For example, if youre trying to land a contract with a condo property manager, try to find a referral from another condo property manager youve worked for before.

How to get started without commercial experience

If you dont have referrals yet, Ed suggests getting your name out there by doing some basic industry discovery.

Ed explains that you should start by assuring them that youre not trying to win their business, but just trying to learn about the industry.

Understanding The Career Opportunities At Grassperson

Before getting into salaries and answering how much do landscapers make, we first need to explain the various career opportunities that exist at our company as these will impact the earning potential.

Here are the three primary positions that were likely to be hiring for:

• We have crew members on both maintenance and landscaping crews. This would be our entry-level position and we hire both industry and non-industry folks.
• We also have crew leaders on both maintenance and landscaping crews. This is a step-up as youre now leading a crew and requires some industry experience.
• Finally, we also have lawn care technicians, which is a bit more of a specialized role that requires additional certifications.

Lets look at how much each of these roles pay. .

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Lawn Service Cost By Type Of Service

Mowing is not the only service that these professionals usually provide, nor is it the only service your lawn may require. Your yard maintenance cost may include many maintenance tasks that may be used to help bring your lawn back to a healthy state, prepare it for the upcoming season, or reduce the risk of weeds, pests, and other intrusions into your yard that can damage its aesthetic. Below, you will see the average lawn maintenance cost based on the most common maintenance tasks that may be combined with your mowing to keep the outdoor of your home as beautiful and healthy as possible.

How Much Money Should My Lawn Company Make Per Hour

This questions is from Jacob, and the question is, How much money should I be making per hour as a business? I cant tell you exactly, but I can give you some information that will probably help you. Let me first give an example in commercial. Commercial maintenance, first youve got to understand theres a lot of factors that go into this. Thats why there is no real easy rule of thumb. You could talk to one guy thats predominantly commercial and youre going to hear a lower hourly number whereas, if you talk to a guy thats residential youre going to hear a higher number.

If you talk to a guy thats doing lawn mowing, youre going to a number whereas, if you talk to a guy thats doing irrigation, youre going to hear a higher hourly number. Its all over the board. Thats why I say there is no way I can possibly directly answer, but I can give you some clues.

Lets start with commercial. In commercial you might hear a guy say, Yeah, we have to achieve a $25 per man hour number. You might hear somebody else say, I need to achieve a $30 man hour number, or $35 man hour number. Thats kind of a range, $25 to $35 is a range Ive heard in the commercial space, and the reason youre going to hear But youve got to analyze it more than that. A guy could be in commercial and he could say, Our goal, we need to achieve $28 per man hour to be competitive in this market and at this moment in time.

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What Do American Lawn Care Workers Get Paid

Believe it or not, there are people out there paying close attention to what American lawn and garden employees are getting paid. The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics does its homework on US lawn maintenance employees, and finds that, as of 2011, the average lawn care worker made about $25,650 per year, or $12.33 an hour. The Bureau projects that a quarter of a million jobs will be added to this industry by 2020. They also note that there is a lot of variation in worker pay, depending on job and location.

Here are some of the details about who’s making the most, and why. Check out where your company fits into the national picture:

People who work on government- and school-owned lawns were the highest paid. These employees saw higher pay than those who worked for private contractors.The Northeast and Pacific coast had the highest paid lawn care workers while workers in the South were some of the lowest paid.Employees who specialized in skills like pesticide application were better paid than those with more general skills like lawn mowing. The average pesticide specialist was paid $31,690 per year, or $15.85 per hour. Some reported rates as high as $17.83 per hour.Trimmers and pruners were the highest paid of all, earning $32,970 per year or $15.85 per hour. A high portion of those polled received $18.74 an hour, or more.

Quick Videos On Lawn Care Pricing

Jonathan Pototschnik, Lawn Care Millionaire and co-founder of Service Autopilot, has recorded a quick lawn care pricing video to help lawn care business owners just like you.

In this short video, you’ll discover the basics of lawn care pricing:

• How to look at your lawn care services
• Why you cant copy your top competitors
• How to fix your lawn care pricing strategy

Now, without further ado, here’s how to create the best lawn care pricing strategy and maximize your profits…

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Why Higher Prices Will Get You More Clients

If you follow our blog, you will hear this again and again: Premium is the best strategy for most lawn care business owners.

Seek to be the highest-quality service in your area. After all, premium services will bring in premium clients, which means premium profits.

Dont be the cheapest guy on the block. Be the most valuable.

Years ago, a tech company decided to enter the laptop market.

Their competitors clashed over more memory, more power, lower prices.

Inch by inch, they fought a battle nobody could win.

So, this tech company went the opposite direction and didnt focus on low prices or low production costs.

They went all out and made sleek, user-friendly laptops. Their laptops looked like they came from the future, and it was exactly what people wanted.

Today, you know this company as Apple, and their premium pricing strategy was a huge success. Most recently, Apple reported an impressive 42.5% in gross margin.

You too can be the Apple of lawn care or landscaping in your area. You can live out The Pareto Principle in your market to increase your profits.

Bottom Line: Make yourself unique. Differentiate yourself from the competition. People should see the quality in everything you do your performance, your customer service, and your lawn care prices.

Find The Average Lawn Care Wages

In order to find the average lawn care wages in your area, a great place to start is by checking a job listing website to see what other local lawn care businesses are offering in their job listings.

For example, a quick search on Indeed for lawn care specialist in Richardson, Texas pays anywhere from $12 to $25 an hour.

Heres how the US Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks it down:

Keep in mind, these are merely the average wages for each position.

Though, how much you pay depends on the benefits you’re offering as the total compensation package.

For example, are you offering PTO time off? Is there health insurance? Are there benefits or bonuses? Please note, compensations are likely just as important to employees as the hourly rate.

In a moment, well cover how to pay lawn care employees while also guaranteeing the business stays profitable. Though, first lets take a look at lawn care wages by region.

It’s important to remember that payment varies by geographic area.

Here are the landscaper wages from a few major regions across the US:

• California

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Benchmarking Your Business Report

Whats fair market value, anyway? Heres how landscape business owners figure a decent salary and what factors go into their wages.

Beau Hartman doesnt want to think about what his hourly wage would be on the salary he pays himself as owner of Hartman Land Care, a Zanesville, Ohio-based business that does about $1 million a year.

Hartman is the primary salesperson, manager and so much more like most small business owners in the green industry. For years, he paid himself $25,000 to $35,000 annually. Finally, my accountant said to me, Maybe you should start paying yourself more, Hartman says.

Figuring out a reasonable wage is tough. Theres no exact science, but there are two methods. You can set a salary that will ensure you meet your basic living requirements, or you can project a salary based on worth, usually meaning a current market value minimum plus a little more.

After the business goes beyond break-even, owners may pay themselves a bonus, along with a weekly fair market rate.

Hartman considered what he pays his operations manager. I know how valuable he is to me, so I felt I could make slightly more than that for my role in the company, he says.

I have seen cases where a spouse has the checkbook and they are spending left and right. They see $1 million in the bank account and think it belongs to them. Jim Huston, J.R. Huston Consulting

Budget to pay yourself.

Pin down a salary.

Chief financial officer : $65,000

Chief operating officer : $60,000

Jump Right In Even If You Have Little Money

Russell says you dont need much to start your own mowing lawn services.

He says that even if you all you have is a lawn mower and a broom, you can start a lawn care business tomorrow:

He started his lawn care business with only $2,000. He bought a $200 blower and a $150 weed eater out of that money and kept the rest of it in reserve.

Soon, he had enough cash to buy some of his bigger equipment for 0% down financing. This included things like a tractor, a tilt deck trailer, and an industrial bush cutter.

The moral of this story?

Doing excellent work.

Soon, youll have funds to reinvest in your lawn maintenance business. And, remember Russells words if you run into obstacles:

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Lawn Care Maintenance Costs Per Hour

Most professionals offer hourly rates on lawn care maintenance. You can expect to pay from $40 to $90 per hour for these services, depending on the additional maintenance tasks required. It is important to note that this price is per person per hour, so if multiple workers are used, the price per hour will go up, but the overall cost will likely be the same since having more people means it will be completed sooner. Very large areas often require multiple workers.

Benefits Of Lawn Care

Keeping your lawn regularly maintained comes with a lot of benefits. The first and most noticeable is the appearance of your yard. When kept in good condition, it can add beauty to the look of your home and even value when it comes time to sell it. Maintaining it also helps you to have a healthy grass that prevents bare and burnt patches. Keeping your yard weeded and properly mowed lowers your risk of pests since it removes one of their most popular hiding spots.

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What Is A Fair Hourly Rate Or Lawn Care Are You Getting Ripped Off

So youre about to hire a lawn care service and youre wondering.

What is a fair price to pay for landscaping?

Or what is a fair hourly rate to pay for lawn care services?

The good news is that you’re not alone,

Look, the fact is, this is a question we often get running the GreenPal platform. And, helping homeowners all over America find, schedule, and pay local lawn care services.

It gets better. We decided to research to get to the bottom of what is a fair hourly rate to pay for lawn mowing services.

Here is what we learned!

Lawn Mowing Rates Per Hour

The average hourly rate for lawn mowing runs between $25 and $80. For tricky properties with fences, trees, childrens play equipment, and other obstacles, your company may charge by the hour rather than by the job. The more obstacles they encounter, the higher the price. Working around many small odd-shaped landscaped areas may also result in an hourly rate charge. Some yards require multiple workers, making the price per hour increase. However, the total cost should remain the same because the total number of hours will be reduced.

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Par 5 Lawn Care Company Jobs And Hourly Pay

The average salary of Par 5 Lawn Care jobs will vary according to location, department, and job description. The table shows below the name of the job title below you may be interested in including salary range and total compensation. The salary paid can be different for the same position in Par 5 Lawn Care based on experience, skills, and education.

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Professional Lawn Care Hourly Pay Rate

How much do Professional Lawn Care employees Hourly make in the United States?

Professional Lawn Care pays an average hourly rate of $1,655 and hourly wages range from a low of $1,469 to a high of $1,866. Individual pay rates will, of course, vary depending on the job, department, location, as well as the individual skills and education of each employee.

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