How Much Do Lawn Services Make

Cost Of Weeding Your Lawn

Wedding your lawn is also very important maintenance. Removing unwanted and unsightly weeds is a sure way to improve the appearance of your lawn. If you have a regular lawn care professional who does your weekly mowing and trimming, you can ask them to get rid of the weeds on their next visit. There are a couple ways to go about weeding your lawn. You can pull them regularly or you can kill them with chemicals designed for the job for a more permanent solution.

The average cost of weeding is about $12 and $40 per hour, depending on which method you choose and how many weeds you have. Using weed killer is usually the more expensive route and cost closer to the $25 – $40 per hour mark since you are paying for labor and the chemicals.

Many weed killers are environmentally safe and pet friendly, but some are not. Be sure to consult a lawn care professional before making decisions on which path to take.

Average Mowing Cost Per Square Foot

Mowing costs are sometimes calculated by the square foot, especially for smaller yards. Keep in mind that as your lawn approaches a full acre, your costs may switch to acreage to make the estimates more accurate. On average, the price per square foot is around $0.009 to $0.015 for weekly mowing and $0.015 to $0.020 for biweekly mowing.

Lawn Replacement Or Restoration Costs

Sod costs between $120 and $400 per pallet. Youll pay between $2,500 and $6,620 to fully replace or restore an average-sized lawn thats about one-fifth of an acre.

To seed a lawn costs between $410 and $1,510. It takes between one and two years for a seeded lawn to fully grow in. During this time, its susceptible to pests and damage. Sod is a much quicker way to get the look and feel you want.

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Leaf Blowing Or Bagging

If you live in a neighborhood association which handles the removal of leaves blown into the road, leaf blowing may be a better option for you and can cost about $30 per worker per hour or $70 for a minimum service charge. If you choose this service, make sure that the company is not blowing your leaves into a neighbors property.

If you want your leaves bagged, some lawn companies will clean up and bag your leaves for $40 to $45 per worker per hour or $5 to $10 per bag. Check with the company to see if they remove the bagged leaves from your property or if they leave them on the curb for your trash collection. Due to the extra supplies and work required to bag the leaves, the cost of bagging leaves is higher than blowing them.

Leaf Removal From Gutters Cost

Leaves dont fall only on the lawn, but they also make it into the gutters of your house. Gutter cleaning costs about $150, with most homeowners spending between $110 and $185 or from $0.50 to $1.50 per linear foot.

Leaves can clog your gutters and can affect your roof and house with other issues. Leaf removal services will also clean your gutters. When you are speaking to your local leaf removal company, be sure to ask if leaf removal from the gutters is included in their price.

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How To Impress Potential Clients Without A Lot Of Cash

The tips for starting a lawn care business can be summarized simply: provide the services that customers want, and do what you do well, in a professional and courteous way using well-maintained equipment. You dont need a on of cash to make a good impression, but you do need to invest in tools that keep you organized and professional.

Using the Lawn Love app is one of the best ways to impress potential clients by keeping you organized and on time, while saving you overhead and marketing costs. Apps help you schedule work crews, generate professional contracts and invoices and even take online payments.

Lawn Care Costs Per Acre

Just like with mowing, more significant lawn care such as seeding, weed control, fertilization, and aeration is typically priced per acre, with many companies performing more than one of these services at a time. Lawn care costs range widely due to the variety of services that may be needed, and they may include one or more services, such as seeding with fertilization or aeration. These services are usually done separately from mowing and are also billed separately from mowing.

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Lawn Mowing Rates Per Hour

For tricky properties with fences, trees, childrens play equipment, and other obstacles, your lawn service may charge by the hour rather than by the job. The more obstacles they encounter, the higher the price. Most lawn service professionals who charge by the hour have costs ranging from $40 to $80 an hour, depending on the service. Most people pay around $60 an hour on average.

Cons For A Lawn Business

There are a few issues that you’ll need to consider while planning your business.

• Seasonal: Unless you live in an area where winters arent bad, your customer accounts go into hibernation by mid-October. If you are looking for a year-round business, you will need to find something to diversify your product offering to keep business up and running through the winter.
• Start-Up Expenses: Depending on the type of lawn care business you decide to build out, you will need equipment and something to transport this equipment with. This may require upfront cash and in some cases, a sizable amount.
• Competitive: Open your phone book and you will find a number of lawn care businesses in your area. If the market is too oversaturated, you will find the need to compete on price and this will cut into your gross margins. Research your area and if possible speak to existing lawn care companies about what they are experiencing in your area.
• Some Economic Risk: When economic times get tough, existing residential customers may find the need to cut non-essential expenses, and for many, outsourced lawn care is one of those.

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Does Higher Pay Equal Less Turnover

In a nutshell, higher pay can help equal less turnover, but its not guaranteed.

Here’s the thing, you dont want to be the low payer among competitors.

If you become known as the low paying employer , youll likely get poor employee candidates, decreased employee retention, less work completed, and lower quality work.

However, remember that paying employees is so much more than their take-home pay. While money in their pockets is important, it’s not the end-all be-all.

It’s important to pay what’s within the budget while still maintaining profit goals.

Also, incentives go a long way. For example, bonuses, benefits, and lunches all factor in when trying to attract the best employees.

Always remember, people want to feel appreciated. If you treat your employees like family, then chances are they’ll work hard for you and put their best foot forward.

If they get nickel-and-dimed and micromanaged, then they’ll likely look elsewhere .

Now, thats not to say employees dont have to be held accountable. Weve all seen people that take advantage.

For example, a half hour lunch turns into 45 minutes, or a job is finished and the crew drags their feet starting the next job. It happens. As the lawn care business owner, you just want to minimize it.

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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Pricing A Job Advicefor New Start

Pricing a job is one of the more difficult things for new start-ups. You don’t want to over-charge, but you don’t want to under-charge either. If your price is too high, people will look to someone else. If it is too low, you may not make enough profit to keep you going. It is hard to raise your prices once they are established without upsetting your customers.

This page is designed to get you to think outside the box and look at the effects of pricing a job incorrectly. It hopefully will show you how to save money on expenses and get the price you need.

The first thing you have probably noticed is that lawn care these days is extremely competitive making pricing a job intimidating at first. Our economy is not helping. What adds to the complexity is that many individuals have started a part-time lawn mowing business to help bring in extra money. They often work under the table just for the cash. Some of these have made a practice of pricing low to get the job. However, while it is great for the customer, a lot of customers are aware of this and understand that people that are not in it for the long haul are often not in business long. You will see why as you read this.

Secondly, it is important to know that times have changed and price really does matters more than ever. People are now geared to look for a low price, especially people on fixed incomes. Who can blame them?

More discriminating customers will want good quality, but still are on the lookout for a decent price.

Are Lawn Care Businesses Profitable

Whether your lawn care business is successful depends on what you put into it. To have a successful lawn care business, you should focus on:

• Targeting certain customers
• Marketing through advertisements, social media, referral programs, etc.
• Providing accurate quotes to clients
• Tracking your revenue and profit accurately

Aside from making an effort with marketing, youll also need to keep an eye on your numbers, like the cost of goods, overhead, and cashflow.

A key aspect of your potential success is to strike a healthy balance between growth and profit.

In other words, if you can scale and grow your business strategically and carefully, then you can run a profitable lawn care business.

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Determine Which Lawn Care Equipment To Buy

Its tempting, but dont buy the most expensive lawn care equipment right off the bat.

As lawn care business expert Jason Creel explains,

We need equipment to have success in the lawn care business. People have different budgets and theres a happy medium when it comes to buying equipment.

Im not going to say you should get the cheapest equipment. Im not going to just go buy a homeowners grade push mower from the big box store to get started. Thats going to slow down your production.

At the same time, you dont necessarily have to go finance the top of the line mower and put that financial burden on your company.

You can get a low-hour, used commercial grade mower for a reasonable amount of money for thousands of dollars less than you can buy a new one.

Then, you can go buy brand new handheld equipment: a string trimmer, edger, backpack blower. Theres really not a lot of savings in getting those things used.

If you can find one, try getting a slightly used commercial-grade mower. If you have to start with a residential model thats fine, but if you can get a commercial one its more powerful and faster and built to last.

Dont put such a financial burden on yourself that it straps you down.

If you can just get the equipment and get it going and be really aggressive in your marketing in your first year, once the money starts coming in, then you can always upgrade your equipment later.

Cost Of Fertilizing Your Lawn

Your lawn needs the proper nutrients to look its best and your soil does not always have enough nutrients. This is where fertilizer comes in. Fertilizing your lawn is the best way to improve the health and appearance of your lawn.Fertilizers contain the necessary minerals and nutrients that your grass needs to grow to its full potential. But it is important to note that different types of grass require different fertilizers.

• The minimum cost for lawn fertilizer is $0.08/sf
• The maximum cost for lawn fertilizer is $0.48/sf

If you do not have the time or the tools to fertilize your lawn on your own, you can hire a contractor to do the job. If you hire a contractor, the cost of fertilizing your lawn is about $12-$15/hr. You can also hire a lawn care expert or professional lawn care company, which will bring your lawn fertilizing cost up to about $60 per hour, on average. The more experience someone has, the more it will cost. That said, if you go with an expert you will do the least amount of work and you will likely get the best results.

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What Are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities For Lawn Care Jobs In New Jersey

Weve identified 9 cities where the typical salary for a Lawn Care job is above the average in New Jersey. Topping the list is Trenton, with Clifton and Atlantic City close behind in second and third. Atlantic City beats the New Jersey average by 11.3%, and Trenton furthers that trend with another $3,082 above the $24,666.

Significantly, Trenton has a very active Lawn Care job market as there are several companies currently hiring for this type of role.

With these 9 cities paying on average above the average for New Jersey, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations in the Lawn Care jobs category appears to be exceedingly fruitful.

However, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top 10 cities varies modestly at 19% between Trenton and Vineland, suggesting it may be difficult to see much positive wage advancement. The possibility of a lower cost of living may help determine the balance between location and salary for a Lawn Care role.

How To Price Tree Services

Tree inspections, pruning, removal, and other tree services tend to be expensive.

Like other green industry services, tree service pricing falls under the time = money rule.

Tree removal can cost anywhere from $75 to $3500+. Plus, you have to know your operational costs and an estimated time for removal in order to give a proper bid for tree-related jobs.

Since tree removal can be such a complex and careful job, experience is important to give a fair estimate.

As a result, you should consider positioning your business for premium services.

After all, many tree service clients are looking for premium services because they want to hear three little words: Licensed and Insured.”

Also, dont forget to upsell your clients! To name a few:

• Pruning
• Hauling and disposal services

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Knowledge Is Power When It Comes To Lawn Care

I hope that this lawn care pricing chart has given you a good idea about what the average cost of different lawn care services will be.

As I said in the beginning of this article its important to remember that where you live, what your property is like, and how big your lawn is will all play a role in the cost of hiring a lawn care or landscaping company in your area.

If the price of managed lawn care is more than you would like to pay, I encourage you to take control of your lawn and do it yourself. Theres a real feeling of satisfaction that comes with mowing and caring for your own property, and I have a lot of helpful articles on this site to help you get started. Please have a look around!

The Lawn Care Industry

The lawn care and landscaping industry is thriving in the United States, having grown nearly 5% since 2014. In 2019 it is estimated that the annual revenue will be almost $100 Billion Dollars. With lawns covering nearly the same land area as Texas, and 40% of US households using professional lawn care services, its not hard to imagine why.

There are now over 100,000 lawn care companies servicing an ever increasing demand across the nation. So how do you know which company you can trust? Lawn Love is your solution. We partner with qualified, local professionals who offer a wide range of lawn care and snow removal services. Call us or fill out the online quote form to get started with Lawn Love today.

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So What Is A Fair Rate

No doubt about it, the consensus among the lawn care services who participated in our poll is that the average charge for professional lawn mowing services is around $1 per minute of grass cutting.

Put another way, let’s say it takes your lawn mowing service 30 minutes to mow your yard by himself. You can figure the $30 per lawn mowing is a fair price to pay based on average market pricing.

Now let’s say he has a helper and there are 2 men on the lawn care team?

Well, then he needs to be in and out of your lawn in 15-20 mins for that $30 price.

Make sense?