Property Size And Condition
Lawns of different sizes take different amounts of time to mow, which is why property size is a vital factor in determining pricing. You should take time to measure each lawn scrupulously before giving an estimate. This step is critical because more often than not, lawn jobs are recurring, and you dont want to cheat yourself in the long run.
Measuring the area in person also gives you a chance to assess the site, another critical factor in pricing. Not all lawns are created equalnot even two lawns with the same square footage. Certain yard features make mowing more challenging and increase the time needed to maintain the yard, such as:
- Play structures
You should also pay attention to the condition of the property. Things like brush that needs clearing require more time , as do mowing lawns on hills, which are more challenging.
But This All Depends On Your Pricing Structure Of Course
The right prices can help you earn new business, retain customers, and grow in your market. On the flip side, a bad pricing structure can cause your business to go under and fast. No pressure, of course
But seriously, I want to help you set up your lawn care business for success. To help, Ive put together a guide for pricing lawn care services. Ready to get started? Get your pen and paper out!
Lawn Care Pricing Chart
Most homeowners underestimate how much time and effort it takes to properly maintain a lawn. For most people, cutting the grass alone isnt enough to make their lawns stand out among their neighbors.
Anyone whos houseproud needs to consider all the other services that go beyond simple lawn mowing.
Heres a lawn care pricing chart to give you an idea of what it costs for some of the most popular lawn care services.
- Landscape Edging – $700-$1,700
- Winterization – $80-$380
- Watering – $50-$400
Professionals may choose to offer deep discounts for purchasing multiple services all at once. It really depends on how much time the job is likely to take and the specifics of the homeowner, especially with major landscaping jobs.
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As Pioneers Of The Sustainable Lawn Care Industry Were All On The Same Team
As organic and sustainable lawn and landscaping business owners, were all trying to make communities safer, healthier, and more sustainable. We believe you should profit from the sale of your organic lawn care business, and that we can help you maximize that profit with our Transition and Sell Program. Its a simple process thats designed to help you increase your likelihood of selling your lawn care business for a higher profit than you would have as a privately owned company*. Clean Air Lawn Care does not take a cut of your profit.
Check out the three steps to the program below. If youre interested in discussing our Transition and Sell program with us, get in touch!
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Principle : Consumers Prefer Monthly Subscriptions
How many subscriptions do you pay for each month? Five? Ten? More than that??This is how consumers buy products and services today. So sell accordingly!It deserves repeating: Your customers are not buying “visits”, they are buying a “healthy lawn”, so let them conveniently pay for this via a monthly subscription service.
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When Do You Need To Re
Readjustment of prices depends upon service rates, time of service, area of service, and business needs. You may consider changing or re-adjusting the pricing under one of these circumstances.
- If your services are based on packages such as mowing, trimming, pruning, hedging, watering during certain months, removing snow every fortnight, or once every month during warm months, you would want to set the prices according to packages.
- If the task that you have been offered to do requires more labor and skill than what you had previously assumed, charge for the extra labor.
- If the area of service is large and it requires more gas, you must consider adding up the cost of extra gas invested.
- In case you plan to charge a certain collective amount to the lawn areas that fall in the same region or area, you will have to readjust your pricing.
- Services such as fertilization or application of herbicides and pesticides require less labor. So, you may want to adjust the pricing depending upon the labor and the supply charges.
- If you have been given a special time limit or a short time period to carry out a task that would have otherwise required more time, you must apply special charges here.
- If you are expected to do an extra service, dont forget to include the pricing or charge of that service as well.
How Much Should You Charge For Lawn Care Services
This question is so old, they were asking it before lawn mowers even existed.
- How low is too low?
- Should I undercut my competitors?
I will give you the secret to beating other Lawn Care owners in the next section …
…but first, we’ll look at the root of the problem:
Operational Costs, or overheads, are the baseline of any business. You must know your overheads if you want to know how to price your services.
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How To Create A Lawn Care Business Plan
Home»Blog»How to Create a Lawn Care Business Plan
Key Takeaways:
- Writing your business plan should be your first move if youre just starting a lawn care company. During the startup phase, it will assist you in getting the most out of your time and resources.
- Connecting the dots between your companys objectives and the costs involved in achieving them is what the financial planning section is for. Plan out your entire incoming and outgoing costs for the upcoming year.
- You can take it a step further by deciding what that projection should look like in three, five, or even ten years.
Starting a new lawn care company is an excellent way to become a business owner with few hurdles to overcome.
It mostly requires you to get out in society, connect with potential clients, and secure jobs to care for lawns. However, running a successful business entails far more than just day-to-day business operations.
Watch this:
A business plan may seem to some small business owners like a ton of paperwork that needs to be quickly completed. However, a business plan outlines the work you must do to reach your financial goals.
This blog will cover all the sections you need to cover in your lawn care business plan.
Lets get to them one by one!
Table of Content
What Costs Do I Need To Factor Into My Lawn Mowing Quote
Aside from factors affecting the price of each lawn mowing service, you need to also consider the fixed costs associated with running a business.
Any pricing strategy should consider four key factors:
- your fixed costs
- your variable costs
- your profit margin
- taxes applicable to your business
Although they may not always apply to your situation, here are the basic costs that you need to identify.
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Create A List Of Your Lawn Care Services
Make a list of your lawn services in your business plan, and along with that, mention how frequently youll offer each service. The services you provide may be determined by factors such as
- Your assets and equipment, which you possess or can lease.
- The services and rates that your competitors offer in the industry.
- The services your clients require and the prices they are willing to pay.
- The need for novel or unconventional lawn care services in the market.
- Opportunities for seasonal employment, such as installing holiday lights or clearing snow.
The following are the list of services your garden services business plan can include:
- Yard cleanup and leaf removal
Its a wise decision to start out with a few basic services for your lawn care business and expand from there if youre just getting started.
Obstacles And Debris Removal
Large obstacles and debris removal youll need to perform is another factor to consider when pricing your mowing services. A yard full of trees, garden beds and play equipment will require you to work around these obstacles, making your task more complicated and time-consuming.
A standard mowing service usually includes tidying and cleaning up the green space. If the area is cluttered with a lot of leaves and branches, you will naturally need more time to tidy up the area. In this particular scenario, you can charge more for the removal of any debris before mowing.
Consider both the additional labour time required to clear the area and the cost of green waste disposal.
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How To Give Lawn Care Estimates From Anywhere
Lawn care estimates can be a pain because you have to:
- Schedule the appointment
- Drive out to the clients property
- Take time to measure the property
Then, after all of that, you might not even win the bid. What a waste…
However, theres a faster way and better way using the best lawn care software.
When you choose Service Autopilot, you’ll have the ability to unlock tools like Smart Maps to measure properties from anywhere.
Get precise property measurements to find the gross, net, or turf square footage. Create estimates with the utmost accuracy – without ever leaving the comfort of your desk.
Give estimates while you’re on the phone with a clients to improve your closing rate and capture clients more quickly with timely estimates.
Plus, you can utilize Service Autopilot’s rapid route optimization to increase your route density – instantly saving you money and increasing your profits.
How To Start Lawn Care Business
Do you ever think about starting your own lawn care business?
Russell Jeffcoat, owner of Legends Lawn Care in Blaine, Washington, did more than just dream about owning a business someday. He took decisive action by starting the lawn care business of his dreams, and then, earned $100,000 in his very first year!
Today, he rakes in between $500 and $6000 every time he takes his machines out and works on peoples lawns. Although he started his lawn care business with only $2,000 when he was a senior in high school, its a six-figure business now.
In fact, hes so busy, he often has to turn down work!
In this article, well go through the exact steps youll need to follow to start your own highly lucrative lawn care business. Lawn care is a $102 billion a year industry, and is expected to grow phenomenally with each passing year.
Youll discover everything you need to know on how to run a successful lawn care business. This includes tips like innovative ways to craft a business plan, getting your website ranked on Google, building long-lasting relationships with your customers, and a lot more!
If youre not interested in starting the business from scratch, consider buying an already established business here on UpFlip.
You can watch our two part interview with him here and here.
Without further ado, lets jump right into it.
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Weekly Lawn Care Cost
Weekly grass maintenance averages from $65 to $125 per week, depending on the size of your lawn and maintenance items involved. Your maintenance company may choose to bill you for the services performed on a specific week or include all of the seasonal items and break it out to a weekly contract price. Most often, contracts include leaf removal, mowing, fertilizing, and aeration.
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Lawn Care Pricing Strategy
I want to teach you a logical pricing strategy based on consumer psychology and buying behavior. You can implement this on your website tomorrow and immediately…
You can use this pricing strategy for lawn care and any other recurring service such as landscape maintenance, seasonal color, holiday decor, plant health care, etc. If you offer landscape design and design/build services you can read my related pricing strategy for those project-based services here .I know it can be a little uneasy doing things differently, but, remember, differentiation is where the profit is.At Landscape Leadership we’ve been helping our clients tweak their lawn care programs and pricing and they’ve seen fantastic results. We’ve done the same internally and have had great success.You can do this too.
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Keep Clean Books And Records
As the saying goes, Ill believe it when I see it. Its fairly common for owners to take cash out of their business, but sophisticated buyers will never pay you for earnings you cant prove.
Consider this: for every $1 you take off the books, youre subtracting $2 $3 from your business value. Because businesses are sold on a multiple of earnings, you reduce your sale price exponentially with every dollar you cant prove you made.
Youre Ready To Retire And Have No Heirs
Retiring from your business is a big decision, and its not always an easy one to make. You might find yourself in the position where youre ready to retire but have no heirs interested in taking over. Thats why selling your business is the next best option! When you sell, you will be getting back what you put into your business.
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How Profitable Are Lawn Care Businesses
As a business, lawn care doesnt have many entry barriers and is relatively easy to set up.
Basic equipment, a few hundred bucks, and a truck can get you to your first job.
A successful lawn care company can have profit margins between 15 percent and 45 percent.
But making that much money depends on a few things, like:
Set Up Your Business Banking And Accounting
Set up a business bank account to keep your personal and professional finances separate. Youll also need this bank account so you can:
- Ensure youre taxed properly
- Build a credit profile for your business
- Monitor your businesss cash flow
- Make bookkeeping easier
Once you set up your checking account, create a monthly budget for any expenses. This should include your paycheck, insurance, overhead, supplies, and marketing. You can always adjust this budget over time.
Keep track of your income and expenses throughout the year so you can file your taxes accurately. Be aware of who youre filing taxes with in your country:
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Peoria Commercial Lawn Maintenance Rates
*These rates are current for 2020. New rates available upon request. These rates are a guideline and do not represent the actual estimate that will be provided once one of our professionals reviews your property.
- Seasonal contracts receive a 10% discount
- All Web rates are projected estimates and subject to change.
- Extra costs for trimming around fences and other obstacles may apply, but will be identified in estimates.
- Estimates for commercial leaf blowing and commercial leaf clean up are available upon request.
Healthy Lawn Care Services
After more than 15 years of business, we know how to grow golf-course grass on any lawn. Better yet, our comprehensive services allow us to begin with what your yard needs most. Whether the first step is weed control or a yard renovation, the following lawn services will bring immediate improvement:
- Insect Control: Do you have an insect infestation? Grubs, beetles, web worms, and other pests have the potential to destroy your entire lawn. If theyve moved in, well send them packing with our expert insect removal methods.
- Weed Control: While a four-leaf clover is often considered lucky, a whole crop of clovers overrunning your yard isnt. Weeds steal water and nutrients from your grass, and invasive weeds can ruin your entire yard. Well eliminate the weeds, so your grass can thrive.
- Organic Lawn Programs: Organic lawn services provide holistic, natural care. We can teach you how to start compost piles, plant native plants, encourage beneficial insects, and other organic methods to naturally boost your lawn back to life.
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Variable Costs For Lawn Mowing Jobs
Travel Costs Calculate your vehicle costs per kilometre and factor these travel expenses into the price you charge. This makes it easier to quote an accurate price for an out-of-the-way destination or job outside your usual service area. You may also choose not to charge for travel within a certain radius.
Parking Find out if you need to pay for parking when youre on the job and how much its going to cost per hour. This particular variable can change on a per-job basis, so you can choose to always include this cost or ask clients about parking availability when quoting.
Labour If you need extra hands to do a job, determine the labour cost per hour per person. This will be one of the biggest costs to consider if you have multiple people working in the business.
Equipment Use and Maintenance Calculate the running and maintenance cost per hour of equipment like lawnmowers, whipper snippers, and leaf blowers. This includes both fuel costs and other maintenance or consumable items, like whipper snipper cord. When it comes to petrol or diesel, you should be able to estimate an hourly running cost for each piece of equipment.
Taxes Consider income or business revenue taxes as well as GST. Research the possible tax deductions for your small business as this will help you minimise your tax payable each financial year.
