Lawn Care · Pricing
How to price lawn care jobs (without guessing)
6 min read · Updated January 2026
Most lawn care pricing problems come from quoting a lot size instead of quoting time on site. Price the minutes, then sanity-check the number against your route.
1. Know your true hourly cost
Before you can price a stop, you need the number every price has to beat: what one crew-hour actually costs you.
Add up wages plus payroll burden, fuel, equipment replacement, insurance and your share of overhead, then divide by billable hours — not clocked hours. A two-person crew with 25 billable hours a week costs far more per hour than the same crew running 35.
- Wages + 15-25% payroll burden
- Fuel and trailer/truck maintenance per route day
- Mower and trimmer replacement reserve (purchase price divided by expected seasons)
- Insurance, phone, software and admin time
2. Time the property, not the acreage
Walk or measure the property and estimate mow, trim, edge and blow time separately. Obstacles matter more than square footage: fenced back yards, playsets, steep banks and tight gates can double a job that looks small on a map.
Add drive time from the previous stop. A 20-minute mow that is 15 minutes off your route is really a 35-minute job.
3. Apply your rate and round to a route-friendly price
Multiply estimated minutes by your hourly cost, add your target margin (35-50% is typical for residential mowing), then round up to a clean number.
Set a minimum stop price. Anything below it should either be bundled with a neighbor or declined — small stops are where route profit disappears.
4. Price recurring work differently than one-offs
Weekly and biweekly customers earn a slightly lower per-visit price because they stabilize your route. One-time cleanups, overgrown first cuts and storm work should carry a premium: they are unpredictable, hard on equipment and do not repeat.
For seasonal contracts, total the expected visits for the season and divide into equal monthly payments so your cash flow is level from March to November.
5. Re-price every season
Fuel, wages and equipment costs move every year. Review your top 20 accounts each spring, compare actual time on site against quoted time, and raise the stops that ran long. A 5-8% annual adjustment communicated in writing is far easier than a 20% correction after three years.
Frequently asked
- Should I price lawn care per hour or per job?
- Quote a flat per-visit price to the customer, but build it from an hourly cost so you know your margin. Customers want a predictable number; you need a defensible one.
- What is a good profit margin on mowing?
- Most residential mowing operations target 35-50% gross margin per visit after direct labor and equipment cost, with net profit landing near 10-20% once overhead is covered.
- How much should I charge for a first cut on an overgrown yard?
- Charge 1.5-2x your normal visit price. First cuts take longer, dull blades faster and often need double-cutting or bagging.
Run this workflow in TradePilot
Quote, schedule, invoice and collect payment from one place — built for lawn care crews.