Two numbers: how long the yard takes, and what you want to earn. That's the whole calculation. Everyone else buries it under square footage.
Mower off the trailer to mower back on.
Your number, after fuel and the mower. Not an industry average.
Leave it blank and the answer is on-site time only, which flatters the rate.
Charge this
35 minutes at $60 an hour, rounded to the nearest five.
Put it in and see what it really works out to.
There is no national number worth using. Work it backwards instead: this yard takes 35 minutes, you want $55 an hour, so it is about $32. Square footage and 'the going rate' are both guesses at the same thing, and the thing they are guessing at is time.
Published ranges run from about half an hour to over two hours, depending on mower width, obstacles, slope and how long the grass got. That spread is the whole problem: a range that wide cannot price a specific yard. Time your own once on your own equipment and you will know more than any chart can tell you.
Quote per visit. Homeowners want a number they can plan around, and an hourly quote makes them watch the clock. Check it by the hour though - per visit is what you sell, per hour is how you find out whether it was worth selling.
Once is a bad day and you eat it. Every single visit is not a bad day, it is a bad price, and the difference between those two is the only thing worth measuring. That is what this software does in the background.
Give a reason and a date. 'Costs are up and from 1 April this yard goes from $40 to $50' lands better than a new number appearing on an invoice. Do it in writing, do it once a season at most, and expect to lose the odd one - if you lose none, you probably waited too long.
Four yards from one Thursday, all quoted at some point by someone who was standing on the lawn doing sums in their head. Same operator, same rate, four different answers.
| Yard | Takes | Charged | Pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small townhouse | 18 min | $30 | $100/hr |
| Standard suburban | 35 min | $40 | $69/hr |
| Corner lot, slope | 70 min | $55 | $47/hr |
| Half acre, open | 45 min | $50 | $67/hr |
The corner lot is the one worth looking at. It is the biggest invoice on the list and the worst hour of the week, and nothing about the invoice would ever tell you that. Big yards hide bad rates because the number on the cheque looks healthy.
By the square foot. Fast, and it treats a flat open lawn the same as one with a swing set, a slope and a gate you have to unload the walk-behind for. The obstacles are the time, and square footage cannot see them.
Matching the last guy. Whoever quoted it before you had their own equipment, their own route and their own bad habits. You are inheriting a number and none of the reasons for it.
By the time it takes. The only one that survives the yard changing. A hedge grows, a customer adds a strip, the gate gets narrower - and the minutes move, so the price should too.
It's knowing the minutes. You can guess at one yard. You cannot guess at sixty, and the one that quietly went from twenty-five minutes to fifty is the one you'd never think to check.
LawnMow IT times every visit from the crew's own start and done taps, then tells you which yards are paying your rate and which aren't. It never changes a price on its own. It just stops the answer being a guess.
Free for up to 10 yards, and it doesn't expire.