HOW TO PRICE LAWN CARE SERVICES
Price the whole visit,
not just the mowing time.
A sustainable lawn care price needs to recover paid labour, travel, fuel, equipment wear, green waste, overhead and the margin the business needs.
Open the free calculator ↗1. Count every paid labour hour
Include on-site work, loading, unloading and paid travel time. If two people spend two hours on a job, that is four labour hours before travel is added.
2. Cost fuel and consumables
Petrol, two-stroke mix, line, blades, bags and small consumables are direct job costs. Estimate realistic usage instead of hiding them inside overhead.
3. Recover machinery wear
Mowers, strimmers, blowers, scarifiers and hedge trimmers depreciate and require servicing. Add a sensible per-job allowance so replacement and maintenance are funded by the work creating the wear.
4. Include green waste and disposal
Hedge reductions, leaf clearance and garden tidy-ups can create meaningful disposal costs and extra handling time. Charge for both when they apply.
5. Price travel separately
Vehicle running cost and paid travel time are separate costs. Long journeys can turn an apparently profitable small job into a weak one if both are ignored.
6. Allocate monthly overhead
Insurance, storage, advertising, software, phone, admin and other fixed costs need to be recovered across realistic paid jobs.
7. Use a minimum charge
Small lawns still require travel, unloading, setup and administration. A minimum pre-tax charge protects those fixed elements.
8. Solve for margin, not markup
A target margin is the share of revenue retained after relevant costs. It is not the same as simply adding the same percentage to cost.
9. Apply tax separately
Where VAT, GST or another sales tax applies, calculate the commercial price first and then add the relevant tax. The calculator provides editable tax references and does not determine registration or liability.
10. Review recurring work separately
Regular mowing can justify different minimums and travel assumptions from one-off clearances. Price each service model from its own economics rather than forcing one flat rate across every visit.
Build a lawn care quote ↗