Pricing schematic make things so much more helpful. We use one as well and it makes getting estimates back to the customer way faster since it takes away over thinking things
When I was getting started I asked everyone I knew who used a lawn survice how much they pay and it was all over the place. I just kinda picked somwhere in the middle and went from there.
1st year for my business. I am 2 months old. With the summer, mow jobs are very hard to find and I dint want to kill the grass. So I found using nextdoor and fb, I found oddball jobs (bushhogging, weed removal, cutting trees that have fallen, mulching, and bush trimming) Those jobs have generated me more money than mowing. 1 client had 3 large trees down from a recent storm. I charged 12.00 per cut (1 foot cuts)
Finding the correct pricing in your market is one of the hardest things in my opinion. I've been doing this for 10 year now and still make mistakes. Great advice
James Goddard Appreciate it, and thanks for commenting. Estimating is kinda difficult in the beginning, but the key is to identify your target property and neighborhoods. Once you find those, the estimating gets a lot easier. Good luck!
@@FloridaTurfPros you're right. I've found both my business and my market has changed and keeping up with those changes can be tricky. I do like the way you've outlined in your video. Impressively fast reply btw
Have to bid by square footage. Also taking in to how much edging and weedeating. Also there has to be a minimum charge. 8 wont unload my mower for less than 30$ that 5000 sqft or less
no kidding especially when there's a lot of new guys screwing up all the rates! No one can survive doing 1/4 acre lots for 25 or even 30 bucks! Takes 10 lawns just to make my truck payment!
I charge the same for weekly as I do bi-weekly. I just let the customer know its not going to look well maintained. As soon as I hear a complaint I bring that back up. I mow everything from big to small & charge based on time. I'd be loosing out on a lot of business in my area if I only did one size yard. If the customer wants it cut & will pay my price, then we are all happy. I do add 30% for a commercial property, because they usually are more demanding clients. I've been doing lawn & landscaping for 12 years. Sometimes I get the bid, sometimes I don't. But I always make money or I'm simply not doing it. Learn the customer, you should find out quickly if that's someone you don't want to work for. Someone that's a cheap skate or extremely critical of the cost, is a customer you want to move away from.
Hey I agree with you in many ways, I live in southeast Texas I have property from 4K sqft to over 5 acres I have cemetery’s churches gas stations garden homes to open pastures. My market here is anything. There is no consistency in my town. I have home builder I cut for and install landscaping, lot sizes can change from home to home. We don’t have many neighborhoods with consistent lot sizes. We also have a lot of weekenders and Illegals who will under cut u in prices but they only last a season and then those customers think everyone will do it of pennies and when I tell them the actual price they don’t know what to say. It’s hard to get the price needed to operate.
Fantastic video dude. My goal is to only have one day per week of lawn mowing and the rest of the week will be for landscape jobs, which I find to be more profitable for many reasons. But, that being said I still have room for about 10 more clients and plan to market that heavily in the next month. I’m not interested in just filling the roster at this point, I only want quality mowing accounts because it is very easy to lose money mowing. This is a great guide to help me to not succumb to the temptation to give a low bid in order to just get the account. I’d rather have a one in for closing rate on good accounts then get three out of four when two of them are breakeven proposition. Thanks again for the great content.
Have always loved your videos. Cant wait to see your yardbook videos and your take on biweeklys. And getting policies and procedures in place along with hiring your first employee. I'm a full time firefighter and only able to work 3 days a week but wanting to expand!
lawncare resolutions I fully agree. The lovely 24/48 schedule is great but some weeks it makes mowing impossible. I had to hire help while in military duty for 2 months. Greetings from IAFF local 416.
I just look at the yard and find how many things are in the way and how big the yard is then come up with a price I think would be reasonable price to charge wich is usually between 15 to 45 a hour
That’s another this u just said about pricing, we have accounts that are 30$ a cut which is about the lowest we go and have accounts up to $160 $250 $400 per cut on some places. If we could get 300-400 garden homes that’s all we would probably do. My cousin in Austin Texas has a little over 6000 accounts of 1/4 acre or less they cut weekly with 30, 3 man crews. They r crazy big.
Relate a lot to this guys concepts and come up. Started just like him with same exact mower ( 42 inch raptor ) and that little mower and starting set up has put us both in a similar situation. Much respect. And the fact we are both in Florida makes his content much more relatable. Keep it coming! Following fully. Thanks
All these mowers don’t want to show their prices, like does the grocery store not show prices? I hate that. Show your prices and let your work be proof of your worth, then competition will have to keep up. Anyone can just charge anything and no one knows what’s fair.
We charge USD about 25 for a small yard. We also have one of the highest rents and product costs, fuel prices and grocery prices. I should move to the US lol. All bi-weekly.
@@yoursports6910 Too cheap tbh. $35 should be the minimum price if you're going to mow a front and back yard. A small yard at the price should take like 10-15 minutes. You really need to raise the price if it takes you a whole hour to mow, trim, and blow.
I agree with this prices here in central Florida a lot of newbies are still charging $25 per cut that is insane, your pricing and mine are about the same I hope the newbies watch this video so they can have pricing reference
Great video! I am a one man show in upstate ny, I mow 50 to 53 lawns per week in a suburb where the lawns are 1/4 to say 3/8 acre...average. Generally I charge between $35 to $45 per cut. I spin trim all relevant areas and only bag if the customer has a wooded area where I can dump, otherwise I have years of practice dispersing the clippings such that the lawn looks no different unless you are super critical. I can do up to 16 lawns per 9 hr day but at 61 I don’t like to work that hard! Question. It is tough to get specific feedback on pricing but I most often find that when a new customer levels with me about the last company that mowed their lawn I find that my quote is low by sometimes $20 to $30 per cut. Just last month a small lawn that takes me, the old man, 20 minutes was a $65 lawn for the last guy, I charge $35 based on my $60 plus per hour goal. Many of my competitors have 3 to 4 person crews, Hugh trailers, and does this business model create higher lawn mowing costs in a residential area? Secondly, my lawns look no different from the “super crew” lawns, theoretically why would I not charge the same price? The older I get, the less cheap I’m willing to be and more I see fair is a two way street.
If you notice that your prices are way under, go with the an average charge. If people have no problem throwing their money at you, so be it. We have lawns that we charge on average $65 and only takes 2 people 20-25 minutes. You could go up on your pricing and customers won't mind as long as you give them good work
Hey Johnathon! You should make a video on how to use yardbook the best way with SCHEDULING. I have put my customer in on a recurring schedule but it has been a complete mess when we have a rain delay and for customers that for weekly and others that are bi weekly. Show us what you do on yardbook, thanks!
I don't want to charge too much, because I won't get many customers. But on the other hand, if I charge too little, I might lose money for things like maintenance costs, gas, etc
I've had people tell they paid very low prices. It's not 1985 anymore.. If people start to haggle I just tell them my price and say 'see you later.' And walk away. Sometimes they come back because they can't get anyone else
When I used to paint I would get quotes from four or five different companies and depending on what the what it was I would try to beat it by five or ten percent and most of the time customers would eat it up you know like for example if somebody charged $200 to do it I would do it for 8085 sometimes 90 just depending on what it was so you know just some jobs you can't really ever quote until you get in there and doing so much you're going to till you've got a little know-how but like if you're just freshening up paint putting a new coat on something that's already been painted and blah blah blah and you can pretty much guess how much pain it's going to take and if you're doing like a new construction it'll it'll always take more than what you think it is usually but I mean I know that's apples and oranges but that's how I used to do it on my business is like try to beat the competitor by a certain percentage and if you can find it for any cheaper than that then you better check their arm off you know so but anyway
Really interested in your take on bi-weekly. My experience has been that these are people who can't really afford lawn service and they tend to be chronic complainers. On top of that, it is rough on equipment. Most importantly, I don't want the neighbors of these properties seeing our branded trucks out there when it is overgrown and shaggy and thinking that's the way we maintain lawns. Currently we do not offer bi-weekly but I am always interested in opposing views
All of your concerns are valid and you make some good points.. I'll post a video on this topic as to why I don't dislike bi-weekly cuts... and even prefer bi-weekly in some cases.
All Phase Lawn & Landscape bi weekly cuts are the worst. You basically are cutting the lawn 2 x to make it look good and sometimes 3 passes just for an extra 20 %. Not worth it at all.
What idiotic comments below. "I won't take my mower off the trailer for less than $XX. It alol depends on what region of the country you service and what the regular rates are. If all my neighbors are paying between $25 to $30 (100x100ft yard in central NJ) for cut, blow, edge and weedwhack, you can't charge $50 for the same house next door. Neighbors do talk. Say goodbye to your customers and business. You have to charge in the same ballpark as what the average lawn size is for your area. Simple. Maybe add a value-added service to get a slightly higher weekly price. And use an edger machine properly and make the edges nice and straight and other small things and people will talk and network you to their lawns. Stop being an ego head and saying that you won't take your mower out unless blah, blah blah. Get over yourself people. And after a storm, suck it up and do a little extra for the customer or you will lose them after 1 or 2 seasons if you nickle and dime them.
I agree with what you are saying, but I feel when you say you won't take the mower off the trailer for less than $XX you are taking into consideration the prices for your area. I do have some properties that are lower than my minimum set price, but that is because they are side by side and by eliminating drive time, I can give them a better deal and still make just as much profit. I in fact won't come cut for less than a certain amount if I have to drive any distance at all. No sense in killing your profit to drive 15-20 mins away to mow a yard for $30 and then drive another 15 mins away to the next job. It is so counterproductive. As far as debris, I try to price a property based on the average amount of debris that may be in the yard. Some weeks may be a little more debris and some weeks very little. However, you never know when a tornado, hurricane, or heavy winds from a storm will make a huge mess. That is not part of my regular price. It's not about an ego for me, it's about getting paid for what I do. It's fine to disagree. It is just things you learn as you go. Nothing worse to me that those days where you bust your butt and don't feel you make much money. I treat lawn care like any other job. The more you need done, the more I have to charge.
I guess I got spot on from just a guess. I live on 0.25 acres and so does my neighbor. I mow my neighbor's yard for $60. I mow, weedeat and edge. I don't pick up clippings or debris and certainly don't clean up the dog poop.
People have to clean up the dog poo in their own yards! Dog poop is terrible on mowers especially if you run over a lot in a few yards. Some customers don’t care to understand. Dog poop literally cost a lot of time and money, if it’s a problem I drop them fast. Other lawn care providers won’t stay with them either. It’s a stinky situation.
Amazing content, has helped me a lot, considering how close to the same geographic region, Jacksonville. Only in my second year of being in business, so here is my question. We haven't gotten a lot of rain over here this year and the grass is pretty dry. Some of my yards when I mow them, two weeks later they have hardly grown, except for a few weeks. Do y'all normally go ahead and cut the yard just to get paid or do you contact the customer to hold off for another week? Need the money but not willing to charge for services that they don't need yet. Advice appreciated.
We mow whether the yard is dry or not... but only for bi-weeklys. I won't mow a weekly yard every week if it doesn't need it. Which is a reason I really like having a roster full of bi-weeklys on my schedule. I'm going to do a video on this very topic in the next couple days. It's dry here too man... Hang in there, cause we'll get some rain soon enough!
I drove there so lack of rain or irrigation is not my problem. If it does not need mowed we will edge and blow,trim something maybe but I’m getting paid. Are they going to pay me more when it is raining and growing 6 inches in a week.?
I'm only just diving into your work here but it's helping me wrap my head around starting out solo. You are doing exactly what I envision so it's highly motivating and insightful! Do thanks. One thing I must ask is if you have a link to any of your pricing or invoicing so I can get them to base things off of. Maybe I'm asking too much Haha. Anyways keep it up your an inspiration. Maybe speak on any impact covid 19 is having on things for you and how you navigated the issue.
Have to bid by sqft. Plus taking I to account the amount of weedeating and edging. Also there has to be a minimum charge . Im not unloading my mower for less than 30$ thats 5000sqft or less
@@carlosdeluna5841 how is it to low people up here in Upstate New York only make 5 600 a week and that's doing good I can't afford to pay any more they'll just more their selves where can you get a job making $50 an hour
I still struggle with leaf cleanup pricing. Like today for example. Took it in the shorts again. 🥺But my last time out, I made $250 in one hour on the first gig(3guys) SMH. 🙀
I can understand why you wouldn't add 100% price for bi-weekly (double the work, double the price), but 20% seems SUPER low. 50% seems way more reasonable for you.
I already own an unrelated business. I have 25 employees and make 7 figure gross a year. I watch these videos because they interest me. I have no plans going into lawn care. I like your approach to you business. I watch a lot of lawn care vids. The thing i don't see is marketing. Good marketing skills. These skills can make or break a business. The single reason we don't make our protential. Where would MickyDs be without good marketing campaigns. Knowing business skills is as important as doung a professional job on every lawn. A professional skills set is how we dress going to clients. How we communicate is a skill. Our body language. Advertising eith vehicle graphic or business cards our ads in local news phone book.etc. Their is so much we must do first before we can even say we are a real business. Business plan. Executive summary the whole organisation of your business. Account skills and bookkeeping Tax structure of a business. Either sole propriater LLC or corporation 501C or 501B Self employement Taxes Quarterly Estimates of earnings The list goes on. Failling to do this stuff is a setup for failure. It also land some people in jail is you cut corners or big fines. None want this. Not even the government. Uncle Sam is our biggest cheer leader. The IRS will get some of your money. Possibly your state or city. Do not cut them out from their slice. My first time i flopped. Payed my fines and a year later tried again. Again i failed. But i paid my obligations. It was 3 years before i tried again. This time i had a checklist. Now after 24 years im still going. Yes! I stuggled. But i did everything right. After 5 years i was seeing the return of my hard laber. Every year was better. Things slowed but i was not paying myself more than my business could handle. Cashflow will kill a business. Growing to slow or to fast. Your subscibers need to research and do more research. Do it right! Straight out of the gate. Need help contact SBA. They exist to help startup busineses.
come up with a base price per acre. Look up on your tax appraiser's website to find out what they have. Go off that. Most normal houses are on 1/4 acre. So whatever a standard lawn would be, just multiply by the 1/4 acre. Always round up.
Let's say you have a regular weekly lawn mowing customer. Then come mid summer you get a drought or they just ask you to skip a week of mowing. When you go back do you still charge them their weekly rate or do you tell them they'll have to pay the biweekly rate? Thanks for your time and your great videos!
We skip some of our weekly clients in the heat of the summer. We charge them there weekly rate. The reason we stay with there weekly rate is there grass has started to go dormant and it doesn’t take us more time to service there property. Bi-weekly cuts during the growing season we charge more because it’s more work for us. $30 weekly yard is $45 bi-weekly.
Good ideas, I just don't care for the idea of calling other companies to give prices. It's a good idea, but I wouldn't appreciate it personally as it would be wasting my time. I try to weed people out over the phone. I tell them I will have to look to give them an exact price, but as you learn the neighborhoods and average property sizes you can give them a basic price range and if you are too expensive up front, you don't waste you time going to the property.
I have a price list of sorts. $30 - $65 range for weekly service. From 1/4 acre up to 1 acre. I don't mess with bigger properties right now. Just residential.
I use sq ft. But i live in tx and there is a wide variety of yards from 6k to 25k sq ft. But i got it to where some of my 25k's are done faster than a 15k. Just cause i have to push mow some backyards
I would love to know what you love abt biweekly. I am starting out this year. I am told to stay away from them. Please drop the knowledge for me. I lo e your other pricing video. Min÷HR÷Cost ÷2-3 man crew/ love it! It let's me know if I'm undercharching. Thank you!
Hey; thanks for the knowledge; great videos; Ive been driving trucks for 16 years trying to ease out of trucking into lawn care; i just started my lawn care here in Augusta ga about months; I’m a week warrior😂 Friday-Sunday but I love lawn care; Im thinking about biding on a small commercial; like a local hardware store or restaurant or something ; just gave no idea on bidding; do you bid the same on commercial or higher; thanks in advance; keep making great videos
I use to cut my own lot , 40x90 , with a chain link fence surrounding it. Took me about 20 minutes to complete it. Then I got injured in a accident and hired someone to cut it for me. They started out at $30.00 to cut , winter came and went , and now they tell me it's going to be $50.00 for the first cut of the season and $45.00 per week. ON MY LOT 40 x 90 ? My reply was sorry guys , even with a little pain I'll do it myself. I used to be in the business years ago, so I do have some experience in pricing. Be careful, you just might put yourself out of business. But you don't want to starve either.
A 40x90 lot is 3600 sqft or 3.6k/units times 6 mins per k to push mow= 21.6 mins to push mow. Add 20 mins for string trimming, edging and blowing= 41.6 mins average service time. Your 20 mins to complete it doesn't appear account for full service. So 42mins spent onsite for $45 is very reasonable.
@@stevef.9659 Hey Steve ; The lot is a commercial lot , no need to string trim , no sidewalk to edge , and it definitely doesn't need to be blown . Anyway thanks for the comment.
It keeps our schedule full in the slower month of October and November. If we had only weekly clients, then half of them would not need to be cut. With mostly bi-weekly clients my schedule stays full.
I do have a question with the high increase of living costs going up do you find yourself having to charge more than you usually would any information would be helpful greatly appreciate it
I use the Task Easy app...it helps me determine prices! Just put in the address and mark the areas you’re mowing...and it gives you two prices to pick . 💯
I tried it and the site is way off. Saying the yard is 23000 square feet when in fact it's a lot more. Then when you do mark it out the prices are WAY too high.
How do you guys in Florida pull off by the cut? For a few winter months you must be eating ramen noodles and burnin candles since the power bill wasn't paid. Per month is the ticket
@@FloridaTurfPros I live in central Fla. I cut almost year round too. But there's about 3 months in winter where most yards just don't need cut but once a month, twice at the most. But I can see your successful and I cant argue with success. Have a good summer run this yr. I enjoy the vids
You save during the season! I take 6 weeks off each year. Weed and feed starts in mid February here in NC. BTW..I ain't hungry or In the dark! Lol. Spend smart save smart! Hell I just bought a new car with cash New year's Eve! Randys Lawn Care
You will be a boss and you will have three guys (1 crew) mowing at say $20 per hour, so that will be $60 per hour labor plus all other business expenses minus tax and you will be mowing 7k lawns at $35. Dump trucks are 52k walker mowers 15k etc. Etc. Etc.🤔
Hey man we need more than one video per month of your knowledge lol. Thanks for all the great content
Thanks, Michael! I'll post a few more videos here in the next week or so talking about bi-weekly cuts and best practices for mowing.
Sounds great brother
Kids are not a Company, They don't pay taxes Or everything else that comes with it.🤔
He actually works... unlike most of these guys
Florida Turf Pros pp
This channel makes me feel like I have a personal guidance counselor for starting a mowing business. Incredible.
It's nice seeing there's folks out there helping others to succeed. With out Any thing in return. Thanks
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Pricing schematic make things so much more helpful. We use one as well and it makes getting estimates back to the customer way faster since it takes away over thinking things
When I was getting started I asked everyone I knew who used a lawn survice how much they pay and it was all over the place. I just kinda picked somwhere in the middle and went from there.
1st year for my business. I am 2 months old.
With the summer, mow jobs are very hard to find and I dint want to kill the grass. So I found using nextdoor and fb, I found oddball jobs (bushhogging, weed removal, cutting trees that have fallen, mulching, and bush trimming)
Those jobs have generated me more money than mowing.
1 client had 3 large trees down from a recent storm. I charged 12.00 per cut (1 foot cuts)
Finding the correct pricing in your market is one of the hardest things in my opinion. I've been doing this for 10 year now and still make mistakes. Great advice
James Goddard Appreciate it, and thanks for commenting. Estimating is kinda difficult in the beginning, but the key is to identify your target property and neighborhoods. Once you find those, the estimating gets a lot easier. Good luck!
@@FloridaTurfPros you're right. I've found both my business and my market has changed and keeping up with those changes can be tricky. I do like the way you've outlined in your video. Impressively fast reply btw
Have to bid by square footage. Also taking in to how much edging and weedeating.
Also there has to be a minimum charge. 8 wont unload my mower for less than 30$ that 5000 sqft or less
I realllllly appreciate this video. Being new, I burn myself more often than I’d like to.
no kidding especially when there's a lot of new guys screwing up all the rates! No one can survive doing 1/4 acre lots for 25 or even 30 bucks! Takes 10 lawns just to make my truck payment!
I charge the same for weekly as I do bi-weekly. I just let the customer know its not going to look well maintained. As soon as I hear a complaint I bring that back up. I mow everything from big to small & charge based on time. I'd be loosing out on a lot of business in my area if I only did one size yard. If the customer wants it cut & will pay my price, then we are all happy. I do add 30% for a commercial property, because they usually are more demanding clients. I've been doing lawn & landscaping for 12 years. Sometimes I get the bid, sometimes I don't. But I always make money or I'm simply not doing it. Learn the customer, you should find out quickly if that's someone you don't want to work for. Someone that's a cheap skate or extremely critical of the cost, is a customer you want to move away from.
Great vid! I made a cheat sheet years ago that also includes lawn chem apps, shrub trimming, core aeration, mulch install, and leaf cleanups.
I can I have this?
I like your logo bro.
Need that
I like the man hour method best, the one you posted on a different video. Numbers dont lie.
Hey I agree with you in many ways, I live in southeast Texas I have property from 4K sqft to over 5 acres I have cemetery’s churches gas stations garden homes to open pastures. My market here is anything. There is no consistency in my town. I have home builder I cut for and install landscaping, lot sizes can change from home to home. We don’t have many neighborhoods with consistent lot sizes. We also have a lot of weekenders and Illegals who will under cut u in prices but they only last a season and then those customers think everyone will do it of pennies and when I tell them the actual price they don’t know what to say. It’s hard to get the price needed to operate.
Fantastic video dude. My goal is to only have one day per week of lawn mowing and the rest of the week will be for landscape jobs, which I find to be more profitable for many reasons. But, that being said I still have room for about 10 more clients and plan to market that heavily in the next month. I’m not interested in just filling the roster at this point, I only want quality mowing accounts because it is very easy to lose money mowing. This is a great guide to help me to not succumb to the temptation to give a low bid in order to just get the account. I’d rather have a one in for closing rate on good accounts then get three out of four when two of them are breakeven proposition. Thanks again for the great content.
Have always loved your videos. Cant wait to see your yardbook videos and your take on biweeklys. And getting policies and procedures in place along with hiring your first employee. I'm a full time firefighter and only able to work 3 days a week but wanting to expand!
lawncare resolutions I fully agree. The lovely 24/48 schedule is great but some weeks it makes mowing impossible. I had to hire help while in military duty for 2 months. Greetings from IAFF local 416.
I watch a lot of green industry TH-cam shows, I like yours the best. It’s because of you and how genuine you are. Best wishes in 2021.
I just look at the yard and find how many things are in the way and how big the yard is then come up with a price I think would be reasonable price to charge wich is usually between 15 to 45 a hour
That’s another this u just said about pricing, we have accounts that are 30$ a cut which is about the lowest we go and have accounts up to $160 $250 $400 per cut on some places. If we could get 300-400 garden homes that’s all we would probably do. My cousin in Austin Texas has a little over 6000 accounts of 1/4 acre or less they cut weekly with 30, 3 man crews. They r crazy big.
I am thinking about moving there
Relate a lot to this guys concepts and come up. Started just like him with same exact mower ( 42 inch raptor ) and that little mower and starting set up has put us both in a similar situation. Much respect. And the fact we are both in Florida makes his content much more relatable. Keep it coming! Following fully. Thanks
All these mowers don’t want to show their prices, like does the grocery store not show prices? I hate that. Show your prices and let your work be proof of your worth, then competition will have to keep up. Anyone can just charge anything and no one knows what’s fair.
I charge $50-$70 per yard. Average time per yard 20-35 minutes. We mow 40 yards a week.
We charge USD about 25 for a small yard. We also have one of the highest rents and product costs, fuel prices and grocery prices. I should move to the US lol. All bi-weekly.
I do a 8000 square foot yard for $25
I mow around 15 a week. Just a teen making some cash
I’m new and I’m charging $35 for a lawn that takes an hour to mow, am I to cheap?
@@yoursports6910 Too cheap tbh. $35 should be the minimum price if you're going to mow a front and back yard. A small yard at the price should take like 10-15 minutes. You really need to raise the price if it takes you a whole hour to mow, trim, and blow.
Rusty Shackleford
Thanks 👍
I have to mow some pretty big lawns quadrupole the size of what I see other people mowing
I agree with this prices here in central Florida a lot of newbies are still charging $25 per cut that is insane, your pricing and mine are about the same I hope the newbies watch this video so they can have pricing reference
Alberto Gonzalez those newbies won't be in business long at those prices
A lot of kids with no bills killing the industry. Also lots of morons with lawn tractors and beat up trucks who probably have a few felonies.
Thanks thanks... appreciate the nuggets. Giving me a moment to reevaluate moving forward. I want to run efficiently & grow profitably as possible
Before Greatness Stick with it. It’s a great industry and you can make a great living once you get some of the business end items in place.
that is good just for mowing, what about trimming bushes, trees, spraying for weeds, fertilizing aeration, sprinkler repairs, etc
Thanks Brother I've hurt my bottom line more times then id like to admit lol I'm still figuring this stuff out
This info is helpful to so many. Keep it up brother
Great video! I am a one man show in upstate ny, I mow 50 to 53 lawns per week in a suburb where the lawns are 1/4 to say 3/8 acre...average. Generally I charge between $35 to $45 per cut. I spin trim all relevant areas and only bag if the customer has a wooded area where I can dump, otherwise I have years of practice dispersing the clippings such that the lawn looks no different unless you are super critical. I can do up to 16 lawns per 9 hr day but at 61 I don’t like to work that hard!
Question. It is tough to get specific feedback on pricing but I most often find that when a new customer levels with me about the last company that mowed their lawn I find that my quote is low by sometimes $20 to $30 per cut. Just last month a small lawn that takes me, the old man, 20 minutes was a $65 lawn for the last guy, I charge $35 based on my $60 plus per hour goal. Many of my competitors have 3 to 4 person crews, Hugh trailers, and does this business model create higher lawn mowing costs in a residential area? Secondly, my lawns look no different from the “super crew” lawns, theoretically why would I not charge the same price? The older I get, the less cheap I’m willing to be and more I see fair is a two way street.
If you notice that your prices are way under, go with the an average charge. If people have no problem throwing their money at you, so be it. We have lawns that we charge on average $65 and only takes 2 people 20-25 minutes. You could go up on your pricing and customers won't mind as long as you give them good work
Hey Johnathon! You should make a video on how to use yardbook the best way with SCHEDULING. I have put my customer in on a recurring schedule but it has been a complete mess when we have a rain delay and for customers that for weekly and others that are bi weekly. Show us what you do on yardbook, thanks!
I also love the by weekly but I don't agree with just 20% upcharge I charge 30%
Id charge x 1.5
We’ve always done 50% more for every other week mowing
You have to be fair with the customers so you can get customers I just started 2 and 1/2 years ago and up to 39 customers
How did you market?
Thanks for the video. As someone who is still In the thought process and buying equipment still your video helped alot thanks again
I don't want to charge too much, because I won't get many customers. But on the other hand, if I charge too little, I might lose money for things like maintenance costs, gas, etc
I've had people tell they paid very low prices. It's not 1985 anymore.. If people start to haggle I just tell them my price and say 'see you later.' And walk away. Sometimes they come back because they can't get anyone else
When I used to paint I would get quotes from four or five different companies and depending on what the what it was I would try to beat it by five or ten percent and most of the time customers would eat it up you know like for example if somebody charged $200 to do it I would do it for 8085 sometimes 90 just depending on what it was so you know just some jobs you can't really ever quote until you get in there and doing so much you're going to till you've got a little know-how but like if you're just freshening up paint putting a new coat on something that's already been painted and blah blah blah and you can pretty much guess how much pain it's going to take and if you're doing like a new construction it'll it'll always take more than what you think it is usually but I mean I know that's apples and oranges but that's how I used to do it on my business is like try to beat the competitor by a certain percentage and if you can find it for any cheaper than that then you better check their arm off you know so but anyway
Really interested in your take on bi-weekly. My experience has been that these are people who can't really afford lawn service and they tend to be chronic complainers. On top of that, it is rough on equipment. Most importantly, I don't want the neighbors of these properties seeing our branded trucks out there when it is overgrown and shaggy and thinking that's the way we maintain lawns. Currently we do not offer bi-weekly but I am always interested in opposing views
All of your concerns are valid and you make some good points.. I'll post a video on this topic as to why I don't dislike bi-weekly cuts... and even prefer bi-weekly in some cases.
All Phase Lawn & Landscape bi weekly cuts are the worst. You basically are cutting the lawn 2 x to make it look good and sometimes 3 passes just for an extra 20 %. Not worth it at all.
Just saw this video. This gives me great direction on how to simplify my estimates! Thanks, from another LE guy, going into lawn care.
What idiotic comments below. "I won't take my mower off the trailer for less than $XX. It alol depends on what region of the country you service and what the regular rates are. If all my neighbors are paying between $25 to $30 (100x100ft yard in central NJ) for cut, blow, edge and weedwhack, you can't charge $50 for the same house next door. Neighbors do talk. Say goodbye to your customers and business. You have to charge in the same ballpark as what the average lawn size is for your area. Simple. Maybe add a value-added service to get a slightly higher weekly price. And use an edger machine properly and make the edges nice and straight and other small things and people will talk and network you to their lawns. Stop being an ego head and saying that you won't take your mower out unless blah, blah blah. Get over yourself people. And after a storm, suck it up and do a little extra for the customer or you will lose them after 1 or 2 seasons if you nickle and dime them.
I agree with what you are saying, but I feel when you say you won't take the mower off the trailer for less than $XX you are taking into consideration the prices for your area. I do have some properties that are lower than my minimum set price, but that is because they are side by side and by eliminating drive time, I can give them a better deal and still make just as much profit. I in fact won't come cut for less than a certain amount if I have to drive any distance at all. No sense in killing your profit to drive 15-20 mins away to mow a yard for $30 and then drive another 15 mins away to the next job. It is so counterproductive. As far as debris, I try to price a property based on the average amount of debris that may be in the yard. Some weeks may be a little more debris and some weeks very little. However, you never know when a tornado, hurricane, or heavy winds from a storm will make a huge mess. That is not part of my regular price. It's not about an ego for me, it's about getting paid for what I do. It's fine to disagree. It is just things you learn as you go. Nothing worse to me that those days where you bust your butt and don't feel you make much money. I treat lawn care like any other job. The more you need done, the more I have to charge.
I guess I got spot on from just a guess. I live on 0.25 acres and so does my neighbor. I mow my neighbor's yard for $60. I mow, weedeat and edge. I don't pick up clippings or debris and certainly don't clean up the dog poop.
People have to clean up the dog poo in their own yards! Dog poop is terrible on mowers especially if you run over a lot in a few yards. Some customers don’t care to understand. Dog poop literally cost a lot of time and money, if it’s a problem I drop them fast. Other lawn care providers won’t stay with them either. It’s a stinky situation.
@@americanagothic7851 I use their mower so it's all good to me.
I use yardbook and i love it
You are awesome...keep up the good work and thank you for all the great information!!!
Excellent chart there. Thank you!
Do you have an updated version for this year??
id imagine all these prices have gone up by at least 30 percent
Man thanks for these videos. So informative thank you
Love those shirts! I wear mine all the time!
bi weekly i dont do but for here a 50% markup on top would be best
Amazing content, has helped me a lot, considering how close to the same geographic region, Jacksonville. Only in my second year of being in business, so here is my question. We haven't gotten a lot of rain over here this year and the grass is pretty dry. Some of my yards when I mow them, two weeks later they have hardly grown, except for a few weeks. Do y'all normally go ahead and cut the yard just to get paid or do you contact the customer to hold off for another week? Need the money but not willing to charge for services that they don't need yet. Advice appreciated.
We mow whether the yard is dry or not... but only for bi-weeklys. I won't mow a weekly yard every week if it doesn't need it. Which is a reason I really like having a roster full of bi-weeklys on my schedule. I'm going to do a video on this very topic in the next couple days. It's dry here too man... Hang in there, cause we'll get some rain soon enough!
I drove there so lack of rain or irrigation is not my problem. If it does not need mowed we will edge and blow,trim something maybe but I’m getting paid. Are they going to pay me more when it is raining and growing 6 inches in a week.?
I'm only just diving into your work here but it's helping me wrap my head around starting out solo. You are doing exactly what I envision so it's highly motivating and insightful! Do thanks. One thing I must ask is if you have a link to any of your pricing or invoicing so I can get them to base things off of. Maybe I'm asking too much Haha. Anyways keep it up your an inspiration. Maybe speak on any impact covid 19 is having on things for you and how you navigated the issue.
Awesome video Fam!
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for watching!
Great video, thanks for information 👍👍
Great video! Thank you.
Subscribed 😎👍
Have to bid by sqft. Plus taking I to account the amount of weedeating and edging.
Also there has to be a minimum charge . Im not unloading my mower for less than 30$ thats 5000sqft or less
I don't do it by the property I do it by the hour $50 an hour here in Upstate New York or 50 an acre I have 39 customers and work by myself
Shannon Mccall 50 an acre is pretty low
@@carlosdeluna5841 how is it to low people up here in Upstate New York only make 5 600 a week and that's doing good I can't afford to pay any more they'll just more their selves where can you get a job making $50 an hour
I'm glad I'm able to get 100-150 an acre down here in Texas!
When you say to add 20% for bi-weekly can you explain that?
So if someone only has you mow bi-weekly you charge more per cut vs mowing weekly?
I still struggle with leaf cleanup pricing. Like today for example. Took it in the shorts again. 🥺But my last time out, I made $250 in one hour on the first gig(3guys) SMH. 🙀
this really helped us alot
Cant forget the pita factor lol
8700 square feet in Tennessee , they charge $55
I can understand why you wouldn't add 100% price for bi-weekly (double the work, double the price), but 20% seems SUPER low. 50% seems way more reasonable for you.
what would you charge for 2 archers ??
Hey how much would b good to charge for 3 acres of land
I already own an unrelated business. I have 25 employees and make 7 figure gross a year. I watch these videos because they interest me. I have no plans going into lawn care.
I like your approach to you business.
I watch a lot of lawn care vids.
The thing i don't see is marketing. Good marketing skills. These skills can make or break a business. The single reason we don't make our protential. Where would MickyDs be without good marketing campaigns.
Knowing business skills is as important as doung a professional job on every lawn.
A professional skills set is how we dress going to clients. How we communicate is a skill. Our body language. Advertising eith vehicle graphic or business cards our ads in local news phone book.etc.
Their is so much we must do first before we can even say we are a real business. Business plan. Executive summary the whole organisation of your business.
Account skills and bookkeeping Tax structure of a business. Either sole propriater LLC or corporation 501C or 501B
Self employement Taxes
Quarterly Estimates of earnings
The list goes on.
Failling to do this stuff is a setup for failure. It also land some people in jail is you cut corners or big fines.
None want this. Not even the government.
Uncle Sam is our biggest cheer leader. The IRS will get some of your money. Possibly your state or city.
Do not cut them out from their slice. My first time i flopped. Payed my fines and a year later tried again. Again i failed. But i paid my obligations. It was 3 years before i tried again. This time i had a checklist. Now after 24 years im still going. Yes! I stuggled. But i did everything right. After 5 years i was seeing the return of my hard laber. Every year was better. Things slowed but i was not paying myself more than my business could handle. Cashflow will kill a business. Growing to slow or to fast.
Your subscibers need to research and do more research. Do it right! Straight out of the gate. Need help contact SBA. They exist to help startup busineses.
how do you give a price for something you haven't seen... customers asking your how much how much for what 4 acres one acre half block whatever...
Ask for the address and use Google maps to see whatsup
come up with a base price per acre. Look up on your tax appraiser's website to find out what they have. Go off that. Most normal houses are on 1/4 acre. So whatever a standard lawn would be, just multiply by the 1/4 acre. Always round up.
Thanks 🙏🏼
Do you price differently for new lawns that have been neglected. Can sometimes take twice as long as expected.
Sage advise - much appreciated.
Good advise.
Another great video! ;-)
What a great video sir. Excellent info! Wish I could do more than click on LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and say thank you.
Let's say you have a regular weekly lawn mowing customer. Then come mid summer you get a drought or they just ask you to skip a week of mowing. When you go back do you still charge them their weekly rate or do you tell them they'll have to pay the biweekly rate? Thanks for your time and your great videos!
Turning Over A New Leaf Lawn Care,LLC. Hate that he liked this but couldn’t answer ...great question
@@devinhotline2721 I'm guessing they do contracts so they pay rain or shine.
We skip some of our weekly clients in the heat of the summer. We charge them there weekly rate. The reason we stay with there weekly rate is there grass has started to go dormant and it doesn’t take us more time to service there property. Bi-weekly cuts during the growing season we charge more because it’s more work for us. $30 weekly yard is $45 bi-weekly.
Is this total lot size or the actual lawn SQ footage?
Good ideas, I just don't care for the idea of calling other companies to give prices. It's a good idea, but I wouldn't appreciate it personally as it would be wasting my time. I try to weed people out over the phone. I tell them I will have to look to give them an exact price, but as you learn the neighborhoods and average property sizes you can give them a basic price range and if you are too expensive up front, you don't waste you time going to the property.
Great content for sure, thanks
I have a price list of sorts. $30 - $65 range for weekly service. From 1/4 acre up to 1 acre. I don't mess with bigger properties right now. Just residential.
JoeyBear Residential tends to have higher. It’s why we haven’t moved into much commercial work.
I use sq ft. But i live in tx and there is a wide variety of yards from 6k to 25k sq ft. But i got it to where some of my 25k's are done faster than a 15k. Just cause i have to push mow some backyards
I would love to know what you love abt biweekly. I am starting out this year. I am told to stay away from them. Please drop the knowledge for me. I lo e your other pricing video. Min÷HR÷Cost ÷2-3 man crew/ love it! It let's me know if I'm undercharching. Thank you!
I have question if i moe a yard for $49 2 years ago i want to know what to price now
What if you did front yard and backyard then how much?
I have a z125s here in Orlando, what size would you suggest I aim for? I use it to mow my 6 acres currently. (I really need a tractor for myself lol)
When you say 5-6k
Is k for thousand Square footage?.
Good advice .
What percent up charge are you at now?
What does k stand for
Thank you very much informative.
great video
Hey; thanks for the knowledge; great videos; Ive been driving trucks for 16 years trying to ease out of trucking into lawn care; i just started my lawn care here in Augusta ga about months; I’m a week warrior😂 Friday-Sunday but I love lawn care; Im thinking about biding on a small commercial; like a local hardware store or restaurant or something ; just gave no idea on bidding; do you bid the same on commercial or higher; thanks in advance; keep making great videos
Bid what you think is fair. Sometimes you win and sometimes u lose
30 ..35..40 etc para cobrar en $?
It takes me an hour to mow I’m 14 how much should I charge them also I’m up north
Thank you!
Do you measure each yard or just kinda eye ball it ??
Haha 😂 make sure you get it the lawn measurement right down to the square inch!You are funny
Do any of you just charge by the hour? Why or why not?
I use to cut my own lot , 40x90 , with a chain link fence surrounding it. Took me about 20 minutes to complete it.
Then I got injured in a accident and hired someone to cut it for me. They started out at $30.00 to cut , winter came and went , and now they tell me it's going to be
$50.00 for the first cut of the season and $45.00 per week.
ON MY LOT 40 x 90 ?
My reply was sorry guys , even with a little pain I'll do it myself.
I used to be in the business years ago, so I do have some experience in pricing.
Be careful, you just might put yourself out of business. But you don't want to starve either.
Al Mierz I wouldn’t show up to a yard for less then 45$ in south Alabama.
A 40x90 lot is 3600 sqft or 3.6k/units times 6 mins per k to push mow= 21.6 mins to push mow. Add 20 mins for string trimming, edging and blowing= 41.6 mins average service time. Your 20 mins to complete it doesn't appear account for full service. So 42mins spent onsite for $45 is very reasonable.
@@stevef.9659
Hey Steve ;
The lot is a commercial lot , no need to string trim , no sidewalk to edge , and it definitely doesn't need to be blown .
Anyway thanks for the comment.
How much have you gone up now?
Why do you love bi-weekly cuts? I am a customer. Thank you for your time~ :)
It keeps our schedule full in the slower month of October and November. If we had only weekly clients, then half of them would not need to be cut. With mostly bi-weekly clients my schedule stays full.
I do have a question with the high increase of living costs going up do you find yourself having to charge more than you usually would any information would be helpful greatly appreciate it
Yes we have increased prices this year for sure.
@@FloridaTurfPros greatly appreciate the input is that for new customers coming in or all customers learn a lot from your videos keep up the good work
@@FloridaTurfPros updated pricing cheat sheet for 2022/23? :)
I use the Task Easy app...it helps me determine prices! Just put in the address and mark the areas you’re mowing...and it gives you two prices to pick . 💯
I tried it and the site is way off. Saying the yard is 23000 square feet when in fact it's a lot more. Then when you do mark it out the prices are WAY too high.
I always give a discount for weekly service.
Yes, the vid price is 20% higher for every 2 weeks. So weekly is discounted lol
What does the k stand for and the numbers on the left of the chart
Thousands. They are a baseline measurement for the square footage of a yard. 5-6k = 5 to 6 thousand square feet
@@Dirt_Merchant thank you
Thanks
when the chart said bi weekly do you mean twice a week or every second week? i think its every second week but wasnt 100% sure yk
yeah every 2 weeks
What is that app called that you said you used?
KLK Productions yard book
How do you guys in Florida pull off by the cut? For a few winter months you must be eating ramen noodles and burnin candles since the power bill wasn't paid. Per month is the ticket
Jeremy Arnold We pull off by the cut by mowing almost year round 😂
@@FloridaTurfPros I live in central Fla. I cut almost year round too. But there's about 3 months in winter where most yards just don't need cut but once a month, twice at the most. But I can see your successful and I cant argue with success. Have a good summer run this yr. I enjoy the vids
@@bignickdigger7105 Upstate NY the landscaping guys plow snow in the winter.
You save during the season! I take 6 weeks off each year. Weed and feed starts in mid February here in NC. BTW..I ain't hungry or In the dark! Lol. Spend smart save smart! Hell I just bought a new car with cash New year's Eve!
Randys Lawn Care
What do you think $35 5k-7k sq ft $40 for 7k-9k sq ft and $45 9k-11k sq ft ??
Nelson Rivera Depending on your demand in your market, you may be on the right track with those numbers.
@@FloridaTurfPros I'm in Florida pasco county
You will be a boss and you will have three guys (1 crew) mowing at say $20 per hour, so that will be $60 per hour labor plus all other business expenses minus tax and you will be mowing 7k lawns at $35. Dump trucks are 52k walker mowers 15k etc. Etc. Etc.🤔
@@michaelperry4398 👍💲💰🤑👍👍👍