I've been doing alot of bi-weekly mows, I'm thinking about telling people I'm not doing that next year. I do an excellent job 20 yrs experience. The reason being is what you said, a few of them I have to cut twice, and that gets annoying. I like the idea of charging lower if they go weekly.
Ok I'm 13 and my dad thought it would be a good I dead to start a business with my older brother and he would let us use his ford even tho im 13 don't tell no one tho
I have a great route with great density (so good I feel it’s the only thing saving me). Virtually no overhead. Top class equipment and a great end product that allows me to get customers without any advertising. I don’t have my name or number anywhere to see. My biggest problem is with bidding. I hate money to the point I lack confidence with it. I have underbid more than enough jobs. Some I dropped altogether. Some I raised the price, but some I still maintain knowing I’m killing my profit on it. I’d really like to bring in a financial manager or something like that somehow. I think hiring that type of person would help me more than hiring another lawn guy. I am at the point where I can’t add any more lawns without hiring help, but I think getting the money right first is the priority.
I have 71 accounts now and run solo with the wife helping some . We are at the point where we can't take that many more accounts, so we decided to raise mowing for new accounts by when we hit 65 to see what the market would expect and we still are picking up new acts .
Have you done a video yet on how to profit from other people's labor? That's how the big conglomerates work. They'll pay a guy per hour, and when it's less than their share of the revenue they help generate per hour, you pocket the rest. I'd like to see actual examples of what you've actually done, and what type of quality individual you were able to hire who, for whatever reason, can't guy their own equipment and do their own marketing, such that they have to work by the hour for someone else. I even saw an ad on craigslist looking for helpers and they had to buy their own equipment. So they're giving up income JUST for someone else to find the customers!
@@TheMaximomex I did that, started with three, now I have 20 and it's a love hate relationship. Love the money and hate killing my weekends or early days during the work week.
Another tip, if you're going to hire people, be very careful of who you hire. I hired a friend of mine, who had just been released from prison after serving 18 years for armed robbery. He was a hard worker, always punctual, always friendly, and virtually never called out for the 4 years he worked for me. Here's where it all went south, for whatever reason, he robbed 3 stores in about 2 hours one Sunday morning. He was well-known in the area, so when his picture was on the local news and in the local papers, all of the customers saw it and 90% of them dropped me. Be very careful who you hire because the actions of your employees will reflect on you and your business.
I try to avoid payment as much as possible while building a business. I would be more likely to take on a payment once the business is established. Hopefully I won't have to make payments much longer. I look forward to the day when I can just write a check. Thanks for the comment
I have been welding building things like oil rigs and ships all over the country. For 40 years now. Now I'd like to start a lawn Care business.my plan is to do a 6 months contract and save around 20 thousand ...10.000 going into all new
Route density: I don't understand why companies don't advertise to their client's neighbors. Even give a discount since you don't have to pack up and drive. My neighbor's lawn service doesn't even leave fliers with me. (I wrote this comment just as you talked about it :) )
I tried this and here is the problem you run into....you will give a discount, and next thing you know, one of the customers asks you to skip, or go biweekly to save more money. Or they move, or drop service...than you are doing the remaining lawn and not getting the benefit of having a pair of them side by side. Those are just a few quick examples. I definitely put fliers up and talk to the neighbors, but I don't offer discounts. That being said, I am also VERY careful to ensure I offer them the same pricing structure and explain why their lawn costs price X. The neighbors will talk to each other, and if all things are equal and you are charging more for one of the two yards, you will be asked "why am I being charged more than my neighbor"
Yeh I did the same thing. You give the neighbor a deal, and then the original person drops you. So your left with doing a discounted yard, which is now out of your way.
I priced some too low, and was a little mad. But it all works out as you learn more, and those customers moved anyway so I never had to drop them or anything. I still have yards around those original yards and they are priced better.
This is good I just recently started and I am new to the business and had no idea how much to charge. One guy told me straight up I still had a lot to learn after I was throwing very high prices trying to score LOL Its ok I'm learning,
Sales Price = Cost + Profit. The sales price will usually be fixed for the area you work so to maintain profit you must control the costs (minimal overheads). Targeting jobs which are close to each other massively improve efficiencies as often we can do 3 or 4 jobs without moving the trailer . So you can charge less per cut and still make more profit. Usually a 2 man crew is more efficient as we primarily push mow. We always price biweekky
Smart man I live in Arkansas so ill tell the person helping me i say," Were in Arkansas and we know everyone in our town so, well be mowing yards based on income".
Great video and advice.. route density can be tricky at times though. Sounds good but you'll have Joe Blow wanting to skip a week cause of financial issues, you'll have people out of town and didn't put dogs up, you'll have the "it hasn't really grown come next week" and there's always the "I have company coming can you come earlier this week". These will ruin your route. But obviously great advice, well said.
All good points. These are the challenges of the lawn business. I get a little smarter each year but I still have not figured out how to avoid these problems. Another route killer is a customer who has not paid. I may skip them while waiting for a payment and then have to go back later.
I have noticed this problem as well. I started a trial run this year and next year I am giving quotes and making them sign it and pay up front for the first month. That way I ensure I'm getting paid, and they can't try changing the price.
I've seen videos which say it's a 'death sentence' to price in the middle of the market range cause you aren't targeting anyone. The low-ball price is targeting the budget customer. They high end implies you do a better job, and a certain number of people will pay it. (supposedly, though I haven't found anyone yet who will). The middle is no-mans land, but I am currently in the category of the guy you mentioned who is at the high end and not getting enough business. So I may have to come down. Problem is, last time I did lawn care was 18 years ago and prices haven't gone up AT ALL! No pay raises for lawn care in AT LEAST 18 years that I know of, in my area.
Small lawns are the secret to profitability. You can charge $25-30 for a lawn that takes say 20 mins, but nobody will pay you the equivalent of $75-90 for a regular cut on a lawn that takes an hour. I find for an hour long lawn customers top out at about $45 for what they are prepared to pay. That's not good business sense to me or for anyone else in the lawn care business. The only caveat to that would be if you are building up the business from scratch. Once you have a full schedule you can either try and increase the prices on the lawns that take longer or drop them for smaller, more profitable lawns.
@Vscape Pro Landscaping I work in a different suburb and all the lawns are grouped within a min or two of each other. Some are literally several side by side. $100 per hour! How's a little old retired person going to afford you at that price?
I am bidding on a 70 homes apartment complex. I am charging them for 20.00 per yard. Thats $1,440.00a week. This is my 2nd bid for commercial property i bidded on,a bit nervous might tell them 1000 a week
If they want a bi weekly cut the price is either double the weekly cut price or pay extra for bagging which ends up costing more than a weekly price. It is always more expensive for customers if they have me every other week as opposed to weekly. But that's just me.
Why would you lower your price if you have more customers keep your price the same raising your profitability for maintenance and getting a new truck every couple years when you start a lawn business or any business you find out the high and low of what other people are charging and then charge above middle or high if you're in high quality service and charge for three man crew even if you're a one man show because eventually you're going to have three employees so always charge for the end game on how you want your business to be don't be so desperate in the beginning to undercut yourself or undercut yourself once you're successful
You're losing money if you're charging $60 an hour you should be making $80 2 $100 an hour $12 an hour per employee $36 an hour for three employees $30 an hour for yourself that's $66 now you have to think include gas advertisement maintenance future replacement money so you need no less than $80 an hour you should be getting $100 an hour to run a crew maybe more when you add it all up you might even need more than $100 an hour or you're going to be out of business or broke business man working for nothing your employees make money and you don't after taking all your expenses you're left with nothing if you don't charge enough
Thank you this video helped a lot. I new somewhere in the dollar Per minute range for mowing and so on But fertilizer was a great idea on how to charge thank you once again for the video.
There may be another video in which you address the plan of each business to plan being competitive in a very crowded market. If a lawn care service HAS high overhead, or the owner simply spends too much personally, his going rate may well guarantee he will struggle to survive simply because his plan was poor. Gradual build up of equipment costs, crew, etc. would seemingly be a safe approach to staying ahead of costs and being at a competitive price point.
This sounds good but you're forgetting one major key factor gentrification maybe in the city that's possible but in smaller towns $35-40 is ideal too I look at mowing just like hustling yes cater to your big timers hit them hard but also you have a hole region of middle -low class ppl so to speak where $35 is right up there Alley plus you gotta get your foot in the door somewhere if your charging what everyone else is charging why would they come to you? Just a lil fyi
This is just me, but I don't give discounts for multiple houses/neighbors because if one or two cancel then i have to raise the others prices and they are not happy. That is just me. I might consider giving a free cut or two for a referral, but have not yet.
Got a nice new truck ,2 push mowers, 1 jd mower tractor , 3 weed eaters, 2 blowers, 2 stihl chainsaws, 6x12ft big tex high wall trailer , no bills, and about 10k for start up......what should I do first?
Thanks so much. I want to start a company i am a current college student but i've been going and mowiwng lawns since i was 12. I've done tons of yards i've got equipment for just about all small residential jobs. I want to know what license would i need? how much would taxes run me? How do i hire people and all that paperwork?
Reading through comments about lawn care and saw your “Rapture Ready” name and had to stop and say AMEN BROTHER! See you in heaven! Be steadfast as we wait upon our Lord. He has promised to return and His word will NOT come back void. Godspeed to you and your family! 🙋🏻♀️🛐✝️💜
If this time of year is the most competitive time like you said on one of the videos, then what are some reasons that it becomes less competitive later? How much money does that translate to per yard? $5 more than you were able to get in March? What month does that happen? If something doesn't change, I'm toast before I even get off the ground. I ain't putting the rest of my life on hold in order to maintain 5 or fewer customers the first year. I'd need at least 10 cuts per week going on by summer, which means more than 10 customers since they don't all want weekly service. I really don't want to pick up a few people and quit on them mid-season after I see it's not worth it. I'd rather have not gotten started and done something else.
as a base i use $1.00 a min. or $60. an hour as a base the more weedeating and other add ons will raise the price i dont low bid i tell them i do the best work and im here like clock work every week same day !
Raymond J I think what you said is one of the most important things never mentioned. Showing up. A lot of guys starting out fail because they don’t show up when they say they will, or not at all. I work with a friend and we have 95 accounts now and have been in business 14 years. Reliability is key.
Jason, I always wanted to know what my operating cost is per day. At what time do I start to make a profit each day? 8:30? 10:00? At the end of the year you can add all your expenses up and divide by 356 this will give you your per day operating cost. Which I'm sure you knew that. Might make for a good video
It's very difficult in my area because of the difference in customers and grounds. I maintain crappy duplexes up to the average home, up to the nice home, up to the mansion. beachfront properties with tons of government regulated vegetation that you have to have special licensing to maintain. I mean the complexity in pricing here makes it darn near impossible to get right. I just price based on this understanding....How much do I want to make to do this job? I know if I'm bidding on a job that takes a lot of work, I'm going to charge a lot of money and make a nice profit. Why? I still want to grow and expand. I don't want to settle. I try to make a minimum of $500 a day profit, and a maximum of 2,000 a day.
You have to add your marketing advertising in the price of 3 employees in the price of yourself so much for maintenance or new equipment into your price from the very beginning have your price set for what it will be in 10 years because in 10 years that's exactly what you'll be making the same money you charge the very beginning my point is plan your price to the Future don't undercut yourself in the beginning
no overhead, everything paid for, no payments, just time, maint, gas, and tools to do the job in my case.. It's just me and an occasional helper on big ones. Most I do take maybe 20 minutes and rate is like 30-35. Did one today that took 2 1/2 hours, hour and half which was detailed weed eating. That one is def not a 30 dollar yard. And it was a big property, ditches, stuff in the way, roots all over, flower beds and so on. That one the guy hasn't gotten with my yet to pay me. I have price in mind, so we'll see.
Tic-Man Daily you didn't even have a set price before you started mowing it ? The way people are around here that would be a disaster waiting to happen
Maybe a business looking for its sweet spot should be evaluating its expenses and profits quarterly. Annually sounds like a luxury a starting business may not afford to wait for.
I live in Alabama, i actually live where he used to live. cutting normally starts in march 1st and ends October 15th for us. grass still grows year round. this past year it was actually very hot outside on Christmas.snow is very rare, if it ever snows it wont stick.
I work for a Lawn care company in Florida & we run into the same problems....customers who don't want to pay but expect you to maintain their yards on a regular basis......guess that's just another downside to being in business...although every business has its share of customers who dont want to pay their bill whenever its due...
Jeff Beard your owner should be creating an environment of rewarding those customers who pay promptly. It should also be a once your a no pay customer then you get axed. I put up with 0 slow and no pay clients. If we are on time and do the job then I want to be paid. For every one slow pay or no pay client. Their are 10 more prompt payers. I been around this business for over 20 yrs. slow steady growth with high standards of work. Will bread high standards for your customers also.
Make sure you use the wording in your pricing "weekly lawn care" not just "lawn mowing" that will help weed out some of the people who wait months not mowing till lawn looks like shit then call around looking for the cheapest person to cut their yard. They will do this every couple months trying to save money while screwing over us hard working folks trying make a living.
what would you charge for a high class residential property . 7/8 acres of grass . takes me 4 hours on a commercial mower just riding . probably one hour edging a long blacktop drive and around beds. So five hours minimum . any help would be appreciated.
I would have to play with the numbers but I like that strategy. As long as you adjust for difficult Lawns or Lawns that are out of the way. I think square footage is an important factor but not the only factor in pricing
Example.. If i charge $120 for a job that would take 2 hrs by myself... I could bring in a worker and do it in 1 hr .. Averaging $60 per hr per person.. Of course you must profit because your not paying the worker $60 hr...maybe $20 hr
Have you ever done yards for mowing based off of square footage? What seemed to be a good number per sq ft that you liked to try and get? I need to go measure my current yards that I want everyone to be at so I can have more a structure moving forward instead of eyeing up everyone’s yard I want to make sure other yards are exactly the same. I hate when a neighbor has a huge yard and they feel like they should pay the same amount their neighbor pays with a smaller yard or their neighbor has a yard I can get a riding mower in the back and their yard is all push mowing and they say well my neighbor or pays this. Obviously the yard being bigger should be enough but if I had the square footage to show them they really couldn’t say anything back after that bc the numbers don’t lie.
I don't use square footage for mowing but I don't think that's a bad idea as long as you take into account other factors such as obstacles and other things that can increase the time
Ty, use it to your advantage. Let them know you realize your youth. Most people will give you a chance if you are up front. Other kids your age are playing video games. Let them know you strive to be different. Don't be shy about their concerns. Acknowledge their doubtfulness and ask for a chance. Most adults will admire that. Good luck.
In Brevard county Florida, I have a potential customer that bought 3- 0.25 acre lots , 2 lots are extremely overgrown grass brush weeds (3’ - 6’ tall) has trees scattered around lots but customer wants to keep trees . It’s all rough cutting and I will need to rent a walk behind hydraulic brush cutter $400 for the week or $225 for 2-days... I have no idea how to price it will you help out?
Chief J paece, how about you calculate your time and persons needed for the job. lets say you have 3 guys working on the project which you calculate in at a 50-60/Hour rate. Lets say you need 2 days for the job to get done (16 Hours X 3 People X 55$/Hour = 2640$ + Rental equipment 225$ so your estimate would look somewhere around 2800-2900$ )
than you can deduct all the actual cost of the estimate to calculate your profit, 2900$ - 15$/hour/person X 3 people X 16Hours = 720$ in labor cost - 100$/day in Fuel cost= 200$ - 200$ insurance cost - 100$ for unforseen circumstances - 225$ rental equipment = a profit of about 1455$ for 2 days, thats 727,5$/day divided by 8 = 90$/hour as a profit, now depending on your local or state taxes you should take those off lets say about 30% go to taxes and and comany cost like trucks etc etc, you will be left a profit of around 63$ per hour for yourself multiply that by 16 hours it will come down to about 1000$ profit ( 500$/day)
Great video! I like the idea of having a chart for quick reference when quoting that includes a price per 1k square feet. Do you have a good example that I could use as a template? I'm also going to look for some other examples of this online. thanks.
Lawn Care Life that would be awesome thanks. mlcosmah@gmail.com You live in Alabama? I’m in Georgia, I appreciate you taking the time to make some informative content. Great videos man.
It depends on if it needs to be push mowed or done with a tractor. At 14 you're probably going to get $20 to $25 for something you could push mow in a half hour or so. If you can ride around on their tractor and their gas then $20 an hour is pretty reasonable but if you need to bring your tractor from home then start at $40. I live in a small village like you describe and normal people would laugh at a teenager that tried to charge $60 to $75 an hour. Only pros who show up with real equipment get that rate. If you're ambitious just don't stick to mowing. Most of my customers complain they can't get anyone to do weeding in their gardens and flower beds. Lots of money out there for people who can keep more than just the lawn looking nice.
9:00. Charging for work..... just saved you some time.
Thanks man!
Thank you
I've been doing alot of bi-weekly mows, I'm thinking about telling people I'm not doing that next year. I do an excellent job 20 yrs experience. The reason being is what you said, a few of them I have to cut twice, and that gets annoying. I like the idea of charging lower if they go weekly.
Thank you
Thank u.. he talks sooooo much just to get to the point...jesus christ.
Starting a lawn care business at 16, this helps alot man thanks
Uknown Gamer101 same here man... do you think we can get in contact so we can learn from each other?
17 and I'm doing the same !!!good luck bro
Brendan & lydia Peebles right here with ya!
Ok I'm 13 and my dad thought it would be a good I dead to start a business with my older brother and he would let us use his ford even tho im 13 don't tell no one tho
just joined the squad, gl
4 years later I'm just discovering your content and it's still very helpful and relevant to today. Thank you for this
Here is a video how to grow your business: czcams.com/video/VFmr0SoBkyA/video.html
One thing I've done is give my customers a free cut if they give me a new customer.
I like that idea
I give a discount
I do that also
Smart
Surely half price brings almost as much satisfaction to the customer?
Great idea nonetheless.
I have a great route with great density (so good I feel it’s the only thing saving me). Virtually no overhead. Top class equipment and a great end product that allows me to get customers without any advertising. I don’t have my name or number anywhere to see. My biggest problem is with bidding. I hate money to the point I lack confidence with it. I have underbid more than enough jobs. Some I dropped altogether. Some I raised the price, but some I still maintain knowing I’m killing my profit on it. I’d really like to bring in a financial manager or something like that somehow. I think hiring that type of person would help me more than hiring another lawn guy. I am at the point where I can’t add any more lawns without hiring help, but I think getting the money right first is the priority.
I have 71 accounts now and run solo with the wife helping some . We are at the point where we can't take that many more accounts, so we decided to raise mowing for new accounts by when we hit 65 to see what the market would expect and we still are picking up new acts .
Good move on your part. It might be time to bring on some more help soon
Happy's Family Do you use new or used equipment? How much is a basic charge
Have you done a video yet on how to profit from other people's labor? That's how the big conglomerates work. They'll pay a guy per hour, and when it's less than their share of the revenue they help generate per hour, you pocket the rest. I'd like to see actual examples of what you've actually done, and what type of quality individual you were able to hire who, for whatever reason, can't guy their own equipment and do their own marketing, such that they have to work by the hour for someone else. I even saw an ad on craigslist looking for helpers and they had to buy their own equipment. So they're giving up income JUST for someone else to find the customers!
Wow. I'm hoping to get just a few that I can do after my day time job. Keep up the good work!
@@TheMaximomex I did that, started with three, now I have 20 and it's a love hate relationship. Love the money and hate killing my weekends or early days during the work week.
Another tip, if you're going to hire people, be very careful of who you hire. I hired a friend of mine, who had just been released from prison after serving 18 years for armed robbery. He was a hard worker, always punctual, always friendly, and virtually never called out for the 4 years he worked for me. Here's where it all went south, for whatever reason, he robbed 3 stores in about 2 hours one Sunday morning. He was well-known in the area, so when his picture was on the local news and in the local papers, all of the customers saw it and 90% of them dropped me.
Be very careful who you hire because the actions of your employees will reflect on you and your business.
Wow 90% dropped? How did you recover from that blow? Are you still mowing lawns?
Jason knows his stuff! Great advice.
I'm just starting out, been watching all your videos I really appreciate all the advice.
Thanks much for your wisdom. Thanks for being consise & sticking to the subject. I immediately knew you were successful in this.
Yo your helping out alot I'm 12 and already made 91.56 In one day
Michigan here. Overhead is a big one. I know a lot guys go buy new trucks and snow plows and screw themselves with high payments.
I try to avoid payment as much as possible while building a business. I would be more likely to take on a payment once the business is established. Hopefully I won't have to make payments much longer. I look forward to the day when I can just write a check. Thanks for the comment
I have been welding building things like oil rigs and ships all over the country. For 40 years now. Now I'd like to start a lawn Care business.my plan is to do a 6 months contract and save around 20 thousand ...10.000 going into all new
Turner
Husqvarna
Husqvarna equipment and spraying and fertilizing equipment with trailer. I should be getting started around July of 2018
Show some small yards that use just a push mower
To cut it with limited hedges and edging. ....give us a cost
Route density: I don't understand why companies don't advertise to their client's neighbors. Even give a discount since you don't have to pack up and drive. My neighbor's lawn service doesn't even leave fliers with me.
(I wrote this comment just as you talked about it :) )
I tried this and here is the problem you run into....you will give a discount, and next thing you know, one of the customers asks you to skip, or go biweekly to save more money. Or they move, or drop service...than you are doing the remaining lawn and not getting the benefit of having a pair of them side by side. Those are just a few quick examples. I definitely put fliers up and talk to the neighbors, but I don't offer discounts. That being said, I am also VERY careful to ensure I offer them the same pricing structure and explain why their lawn costs price X. The neighbors will talk to each other, and if all things are equal and you are charging more for one of the two yards, you will be asked "why am I being charged more than my neighbor"
Yeh I did the same thing. You give the neighbor a deal, and then the original person drops you. So your left with doing a discounted yard, which is now out of your way.
Good point.
You should only discount as an introduction period. So, neighbors need to know that. You are correct, different rates will bankrupt you.
slowrider30 give a discount on there next mowing then back to normal price is the way I do referrals
Finally found your videos. Very helpful tips . I just got started solo in lawn care business here in Belize 🇧🇿
I priced some too low, and was a little mad. But it all works out as you learn more, and those customers moved anyway so I never had to drop them or anything. I still have yards around those original yards and they are priced better.
This is good I just recently started and I am new to the business and had no idea how much to charge. One guy told me straight up I still had a lot to learn after I was throwing very high prices trying to score LOL Its ok I'm learning,
Sales Price = Cost + Profit. The sales price will usually be fixed for the area you work so to maintain profit you must control the costs (minimal overheads). Targeting jobs which are close to each other massively improve efficiencies as often we can do 3 or 4 jobs without moving the trailer . So you can charge less per cut and still make more profit. Usually a 2 man crew is more efficient as we primarily push mow. We always price biweekky
This has been the biggest problem for me starting my lawn business
Smart man I live in Arkansas so ill tell the person helping me i say," Were in Arkansas and we know everyone in our town so, well be mowing yards based on income".
Great video and advice.. route density can be tricky at times though. Sounds good but you'll have Joe Blow wanting to skip a week cause of financial issues, you'll have people out of town and didn't put dogs up, you'll have the "it hasn't really grown come next week" and there's always the "I have company coming can you come earlier this week". These will ruin your route. But obviously great advice, well said.
All good points. These are the challenges of the lawn business. I get a little smarter each year but I still have not figured out how to avoid these problems. Another route killer is a customer who has not paid. I may skip them while waiting for a payment and then have to go back later.
I have noticed this problem as well. I started a trial run this year and next year I am giving quotes and making them sign it and pay up front for the first month. That way I ensure I'm getting paid, and they can't try changing the price.
I've been turning down biweekly mows.
Most of my clients are come in a week or 2 they have to see a jungle in order to want it mowed
Thomas H equipment is to expensive to abuse for no reason just because the customer wants to be cheap
I've seen videos which say it's a 'death sentence' to price in the middle of the market range cause you aren't targeting anyone. The low-ball price is targeting the budget customer. They high end implies you do a better job, and a certain number of people will pay it. (supposedly, though I haven't found anyone yet who will). The middle is no-mans land, but I am currently in the category of the guy you mentioned who is at the high end and not getting enough business. So I may have to come down. Problem is, last time I did lawn care was 18 years ago and prices haven't gone up AT ALL! No pay raises for lawn care in AT LEAST 18 years that I know of, in my area.
Thanks for all your comments. Hopefully the videos can provide some help for you
Small lawns are the secret to profitability. You can charge $25-30 for a lawn that takes say 20 mins, but nobody will pay you the equivalent of $75-90 for a regular cut on a lawn that takes an hour. I find for an hour long lawn customers top out at about $45 for what they are prepared to pay. That's not good business sense to me or for anyone else in the lawn care business. The only caveat to that would be if you are building up the business from scratch. Once you have a full schedule you can either try and increase the prices on the lawns that take longer or drop them for smaller, more profitable lawns.
@Vscape Pro Landscaping I work in a different suburb and all the lawns are grouped within a min or two of each other. Some are literally several side by side. $100 per hour! How's a little old retired person going to afford you at that price?
Looking at competitors pricing helps a lot. I just made a video on pricing myself!
Excellent explanations on pricing.
Lots of reasons behind the numbers…
Im 13 and did what u said is good and i made 150$ in 2 days thank u
Great job
I am bidding on a 70 homes apartment complex.
I am charging them for 20.00 per yard. Thats $1,440.00a week.
This is my 2nd bid for commercial property i bidded on,a bit nervous might tell them 1000 a week
If they want a bi weekly cut the price is either double the weekly cut price or pay extra for bagging which ends up costing more than a weekly price. It is always more expensive for customers if they have me every other week as opposed to weekly. But that's just me.
Why would you lower your price if you have more customers keep your price the same raising your profitability for maintenance and getting a new truck every couple years when you start a lawn business or any business you find out the high and low of what other people are charging and then charge above middle or high if you're in high quality service and charge for three man crew even if you're a one man show because eventually you're going to have three employees so always charge for the end game on how you want your business to be don't be so desperate in the beginning to undercut yourself or undercut yourself once you're successful
steve sweet Please use some punctuation.
@@MatthewSmith-uf6tr damn your right, not a period or comma to be found.
Longest sentence of all time. Actually, there’s no period... He’s going to add more.
U get more people so u need less money per person to make a lot
@@fathertime5680 he's probably doing talks to text and is real busy dropping some real quick knowledge and has to go to work like myself.
Very informative. Thank you!
Glad to help
You're losing money if you're charging $60 an hour you should be making $80 2 $100 an hour $12 an hour per employee $36 an hour for three employees $30 an hour for yourself that's $66 now you have to think include gas advertisement maintenance future replacement money so you need no less than $80 an hour you should be getting $100 an hour to run a crew maybe more when you add it all up you might even need more than $100 an hour or you're going to be out of business or broke business man working for nothing your employees make money and you don't after taking all your expenses you're left with nothing if you don't charge enough
Thank you this video helped a lot. I new somewhere in the dollar Per minute range for mowing and so on But fertilizer was a great idea on how to charge thank you once again for the video.
This is your best video yet! 👍🏼👍🏼💯
Just saw this video of yours. Great advice, man!
There may be another video in which you address the plan of each business to plan being competitive in a very crowded market. If a lawn care service HAS high overhead, or the owner simply spends too much personally, his going rate may well guarantee he will struggle to survive simply because his plan was poor. Gradual build up of equipment costs, crew, etc. would seemingly be a safe approach to staying ahead of costs and being at a competitive price point.
This sounds good but you're forgetting one major key factor gentrification maybe in the city that's possible but in smaller towns $35-40 is ideal too I look at mowing just like hustling yes cater to your big timers hit them hard but also you have a hole region of middle -low class ppl so to speak where $35 is right up there Alley plus you gotta get your foot in the door somewhere if your charging what everyone else is charging why would they come to you? Just a lil fyi
Don’t pull up for less than $45.
This is just me, but I don't give discounts for multiple houses/neighbors because if one or two cancel then i have to raise the others prices and they are not happy. That is just me. I might consider giving a free cut or two for a referral, but have not yet.
I’ve been following your advice and it’s been working. Thanks 👍
Most people in my area charge an unload fee. A minimum and then price the yard by the size
great advice! thank you
Got a nice new truck ,2 push mowers, 1 jd mower tractor , 3 weed eaters, 2 blowers, 2 stihl chainsaws, 6x12ft big tex high wall trailer , no bills, and about 10k for start up......what should I do first?
Hey guy, good video every person situation is different.
Great video, I'm learning a lot thanks for the information. 👍👍
Great video. Lots of good solid helpful information! Thank you for posting!
Thanks so much. I want to start a company i am a current college student but i've been going and mowiwng lawns since i was 12. I've done tons of yards i've got equipment for just about all small residential jobs. I want to know what license would i need? how much would taxes run me? How do i hire people and all that paperwork?
So do you have a general square foot rate? To determine your hourly.If so what is the square foot rate?
Good info, keep up the good work
According to Google it's $35-80
I know a guy that gets $40 & has 40 yards.. that's without a weedeater..
Reading through comments about lawn care and saw your “Rapture Ready” name and had to stop and say AMEN BROTHER!
See you in heaven! Be steadfast as we wait upon our Lord. He has promised to return and His word will NOT come back void.
Godspeed to you and your family! 🙋🏻♀️🛐✝️💜
good southern man --- god blesses Alabama
i enjoy watching the video it help me out
If this time of year is the most competitive time like you said on one of the videos, then what are some reasons that it becomes less competitive later? How much money does that translate to per yard? $5 more than you were able to get in March? What month does that happen? If something doesn't change, I'm toast before I even get off the ground. I ain't putting the rest of my life on hold in order to maintain 5 or fewer customers the first year. I'd need at least 10 cuts per week going on by summer, which means more than 10 customers since they don't all want weekly service. I really don't want to pick up a few people and quit on them mid-season after I see it's not worth it. I'd rather have not gotten started and done something else.
It is competitive in the spring because that is when the most people are looking for a lawn care company.
So that should would mean spring is when demand is highest, which means it should be easier to pick up customers, not harder. I don't get it.
Charge as much as you can get away with....
I started off with 3 lawns with a push mower. 2 years latter I have 50 yards. with good routes.
I don’t have neighbor discounts but I do a 1 time $5 or $10 discount for referrals
as a base i use $1.00 a min. or $60. an hour as a base the more weedeating and other add ons will raise the price i dont low bid i tell them i do the best work and im here like clock work every week same day !
Raymond J I think what you said is one of the most important things never mentioned. Showing up. A lot of guys starting out fail because they don’t show up when they say they will, or not at all. I work with a friend and we have 95 accounts now and have been in business 14 years. Reliability is key.
yep bro i always try to show up same day same time keep your edges super clean and blow down real good they will think your the man always !!!
Reliability & being on time.
Jason, I always wanted to know what my operating cost is per day. At what time do I start to make a profit each day? 8:30? 10:00? At the end of the year you can add all your expenses up and divide by 356 this will give you your per day operating cost. Which I'm sure you knew that. Might make for a good video
good idea. Thanks for the info and suggestion.
It's very difficult in my area because of the difference in customers and grounds. I maintain crappy duplexes up to the average home, up to the nice home, up to the mansion. beachfront properties with tons of government regulated vegetation that you have to have special licensing to maintain. I mean the complexity in pricing here makes it darn near impossible to get right. I just price based on this understanding....How much do I want to make to do this job? I know if I'm bidding on a job that takes a lot of work, I'm going to charge a lot of money and make a nice profit. Why? I still want to grow and expand. I don't want to settle. I try to make a minimum of $500 a day profit, and a maximum of 2,000 a day.
You have to add your marketing advertising in the price of 3 employees in the price of yourself so much for maintenance or new equipment into your price from the very beginning have your price set for what it will be in 10 years because in 10 years that's exactly what you'll be making the same money you charge the very beginning my point is plan your price to the Future don't undercut yourself in the beginning
Great advice! Thank you so much!!!
Compete not on price but on quality.
Where are you on overhead and is essential to make a profit.
Hey man love the videos !
I help a farmer his lawn at his house is 4/1/2 acres then another two lawns altogether close to 9 acres
Great advice
I appreciate the information but now it’s 2022 and after the coronavirus and I’m charging $75 a cut minimum it’s called inflation
Thanks, very helpful!!
In my town in Oklahoma I'm starting out at $30_$35 for a regular size lawn
What exactly is a regular yard 😆
@@daveycooper4336 lol I should have said small yard LMFAO
no overhead, everything paid for, no payments, just time, maint, gas, and tools to do the job in my case.. It's just me and an occasional helper on big ones. Most I do take maybe 20 minutes and rate is like 30-35. Did one today that took 2 1/2 hours, hour and half which was detailed weed eating. That one is def not a 30 dollar yard. And it was a big property, ditches, stuff in the way, roots all over, flower beds and so on. That one the guy hasn't gotten with my yet to pay me. I have price in mind, so we'll see.
Tic-Man Daily you didn't even have a set price before you started mowing it ? The way people are around here that would be a disaster waiting to happen
Maybe a business looking for its sweet spot should be evaluating its expenses and profits quarterly. Annually sounds like a luxury a starting business may not afford to wait for.
Great job Jason!
kevin king good to hear from you. I hope to come to Montgomery soon to talk about CZcams with the Common Ground folks. Jon Chancey invited me
How long is your cutting season in alabama? I live in south Mississippi and its my first full year in business. Thanks
I live in Alabama, i actually live where he used to live. cutting normally starts in march 1st and ends October 15th for us. grass still grows year round. this past year it was actually very hot outside on Christmas.snow is very rare, if it ever snows it wont stick.
Brother in Lawn A
What part of sout ms? I'm in Gulfport/Biloxi
Good information
Thank you again
Got new one today
Good info..thanks
from $30 if rise it $40 a few customer no longer want it my services there bad apples ways late to pay
70
Where are you located charging $30?
I know a landscaper that only cut in one subdivision. If you didn't live in that subdivision, he didn't cut your grass
Good video thank u sir .
people don't want to pay us landscaping. lawn care guys.
they forget how hot and hard it is maybe they need a refresher coarse hahaha
I have run into that in Nebraska. I send 2 notices. Then its a bad debt. But others in our field are warned about the clients whe refuse to pay.
I work for a Lawn care company in Florida & we run into the same problems....customers who don't want to pay but expect you to maintain their yards on a regular basis......guess that's just another downside to being in business...although every business has its share of customers who dont want to pay their bill whenever its due...
Jeff Beard your owner should be creating an environment of rewarding those customers who pay promptly. It should also be a once your a no pay customer then you get axed. I put up with 0 slow and no pay clients. If we are on time and do the job then I want to be paid. For every one slow pay or no pay client. Their are 10 more prompt payers. I been around this business for over 20 yrs. slow steady growth with high standards of work. Will bread high standards for your customers also.
Make sure you use the wording in your pricing "weekly lawn care" not just "lawn mowing" that will help weed out some of the people who wait months not mowing till lawn looks like shit then call around looking for the cheapest person to cut their yard. They will do this every couple months trying to save money while screwing over us hard working folks trying make a living.
My customers
what would you charge for a high class residential property . 7/8 acres of grass . takes me 4 hours on a commercial mower just riding . probably one hour edging a long blacktop drive and around beds. So five hours minimum . any help would be appreciated.
Would it side to offer just edging when starting lawn service?
What the biggest difference in charging a price with a riding mower than a walk behind mower
Anyone ever considered pricing lawns at 15 to 25cents per sq ft. Bushes/hedges 20+ cents per sq ft... Im averaging $40 per hr... Low overhead...
I would have to play with the numbers but I like that strategy. As long as you adjust for difficult Lawns or Lawns that are out of the way. I think square footage is an important factor but not the only factor in pricing
Very helpful. Subd.Thank you..
Good video
Is insurance necessary for your business? Did you send out mailers for advertising?
Does someone know what are the general prices in lawn care in Alabama
You have to charge travel expense if you go 20 miles two other jobs that should be an extra $20 added to your price
Noce video but what's the best way to price bushes
How did you come up with the general rule of charging $60hr per person?
Example.. If i charge $120 for a job that would take 2 hrs by myself... I could bring in a worker and do it in 1 hr .. Averaging $60 per hr per person.. Of course you must profit because your not paying the worker $60 hr...maybe $20 hr
Have you ever done yards for mowing based off of square footage? What seemed to be a good number per sq ft that you liked to try and get? I need to go measure my current yards that I want everyone to be at so I can have more a structure moving forward instead of eyeing up everyone’s yard I want to make sure other yards are exactly the same. I hate when a neighbor has a huge yard and they feel like they should pay the same amount their neighbor pays with a smaller yard or their neighbor has a yard I can get a riding mower in the back and their yard is all push mowing and they say well my neighbor or pays this. Obviously the yard being bigger should be enough but if I had the square footage to show them they really couldn’t say anything back after that bc the numbers don’t lie.
I don't use square footage for mowing but I don't think that's a bad idea as long as you take into account other factors such as obstacles and other things that can increase the time
What's the best way to do a contract
hi jason, how would i prepare a contract/receipt. do i send an invoice?
payment methods if they wanna pay by card. paper work for payment . ?
There are softwares that help lawn care an landscaping companies do this.
Thank you for this! But it seems people don't want to hire teenagers
Ty, use it to your advantage. Let them know you realize your youth. Most people will give you a chance if you are up front. Other kids your age are playing video games. Let them know you strive to be different. Don't be shy about their concerns. Acknowledge their doubtfulness and ask for a chance. Most adults will admire that. Good luck.
@Ty Smith So don't tell them you're a teenager.
find an adult to get the jobs for you
Every teenager that I have ever worked has always been a hands down much better worker than any adult and actually want to show up on time and work
At $60/hour/person how large of a mower are you using?
In Brevard county Florida, I have a potential customer that bought 3- 0.25 acre lots , 2 lots are extremely overgrown grass brush weeds (3’ - 6’ tall) has trees scattered around lots but customer wants to keep trees . It’s all rough cutting and I will need to rent a walk behind hydraulic brush cutter $400 for the week or $225 for 2-days...
I have no idea how to price it will you help out?
Chief J paece, how about you calculate your time and persons needed for the job. lets say you have 3 guys working on the project which you calculate in at a 50-60/Hour rate. Lets say you need 2 days for the job to get done (16 Hours X 3 People X 55$/Hour = 2640$ + Rental equipment 225$ so your estimate would look somewhere around 2800-2900$ )
than you can deduct all the actual cost of the estimate to calculate your profit, 2900$ - 15$/hour/person X 3 people X 16Hours = 720$ in labor cost - 100$/day in Fuel cost= 200$ - 200$ insurance cost - 100$ for unforseen circumstances - 225$ rental equipment = a profit of about 1455$ for 2 days, thats 727,5$/day divided by 8 = 90$/hour as a profit, now depending on your local or state taxes you should take those off lets say about 30% go to taxes and and comany cost like trucks etc etc, you will be left a profit of around 63$ per hour for yourself multiply that by 16 hours it will come down to about 1000$ profit ( 500$/day)
Great video! I like the idea of having a chart for quick reference when quoting that includes a price per 1k square feet. Do you have a good example that I could use as a template? I'm also going to look for some other examples of this online.
thanks.
+Mike Cosmah I have a sample chart for weed control. Send me a message on here with your email address and I can send it over to you
Lawn Care Life that would be awesome thanks.
mlcosmah@gmail.com
You live in Alabama? I’m in Georgia, I appreciate you taking the time to make some informative content. Great videos man.
+Mike Cosmah yes, I am in alabama
apexvadeor@gmail.com can you send me the chart aswell
Lawn Care Life hello , this video was really helpful can I also have the chart @ precisionlandscaping01@gmail.com
How do you collect payment?
No but if some one chager 40 they not going let u mow it if u wo t 50 60 for it if they can get it 40 the more yrs u get the more u can make
Compete on price. More business ;)
I’m 14 and lookin to mow some lawns this summer. What should I charge a lawn in a small village that the average house is cost around $100,000
+Collin Ambrosius I would base it on how long the work will take, not on the cost of the house. Perhaps somewhere around $60 to $75 per hour
It depends on if it needs to be push mowed or done with a tractor. At 14 you're probably going to get $20 to $25 for something you could push mow in a half hour or so. If you can ride around on their tractor and their gas then $20 an hour is pretty reasonable but if you need to bring your tractor from home then start at $40. I live in a small village like you describe and normal people would laugh at a teenager that tried to charge $60 to $75 an hour. Only pros who show up with real equipment get that rate. If you're ambitious just don't stick to mowing. Most of my customers complain they can't get anyone to do weeding in their gardens and flower beds. Lots of money out there for people who can keep more than just the lawn looking nice.
13 gonna start next season so ill be 14