How to Price Lawn Care Services: Mowing Rates, Minimums and Seasonal Plans

Lawn care pricing looks simple until you realise two yards that look identical can take very different amounts of time. One has a gate too narrow for your mower, a dog, three flower beds and a slope. The other is a flat rectangle. If you price by what the neighbor down the road charges, you will win the hard yards and lose money on them. This guide shows how to price mowing and maintenance from your own costs, with real numbers.

All figures are illustrative as of 2026. Verify against your local market and your own costs.

Step 1: Know your overhead

List every monthly cost that is not tied to a single yard:

Step 2: Calculate your hourly revenue target

Count realistic on-site hours. A solo operator mowing 40 hours a week might spend 30 of those on properties and the rest driving, loading, fuelling and invoicing. That is about 130 on-site hours a month in peak season.

• Break-even: $7,400 ÷ 130 = about $57 per on-site hour
• With a 20 percent profit target: $57 ÷ 0.80 = about $71 per hour

Many lawn maintenance companies target roughly $50 to $90 or more per person-hour in billable revenue, depending on region and service. Your number should come from your costs, then be sanity-checked against that range.

For crews

Use a crew-hour rate. A two-person crew with $50 per hour of combined labour cost (including payroll taxes and workers' compensation) plus $35 per hour of equipment, truck and overhead costs the business $85 per crew hour. With a 20 percent profit target, price at about $106 per crew hour.

Step 3: Time each yard

Time drives the price. Use this as a starting guide for a solo operator with a commercial mower:

Adjust for the factors that slow you down:

• ☐ Narrow gates that require a push mower
• ☐ Slopes and ditches
• ☐ Many beds, trees and obstacles to trim around
• ☐ Long edging along driveways and walks
• ☐ Pets, toys and debris to clear first
• ☐ Clippings that must be bagged and hauled
• ☐ Overgrown first cuts

Step 4: Add drive time and set a minimum

Drive time is real labour. A yard 20 minutes from your route costs far more than one next door to an existing customer. Either add drive time to each price or, better, build dense routes so drive time stays small.

Set a minimum visit price that covers unloading, setup and travel. Many companies set roughly $40 to $60 per visit; set yours from your costs. A tiny yard that takes 15 minutes still costs you the stop.

Worked example: pricing three yards

Target rate $71 per hour, minimum $45.

Yard C shows why you should be careful about isolated properties: one-third of the price is drive time. If you can win three more customers on that street, you can lower the price later or keep the extra margin.

Step 5: Turn it into a seasonal plan

Monthly plans with autopay smooth your cash flow and lower cancellations. Common approach:

1. Estimate visits per season (for example, 30 weekly visits from April to October).
2. Multiply by the per-visit price.
3. Divide by the number of billing months.

Yard B: 30 visits × $56 = $1,680 for the season. Billed over 7 months, that is $240 a month. Some companies bill evenly across all 12 months to keep income steady year-round, which customers often like because winter months are cheap.

Quote script:

Hi Dana, thanks for showing me around today. For weekly mowing, edging, trimming and blowing, our price is $56 per visit, or $240 a month on our seasonal plan with autopay. We can start next Tuesday.

Step 6: Price add-on services

Warning: Applying fertilizer with pesticides, or any herbicide or insecticide, for hire usually requires a state pesticide applicator license. Check with your state department of agriculture before offering lawn treatments.

Step 7: Raise prices on schedule

Fuel, insurance, labour and equipment costs rise. Review prices every year before the season starts, and send a short letter or email 30 days before any increase. Small, regular increases are easier for customers to accept than large, rare ones.

Pricing commercial and HOA properties

Commercial lots, apartment complexes and homeowners associations are usually bid as annual or seasonal contracts. Walk the property with the manager, measure turf areas, beds, edging and hard surfaces, and estimate crew hours for each task using your production rates. Multiply by your crew-hour rate, add materials such as mulch and seasonal flowers, and divide the total by the number of billing months. Read the bid specification carefully: frequency of mowing, leaf removal, snow, irrigation checks and insurance requirements all change the price. Many commercial clients require higher liability limits and certificates naming them as additional insured, so include those costs.

Commercial work often pays net 30 or longer. Confirm payment terms before you sign and make sure your cash reserve can handle the delay.

Keep a production log

Pricing gets more accurate when you measure. For two or three weeks, write down the minutes spent on every property and every task: mowing, trimming, edging, blowing and bed work. Compare the actual time with your estimate. You will quickly learn which yards are underpriced, how fast your crew really works, and how to price the next new customer.

Common pricing mistakes

1. Pricing by the neighbor's rate instead of your own costs.
2. Ignoring drive time on scattered yards.
3. No minimum charge for small properties.
4. Underpricing the first cut on overgrown lawns. Charge extra for it.
5. Not tracking time per property, so you never spot the yards that lose money.
6. Giving free extras such as weeding beds every week without charging for it.

Questions readers ask

Should I charge by square foot or by time?

Square footage is a useful starting point, but time is what you really sell. Two lawns of the same size can take very different time because of obstacles, slopes and gates, so convert area into minutes using your own production rates.

How do I handle rain delays in a monthly plan?

Most companies explain in the agreement that service shifts to the next available day and that monthly billing is based on a seasonal average.

Your next step

Time every yard on your route for two weeks. Calculate the effective hourly rate for each one. Any property earning far below your target needs a price increase, a route change or a polite goodbye.

The full guide, Starting a Landscaping & Lawn Care Business, includes pricing worksheets, seasonal agreement templates, routing strategy, lawn treatment licensing guidance and a 30/60/90-day plan, for $0.99.