What do you charge?

[Diggin It]

That's an open question, isn't it? :laughing:


Mowing I mean. For those that mow for others, whether a real business doing several yards a day or just some extra cash doing a couple of yards a week. For this discussion, assume a mowable area approximately 100' x 100', no buildings but a few landscape features like trees and shrubs. Would like to see prices two ways; mowing only and mowing with trimming.

 

[bunyip]

A real estate agent offered me $10 an hour when he saw me mowing while he was driving past, told him he was about $290 short of my normal rate, i AM NOT A landscaper or gardener, pompous little pimple.
Family pay me a bottle of something occasionally.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Not sure how to be much help on your request. You would probably be best off to set down and make a list.

1. How much per hour do you personally need to earn.
2. A list of the machinery or tools your going to use
3. Then a guesstimate on how many hours you can run your equipment before it needs replaced versus its replacement price. Such as 20 or 40 hours a week for 3 1/2 months for 3 years.
4. Fuel, oil, weed-eater line,
5. Filters and blades, wheels etc for the season
5. Time and cost to transport it to the job and load and unload.
6.Insurance or business permits for your area ? Advertising cost if any. Someone doing paper work ?
7. Total hourly rate might surprise you. Many people think the resulting price is ridicules. Unless you’re doing it to make a living then it puts a different perspective on things.
8. Then you get to have another guess on how long it takes you to work the area the customer needs.



Many people seem to be surprised that a 30 to 35 horse power tractor can cost 30 to 35 dollars a hour to operate it. Plus wages and transportation, and paper work, insurance. Many high end lawn mower, zero turns and what not are not going to be different.

Then you get to decide if you want or are able to compete against people that are just wanting to earn spending money or are only going to be able to stay in business for a year or two before they realize something is not adding up.
For example there is a local retired person in my area running a bush hog to mow with and using a older 40 to 50 house power tractor. It’s impossible to beat or match his prices. Visiting with him one day I found it interesting that his thoughts were that he was earning some nice part time spending money and it would last until the tractor needs a major repair. When that happens he will go to full time retirement. The tractor and equipment he already had will have served a purpose and no loss since a replacement will not be needed.

 

[ZTMAN]

Over on the landscape forums, the general rule of thumb is $60 per hour, with the right equipment. For example, you would not cut a three acre lawn with a 21" walk behind and expect to get that. A quarter acre, mow and blow, would generally go for around $35 dollars. Add string trimming, $45

 

[LD1]

Fill out your profile with a location.

Mowing Florida, New York, California...... is probably gonna go for alot more than mowing in the rural midwest.

Around here, tractor work with a 50-60HP tractor averages about $75/hr
Smaller tractors like 20-30hp stuff goes for $50-$60

So based on that, and cost of equipment, overhead, and equipment needed for transportation....I'd say $40/hr around here would be the going rate.

ZTR's for the most part are pretty low maintenance. A set of blades every 500 hrs and a new belt every 250hrs or so. Extrapolate that out to 1000hrs....thats 4 belts at $60ea, and 2 blade sets @ $60ea....$360 / 1000hrs is $0.36/hr

$20 oil change ever 100hrs is $0.20/hr....

So about $0.50/hr maintenance. Round it up to $1/hr for good measure

By far the biggest cost is gonna be fuel. My ZTR in thick grass likes to drink 2 gal/hr. So thats $5/hr.

Now charge $40/hr....net $34/hr......even if you have to replace mower in 2000hrs.....you have made $68,000...with a $10,000 machine. Thats not bad.

Obviously that $40/hr is once you get on site.....obviously you have to cover cost to get to and from. And a 3000sq ft yard vs a 2 acre yard....proportionally you have more expense in transportation on the smaller jobs that must be covered

 

[Fuddy1952]

A landscaper friend has a work crew and expensive equipment and only works in the most expensive neighborhood. He's very expensive.
I got lucky years ago finding a guy who works part time cutting grass. At Mom's place he mows around the two houses and barn, around the lake, down driveway, along highway. It has to be 2-3 acres total. He picks up limbs and uses a trimmer. It takes at least half a day. $55 is what he charges.
I've never figured out how he does it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Fill out your profile with a location.

Mowing Florida, New York, California...... is probably gonna go for alot more than mowing in the rural midwest.

Around here, tractor work with a 50-60HP tractor averages about $75/hr
Smaller tractors like 20-30hp stuff goes for $50-$60

So based on that, and cost of equipment, overhead, and equipment needed for transportation....I'd say $40/hr around here would be the going rate.

ZTR's for the most part are pretty low maintenance. A set of blades every 500 hrs and a new belt every 250hrs or so. Extrapolate that out to 1000hrs....thats 4 belts at $60ea, and 2 blade sets @ $60ea....$360 / 1000hrs is $0.36/hr

$20 oil change ever 100hrs is $0.20/hr....

So about $0.50/hr maintenance. Round it up to $1/hr for good measure

By far the biggest cost is gonna be fuel. My ZTR in thick grass likes to drink 2 gal/hr. So thats $5/hr.

Now charge $40/hr....net $34/hr......even if you have to replace mower in 2000hrs.....you have made $68,000...with a $10,000 machine. Thats not bad.

Obviously that $40/hr is once you get on site.....obviously you have to cover cost to get to and from. And a 3000sq ft yard vs a 2 acre yard....proportionally you have more expense in transportation on the smaller jobs that must be covered

That is a pretty good break down, but I think your blades and belts are way over rated at least from my experience. I go thru a set of blades about ever 100 hours due to lots of crawfish mounds and hitting rocks. A sandy area is going to eat them up quickly also. Same with mower deck belt which has been replaced about once a year since I got my mower.
Small yards will eat up travel time as much as larger ones so they have to be proportionally more money per square foot. If you get several yards in a close area, then you can do them cheaper out of pocket, but not necessarily charge less per customer.
You can use LD1's guide for maintenance and get your own equipment costs, add insurance cost and your expected hourly salary and then just use your own yard mowing as a guide for how long it takes to mow a yard, load and unload equipment etc. Add it all up and see how you come out.
The problem is going to be like Redlands Okie mentioned with folks out for a quick buck that undercut reasonable prices that will make your pricing seem too high.
When I was working out of country, my wife had a guy mow our yard about an acre (partial of what I mow weekly), no edging or leaf blowing and he charged $60 for less than 1 hour ( arrival to load out). This was not an unreasonable rate for my area. Many gardener services charge that much to mow a small city lot.

 

[Wakey]

I'd ask people in your area what they pay. This way you are charging market rates for YOUR area.

Where I moved from and where I am now are so completely different. I had customers that paid me $65.00 an hour to babysit cable and satellite "technicians" performing repairs. My regular rate is $85.00/hour. No chance I get that here where I now live.

 

[Diggin It]

I know there are a ton of variables so there is no one answer. This would not be as a business, but to make a few extra bucks as a side job. This would be doing a few neighbors where I could ride the machine on rural county roads, within a mile or so. No long travels, no trailering. One person, no help. Quick hit and move on kind of thing.

I was thinking something like $50/mow for the size area I mentioned.

One thing that bugs me though is the liability issue. Even friends and neighbors can get unpleasant if something unfortunate happens, no matter how you offer to resolve it.

 

[Sigarms]

One thing that bugs me though is the liability issue. Even friends and neighbors can get unpleasant if something unfortunate happens, no matter how you offer to resolve it.

Bingo.

Unless you're doing someone a favor and NOT looking to make money on the side, DON'T charge for what you do.

I mowed a older womans house about 4 miles down the road as she was friends with us through the humane society. Had to take the mower on a trailer to her place as it was too far to ride the mower on the road IMO. Mowed it for a couple of years until her son decided it was time to get her a mower (he lives about 2 hours away). She now mows it herself.

No problems when I mowed there for about 2 years.

You go charging people, and if a rock your mower throws and hits a window, you could be in for a world of heart ache.

The key question is - Do you need the money to mow other people's yards? If the answer is no, don't do it.