Lawn care is a very popular pastime for a great many homeowners. Some out of enjoyment, and many out of necessity. The necessity part is where your new business comes in. You can offer up your services to these homeowners who either don’t have the time, or the desire to be outside doing their yardwork. But the question is, how much should you charge for your lawn mowing services?
In the U.S. the range to charge clients for mowing the lawn is between $25-$75 per hour. Your experience in the field, how established your business is and your clientele will play a role in how much your business can charge per hour.
Things to keep in mind when setting your fee will include how long you have been in the business, the clientele you are catering to, where your business is located, and your competition. We will also talk about how to use advertising to help raise your asking price over time. Read on to learn more about these tools, and learn how to use them as a guide to set your fee.
How long have you been around?
There’s a reason why businesses that have been in the industry for years are allowed to charge such high prices. They have built a name for themselves and have a loyal clientele that will hand over their money without giving a second thought. But they enjoy this perk because they have earned their customer’s trust. They have offered up good quality work and amazing customer service time and time again, to build up the following they now have. So how much you can charge your clients will largely depend on how long you have been in the industry.
Maybe you’ve inherited your parent’s landscaping business and your family has been doing this for thirty years now. Chances, are you can charge clients a little higher up on the range we looked at earlier, and they will give you the money without batting an eyelash. You’ve earned this kind of trust, and you shouldn’t hesitate to charge premium prices for your services.
But maybe, you’re just starting your lawn mowing business and this is your first summer doing it. Clients may not be inclined to shell out $75 an hour to someone they’ve never worked with and don’t know what to expect when it comes to job quality. Start at reasonable prices, and work your way up. You have a much better chance of landing the job if you lowball your prices your first summer. Then once you earn your clients’ trust, you can slowly inch your price upwards in the following seasons.
How Much Money Does A Landscaping Business Owner Make?
The importance of building your clientele
Sometimes a great way to build up your clientele may be to offer low prices compared to your competitors. You’re essentially offering up your services at a much lower price than your competition is, and therefore putting yourself in a position to land more jobs. Once you’ve become an established business and have been around for a few years, you can slowly begin to hike up your prices as your business grows.
A lot of times the best way to build up your clientele if you are just getting started, is to offer up your services to friends and families. This will help to get your initial business going, and you can then tell new clients that you already have worked several other jobs around the area. This will help get new client approval if they know you already have several jobs under your belt.
How Location Affects Your Pricing
The location where you are selling your services will also play a role in how much you can charge. Some clients simply have more to spend on lawn care than others, and you will have a lot more luck having clients in wealthier neighborhoods shell out big bucks for lawn mowing services than others. This is where it comes in handy to do your research ahead of time before you make your sales pitch.
Remember, never shop with your wallet. Just because you wouldn’t be willing to spend more than $50 an hour on a lawn mowing job, that doesn’t mean others wouldn’t. So, don’t lowball yourself if you don’t have to land the job. Always do your research and know who your audience is before presenting. This will benefit you in the long run and help you land higher-paying jobs.
How And Where To Find Lawn Care Clients
Check out your competition
As with all businesses, you will certainly have some competition in the lawn mowing field. Make sure you are in the know about what your competitors are offering their clients. If you work in the same neighborhoods and serve the same clients, you’ll have to keep your pricing competitive to land jobs. No client will agree to pay you $60 an hour for the same job your competitor is offering to do for $45.
Another thing you can do to make your business stand out is offer bundled service packages. Say you offer a fee of $50 an hour for mowing the lawn, and offer up the added service of mowing and watering their lawn for a discounted rate of $65 per hour. This adds value to the client, thus justifying paying you a higher rate per hour. This will also make you stand out from your competitors because now they don’t have to hire two separate people to take care of their lawn. Try creating multiple different service packages like this to capture more clients and make your business continue to stand out from your competition.
Using Advertising to help establish your business
Ever wonder how some of those small Ma and Pa shops worked their way up to multimillion-dollar empires? Advertising. They got their company name out to as wide an audience as they could, and as their brand name grew, and their clientele grew with it, they slowly started to raise prices and add on additional services.
As with all things, getting your business established is a key part of raising your pricing. Advertising can play a huge part in this. Get your name out there, whether it’s on social media, word of mouth, or simply putting up fliers around the neighborhood with your number on it. Whatever you do to get your name around to more people the better. The larger the loyal clientele you gain, the more you’ll be able to expand your business and thus charge higher prices season after season.
Putting it all Together
Overall, you are in charge of setting your prices. No pricing police will tell you, you can’t set your fee at $1,000 per hour. You probably just won’t get a lot of clients that will take you up on your offer. So, you must use your common sense and the research that you’ve done on your target client to determine a fair price that is both reasonable and competitive. Take into account the factors we looked at above and use them as guidelines to help you make your decision.
Lastly, remember to always be flexible and ever-changing with the current trends. You don’t have to set a rigid fee straight across the board, and some clients like being able to negotiate with you to “strike a deal” as they call it. This is fine too, as long as you land on a price that seems fair to both of you. Now that you have these tips at your fingertips, go forth and take over the lawn mowing industry!
How Much To Charge As A Landscaper
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should I wait to increase my prices?
That’s an interesting question, let’s take a look at a few factors. How long has your business been around, and how many clients do you have that return each year? If you feel that you have a loyal clientele that you know will only work with you, this may be a good opportunity to raise your prices. Another good time to raise prices maybe if you know some of your competition has either relocated or closed. If clients have fewer options to choose from, they have no choice but to pay the prices that local businesses are offering. Like all things, do your research and make logical decisions. You don’t want to increase your prices too fast and scare away your existing clients.
Can I lower my prices and take on more jobs?
This is a great idea, and if you have the time and energy to do so, by all means! What you essentially would be doing is reducing your price per client, but taking on more jobs to still bring in the income you would like to earn. If you have the time in your week, and of course the energy it takes to mow more lawns, then this could certainly be a great way to find more clients and build up your clientele. After all, what smart shopper would pass up an offer of $35 an hour when all the competitors are asking for $50?
To learn more on how you can start your own landscaping business, check out my startup documents here.
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Meet Shawn Chun: Entrepreneur and Landscape Business Fan.
I’m a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a landscape business owner at a job site, driving down the road or anywhere else I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Landscaping Business Boss: I want to help landscape business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.