Need Advice/Help

[TimberWolf]

Would like some information on lawn care pricing. I am not currently mowing yards at the present time. Don't have a mower big enough to warrent a business. I only have a 22" self propelled mower. That is beside the point. Right now I am working about 25 or 30 hours a week and do yard work to suppliment my income. I enjoy doing this kind of work because it allows me to work on my own and I just like this type of work. What I would like to know is this. What do I charge for doing yard work. I currenty charge $10.00 an hour. Weeding,trimming bushes,leaf blowing and raking when the time comes. Would like to eventually start a lawn mowing service if only part time.How and what should I be charging for my "CURRENT SERVICES" ? By the hour or by the job. If by the job,how do I determine what to charge when I am not sure how long It will take. Or should I still charge by the hour but more per hour. Need any kind of input that anyone can provide. I would appreciate any help. Thanks to all !
TimberWolf

[vaughnslawns]

So You Will Mow With A 22 In For One Hour For $10.00 ? How Much Is Gas Where You Live? How Much Is Oil? How Much Was The Mower? How Much To Maintain It? Whats Lunch Cost You? Insurance?

[steve-o]

i hope you are troll and not serious.

Would like some information on lawn care pricing. I am not currently mowing yards at the present time. Don't have a mower big enough to warrent a business. I only have a 22" self propelled mower. That is beside the point. Right now I am working about 25 or 30 hours a week and do yard work to suppliment my income. I enjoy doing this kind of work because it allows me to work on my own and I just like this type of work. What I would like to know is this. What do I charge for doing yard work. I currenty charge $10.00 an hour. Weeding,trimming bushes,leaf blowing and raking when the time comes. Would like to eventually start a lawn mowing service if only part time.How and what should I be charging for my "CURRENT SERVICES" ? By the hour or by the job. If by the job,how do I determine what to charge when I am not sure how long It will take. Or should I still charge by the hour but more per hour. Need any kind of input that anyone can provide. I would appreciate any help. Thanks to all !
TimberWolf

my crap is based on $60/hour and i'm still broke. :laughing:

steve

[TimberWolf]

I think that I said that I had a mower that was too small to warrent a business ! If I plan to go into business I would most likely save up and get a Zero Radius mower. That would be the main piece of equipment. There is no way to compete in this industry with a 22" self propelled mower. Based on the first reply I understand you must calculate all those factors in. At the present time I am interested in knowing the price I should be charging for work that is more like landscaping.This is not considered landscaping but is a good example.... would be leaf raking and blowing this fall. How would you charge for a job like that ? By the hour or the job. This is what I am trying to figure out. What are the rates I should be charging and how should I be paid. This is all new to me. It isn't like when I was a teenager.........$7.50 and hour for a lawn.

[KLC]

You have to know your cost of doing business and what you would like to make per hour after expenses.

One thing you could do is have friends and family call other lawn companies and get estimates for mowing, trimming and edging. Without the equipment the next part would be tough, but you could try and estimate how long you think it would take to do those yards that the competition gave estimates on. That will help you get their hourly rate.

There are really good guides on here for estimating costs, might do a search for those as well.

Good Luck.

[TimberWolf]

Thank you for the information I do appreciate it !!

[TimberWolf]

Follow up..............

Thanks again for the information. The last response I got was from KLC. You stated that there were several places on this site to go searching for guides for estimating cost. Are there any that you would particularly recommend. Also do these guides apply to manual labor type stuff ? Need to do a check but thought I would ask anyway .

[KLC]

This is what I was referring to. IF you browse the topics for what you are looking for, there is a ton of info. It will get you started in the right direction, but you have to do the work.

Good Luck.

[Scaper-S2k]

You shouldn't really be billing them per hour. You should be billing them per job based on your hours.


I mean, you shouldn't bill them 4 hours for raking the leaves @ $10 per.


You should try and figure how many hours it will take you, charge much more than $10/hr but only show them one set price.


Like....Leaf removal.....$100.



For what it's worth, $10/hr is like $7/hr after taxes, and that's like $5/hr after expenses.



Now you may think "Well, I don't have $2/hr in expenses for what I am doing."

But you really do......you are saving for a zero turn. So even if you figured $2/hr towards that purchase, how long would it take to buy one? You'll soon see that your $10 really just isn't enough to warrant doing the work.



Your client doesn't need to know your hourly rate. Don't be afraid to triple them at this point. If you don't, you won't really be making any money once you start buying equipment.

[TimberWolf]

Did alittle looking and found some information that you were talking about. Got some pointers. Also thanks for the new info. I appreciate both ,Thanks Again !!