Per Hour

[anderson_lawns]

Hey Guys, I have been charging around 20 per hour when i get to jobs, i know that is low but inorder to establish myself as a lawn service professional here i am charging low. Do you think this is ok to get started.

[highlander316]

I used to think that too when I was young, but now that I want to get into this professionally, I am finding it difficult to raise prices without getting complaints and stuff. So its your call, if you desperately need the business, or wanna prepare for the future.

[Allan]

$20 would be too low for my area. I charge $40 an hour and often get closer to $60 if I am having a good day. Of course that does not include travel time and such. Figuring that in, I get about $30 per hour for the whole day. I say scrap the $20, charge what you are worth, and people will respect you for it. When you charge a low rate, it makes it more difficult to do a good job and make money at it. This leads to cutting corners and will only hurt your business. Right now I am just a 1 man operation but when I get some bigger equipment and more expertise, my price is going up.

[anderson_lawns]

Lawns service businesses are poping up at everycorner here, and I dont have a lot of work. I want to get my foot in the door before I have high prices. Most of the work is done by me and my father we dont pay ourselves because we have to keep what little money we have in the company. There is no such thing as cutting corners in my company. No matter how tired or under charge i don't cut corners. I have to build the company before I can charge more than 20 per hour, but i thought it was a good start. Right now i am working for a realator and she could help me land some higher paying accounts this summer. Just asking for thoughts from my brothers here.

[tulsa lawn guy]

Justin,

You have to ask yourself what your long term goals are for your business. If you are planning on running a legitimate business and adding employees in the future, then there is no way $20/man hour can support that. That begs the question, what are you going to do with all your $20/hr customers when your expenses increase to the $20-$25/hr. level? If you keep servicing them for that price you will either be making no money, or even paying them to service their property. No Thank You!

Furthermore, who is it that you’re competing with? The scrubs or the legitimate companies? Personally, I have no interest in competing on price. Instead, I take the angle of superior quality work and reliability. Remember the phrase, “You get what you pay for.� In lawn care this is almost always true… and most customers know it.

Good luck!

[CBELAWN]

25.00 - 40.00

the first two jobs i bid this year were in the 35.00 range per hour.....then they took longer than expectedand worked out to 25.00 per hour, i was not happy about it but at least it was not a lose. i am trying to keep in the 40.00 range. peace

[anderson_lawns]

I am competting with other companies.

[tulsa lawn guy]

I am competting with other companies.

Perfect.

Charge accordingly.

[jimslawnservice1]

Justin,
I know how difficult it was to be young and somewhat new in the "area". Keep you chin up. Do quality work every time and your business will grow. 20 is on my very lowest side for hourly work. I find that people will not take you serouisly if you are too low. However they will also know if you are too high. I generally charge 30-50/hr. remember to always charge them for your disposal time (unloading) or cost ot unload.

[Stephan Schwebke]

Originally Posted By: jimslawnservice1

"Justin,
I know how difficult it was to be young and somewhat new in the "area". Keep you chin up. Do quality work every time and your business will grow. 20 is on my very lowest side for hourly work. I find that people will not take you serouisly if you are too low. However they will also know if you are too high. I generally charge 30-50/hr. remember to always charge them for your disposal time (unloading) or cost ot unload.

Is the 30-50/hr gross or net?? I'm esp. curious regarding the 50/hr. That's serious cashflow there!!

[Keith Jacobi]

I don't know what you're charging $20/hr. for but I would charge the normal price for mowing in your area. For everything else, $20 is fine for starting out. A lot of people on this forum like to talk big and say they are charging $X/hr. They probably are only getting that on one or two jobs that they misquoted or they just got lucky. Another thing is you have to consider what the client is getting for $X/hr. Chances are, since you are new to the business, that you are relatively inefficient due to smaller equipment. If it takes you 3 hrs. at $20/hr. to do a job it may take another company only 2 hrs. at $30/hr. which means you are charging less per hr. but making the same per job. The customers will only pay so much for a job to be done. This is why it is critical for you to get more efficient equipment, which usually means bigger and faster. Bigger established companies can charge more per hr. because they get more done per hr. Highlander316 said it's hard to raise prices. He's right. That's why you need to charge the going rate for the mowing, that way you don't have to raise the price in a year or two; the other prices are easy to raise. Tulsa Lawn Guy used the quote "You get what you pay for." He's right too. Unfortunately, the customers very rarely see it that way. They think that one "lawnboy" is as good as another so why not go with the cheaper one.

[Mattitude]

Our goal is to charge $50 per hour. This includes loading and unloading time. My travel expense and other costs is added in there. The great thing this spring has been the repeat business and getting more lawns in the same area, which has reduced travel time. Thats a key, target one area and really try to get in there and get a whole days work. That way you can just go right down the street!!!!!

[PTLlandscapingIL]

i charge at least 50 per man hour..last week this lady got really pissed at me and said that my labor was out of the ballpark.not true i had to move 7 tons of large marimac stone by wheelbarrow im working my butt off for every penny...justin dotn give up customers will come to you the ones that want quilty not PRICE. you will always have these illegals that LOWBALL us out of the field no worrys dont give up the other day i had this one company charging 30 bucks to cut a litte over an acre alot of trimming to be done and blowing also dont know how they cover there gas and labor with that but chrge what you feel is worth yopur time and you will make it

[First Cut Poppa]

Justin,

First rule of business:
Give the customer...
WHAT they want,
WHEN they want it,
AT A PRICE they are willing to pay.

If $20 is the going rate in your area, get it. If it's more, get it.
That is, of course, if it is PROFITABLE to you. Do you want to make friends or make money? You can go broke making friends.

There is nothing wrong with low prices, it attracts customers. If you don't believe me, just ask Sam Walton's little mom-and-pop organization called Wal-Mart. Hook the customer on price and then up-sell them the more profitable stuff; hedges, pruning, disposal fees, bedding, etc. If they like your basics, they will buy your extra services. Keep them hooked with the low mowing price and you will also get referrals that want more than just mowing also. At whatever price, though, you must do a professional job to remain in business. GIving poor service accounts for about 85% of overall customer dissatisfaction, which is why they change services. Not price.

[sharp]

I would say that 1, you might be attracting the wrong customer, price only type

2, once you get going "well" you will be the kind of nothing

I would say $30 to get started atleast. You don't want to get every job.