1. Decide what you offer
Start with mowing: mow, edge and blow, priced per visit. It is the service customers want every week, and the one a route is built on.
Then the work that is not mowing, each as its own item: trimming hedges and shrubs, a seasonal cleanup, leaf removal. Work like that is easier to price by the hour or as one job than to fold into the mowing price.
Decide early what you do not do, and say it the same way every time. A short list done well is easier to price, to schedule and to explain than a long one.
2. Add up what it costs you
Before you set a price, write down what the business will cost you to run. The amounts are yours: they depend on what you already own and how far you drive. Write your own amount next to each.
| What it costs you | Your amount |
|---|---|
| Equipment: mower, trimmer, edger, blower | |
| A way to carry it: truck, trailer or rack | |
| Fuel, blades, line and upkeep each month | |
| Phone and the software you run the business on | |
| Insurance, if you carry it | |
| The first month with few customers |
Add the column up twice: once for what you need before the first lawn, once for what a normal month costs. The second number is the one your prices have to cover.
3. Set your prices
Price mowing per visit, by the size of the lot: one price for a small lot, a higher one for a larger lot. Price the work that is not mowing by the hour. Decide what you do when a customer wants a visit every two weeks instead of every week, and write the schedule on the estimate.
The lawn mowing price calculator does the sum for a visit. It opens with the starting prices OnsiteBoard gives a new lawn care account; put your own in their place and save them as your price list.
Open the lawn mowing price calculator
4. Find your first customers
Start close to home. Lawns on the same street cost you no drive between them, so a neighbor of a customer is worth more to you than a lawn across town. Ask every customer whether the house next door needs mowing.
Set up your Google Business Profile as a business that travels to its customers, with the area you serve. Ask every customer for a review.
Have one link you can send anyone: a booking page where a customer asks for a day and tells you the address and the size of the lot.
Answer quickly, with a clear price and a day.
5. Quote, mow, get paid
Write the quote down: the address, the size of the lot, the price per visit, the schedule, and anything that is not mowing on its own line. If you price a lawn you have not seen, say the price holds if the lawn is as described, and confirm it on the first visit.
Set the price per visit. If the customer prefers one invoice, bill the month's visits together. Customers can pay by card from the link you send. Card payments run through Stripe; its standard fees apply.
6. Build a route
A lawn care business becomes steady when visits repeat and sit close together. Put the lawns of one area on the same day, so the day is mowing and not driving.
Put regular customers on a schedule and bill per visit or once a month. When the season changes, tell regular customers what you offer next: a cleanup, leaf removal, or a break until spring.
Start with your price list. Then send your first estimate.
OnsiteBoard starts a new lawn care account with a service list and starting prices to change to yours. Set the mowing to repeat, send the estimate, send the invoice and get paid.
14 days free, no card to start.
If you choose a plan after the trial: OnsiteBoard Pro $49.99 /mo or $479.00 a year, billed through the App Store or Google Play; it renews until you cancel.
Questions about starting
What do I need to start a lawn care business?
Do I need a license to mow lawns?
How do I price a lawn I have not seen?
Should I charge by the visit or by the month?
Do I charge more when the grass is overgrown?
This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
the lawn mowing price calculator · the lawn care estimate template · the lawn care invoice template · Lawn care app and software