How Much to Charge for Lawn Mowing?

Look up the lot size - the county parcel record or a satellite view is enough - and decide whether this customer is weekly, biweekly, or a one-time cut. Lot size sets the base price; frequency sets the premium. Those two numbers are the quote.

Per visit, weekly: small lot $30 to $45, medium $40 to $65, large $55 to $80, half acre $65 to $95, an acre or more $100 to $160 - mow, edge, trim, and blow included. Biweekly adds 10 to 20 percent; a one-time cut adds 50. A monthly contract is four visits at about 10 percent off, and it is what fills a route.

Line-item the spring and fall cleanup, aeration, and any hedge, mulch, or fertilizing work - they are separate tickets, not favors. Then quote the season: visits times the per-visit rate, with the frequency and the cleanup dates written out. One clean number the customer can say yes to on the first visit.

Cleanups are the biggest tickets on a mowing route and they are always their own line: $150 to $400 for a spring or fall cleanup, $75 to $250 per leaf-removal visit. Quote them to every route customer in March and September, before they call someone else.

Doing cleanup work inside the mowing price is the top lawn-bid mistake. See Pricing mistakes.

Charge $75 to $200 for aeration, $100 to $300 with overseeding, and $50 to $100 per fertilizer or weed-control application - with a state applicator license before you touch a chemical. These are the highest-margin visits on the route, sold to customers who already trust you.

• Biweekly: 10 to 20 percent more per visit - taller grass, slower cut
• One-time or neglected lawn: 50 percent more - two passes and a bagging fee
• Slopes, fenced yards, and obstacles: add 10 to 25 percent for the trimming time

Hedge and shrub trimming at $60 to $120 an hour, mulch at $75 to $130 per cubic yard installed, bed edging as its own line. Mark up mulch, seed, and fertilizer 30 to 50 percent and re-price them each spring - and quote add-ons to every route customer at least once a season.

• Price at the market per-visit rate for the lot size, not below it. The cheapest mower is the one whose route empties first.
• Always line-item cleanups and add-ons. They are where small operators leak margin.
• Put the frequency on every quote. Weekly is the base; biweekly and one-time cost more, and the customer should see why.
• Sell the monthly contract on the first visit. Four visits at about 10 percent off fills the route and keeps it filled.

• Equipment, fuel, and a real overhead load in every per-visit price - a zero-turn and a trailer earn eight months a year.
• Standard quote template so every crew prices lot size, frequency, and cleanups the same way.
• Lawns-per-day targets so a tight route becomes margin, not just speed.
• Route density rules so a crew never drives across town for one small lot.

A lawn quoted hourly on site is a lawn quoted low. Time a medium lot once, then quote every lot from the size table - customers compare per-visit prices, not your minutes.

A fall cleanup folded into the weekly rate is $150 to $400 you gave away on one lawn. Cleanups, aeration, and trimming are their own lines, every time.

Biweekly grass is taller and slower and a neglected lawn is two passes. Add 10 to 20 percent for biweekly and 50 for a one-time cut, and say so on the quote.

A lawn thirty minutes from the route costs more than it pays at any per-visit rate. Fill streets, quote neighbors, and let the far ones go.

A handshake mowing deal disappears the first time it rains on your day. Send the quote in writing, with the lot size, the frequency, and the cleanup dates, before the first cut.