How to Price Lawn Care by the Visit and Square Foot
Lawn care pricing by the visit is a method where you add up the cost of every task on one stop (mowing, edging, cleanup, crew hours and equipment) and set a price earning your target margin on the visit.
Key takeaways
- Price the visit, not the lawn. Your costs are time on site, drive time and equipment, and square feet are only one way to estimate the time.
- Break the visit into tasks: mowing, edging, cleanup. Each task has a separate time and crew.
- Drive time between stops is a real cost, so tight routes make a bigger difference to profit than a higher rate.
- Price = cost ÷ (1 − target margin). Adding a percentage on top of cost leaves you with a thinner margin than you intended.
- Weekly, biweekly and first-time cleanups are different jobs and should have different prices.
Why per visit works better than per square foot alone
Two 6,000 sq ft lawns can take different time: flat and open versus slopes, gates, beds and obstacles. A square-foot rate hides slopes, gates and obstacles. Use square feet to estimate the crew's time and quote one price per visit.
The line items
- Mowing. Crew time on the mower, plus the mower's share of the cost.
- Edging and trimming. Usually slower per square foot than mowing.
- Cleanup. Blowing off drives and walks, bagging, and anything you haul.
- Crew hours. Every person on site, at a loaded rate (wages plus payroll costs). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, which splits what employers pay per hour worked into wages and benefits.
- Equipment. Mower, trimmer, blower: fuel, blades, line, repairs and the machines' share of purchase cost.
- Drive time. Getting to the stop. Count drive time for each person in the truck. The IRS sets a standard mileage rate for business use of a vehicle each year, which you can compare with your own truck costs per mile.
- Overhead share. Insurance, software, marketing and other fixed costs.
Worked example (illustrative numbers)
A 6,000 sq ft lawn, two-person crew, 45 minutes on site.
| Task | Crew time | Labor (2 people × $24/h) |
|---|---|---|
| Mowing | 25 min | $20.00 |
| Edging | 10 min | $8.00 |
| Cleanup | 10 min | $8.00 |
| Crew hours total | 45 min | $36.00 |
| Other line items | How it's figured | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment and fuel | Machine allocation plus fuel for 0.75 h | $7.50 |
| Drive time | 15 min × 2 people × $24/h + $2.50 fuel | $14.50 |
| Overhead share | Allocated to the visit | $5.00 |
| True cost of the visit | $63.00 |
At a 35% target margin: $63 ÷ (1 − 0.35) = $96.92, or about $97 per visit. A $97 visit on a 6,000 sq ft lawn works out to roughly 1.6 cents per sq ft.
Adding 35% on top of cost instead gives $63 × 1.35 = $85.05. Profit would be $22.05, about 25.9% margin, not 35%.
Set your price by visit type
| Visit type | What to expect | How to price it |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Short, regular, little regrowth | Lowest price per visit |
| Biweekly | More regrowth, slower mowing, more cleanup | Higher than weekly, since the time is longer |
| First visit / overgrown | Extra cuts, heavy cleanup, hauling | Quote the first visit separately, or add a startup fee |
Routes matter as much as rates
Every minute in the truck between stops is paid time with nothing to show. Stops close together make the same price more profitable. A stop far from your route may need a higher price or a minimum charge.
What a month of weekly visits looks like
Visit pricing is easier to trust across a month. Using the same illustrative numbers, four weekly visits at $97 bring in $388. The true cost of the four visits is 4 × $63 = $252. The month leaves $136 of profit, about 35% of the billed amount. If one visit in the month runs over because of a locked gate or a lawn growing faster than planned, the overrun visit's profit shrinks and the month falls below target. A price with no room for surprises is a risk.
What if your price is higher than the neighbors'?
Check the cost side before you cut the price. Look at crew time, drive time and equipment first. A tighter route or a faster edging method can lower the cost without lowering your margin.
A lower price is sometimes a deliberate choice, so see what the lower price costs. At a 25% margin the same visit is $63 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = $84, and your profit drops from about $34 to $21 per visit. Over four weekly visits, the lower margin costs roughly $52 a month. Sometimes a lower margin is worth accepting to land a stop on your route. Sometimes the lower margin is not worth accepting.
Where lawn visit pricing has limits
- Square feet are an estimate. Measure the mowable area, not the whole lot. Beds, buildings and driveways don't get mowed.
- Your time per square foot is yours. The 6,000 sq ft in 45 minutes above is illustrative. Time a few of your own stops with a stopwatch and use the measured times.
- Add-ons are separate jobs. Hedge trimming, leaf cleanup, fertilizer or mulch each carry separate time and materials. Price each add-on as a separate line item instead of folding add-ons into the weekly visit.
- Seasons change the time. Growth is faster in some weeks and slower in others, so review your visit price at least once a season.
How Nerd in an App prices a lawn visit
Nerd in an App takes your crew rate, equipment costs, drive time and overhead and works out the true cost of a visit. Nerd then shows the price needed to hit your target margin. For a recurring customer, you price the visit once and reuse the visit price every time.
FAQ
Should I charge per visit or per square foot?
Quote per visit, because the visit price is what the customer sees. Use square feet to estimate your crew's time, and use the cost of the crew's time to set the visit price.
How do I price a yard with slopes, gates or lots of obstacles?
Add crew time for the harder yard. More time means more crew hours and equipment cost, which raises the visit price. Don't keep the same square-foot rate for a harder yard.
Should weekly and biweekly visits have different prices?
Yes. A biweekly visit usually takes longer because the grass is taller, so a biweekly visit costs more to do.
How do I handle a first-time overgrown lawn?
Treat a first-time overgrown lawn as a separate job. Price the extra time and hauling separately, then move the customer to the regular visit price.
Does drive time count if I mow several houses on one street?
Yes, count the actual drive time per stop. On a tight route the drive time per stop is small, so clustering stops lifts your margin.
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