How much to charge for lawn mowing
A lawn price is your time on the property, plus the drive, times what your hour is worth. The calculator splits that into steps you can check.
- Mowing time is the lawn area divided by your mowing speed.
- Trimming, edging and blowing take a set number of minutes per visit.
- Drive time is the minutes you choose to bill for getting there.
- The total hours times your hourly rate is the price per cut, with your minimum as a floor.
The per-month figure averages the visits over a year. Weekly is 52 cuts a year, about 4.33 a month.
Finding your mowing speed
Your speed depends on your mower deck, the slope and the obstacles. Time a few typical lawns and divide each area by the minutes spent mowing. The 12,000 sq ft per hour default is a placeholder for the example only.
Measuring a lawn
Measure only the turf you mow. Leave out the house, driveway and beds. An acre is 43,560 sq ft, so a quarter acre is about 10,890 sq ft. A lot listed as a quarter acre has less lawn than that once you subtract the house.
Questions
How much should I charge to mow a lawn?
Price your time. Work out how long the property takes, including trimming and the drive, and multiply by your hourly rate. The calculator does that and shows each step.
Should I charge more for biweekly mowing?
Grass is longer after two weeks, so cuts often take longer. You can raise the trimming minutes or lower your mowing speed for biweekly customers to reflect that.
Should I charge for drive time?
Drive time between jobs is time you cannot bill elsewhere. This calculator lets you bill some of it per visit. Set it to 0 if your hourly rate already covers it.
Are the default rates real prices?
No. They are starting points for the example. Use your own.