In this guide
Landscaping has three kinds of pricing hiding under one name. Maintenance, like mowing, edging and blowing, is priced per visit and lives or dies on minutes. Installs, like mulch, plantings and hardscape, are priced by the unit and the equipment. Seasonal contracts spread both over months. Each one goes wrong in its own way.
Maintenance: price the minutes, including the drive
A mowing price is time on site plus a share of the drive between stops, at your crew's hourly cost, plus margin.
Take a quarter-acre lot that a two-person crew finishes in 30 minutes, with about 10 minutes of driving to the next stop. Say the crew costs $80 an hour to run: both people's wages with payroll costs, plus the truck, trailer, mowers and fuel.
| Minutes | Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| On site | 30 | $40.00 |
| Drive share | 10 | $13.33 |
| Cost per visit | 40 | $53.33 |
| Price at a 25% margin | $53.33 ÷ 0.75 = $71.11, so $72 |
The drive is the line most people leave out, and it's why a route of scattered small yards can be busy all day and still barely pay. Tightening the route is often worth more than raising the price.
Over a 30-week season at weekly service, that yard is $2,160 of revenue. Knowing that number helps when you decide whether to add a customer who is 20 minutes off your route.
Installs: price by the unit, and say whether it's installed
Mulch by the cubic yard, soil by the yard, stone by the ton, plants by the count, pavers by the square foot. For each one, write down whether the price is installed or delivered. A $95 yard of mulch spread in the beds and a $45 yard dumped in the driveway are different jobs, and clients compare them anyway.
Then add what the unit price doesn't cover:
- Equipment: a skid steer or sod cutter day, as its own line.
- Disposal: old sod, roots, stumps and broken concrete all cost money to get rid of.
- Access: a narrow side gate can double the labor on a backyard job. Write the assumption on the estimate.
- Utility locate: call 811 before any digging. It's required, it's free, and it's worth a line on the estimate so the client sees you do it.
Seasons: count the visits honestly
A seasonal mowing contract is usually priced as the per-visit price times the expected visits, divided into equal monthly payments. The risk is in the count. A wet spring means more cuts, and a drought means fewer. Some contracts cap visits and bill extras. Others set the price from an average season and accept the swing. Pick one and write it down.
For snow and other weather-driven work, see the snow removal invoice template, which bills per push with storm dates.
After the season, check the numbers
At the end of each month, compare the minutes you priced against the minutes the crew actually spent, yard by yard. The yards that always run long are the ones to reprice first. The job profit calculator does the arithmetic, and the landscaping estimate template and invoice template are set up with the lines above.
Tree removal is priced differently from maintenance: by the tree's height, trunk and what sits under it, with the stump and cleanup as separate lines. If you take on removals, the tree removal cost calculator shows the published price ranges your clients will compare you against.
The drive between stops is also a tax deduction if you log it. The IRS mileage rate for self-employed contractors covers what counts and how to keep the log.
What did that job really make?Profit and margin for any job in seconds.FAQ
How much should I charge to mow a lawn?
Work it out from your crew's hourly cost, the minutes on site, and the drive between stops, then add your margin. A price copied from a competitor ignores your route and your costs.
Should landscapers charge by the hour or by the job?
Most price maintenance per visit and installs per job, from an hourly cost they know. Hourly billing works for cleanup work of unknown size, with the rate agreed first.
Do landscapers charge sales tax?
It depends on the state. Some tax lawn care and landscaping services, some only the materials, some neither. Check your state's department of revenue.
