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We are looking to start a lawn care business but are unsure of how to price the lawns. Can anyone give us a clue on how to charge or any other information regarding lawn care.
First of all good luck. Secondly, you are planning a business. In my history of business brokerage (helping bring buyers and sellers of businesses together), the one thing I find most often is that plumbers are often very good at plumbing but terrible at operating a business. I recommend that you follow the advice of a wise old friend who died worth millions, before you mow that first blade of grass, make sure you have been counseled by an attorney, a cpa, and a banker. They want to help you make money!! It's in their best interests to do so.
The Small Business Administration also has many great resources such as SCORE, a group of retired businessmen and women who will coach you towards successfully managing your business.
Keep your overhead low. All you really need to start making money cutting grass is a reliable pickup, a good self-propelled lawn mower (Toro, Exmark, Honda Commercial, Lawnboy Commercial, etc.), a good string trimmer (Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, Redmax, Tanaka, Shindaiwa, etc.), a good hand-held blower (the same brands), basic blade sharpening and mechanic tools, and good health. Keep all your equipment at home. Do a good job, but don't be a perfectionist. If customers have unrealistic expectations, cull 'em out. Starting out, try to charge at least $25 per hour for each person plus $5 an hour for equipment upkeep and supplies, with a minimum of $35 for even the smallest job. If you have personal assets or retirement income that would be at risk in a lawsuit, get a couple million $$ liability insurance policy (you want the insurance company lawyers to be very interested in the outcome of any lawsuit filed against you). Finally, remember that grass cutting is the easiest part of the business and try to stick with that until you get a real good handle on your costs and income needs--leaf work, landscaping, shrubs, and cleanups are hard to estimate and require more equipment, so be careful before you expand your services into those arenas.
You can go to the lawncare sites (lawnsite comes to mind) for more discussion. Good luck.
Keep your overhead low. All you really need to start making money cutting grass is a reliable pickup, a good self-propelled lawn mower (Toro, Exmark, Honda Commercial, Lawnboy Commercial, etc.), a good string trimmer (Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, Redmax, Tanaka, Shindaiwa, etc.), a good hand-held blower (the same brands), basic blade sharpening and mechanic tools, and good health. Keep all your equipment at home. Do a good job, but don't be a perfectionist. If customers have unrealistic expectations, cull 'em out. Starting out, try to charge at least $25 per hour for each person plus $5 an hour for equipment upkeep and supplies, with a minimum of $35 for even the smallest job. If you have personal assets or retirement income that would be at risk in a lawsuit, get a couple million $$ liability insurance policy (you want the insurance company lawyers to be very interested in the outcome of any lawsuit filed against you). Finally, remember that grass cutting is the easiest part of the business and try to stick with that until you get a real good handle on your costs and income needs--leaf work, landscaping, shrubs, and cleanups are hard to estimate and require more equipment, so be careful before you expand your services into those arenas.
You can go to the lawncare sites (lawnsite comes to mind) for more discussion. Good luck.
Fantastic post, nalabama! Rep for you! One personal history note, do not buy anything Husqvarna but their exceptional chain saw. Their string trimmer is a sheep in wolf's clothing.
Which brings us to a point I failed to mention. The single most important support relationship you're going to have in this business is your small engine shop owner/dealer. Without your equipment up and running, you can't make any money at all, so buy your equipment from the best local guy you can find. If that's a Husqvarna dealer, then so be it. Husqvarna is an truly huge international company, and if they lag behind the market to any significant degree, you can bet they're going to take immediate corrective action to make themselves competitive.
That said, I bought Stihl from two different dealers for all my hand-held equipment and never looked back. All I've ever needed is parts that broke due to my carelessness or being just plain worn out. I'm out of the business now, but kept all my hand-held stuff, which is still perking along after ten years. YMMV.
I just wanted to add that because some areas of the country have been in a serious water drought, be sure to check out the area where you are planning to set up shop. Has the area gotten any rain? Is there anything to mow? Have water restrictions been put in place? You know, that kind of thing.
Proper equipment selection is important. Too many lawn care startups buy cheap residential lawn mowers that don't last 1 season of grass cutting. Alternately, they buy very expensive commercial lawn mowers without enough customers to pay for it.
Analyze your needs before purchasing equipment.
There is an interesting blog posting talking about buying a mower that "fits" your company:
I was curious about how much can an owner expect to make/ yr in the lawn care business? I've got quite a bit of time on my hands from my normal job and need something else to do on the side. Some kind of small start-up business is what I'm looking for.
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Yes, but...
Some useful resources
