What to Charge for Lawn Mowing: A Real Pricing Guide
Pricing lawn mowing jobs gets complicated fast. Maybe you’ve done some rides around the block, eyeballed a yard, or copied what a competitor down the street charges. All of that is a mistake without a system.
I built Augusta Lawn Care from zero to 200+ locations and $60M+ in revenue. Pricing was one of the biggest challenges and biggest wins we had. If you want to make real money, you need a plan — not guessing.
Here’s the approach we use at Augusta, straight from the trenches with nothing sugar-coated.
Per-Cut vs Per-Square-Foot Pricing — Which Works?
You’ll hear two main ways to price mowing:
- Per-cut pricing: You charge a flat fee per visit. Maybe $40 for a small yard, $80 for a big one.
- Per-square-foot pricing: You charge based on the size of the lawn, say $0.02 per square foot.
Both have pros and cons.
Per-cut pricing is simple to explain to customers. But it can leave money on the table for big yards or cause you to undercut for small ones. Also, estimating the job size in advance can be guesswork if you’re just driving by.
Per-square-foot pricing sounds fair and can scale with lawn size, but it requires you to measure accurately. Too many times, techs eyeball in the field and blow estimates — either charging too little or chasing a job with a big price tag and slow turnaround.
At Augusta, we started using a hybrid approach once we had our systems down. We’d have a base price per cut, and then add per-square-foot increments for lawns over a certain size.
Example: $50 for up to 5,000 sq ft, then $0.01 per additional square foot. This kept it simple but fair and helped us avoid nickel-and-diming every customer.
How I Price Lawn Mowing Jobs at Augusta
I’m going to get real with you here. Back in the early days, I priced mowing jobs based purely on what locals charged. It was a disaster. We were losing money and work was inconsistent.
Here’s the formula we landed on after running the numbers and testing over 3 years:
- Calculate your cost per cut first. That means all your direct costs — wages, fuel, maintenance, equipment depreciation.
- Add a markup for overhead — office, marketing, management.
- Factor in profit margin — at least 20%. We aim for 25%+ if the market can bear it.
- Adjust according to yard difficulty — slopes, obstacles, grass type.
- Decide if you want to charge per cut, per square foot, or hybrid.
Breaking it down:
- Labor: At Augusta, mowing a 7,000 sq ft yard with a walk-behind mower takes about 30-40 minutes if it’s straightforward. Techs get paid $15-$18 an hour, depending on location.
- Fuel and maintenance: Roughly $3 per cut per tech.
- Overhead: About 25% of total costs.
So if labor + fuel = $12 per cut, overhead adds another $3, and you want $5 profit, you’re at $20 per cut minimum.
For an average yard of 7,000 sq ft, that’s roughly $0.003 per sq ft, or $20 flat. But make no mistake — that’s a bare-bones baseline. If the yard is too big or complex, your price goes up.
Don’t Underprice Mowing Jobs
I see it all the time — new companies bidding low to get jobs. Sometimes they win and get a few customers hooked. But it backfires fast:
- Techs quit because wage pays don’t cover time
- Equipment breaks down faster because you can’t maintain it
- You never get ahead, profits vanish
At Augusta, we learned this the hard way. We used Home.works software early on to track actual time per job, and it was a reality check. We adjusted pricing accordingly, and profits jumped 30% in the next quarter alone.
If you want to price right, track how long jobs take and watch your true costs. Don’t guess.
Common Pricing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Mistake 1: Ignoring yard complexity. Sloped lawns, lots of trees, tight spaces add time. Don’t charge a flat rate if the yard is clearly a pain.
Mistake 2: No system for measuring lawn size. Techs eyeballing yards leads to guesswork. Use satellite apps or invest in a lawn measurement tool to get square footage right.
Mistake 3: Forgetting add-ons. Edging, blowing clippings, trimming shrubs — these add time and cost. Price them separately and don’t throw them into the flat price.
Mistake 4: No review process. Don’t set price and forget it. Revisit your pricing quarterly based on actual cost data and market.
Mistake 5: Winging labor costs. Pay techs in line with your pricing. If they earn $10/hr but you price low, you can’t grow.
How Tech Makes Pricing Easier
You don’t have to do this manually today. At Augusta, we use Home.works software to schedule, route, and invoice jobs. The software lets you input yard sizes, difficulty levels, and it calculates prices instantly.
This cuts down on phone tag, guesswork, and surprises when the invoice hits the customer. It also gives us real-time labor cost tracking to keep margins healthy.
If you’re not using good software yet, you’re flying blind.
My Personal Story: Pricing Mistakes That Almost Sank Us
When I first launched Augusta, we priced mowing jobs based on the competition. We thought, "If Jones charges $35, that’s our number too."
Except Jones had different tech pay, older equipment, and was doing it part-time. We had no cushion. Within months, we were bleeding cash.
We switched to tracking exact times via GPS and punch clocks synced to actual routes. It was painful to face the truth. But that data let us create a pricing model that worked everywhere, from Augusta to new franchise markets.
That system has been a huge part of our franchise success.
What You Should Do Right Now
Grab a pad and track your last 10 mowing jobs or better, get data from your techs. Write down:
- Yard size (use free satellite tools online)
- Time spent mowing
- Fuel used
- Any extra tasks performed
Calculate your real cost per job. Then add overhead and your profit target.
If you want a proven jumpstart, check out my free courses at MikeAndes.com/free-courses, especially the pricing breakdowns.
If you’re ready to systematize everything, your next moves:
- Use software like Home.works to measure, price, and schedule jobs.
- Start charging based on a formula, not guesses.
- Track closely and adjust quarterly.
Pricing is the backbone of your lawn care business. Screw it up, and profits vanish. Get it right, and you set yourself up for real growth.
No fluff, no secrets. Just the way Augusta Lawn Care built a $60M franchise with pricing that works everywhere.
You’re in control. Start pricing like you mean it.
Need help? Check out Home.works — it’s the software we use at Augusta for scheduling, routing, and pricing carved perfectly for companies like yours.
And if you want to see how the top 1% price and sell jobs, watch my YouTube video “The Sales System the Top 1% of Home Service Businesses Use.” It’s pure gold for pricing strategy.
Time to stop guessing and start earning. Go price your jobs right today.
