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How Much to Charge for Lawn Mowing: Pricing Charts and Formula

March 15, 2024 10 min. read
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Figuring out how to price lawn mowing can be tricky. You need to make sure you cover your costs, stay competitive with other lawn care providers, and profit off of every job.

On average, you can charge between $50 and $250 to mow a lawn in the U.S. If the service includes lawn maintenance, like edging and clipping removal, you can charge between $135 to $450.

We’ll break down the costs of the most common lawn care services in the lawn care pricing chart below, and what factors you need to consider before pricing jobs accurately.

Lawn mowing pricing

You can charge between $25 and $60 per hour for lawn mowing, or $50 to $250 per service

If you’re pricing by lawn size, you can charge between $50 to $200 per acre, or $0.01 to $0.06 per square foot

Use this chart to estimate your mowing pricing by lawn size:

Lawn SizeAverage Price
¼ acre$15–$50
½ acre$25–$100
¾ acre$40–$150
One acre$50–$200
Two acres$100–$400
Three acres$150–$600
Four acres$200–$800
Five acres$250–$1,000
10 acres$500–$2,000

To set your pricing, find out how much competitors in your area are charging. If you offer the same services as another lawn care business, don’t charge more than 15% above their price. That’s usually the tipping point for potential customers to choose the cheaper option.

You shouldn’t be the cheapest mowing service provider in your area, either. Instead, aim to offer the highest quality of service—especially if you’re trying to get commercial lawn care contracts.

That will set your reputation as a reliable business and help you attract the clients you want, even if your competitors offer lower pricing.

Before setting your lawn care service pricing, make you know how to estimate your lawn care services to stay profitable. 

How much to charge for other lawn care services (average price per service)

Here are the average prices for common lawn care services you may offer:

Lawn Care ServiceAverage Price Per Job
Mowing$123
Aeration$139
Fertilization$224
Weed removal$95
Mulch service$225
Seeding$1,078
Leaf removal$370
Yard cleanup$400

Remember, your pricing should take into account your costs (labor, materials, and overhead), and how much other lawn care businesses are charging in your area.

How much to charge for yard cleanup

You can charge customers between $15 to $60 per hour for a yard cleanup service. We recommend you charge hourly and on a case by case basis. After all, a small yard may require more labor than a large lot if there’s a lot of debris to remove, or fallen branches to clear.

Your pricing will vary depending on the yard size, amount of work, and your customer’s location. 

If there’s no additional work required, here’s how much you should charge for a lawn care spring cleanup based on the yard size:

Yard SizePrice Range
⅕ Acre$150–$400
¼ Acre$200–$500
½ Acre$400–$1,000
1 Acre$800–$2,000

Here’s how much you should charge for individual spring cleanup services:

Service NamePrice Range
Shrub trimming$40–$180
Garden clean-up$60–$150
Weed control$65–$150
Yard debris removal$75–$150
Tree debris removal$100–$300
Mulch clean-up$100–$400
Flower bed clean-up$100–$500
Tree trimming$175–$750
Leaf removal$200–$400
Tree pruning$350–$650

How much to charge for lawn aeration

The average cost of lawn aeration service ranges from $75–204 for the median 10,00-square-foot yard, or $0.10–$0.35 per square foot.

Lawn SizeAverage Price
500 sq.ft.$50–$75
1,000 sq.ft.$100–$350
5,000 sq.ft.$125
10,000 sq.ft.$175
20,000 sq.ft.$350
1 acre$480–$650

Pro Tip: Some lawn care companies charge different prices per increment. For example, they might charge $0.15 per square foot for the first 2,000 square feet, then drop the price to $0.10 for every additional thousand.

Aeration costs can depend on many factors, including:

  • Lawn size
  • Grass conditions
  • Climate and location
  • Aeration type (core vs. liquid aeration)
  • The cost of your full lawn maintenance package, if aeration is included

You should charge differently for your aeration service if you’re using core aeration versus liquid aeration. Here are typical costs for different types of aeration and why they vary:

  • Core aeration: $75–$250 per 10,000 square feet. You can charge less for your service if you own an aerator machine—that can cost $200–$300. Or, factor in rental costs of $80–$120 a day into your price. These machines have cylindrical prongs that pull pieces of grass, thatch, and soil from the ground.
  • Liquid aeration: $80-$150 per 10,000 square feet. You can charge less for this service because you’ll only need a bottle of liquid solution to aerate soil, instead of a machine. Liquid soil loosener costs $25–$60.

How much to charge for seeding

You can charge between $0.10 to $0.20 per square foot to seed or reseed a customer’s lawn, depending on lawn size, labor, and seed type.

Along with your location, there are two main factors that impact how to price your seeding services: type of grass seed and seeding method.

Use this pricing chart as a guide:

Lawn SizePrice Range
1,000 sq.ft.$100 – $200
2,000 sq.ft.$200 – $400
3,000 sq.ft.$300 – $600
4,000 sq.ft.$400 – $800
5,000 sq.ft.$500 – $1,000
1 acre$3,000 – $5,880

Different types of grass seeds come with varying price tags, depending on their growing conditions and maintenance requirements.

For example, fescue grass seed works best in shadier conditions and typically costs $3 per pound. 

  • For a new 1,000 sq.ft. yard, you’ll need 10 pounds of seeds, which will cost you $30.
  • To reseed the same yard, you’ll need 5 pounds of seeds, which will cost you $15.

Bahia grass seed, on the other hand, grows best in hot climates and can withstand drier conditions. It typically costs $10 per pound.

  • For a new 1,000 sq.ft. yard, you’ll need 10 pounds of seeds, which will cost you $100.
  • To reseed the same yard, you’ll need 5 pounds of seeds, which will cost you $50.

The seeding method you use can also impact the overall service pricing because of the equipment or labor involved. 

Here’s how you should price each different type of seeding method:

  • Pricing for aeration and overseeding can range from $0.08 to $0.25 per sq.ft.
  • Pricing for hydroseeding typically ranges from $0.08 to $0.20 per sq.ft. 
  • Pricing for slice seeding can range from $0.09 to $0.18 per square foot.

How much to charge for lawn fertilization

On average, you can charge around $224 for a lawn fertilization service in the U.S. The cost for lawn fertilization typically ranges between $76 to $394 depending on the size of your client’s lawn, or the fertilizer you use.

Lawn SizePrice Range
500 sq.ft.$10–$40
1,000 sq.ft.$20–$80
2,500 sq.ft.$50–$200
5,000 sq.ft.$100–$400
7,260 sq.ft. (⅙ acre)$250–$350
8,700 sq.ft. (⅕ acre)$245–$375
10,900 sq.ft. (¼ acre)$300–$400
14,500 sq.ft. (⅓ acre)$350–$450
21,800 sq.ft. (½ acre)$400–$500
32,700 sq.ft. (¾ acre)$450–$550
43,500 sq.ft. (1 acre)$500–$600

To choose how much you should charge for a fertilizer application, calculate the cost of the lawn fertilizer you’ll use for the job based on the square footage of the lawn.

A typical 40-pound bag of lawn fertilizer costs $80, which covers around 17,000 square feet of grass. That would put your fertilizer costs at $40 for an average 8,500 square-foot lawn.

How to price lawn care services using a formula

If you’d prefer to price out your own services, here’s the lawn mowing pricing formula you should use:

Labor costs + Material costs + (overhead + equipment costs) + profit margin

Cost of labor 

Your labor costs includes your employees hourly wages, taxes, workers compensation, and any other employee-related expenses.

To calculate your labor costs, multiply the total labor hours you’ll need (for each employee on the job) by your hourly labor cost (all those employee’s hourly wages plus labor expenses).

Material costs

For services that require materials, like fertilizer, grass seed, or mulch, you’ll want to incorporate these costs into your prices.

Here’s how you can accurately estimate material costs:

  • Measure the client’s lawn so you know the exact square footage
  • Calculate how much product you’ll need to purchase (e.g., fertilizer, weed killer, mulch, liquid aerator)
  • Document your expenses each time you buy new products—this will help you price future jobs faster

Pro Tip: Keep your materials in check and stay organized by using expense tracking software.

Overhead and equipment maintenance

Overhead costs are everything that keeps your business operating—that includes office space, computers and tablets, small business insurance, fuel costs, and advertising costs.

You should also budget for equipment and maintenance in your overall lawn service cost estimate. Even after you’ve paid off your lawn mower, for example, it might still need engine repairs, spark plug replacements, or oil changes.

Profit margins

Your lawn care profit margin is the amount your take home after you’ve covered your labor, materials, and overhead costs. The higher your percentage, the more profitable your lawn care business will be.

For example, if your total costs for a typical lawn aeration job are $140, and you want a profit margin of 20%, you’ll need to charge a $35 markup (25% of your costs) to meet that margin. That will give you a total price of $175 for the job.

Use the above formula to create accurate lawn care estimates and stay profitable for every job.

When to adjust your lawn care service pricing

Your hourly rate and service rates may change over time, depending on your service area and business needs.

For example, you might need to adjust pricing if:

  • A particular job is out of your normal scope and requires more work than your initial terms of service stated
  • The job site is farther away so your gas mileage is higher than usual
  • The cost of labor is less than the supplies for a particular job like fertilization or weed control application
  • You want to target specific neighborhoods by offering a group rate
  • The job or client has specific needs outside of your usual scope (e.g., the yard is in rough shape or the client needs a job done with short notice)
  • You want to offer discounts or special rates for marketing promotions

READ MORE: How to write a price increase letter for customers [free template]

How to make a lawn care pricing sheet

A lawn care pricing sheet lists the costs of all your services. It helps you keep your pricing consistent across all jobs. When you’re estimating a job, you can look at this sheet and get a base estimate to build on.

Create a price sheet once you know how much you want to charge for each service. This should include your most common services and yard sizes so you have consistent pricing to refer to when making lawn care estimates.

Here’s an example of a basic lawn care pricing chart:

Lawn care servicePrice
Mowing$75
Thatching$160
Fertilization/weed control$89
Leaf blowing$295
Debris removal$122

Here’s an example of a basic lawn care package, priced by square footage, that includes mowing, aeration, and fertilization:

Square footagePrice
1,500$200
2,500$320
5,000$600
10,000$925

A lawn care pricing chart can also help you respond to clients looking for discounts or negotiated rates. You’ll be able to see how much wiggle room you have, if any, before changing your rates too drastically.

Pro Tip: Keep a digital version of your pricing sheet to speed up quoting and invoicing. When you use Jobber as your lawn care business software, you can add a products and services list and quickly add them as line items on your quotes.

image of lawn care services list in Jobber

Your lawn care business will make more money if you estimate your costs accurately and keep a pricing chart so you can quote jobs consistently.

Setting your lawn care pricing isn’t a one and done job. Revisit your pricing strategy at the start of every season to take into account changes in labor rates, and raising material and fuel costs.

Originally published in April 2021. Last updated on March 14th, 2024.

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