How much to charge for aeration

[GreenN'Clean]

Greetings All

I haven't done any core aerations due to the fact that none of my customers have ever wanted it done until this year and I don't know what the going rate is to charge for that service. I have had a few calls wanting it done and one of my regular customers asked me about a quote for it and his lawn is right around 9k sq ft so my question is what is the going price for aerating a 9k sq foot lawn?
Thanks

[johnnywill08]

2 ways to do it:

i charge 3x what i charge for a lawn cut (very nice profit margin here and not unreasonable considering aerators are about 20" and slower than my mower, which is 52")

or figure your aereator's covergae speed, and ball park your hourly rate.
i'dgo a little high on this svc. b/c its once/twice a year and some of those aerators aren't fun to wrestle with

[Ramairfreak98ss]

3x the lawn charge is a good estimation. But how would you do it if say you had a 5 foot aerator on a tractor and could do a max of 9mph :p Ill be doing mine in a week, i know some customers are going to say... i paid $150 for THAT!... after im done in 14 minutes lol

[johnnywill08]

3x the lawn charge is a good estimation. But how would you do it if say you had a 5 foot aerator on a tractor and could do a max of 9mph :p Ill be doing mine in a week, i know some customers are going to say... i paid $150 for THAT!... after im done in 14 minutes lol

well that's where alot of people differ in opinion, but you shouldn't be penalized for being more efficient.

example: got my first leaf loader last fall, hired a part-timer and upgraded to 3 redmax ebz-8000's. b/f i used to tarp leaves onto truck (more time, more trips to dump, 8x as many actually, and more cost b/c dump charges by volume). also i had 1 other guy instead of 2 and used wimpy blowers. now a $350 cleanup that took 4 hours takes less than 1. no way i'm dropping my price because my system got better. not to mention my overhead went up (extra guy, more $$ equip.) customer pays for the job done, time shoudn't matter to them if its a fair price. time should only matter to you.

[sildoc]

I charge between 12-18 dollars a thousand. more acerage the lower per k. Min is 45 regardless of the size. Love aerations. We have almost completed ours for the year minus new customers. so far over 900 done. Now these are an average of 4k per turf lots. do roughly 25 a day. nice chunk of change when you can send one guy out and gross around 1300 or more.

[GreenN'Clean]

Thanks for all your help!!! Very much appreciated

[NewHorizon's Land]

We have a 48" pull behind core aerator. It works pretty good with a few cinder blocks on top. Cost me $150 for the aerator and it was used from a rental shop.

[DiyDave]

$20.00/msf for just plain core aeration. $35.00&up for aeration + seed. lime extra $

[johnnywill08]

$20.00/msf for just plain core aeration. $35.00&up for aeration + seed. lime extra $

what's msf?

[Ric3077]

it's per 1,000 sq ft
m = 1,000

My rate is $15 per 1k sq ft with a $75 minimum

[johnnywill08]

thanks rick. you guys would be low around here. is that standard over there???

[Ric3077]

The standard around here is non existing...I got a flyer to do my lawn for $38!!! At my rates I would charge $225...

[johnnywill08]

it is a phenomenal $$ maker, though isn't it? next season, i'm buying a rider and enjoying it!

[Ric3077]

I am saving up for a stand on aerator, fatigue is the only downfall to aerating...but with the stand on model fatigue won't be an issue

[johnnywill08]

yeah, me too. that looks like the easiest money in this biz.....

prob cut your time by 20% to 1/3. i can get 12-15 average lawns done now in a 10 hr.d day. @ about $125 per i'm lovin it, but with a rider i figure another 3-5 a day..... i'll be buying my own private island in no time..... get away from this lovely weather we're having....

[stpet291]

Hey ric3077,

I run a small operation in St. Peters and I mad as hell about "this" company. I talked to a guy the other day and he was charged 110 for all three. He had no idea what kind of seed how much seed was used. Same for fertilizer.

This guy is going to kill the aeartion market here in our area. WANNA CALL HIM!:angry:

[Ric3077]

I actually called his number...he never returned my call...poor customer service, I was actually going to have him do my lawn and see how crappy he did...then tell him he COULD HAVE charged $200 and STILL been the low guy.

[PlatinumLandCon]

Hi Everyone,
I'm thinking of gettin into areating for this fall. You talk about a stand-on areator abut who makes a model like this? I know Plugr's top-of-the-line model has a sulky but thats all I know about.
Thanks!

[boxsky]

You still ill get fatigue with a stand-on aerator. Your arms still get a work out as well as your knees. I did 8 1/2 acre lawns in a day and i was tired by the end. I did have to drive around so that's why I only got 8 done but again my knees were done.

The one I used is from Action Rental. I like renting, no insurance, maintenance, repairs, costs of machine, just gas and go. It was the Classen SA25 model.

[fiveoboy01]

Wow, i wish I could get 15-20 per 1K.

Going rate around here seems to be 8.50-10 bucks per 1K.

[DSTC]

Wow, i wish I could get 15-20 per 1K.

Going rate around here seems to be 8.50-10 bucks per 1K.


Same here. We charge about $8 per 1k and we can hardly get any business with it. My problem down here is tht the avg lawn is .5 acres and we have quite alot of .75s and 1 acre places. .25 acres and less is rare. In fact out of 110 acres worth of spraying/fert customers I think I have only 1 place thats less than .25 acres, and maybe only 5-6 places that are under .5 acres. I suppose that its alot easier to sell aeration to a customer that spends $50-$100 on it as opposed to $200-$400.