Starting Price

[naten07]

I am just now starting my mowing business and I have a limited perspective on how much to charge. I talked to my dad and he came up with the plan to never charge below $30 dollars for any lawn that takes less than 30 minutes because otherwise its not worth my time to take a trip to said location. Any lawn that takes longer than 30 min will be priced at $12 dollars for every fifteen minutes of work (this would be like $36 for 45min. and $48 for every hour). For pricing lawns whose times fall somewhere between the 15 min increments I would round it down to the nearest increment if it is only 5 minutes or less (For example: if it is 50min of work I will round it down to 45min and charge $36 dollars). If, however, the time is within 10min of the higher increment I will round up (For example: if it is 51-60min of work I will charge $48.
By the way I use a new 48" Ferris IS 1500Z, a new Echo Trimer, and a blower to do my jobs.
Is this a good system? Am I charging too little? Too Much? I need help!
Thanks

[Grits]

Sounds kind of complicated. I try to get AT LEAST one dollar per minute. But it seems everyone is trying to up that mark. So I would say get as much as you can and at least $1 per minute.
In all actuality, there are quite a few variables that go into figuring what you should charge. Some of them are the same for everybody and some are different for everybody. You have to know your costs, market rate, profit percentage, etc. It isn't hard to figure out, it is just different for everyone.