Lawn Care Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

How much to charge for aeration?

2 reading
Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 30 Posts

SlowMowTurf

· Registered
Joined
·
2,163 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
I currently have a lawn service that offers mowing/fertilization/weed control. Fert & Weed control are now mowing customers ONLY. Thinking about getting into lawn aeration, but trying to figure out how to price it. I'm in the MN Twin Cities metro suburbs (far out) and have had my .3 acre property (not all lawn) aerated for $100 (double passes) twice (every 3 years).

I had someone aerate about 10 customers on average .3 acre property (not all lawn) 2 years ago for about $100 (double pass). Last year one of my customers got charged $300 for a single pass on a .4 acre property (not all lawn). I was astounded this company charged so much.

I know rates vary depending upon area of country. I'm near THE major metro area in MN. What can I expect the market to accept for pricing?

Thanks
 
#3 · (Edited)
I don't honestly see double passes being worth it, more so since the holes won't be evenly spaced...
As well it depends what type of aerator, some folks are using a tow-behind unit while others are using a reciprocating / ride-on, still some are using a walk-behind, the quality of the job is most definitely affected by that... I think the reciprocator does the best job, next is a ride-on followed by the walk-behind and last come the tow-behinds.

The one exception is the PTO-powered tow-behind units but I don't mean to get into too many details, the issue being I don't think it's fair to charge the same amount with a tow-behind that someone with a reciprocator is getting...

So it matters first off, what kind of aerator is being used.

So to answer the question, I use a Classen TA-26 walk-behind.
I charge around double the price of a mow.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#4 ·
Do you feel like your loosing money to competitors ?
How much is a commercial unit
How much does it cost you to own and run that machine.
How many aerations do you think you will sell each year.
I can tell you every “lawn care” company out my way charges enough that I rent a aerator to do my lawn.
Last quote as a add on service to my existing lawn service at the time was $375 for 18k sqft.
I have to say I had to abandon the Lawn Care service in fall of 2018 the prices reached a point I felt was not delivering a price/satisfaction point.

some times its best to sub stuff out
If you have a dependable company that will do the job to your satisfaction and price AND YOUR customers are happy.
 
#5 ·
And there are always liquid aeration products.
Do they work?
Doubtful for some of them--but it is easy and quick--and if you add some fertilizer, micronutrients and chelated iron, the grass should look better.
And you don't get all those cores to make the lawn bumpy.
 
#6 ·
RigglePLC said:
And there are always liquid aeration products.
Do they work?
Doubtful for some of them--but it is easy and quick--and if you add some fertilizer, micronutrients and chelated iron, the grass should look better.
And you don't get all those cores to make the lawn bumpy.
Click to expand...
Right,
Gid bless you small guys trying to push these services .
I rent the Ryan aerator for my personal use its a small unit 26” path and it takes me 2 hours which includes picking up and dropping off.
Cost me $68 in rent fee.
A ryann runs $3200 or so even if I made $100/hr would take 32 hours just to pay for the machine. I guess thats all fine and dandy if you can sell 50+ jobs a season.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
MacLawn$ said:
Right,
Gid bless you small guys trying to push these services .
I rent the Ryan aerator for my personal use its a small unit 26” path and it takes me 2 hours which includes picking up and dropping off.
Cost me $68 in rent fee.
A ryann runs $3200 or so even if I made $100/hr would take 32 hours just to pay for the machine. I guess thats all fine and dandy if you can sell 50+ jobs a season.
Click to expand...
These guys with the standers are making well above $100/hr as they should. Those machines are expensive, do a hell of a job, and the aeration season is very limited I'm MN.
Yep, it's of matter of how many jobs a small guy like me can get in a season. I say we get 45 days maybe in MN.
 
#8 ·
sidemouse said:
I don't honestly see double passes being worth it, more so since the holes won't be evenly spaced...
As well it depends what type of aerator, some folks are using a tow-behind unit while others are using a reciprocating / ride-on, still some are using a walk-behind, the quality of the job is most definitely affected by that... I think the reciprocator does the best job, next is a ride-on followed by the walk-behind and last come the tow-behinds.

The one exception is the PTO-powered tow-behind units but I don't mean to get into too many details, the issue being I don't think it's fair to charge the same amount with a tow-behind that someone with a reciprocator is getting...

So it matters first off, what kind of aerator is being used.

So to answer the question, I use a Classen TA-26 walk-behind.
I charge around double the price of a mow.
Click to expand...
Double the mowing price is rather cheap imo. I aim for four or five times the mow price (my mow prices are on the lower end of the spectrum).
 
#9 ·
Brucey said:
Double the mowing price is rather cheap imo. I aim for four or five times the mow price (my mow prices are on the lower end of the spectrum).
Click to expand...
I may go higher since this was last year's price and doesn't account for the latest inflation but in most cases double mow is $100-$120 an hour for me... I can cruise with my 7-row walk-behind aerator.
 
#10 ·
SlowMowTurf said:
These guys with the standers are making well above $100/hr as they should. Those machines are expensive, do a hell of a job, and the aeration season is very limited I'm MN.
Yep, it's of matter of how many jobs a small guy like me can get in a season. I say we get 45 days maybe in MN.
Click to expand...
Yes tou would really need to get many customers on a regular program.
I hope tour customer base stays strong through all this mess.
Sadly I can no longer afford the lawn care services in my area of SE Mass.
Had a service since 2008 and sadly the cost went up so much by 2018 and my pay has not kept up with those increases.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
MacLawn$ said:
Do you feel like your loosing money to competitors ?
How much is a commercial unit
How much does it cost you to own and run that machine.
How many aerations do you think you will sell each year.
I can tell you every “lawn care” company out my way charges enough that I rent a aerator to do my lawn.
Last quote as a add on service to my existing lawn service at the time was $375 for 18k sqft.
I have to say I had to abandon the Lawn Care service in fall of 2018 the prices reached a point I felt was not delivering a price/satisfaction point.

some times its best to sub stuff out
If you have a dependable company that will do the job to your satisfaction and price AND YOUR customers are happy.
Click to expand...
I know the benefits of it. Have it done every 3 years to my property. Thinking about getting into doing it myself, but machine I want is a stander and costs 13K. Expensive for very limited timeframe of usage in MN (30 days, maybe 45 if doing it in spring). I now see why it's so expensive, so need to justify the cost. Not sure customer will go for cost at 4X mowing cost, but I actually feel it's worth it. The stander machines will CLOBBER the walk behinds as far as results as long as you can get them onto the area in need. I've rented walk behinds for overseeding where I don't want more than 2" deep holes. For all customer yards that are just doing aeration, I find someone with a stander machine...
 
#12 · (Edited)
SlowMowTurf said:
I know the benefits of it. Have it done every 3 years to my property. Thinking about getting into doing it myself, but machine I want is a stander and costs 13K. Expensive for very limited timeframe of usage in MN (30 days, maybe 45 if doing it in spring). I now see why it's so expensive, so need to justify the cost. Not sure customer will go for cost at 4X mowing cost, but I actually feel it's worth it. The stander machines will CLOBBER the walk behinds as far as results as long as you can get them onto the area in need. I've rented walk behinds for overseeding where I don't want more than 2" deep holes. For all customer yards that are just doing aeration, I find someone with a stander machine...
Click to expand...
If you can find someone you trust that does it you should be able to to make a deal with them and get some sort of kick back ?
Our neighbor lets us know when he is getting his garden tilled so anyone who needs the service can get it done the same day. The Tiller Guy will come and do several in one shot often just moving from yard to yard. He offers a small discount for multiple jobs and our neighbor gets a referral fee.

At$13k and say $200 a yard thats 65 jobs just to pay for the machine.
Sure there will be other cost factors.

I think the big thing is getting a good base of customers synced up on a 2 year cycle so tour doing a lot in one batch vs dragging the equipment to a from odd jobs.

In my head seems like renting a machine every 2 years to do your customer base with in a 2 week period might work out better?

For example I rent one of the smaller walk behinds.
Rental for 4 hours is $65
Total Time from picking the unit up
To doing 18,000 sqft 2 passes
Dropping unit off is under 2hrs
I will just toss out $50 hr
So $165 “my cost” vs say the lawn care quote of $375.00
No fuel, Insurance , payroll, taxes or any other business cost rolled in.
A good accountant could do a ROI better than me


looking forward to see how you do.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
MacLawn$ said:
?
Click to expand...
Sorry. I always like to hear how things went too.

For me, it did NOT go well. Almost all my own fault. REASON: I am a solo shop and was just trying to do too much in too small a time frame. Too many mowings, slice seedings, aerations in a 7 day span (I rented the slice seeder & aerator) put me a good 6 days behind on mowing. I ended up calling my brother (lawn service about 30 miles from me) and his partner over in order to help me catch up once I completed the seedings & aerations. I had one clown fail to flag a common area he wanted aerated. Said he didn't know who all owned the heads right behind his property he's owned for 20 years. Clown flagged all property he owned, left me a voice mail about not flagging common area, and went out of town. I didn't get that voice mail until AFTER I had aerated the common area. I'm not on the phone when out in the field!

I ended up charging 3X my mowing price which was $45 minimum for 10K sized lots and under. All my lots range in price from $45 to $60, so aeration charges ranged from $135 to $180.
I rented a Stinger Quad Aer 3000. Nice machine, but it struggled a bit on even small hills. After mentioning to others on lawnsite, it turns out I most likely had the machine dialed in a bit too hard.

I ended up making a small profit and chalked it up as a learning experience. Renting units really limits what one can accomplish. I knew that going in and decided I won't offer aerations.
I had enough with mowing, fertilization, & weed control...
 
#15 ·
SlowMowTurf said:
I currently have a lawn service that offers mowing/fertilization/weed control. Fert & Weed control are now mowing customers ONLY. Thinking about getting into lawn aeration, but trying to figure out how to price it. I'm in the MN Twin Cities metro suburbs (far out) and have had my .3 acre property (not all lawn) aerated for $100 (double passes) twice (every 3 years).

I had someone aerate about 10 customers on average .3 acre property (not all lawn) 2 years ago for about $100 (double pass). Last year one of my customers got charged $300 for a single pass on a .4 acre property (not all lawn). I was astounded this company charged so much.

I know rates vary depending upon area of country. I'm near THE major metro area in MN. What can I expect the market to accept for pricing?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Feel free to PM me, ill tell you our prices
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#16 ·
IMO, check rental prices for Ryan type machines out there. They aren't cheap to rent anymore. $75 or so to rent for 4 hours (most homeowners aint hauling machine home, aerating, and hauling back in 2 hours lol......if they can even haul a machine at all). I am at a min of $85 or so for very small stuff. Why price in line with the rental market, thats just leaving so much $ on the table.
I went up probably 30% on aerating this year. With a Stinger Dual Aer. If I had a ride on I would have went up more.
 
#19 ·
I only aerate current lawn care customers. So, when I am doing a spring or fall application, that is when I aerate and/or seed. If aerating, I charge $30/1000 for double pass; minimum charge is $125.00 for up to 3,000 sq. ft. If I were to only core aerate a one time job, minimum charge would be $250.00 up to 5,000 sq. ft. You need to take into account that you are probably going to make a special 1 time trip unless you have the capability to carry the aerator with you and do it after you cut. (just assuming here). I am fortunate to be in an area that I can charge a higher fee than the going rate other companies do. Potential customers already know I ain’t cheap. As the saying goes…you get what you pay for
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rick1111
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
1 - 20 of 30 Posts
About this Discussion
29 Replies
13 Participants
Last post:
DA Quality Lawn & YS
Lawn Care Forum
posts
7.2M
members
230K
Since
1999
A forum community dedicated to lawn care and landscaping professionals and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Lawn Mowing Pesticide & Herbicide Application 🔧 Mechanic and Repair Business Operations Lawn Mowing Equipment