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I just picked this one up the other day. Its a bi weekly. I charge 45 to cut blow weed eat and edge. Next time I got its 65 and I take care of the flower beds. Tiny flower beds. You can barely see them in the pic. I definitely wouldn't be doing this if we had the prices that prostreet has.
What I make a month wont even pay our mortgage. My wife averages $200,000 a year. This year she is having a blow out year and could very well end up real close to $400K.

I have seriously thought about starting a new sales campaign and I may do it some day. My slogan will be something along the lines of

"Legal lawn care" we are NOT the cheapest because we do it legal and pay our tax's. I am starting to see more and more people frustrated with the current state of illegals and this kind of advertising may entice some people that are sick of them to give us a call. It would also right off the bat allow me to quote a higher than standard price because the person would already be expecting that when they called.

Then again that is probably a pipe dream and nobody would call :laugh:
 
Here is my 2nd biggest lawn 27 acres of grass 1100 weekly but last month and this month its been bi weekly since we had no rain now growing on the heavy dew we been having for last 2 weeks with low temps in lower 50s

Map Land lot Urban design Building Residential area
 
This thread was a good reminder to check my times on my properties - something I had gotten away from doing this season.
I've been keeping notes in my log book of total "cut" time (mow/trim/edge if applicable/blow) and taking a photo of the front and back lawns.

I'm pretty much at my limit, so I'm going to sit down and review which lawns may not be as profitable as I would like and go from there.

One thing surprised me today on my "city route". I have 4 cuts in one stop - all four on a corner.
It took me 50 minutes from the time I turned off the ignition until I got back in the truck and I make $98 between the four of them. There are lawns in the suburbs that take me 45 minutes that only pay $35/$40.
(These are 21" mower times - solo operator BTW)
 
Here is the new lawn I was talking about. This is 90% crabgrass and other junk. At the bottom that is a neighbors lawn and he hammers it and leaves a hell of a dead grass brown mess. He has to be looking next door and feeling like an idiot.

 
ProStreet...your wife makes almost 400k a year, the hell - sign me up!
I know right! We are in the WRONG business! Its not 400K every year. She averages from 150K up to 400K a year. The scary thing about her job is it is 100% commission. You don't sell you don't get paid. I don't even make enough each month to cover the mortgage let alone everything else. :cry:

I got a text today from her saying she won a huge deal with Gannett. Here is just one of their many stations. They have stations all over the country and also newspapers etc etc.

http://www.wusa9.com/
 
I know right! We are in the WRONG business! Its not 400K every year. She averages from 150K up to 400K a year. The scary thing about her job is it is 100% commission. You don't sell you don't get paid. I don't even make enough each month to cover the mortgage let alone everything else. :cry:

I got a text today from her saying she won a huge deal with Gannett. Here is just one of their many stations. They have stations all over the country and also newspapers etc etc.

http://www.wusa9.com/
Haha I'm so jealous! Haha
 
Standard lots around here are 80 x 125 or roughly 10,000-sq-ft. Open lawn (no fence, swing sets, trampolines, etc.), and no dog poop or kids toys, yeah, I'll do it for $30. If dog or toys, I charge $35, and if it has a fence I will charge $40. Have a small 36" gate, and it could go up again. I have some customers I charge as much as $65 for their 10,000-sq-ft lot. I even have 1, just 1, that I charge $95 because its a lake front, its one continuous slope going into steeper slopes, and I have almost killed myself cutting it.




Grass was a little wet, and once it started sliding, I couldn't muscle it or power it to safety so I had to jump off and I slid on my ass down the 30-feet 60°+ slope, with my eyeballs popping out of my head and my heart going a 100-mph.
 
I just picked up another $30 cut today. I was mowing a new client on Wednesday and someone from across the street came over and asked me to go look at their lot and drop a price in the mailbox.

It will take about 15 minutes to do by myself start to finish with a 21" - mow, trim, blow. No travel time since it's across from the other job.

I'm really digging these little city jobs.
I've been taking pics. I'll have to sort them out and post them up one day.
 
Prices are VERY regional. Quote a 10K lawn here for anything more than $25 and you will get laughed all the way back to your truck. We start a new 2 acre lawn we just picked up tomorrow. We are charging $60. It is a few houses down from where we already cut 7 others. Those 7 are all .5 to 1 acre and we charge them $30 to $45 (different sizes and degrees of difficulty). The reason our prices here are so low is because we are right between Baltimore and washington DC and this area is absolutely inundated with trucks full of illegals working daylight to dark for $10 or less an hour. They make there money by doing lawns in high volume. There are so many commercial crews here you could literally have a new crew cut your lawn every day of the week for an entire year maybe more. I can not travel down any road without passing at least one crew and most times 2 or 3 crews in a matter of 2 or 3 miles. So you have to figure out what the going rate in YOUR area is and base your pricing off of that.
Your area sounds a lot like mine does as far as pricing goes, although there aren't many illegals in the nicer suburbs of Columbus (actually there are, but they're all working for Brickman, etc. and don't go out on their own).

These "I won't drop my gate for less than $50" would starve to death here because nobody is getting those kinds of prices for small 1/5 acre lots. It's the internet, so people can be whoever they want to be, but I bet you'd be surprised at what people are actually charging vs. what they would like to be charging.
 
I just picked up another $30 cut today. I was mowing a new client on Wednesday and someone from across the street came over and asked me to go look at their lot and drop a price in the mailbox.

It will take about 15 minutes to do by myself start to finish with a 21" - mow, trim, blow. No travel time since it's across from the other job.

I'm really digging these little city jobs.
I've been taking pics. I'll have to sort them out and post them up one day.
Those are my favorite types of lawns to cut. I use a 21" 2-cycle Lawn-Boy to do several of my $30 lots. I have a few that are grouped together, so they are VERY profitable to cut with a mower that I bought for $30 (actually I have eight of them :laugh:), as I'm not putting hours on my primary mower.
 
I know right! We are in the WRONG business! Its not 400K every year. She averages from 150K up to 400K a year. The scary thing about her job is it is 100% commission. You don't sell you don't get paid. I don't even make enough each month to cover the mortgage let alone everything else. :cry:

I got a text today from her saying she won a huge deal with Gannett. Here is just one of their many stations. They have stations all over the country and also newspapers etc etc.

http://www.wusa9.com/
Wait, been in business 30 years and cant even cover your mortage?? Its because you lowball and work for pennies just because you cant sell yourself properly all you can offer is low price that is business pitch for a product business not for a service business.

Seriouslyif you have owned a business for 30+ still mow residentials gmfor dirt cheap and cant even cover a mortage your a joke and I hope no one takes you seriously.
 
Standard lots around here are 80 x 125 or roughly 10,000-sq-ft. Open lawn (no fence, swing sets, trampolines, etc.), and no dog poop or kids toys, yeah, I'll do it for $30. If dog or toys, I charge $35, and if it has a fence I will charge $40. Have a small 36" gate, and it could go up again. I have some customers I charge as much as $65 for their 10,000-sq-ft lot. I even have 1, just 1, that I charge $95 because its a lake front, its one continuous slope going into steeper slopes, and I have almost killed myself cutting it.




Grass was a little wet, and once it started sliding, I couldn't muscle it or power it to safety so I had to jump off and I slid on my ass down the 30-feet 60°+ slope, with my eyeballs popping out of my head and my heart going a 100-mph.
You sir have a huge set of balls. I would never have even thought of taking that machine on that slope. Walk behind only....and probably backwords.

Your a lucky man.

Dave...
 
Wait, been in business 30 years and cant even cover your mortage?? Its because you lowball and work for pennies just because you cant sell yourself properly all you can offer is low price that is business pitch for a product business not for a service business.

Seriouslyif you have owned a business for 30+ still mow residentials gmfor dirt cheap and cant even cover a mortage your a joke and I hope no one takes you seriously.
Its amazing what some will work for. If prices were that low in my area I would find another line of work. Don't forget...those illegals are a boon to the economy. just ask the Dems.

Amazing.
 
Wait, been in business 30 years and cant even cover your mortage?? Its because you lowball and work for pennies just because you cant sell yourself properly all you can offer is low price that is business pitch for a product business not for a service business.

Seriouslyif you have owned a business for 30+ still mow residentials gmfor dirt cheap and cant even cover a mortage your a joke and I hope no one takes you seriously.
Go **** yourself. You have no clue how it is in other areas. Don't forget you live in ultra cheap N.C. compared to where I live in one of the most expensive areas in the entire country to live. Our mortgage is just shy of $4,000 a month BTW. To cover all our bills I would have to CLEAR $6500 a month. Not happening in the lawn business. Not around here anyway. And for your information we have tried many times to come in at higher prices and we have never once been able to pick anybody up at those higher prices. All we ever hear is "The other company quoted $20 so I am going with them". My father has been able to pay his bills by doing this work because there mortgage is a whopping $1,400 a month. If mine was $3000 a month or less then yes I would be able to cover it but its not. I wanted a large property and my wife wanted a very nice house. Combine the two in this expensive area and you are paying $600,000 to 1.5 million for a home.

Here you go. Here is the homes for sale in my zip code. Scroll down on the right and find the one for $925,000 on roxmill CT. That is my neighbor 2 houses over. I am in the dead center of the court.

http://www.zillow.com/homes/21738_rb/

People don't care. 95% of the people only get somebody because they dont feel like doing it themselves for various reasons. Everybody here thinks it is because they want a professional quality job. For a few that is the case. For the majority it is not. We don't lose out on bids due to poor work. Every lawn we take care of we make it a game to try and make our lawns look better than any around them. It makes no difference around here. Most people go strictly on price. Even our own customers we have had for 20 years have told us they get guys coming up to them in the spring and telling them $20 even though they didn't ask for a price. Our prices were higher 20 years ago than they are now. That is how ruthless it has gotten around here. One day I am going to record our route so you guys can watch the video and witness how many lawn care trucks we pass on the road every day. Many days it if 15 to 20+ in a couple mile route.

So don't go bashing me about something you clearly have no clue about.
 
In my area prices are all over the place. There's tons of competition and you see rigs from a beatup pickup truck with a few push mowers in the back to the big rigs with a brand new dually hauling a 16ft+ trailer loaded with equipment. Most of my lawns are around the $30 range and I have a select few that pay more because of a difficult property. My new minimum is $35 and I think that's fair for the quality of my work. I've learned that I don't want to people searching for a deal because as soon as a new deal comes along they'll jump on it and tell me to take a hike unless I can do their lawn for $20 lol.
 
Well, you guys have done a pretty good job of explaining the state of lawn care 2013.
Prices are flat, costs are through the roof, and the market is oversaturated.
I can't imagine being 23 and thinking, "Hey, I'll start a lawn biz!"
The streets are full people hauling lawn equipment with vehicles of all types. SUV's, caddies, push mowers in the trunk, hell, we even have an old guy who uses his JD lawn tractor to pull a tiny trailer around.
Good luck, everyone.
 
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