Lawn care price calculator
What a stop actually costs you once drive time is counted — and what to charge to keep the margin you want. Free, nothing saved, no sign-in.
The stop
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What it costs you
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The number you’re solving for
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How the number is worked out
This is the same formula as the pricing guide, so the two can’t disagree:
Price = (labour + fuel + equipment + overhead) ÷ (1 − target margin)
Drive time is the number that decides it
Labour costs the same whether the crew is mowing or sitting in the truck. A lawn twenty minutes away and a lawn next door take identical time on-site and cost completely different money — which is why, as the guide puts it, a “cheap” client who’s twenty minutes away stops looking cheap the moment you price from cost. The calculator shows what share of each stop is drive, and what a tighter route would be worth per hour.
It’s also the whole argument for a minimum charge. Drive and setup cost the same on a postage-stamp front yard as on a half-acre, so a tiny lawn priced purely by size loses money. Set a floor and hold it; if a job can’t clear it, bundle it with a neighbour or let it go.
Two numbers, not one, when you cut it yourself
If you’re on the mower you earn twice: the wage the job pays for your hours, and the profit the business keeps on top. Mixing them is how an owner-operator decides a route was profitable when it only paid them a wage. Tick the box and you get both.
Pricing per 1,000 square feet
Enter a lawn size and you get the per-1,000 rate your own costs imply. That’s the guide’s third model, and the most defensible across a book of properties — but derive it from a representative lawn priced from cost, rather than picking a rate that sounds right and hoping it covers the work.
Stop pricing from memory
LawnPilot Pro measures lawns from the aerial view, keeps your rates and services in one place, quotes from them, and shows what each route actually returned. Free trial, no demo call.
Start free trialFrequently asked questions
How do you price a lawn care job?
Start from what the stop actually costs you, then add the margin you want to keep: price = (labour + fuel + equipment + overhead) divided by (1 minus your target margin). A lawn taking 35 minutes on-site plus 15 minutes of driving is 50 minutes; at $28 an hour fully loaded that is about $23 of labour, plus $4 fuel, $6 equipment wear and $5 overhead, so roughly $38 of true cost. At a 30% margin that is about $54 a cut.
Should drive time be included when pricing a lawn?
Yes, and it is the number most quotes leave out. Labour costs the same whether the crew is mowing or driving, so a stop twenty minutes away costs far more than one next door even when the lawn is identical. Charging labour across the total time is what stops a cheap-looking client quietly losing you money.
What is a minimum charge and why does it matter?
A floor under every stop, commonly $35 to $45. Drive time and setup cost the same on a postage-stamp front yard as on a half-acre, so a tiny lawn priced by size alone loses money. If a job cannot clear the minimum it either gets bundled with a neighbour or it is not your job.
How do you price per square foot?
Set a rate per 1,000 square feet of turf and multiply by the lawn's size. It is the most consistent way to price across many properties because it scales with the actual work, but it only works if you can measure lawns quickly. Price one representative lawn from cost first, then divide by its size to get the rate your own costs imply.