Good evening and greetings!

#1 05-25-2010, 06:56 PM

Hello all!
My name is Randall and I am currently a college student home for the summer. Over the past few weeks I have been looking for a good summer job. It wasn't until I was on my Club Cadet zero turn mowing my yard for my parents when i thought to myself, "Hey, i actually kind of like cutting grass, i should try and mow more grass and make some money!" Well i shared that idea with my friends and we are currently working on starting up our small local mowing business in Western Maryland. As of now we have three riding mowers including a zero turn, and also a weedwacker and trimmer. Today we started gathering ideas to make a catchy and attractive flyer, but we still need to research cost rates and find a trailer.

I am open to all input, tips, and advice! Thanks all and have a great day/week/life

JP Landscaping · #2 05-25-2010, 09:54 PM

Lawn care business tips

hope this helps:

figure out how long it takes you to mow your parents lawn. Then figure a time per square footage so you know how fast you can mow a square foot. Then charge $1 per minute. so:

number of minutes to mow lawn/ size of lawn = minutes per sq ft

That number is how much you can charge per sq foot
example:

35 minutes/10,000 sq ft = $.0035 per sq ft.

That will give you a rough estimate on how much to charge for a lawn once you have measured it. Don't forget, if it has excessive trimming to charge a bit more.

Of course you could also try to figure out how long it will take you to mow a lawn and then charge $1 per minute.

jgdhandyman · #3 05-26-2010, 12:35 AM

i agree with jp, $1 per min rounded up to the nearest 5min( ie: 32min=$35) this will cover your gas costs,equitment maintenance ect. only up to 50min then you must drop after 50min to remain competitive.(some properties u cant use ride mower) This is assuming your using just 1 push mower,blower and trimmer.
If you got a big property and your using all three riding mowers with 1 guy on a trimmer thats 4 men u must charge at least $150/hr or do by size/sq foot. If your using 2 men 1 riding mower with 1 trimmer/blower id charge at least $60/hr.

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