Tips on How to Estimate Lawn Care

Getting the right equipment and mowing methods is just one aspect of starting and running a lawn care business. Today, businesses have to take care of several aspects to get started and become successful. One such aspect can be developing a pricing model. 

Millions of dollars can be generated with the right price model. 

Reports predict that lawn care services will reach $115.6 billion by 2022. The landscaping industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% in the next few years.

There are many opportunities for the lawn care industry to achieve new milestones and provide clients with high-quality services.

With its growing demands, setting reasonable lawn care service prices becomes a hassle.

However, if you want your lawn care company to grow in this competitive market, you must set fair and competitive prices.

Don’t worry, here are the basics of how to estimate lawn care pricing to help you make the right decisions.

How to Estimate Lawn Care Pricing

There is a need to emphasize the pricing as it can play a crucial part in ensuring that your target audience chooses you over other landscaping companies in the area.

So how can you determine the estimation for lawn care businesses? What influences the lawn care pricing for your business?

To shed more clarity, here are eight factors that help you estimate the lawn care prices:

1. Overhead

The first and foremost way that helps you estimate the price for your lawn care services is by looking after the overhead costs. As a business owner, you should be as clear as possible with your operational costs to ensure that you do not harm your profit margins by having to cover your operating expenses.

You must calculate the overhead cost of your business and figure out what your real expenses are to establish a more profitable and scaleable pricing point for your business.

It’s essential to take a variety of factors into account when determining the overhead lawn care cost for your business, including equipment, technology, business insurance, office space, and employee or labor costs.

As soon as you have calculated your overhead costs, choose an average number of lawn care projects per month that you can handle to generate the overhead cost per job by dividing your overhead costs by the number of lawn mowing services and maintenance projects you can handle in a month.

This is the cost of supplying service for a particular lawn care job, which needs to be included in the price of your service.

2. Taxes

The overhead cost can also include taxes. However, it is recommended that you pay special attention to business taxes as they are likely to impact your lawn care package. There are many tax deduction opportunities that independent contractors can take advantage of to reduce their tax liabilities.

Tax deductions are available for everything you purchase, from the miles you drive to the equipment you buy. Your expenses can be included in your tax filing, thus minimizing the tax amount you must pay to the government and helping you reduce your taxable income.

You must ensure that you are recording everything and verifying that there are no discrepancies or errors in maintaining records during the auditing process.

3. Weather

Another important way to estimate the lawn care service pricing is to see  the weather conditions. 

As a part of the lawn maintenance business, it is also essential to mention that there tends to be a cyclical pattern. In this industry, there is an upward trend in spring and summer but a significant dip in the fall and winter, so consider that when calculating your costs. 

To determine your business prices, the weather can play an important role which is often underestimated. Although contractors who serve in cold climates can face a shortage of service work due to a lack of work, the overhead costs will remain most of the time. 

Depending on your business type, you should ensure that you winterproof your company to channel your peak season profits to your low season to sustain, scale, and grow your business in the long run.

Several lawn care professionals offer clients the option of hiring a snow shoveler in the winter to ensure that their business remains profitable.

4. Location

The price of lawn services can differ significantly from one region to another and from one state to another. So the most significant way to determine the estimation for your lawn care cost is by considering the locality.

A lawn care professional located in an area with consistent climatic conditions all year round will have a lower lawn care price than a lawn care service that provides service in a region where there are fluctuations in seasons. In that case, you need to get equipment depending on the seasons.

Depending on where you are operating in the country, you will need to make sure that you offer different prices depending on the effort involved in operating in the other regions of that country.

5. Cost of labor

To manage the salaries and the aspects of running a lawn care crew, you will have higher overhead costs as the crew is bigger. To accurately price your lawn care services, you need to make sure that you have calculated the cost of managing your crew, which will give you an idea of what you can expect to spend on lawn maintenance.

If you plan on how to estimate lawn care services for a customer, you should include the employee’s service cost as part of the estimate to let them know how much the human resources will cost them throughout the course of the project.

As a result, you must analyze these factors and find a formula you can use to calculate a more accurate and foolproof lawn care service pricing figure for your customers, which will ensure that your services and pricing brackets are created appropriately.

When your customers realize that the price you charge in return of offering and they find it worth the value, they will be more likely to choose you over the substandard lawn care professionals in your area.

To meet your customers’ expectations, use professional tools to ensure your business is efficient and has few errors.

If you falling behind in determine the estimation for the labour cost, there’s nothing better than adopting to quality software such as InvoiceOwl, which can help you determine the accurate pricing structure for your garden cleanup business. 

To try your hand at the software, go for a free trial.

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6. Determine profit margin needed

There was already some discussion about overheads and the importance of understanding the figure you need to reach every month. After you have determined this number, the next way to estimate the lawn care pricing is the profit margin that works best for determining the lawn care costs. 

An organization’s profit is the amount of money left over after all of the overhead, supplies, and labor have been paid for. To better understand the standards in your area, it is recommended to check with the regional trade associations. 

When figuring out what pricing model will be profitable for your business, look at what your competitors are doing.  

A great way to ensure your lawn care estimate calculator is customized according to the lawn’s needs is to start adapting to the invoicing and estimating software like InvoiceOwl. This tool can help you determine your pricing and profit margins. You can even keep track of your expense, and there will be no fear of missing out on payments.

Also, ensure you revisit your pricing quarterly or annually to get feedback from your clients on the pricing.

7. Add additional services and materials to the package

After you have estimated the cost of your service based on the client’s property size and conditions, ensure that you add in any additional costs you incur for services or materials outside your typical offerings.

In some instances, you might be asked by a client to use sustainable materials that cost more than traditional materials. Additionally, they may ask you to haul away leaves, dig a hole, or clear away brush and debris from the area.

As you prepare your lawn estimate, consider adding additional services or optional work that may enhance the quality of the work.

The next thing you need to do when you have determined that the job requires additional services and materials is to:

• Calculate these costs just like you would when you were figuring out the cost of your project. It is essential to value how long each task will take, how much labor you will need, and how much it will cost to purchase the materials.

• When you inspect, take pictures of areas on the client’s property that require more work. The images allow you to demonstrate to your client why an addition or product is included in the package.

8. Analyze the size and condition of your client’s property.

The next thing you need to do before making a lawn care estimate is to know how large the lawn is and to assess its condition to make a proper estimate.

This is particularly important when working on a job requiring new supplies to be purchased. As an example, in order to estimate a fertilization or weed control job, you need to know the area of the lawn, so you will learn how much fertilizer and other products you need to purchase.

A couple of methods can be used to assess the property of a client:

• Typically, residential lawn jobs are measured using Google Maps to determine the lawn size.
• When you’re speaking with your customers over the phone, ask them what their lawn’s condition is, and if they have any specific needs, or ask them to input that information into your online booking form, so you have all the information you need.

Make sure you start by using the square foot pricing on your pricing sheet as a guideline. Once you’ve gathered detailed information about the property, you can adjust the price accordingly.

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Conclusion

Keeping a pricing chart and staying on top of lawn care pricing trends will help you make more money in your lawn care business.

This is an ongoing process, and there is no particular way to select the best lawn care services prices, so you will have to go through trial and error before landing on the proper pricing.