toad270 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 I was thinking about starting my step-son on mowing other peoples lawns around town and I'm not sure what they are charging on today's market. Any price suggestions for average town yard about an hour to cut and trim.
RayS Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 I would suggest some sort of insurance. You never know what may happen. I was mowing a ladies yard a few years back and before I could get the PTO disengaged she had her foot under the deck. She was very lucky that she didn`t get her foot cut off. I was probably more lucky that she didn`t, who knows if she would have sued or not.
Willy Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 The next door neighbors husband passed away so the lazy son hired an outfit to tend her lawn. They charged 45.00 each week,and used a front mounted zero turn mower that was way to big for her small lawn plus that went like a bat out of a box and done a lousy job. I would say its an average size lawn, I would say 30.00 would be plenty for a lawn that size. A Lot would depend on how far you had to go and how much trimming there would be. Next year I will do the neighbors lawn when I do mine won't cost her a thing.
cojo92 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 i was gonna do that and i may this year. my dad says to charge bout 25 to 30 bucks. i think he is correct. id say the same.
Chris727 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 It all depends on where you live. Find out what the commerical guys are charging for the same yard, something to consider is they often contract for a whole season and aren't as affected by break-downs. Also as Ray pointed out, they carry insurance. I used to mow small suburban yards (all were in walking distance) that are probably the size of my current garden (less than 1/8th acre.) I would use a 21" snapper self propeled walk behind and charge $20 per cutting. That was 10 yrs ago, and I was cheap at the time.
toad270 Posted February 28, 2009 Author Posted February 28, 2009 Thanks for the input guys I was thinking somewhere around $25.00 to $30.00 per yard.
ob1 Posted March 1, 2009 Posted March 1, 2009 I'd figure out how much you want to make per/hr,aprox.how long the yard will take to mow and price it accordingly.
dentwizz Posted March 1, 2009 Posted March 1, 2009 When I was in business I charged a base price determined by : Time Size Detail-density. A larger yard with minimal edging or trees is far easier than a small yard that has a ton of edges and objects. Other side items like bushes would be $5/hr on top of the predetermined price. This was with a whacker, 20" toro personal pace walkbehind(the best low-cost versatile unit made) and a cheap electric hedge trimmer. With that equipment I could maintain as much as 11 1/4-1/3 acre properties on a 6-13 day interval with minimal stress. Also minimal advertising for the 7 years that I ran it. The average grass-only rate(mow and whack) was between 20 and 30 dollars. My competition made prices of 50 or more, but the problem with doing that is that the customer than extends the time between rotations and thus the workload goes up. When this happens it also hurts your advertised image because the quality goes down. This is the lifeblood of your marketing. When a customer likes your price and work, the result is referrals as well as the neighbors and bystanders see good results and ask you to do theirs. After a while you have no marketing to do and just have to keep your work going. Just some things to consider, from a long time of making it work. PS, The best walk behind for residential small-scale is the older Toro Personal Pace. Not the new ones. The old ones were sleeker and more manuverable. I put mine through over 3600 hours without much more than oil and air filter changes, sharpening the blade every week(key to a good result). They can still be had on the market for less than 300. 2001 and older are the ideal model years.
Vinnie_A Posted March 1, 2009 Posted March 1, 2009 I have been cutting my elderly neighbors 1 acre lawn for free for the last 3 years.I finally worked a deal to trade off that for me being able to store my vintage 1951 Plymouth in her barn.I snuck 4 Simplicity tractors in her shed out back and she hasent found them as of yet. I think we have a pretty fair agreement here.
dirtmister16 Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 i do my neighbors up the hill, when i do it i charge her 25 dollars per mowing, used to be 20, i upped it last year with gas prices. i clear the snow every winter for $10 a clearing, i made almost $200 from just that one place this year, we had lots of snow, and supposed to be some on the way again. just a few things to keep in mind. i never used to charge to clear her snow, but we have been getting more snow every year now, that and it helps fund my tractors so it works out for me.
dentwizz Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 I do my neighbor's snow free. She has a smaller driveway than mine and her husband dieda couple months ago. The way I figure, my drive is a little small for the tractor, but two and a curb is a good run. All told it only takes 20 mins usually.
MrSteele Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 Are we all suckers for widows, or do we simply like riding mowers and cutting grass for free for other people? I have been mowing a widow's yard for several years, when I have the time is the period between cuttings. Last year she showed me an old Crapsman tractor that had been repowered with a late model Briggs, the old cast iron engine sitting silently beside it. She gave me that and an unstyled David Bradley tractor with cultivator, plow and that extremely safe front mounted saw attachment. For good measure, she threw in an old Troy bilt tiller with a Kohler that needs a set of rings and something in the transmission. I am looking for other widows yards to cut this year!
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