You are getting into the lawn care business wasn’t by mistake. After all, it’s a great flexible business, which can easily fit into your schedule. Be it full-time or part-time. Besides, you can run it by yourself or as a team. Your choice. But the best part of them all is the huge lawn care business income potential.
The earning potential is unlimited. The more work you have, the more you earn! We are talking of around $40,000 (as a startup) to $250,000 (as a well-established business) per year.
But it all depends on several factors.
The Pricing Structure
When starting a lawn care business, you need to understand the market. And this includes segmenting your potential customers and knowing how much they can pay for your services. This will help you penetrate the market, retain a good number of regular customers and keep growing. Of course, the opposite is also true.
For best results:
- Know your competitors: it’s good to know which rates your competitors are working with, and then set a price for your lawn mowing services.
- Consider your experience: if you plan on running your lawn care business full-time, it’s best to start at a lower price, then raise the price as you grow.
- Type of customers: are you working with individual homeowners (budget-conscious) or commercial businesses (can pay more depending on service quality)?
- Property size: the larger the lawn, the more the work, and thus the higher the pay, and vice versa. The secret is to figure out how much time it will take you to finish working on specific lawns, then ensure you’re well compensated for your time
- Earning Goals: you should have a specific earning figure in mind. This should comfortably pay all the necessary bills, pay employees, earn you a salary, and add a profit margin.
For instance, in some places, the cost for mowing medium size lawns is around $40-$80 per week. But you can increase this by working on bigger lawns.
Additional Services
One of the most effective ways of increasing your lawn care business income potential is offering extra services, depending on the season, and charging them.
For example, apart from lawn mowing, you can add shrub trimming or even lawn edging as some of your services. Also, fall cleanups, and weed and insect prevention services are lucrative.
However, avoid adding too many services at once. Rather, take time to study your customers and identify their unique lawn-related needs. If your skills will not allow you to offer them some of the services they might need, take it as an opportunity to learn. And once you master, offer those services at a specific price, depending on the effort and time you need to deliver impeccable results.
If at any point you’re unsure of how much to charge, conduct a little research on your competitors and other service providers within your area to know the estimated charges. Your prices should be reasonable. The feedback you get from your customers should help you price your services accordingly.
Also, remember to leave room for market changes.
Bonus tip: Buying a lawn and landscape franchise gives you a leg up by providing guidance on everything from the equipment you’ll need to pricing. Plus, you’ll get the advantage of not starting from zero.
In Conclusion
As you navigate through the market, you will know what best works for you and your customer base, and what doesn’t. Focus on your strengths, and within no time, you will be on your road to making your first $100,000. Once you do, there will be nothing stopping you!