Archive for the 'Pricing' Category

Lawn care packages help you sell more.

We all like to know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to lawn care marketing. By reading such stories on the topic, we hope to cut out those marketing ideas that are ineffective. What amazes me about all the stories we see on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum, it’s amazing how one [...]

Sealing the deal everytime? Is it always worth it?

Here is a great question that came up on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. Should you be looking to seal the deal everytime you go out for an estimate? One lawn care business owner initially seemed to be so focused on doing this at all costs, including his profits.
He wrote “I am going to [...]

Stand firm on your lawn care prices.

When you first get your lawn care business started you tend to be more desperate for work. You also are unsure of your costs and what you should charge so you tend to waiver a lot on your prices.
Over time as your lawn care business is around longer, you build up more confidence because you [...]

How to market lawn mowing prices.

A member of the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum shared with us a postcard he had designed for his lawn care marketing campaign. In the postcard he was promoting an annual contract fee that would include all sorts of services a lawn care customer would get throughout the year if they signed up with him.
When [...]

Telling lawn care customers your hourly rate.

When you are bidding jobs for lawn care or landscaping projects, should you let your customer know how much you are charging them per hour or should this be something you keep to yourself and simply bid on the job as a whole? That is a question that was brought up on the Gopher Lawn [...]

Accounts receivable is a silent business killer.

All too often, accounts receivable, is over looked by new lawn care business owners. When a new lawn care business owner is just getting started, they figure they would rather be working than not working. So as long as they are working, they feel like it is money in the bank. But it is so [...]

Should I charge less since my new mower is faster?

If you mow a lawn with a push mower and it takes you a long time should you charge more than if you mow with a faster mower? Should your lawn mowing price be dependant on how fast you can get the lawn mowed? This was the topic we discussed on the Gopher Lawn Care [...]

A look at a $72,200 commercial lawn care contract.

Whether you are just looking to get into offering commercial lawn care or you are currently offering it and wanting to see what others are charging for their services, here is a great inside look at one condominium associations commercial lawn care contract. In this example discussed at the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum, a [...]

How to upsell snow removal services.

Depending on how you present your snow plowing bid can have a direct result on if you get hired or not and what kinds of services your customer will sign up for. I asked a member of the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum about his methods for estimating snow removal services and how he gets [...]

Snow plow contract sample.

Are you just getting started offering snow plowing services this year but you are unsure of how to go about it? This situation was discussed on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum when a new member wrote “I’m going to be plowing this winter for the first time with my own truck. I don’t know [...]

How to make $230 an hour removing moss.

Have you ever taken a look at your customer’s home and seen moss on their siding or on their deck? Did you ever stop to talk to the customer and ask them if they would like it removed? There is money to be made in offering such services. A member of the Gopher Lawn Care [...]

Can a solo lawn care business owner make $100,000 a year?

How much can you make as a solo lawn care business owner? That’s a very good question and one that many new lawn care business owners want to know. Knowing such a number can help you figure out if you are doing well or maybe you need to charge more. One of the Gopher Lawn [...]

How to bid a sod removal and install job.

When a lawn care customer calls you and asks for a quote on a new sod installation, there are a bunch of questions that should pop up in your mind before you actually proceed in bidding the job. If you don’t find out first why the current lawn needs to be replaced with new sod, [...]

Are you offering organic lawn care services?

There has been quite a bit of talk about offering organic lawn care services on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. From what everyone has been saying, the profit margin on offering the service makes it worth while. Another great point is that you don’t need any sort of chemical applicators license to do this [...]

Commercial lawn care bid example of an ocean resort.

We all tend to learn best by example so here is a commercial lawn care bid example that was posted on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. If you haven’t gotten into creating lawn care bids for commercial properties, this will at least shed some light on the process.
A member wrote “I tried searching the [...]

How to bid a sod cutting & removal job.

Have you ever found your lawn care business in a situation where you were asked to bid on a sod cutting and removal job, but you weren’t quite sure what was really involved in doing such a job? That is the situation that was brought up on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. One of [...]

How to beat underpriced lawn care businesses.

Have you noticed more lawn care business owners in your area starting up? Do you find they tend to try and compete solely on price? Is it difficult for you to make a profit on lawn care when others are offering to cut lawns for $15? If so, here is some great insight from the [...]

GopherHaul Snow Plow Estimate Calculator now available.

If your lawn care and landscaping business performs snow plowing and is desperately trying to create estimates that bring the same percentage profit on small or large jobs, here is a tool for you. The GopherHaul Snow Plow Estimate Calculator is available for use on your personal computer.

Should I raise lawn care prices mid-season?

Many times when a new lawn care business gets started, they tend to under price their services. In order to jump start their lawn care business, they figure if they undercut the aver price to mow a lawn, they will quickly fill up their customer base. While this tends to work for an initial jolt, [...]

How to charge for landscaping maintenance?

It’s important to find a niche when you run a business. Some business owners in the green industry focus on cutting lawns, some focus on hardscapes and some on pondscapes! But what if you want to focus on landscape maintenance only? How should you charge for such a service? That is a question put to [...]

Profit markup lesson from an outdoor power equipment dealer.

We are always having great lawn care business discussions in the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum and to miss a day of the latest posts is to miss a chance at reading some real quality information. This discussion started off on the topic of dealing with customers. From that it morphed into a profit markup [...]

GopherHaul Lawn Care Business School Now Open!

The GopherHaul Lawn Care Business School is now online.
If you look above along the brown bar header on the Gopher Forum, you will see a new section added to the forum. Our FREE online lawn care business school.
This FREE course the “Class 1 - Lawn Care Business Operator’s Certificate” is designed to give the new [...]

How to price spring and fall lawn care cleanups.

With Spring just around the corner your lawn care business will be asked to bid on yard cleanups but head these warnings so as not to go broke while trying to make money.
One of the members of the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum had an interesting experience with bidding her first Spring cleanup and she [...]

New to lawn care? How to bid.

I had this great question come in from Joe who is just starting his lawn care business. He was curious on how to bid and about what kind of insurance he needs. Joe wrote “I just am starting my own business in landscaping and lawn care and I was just wondering if you had any [...]

Don’t try to compete with $15 bucks a cut, stand out and command a premium.

Are you finding yourself trying to compete with fly by night lawn care businesses that advertise they will cut a lawn for $15? Don’t try to compete with them. Any customer who hires such a lawn care business will quickly find out how unreliable they are. You don’t want these cheap customers anyway because they [...]