Lawn Mowing Price Calculator
Work out what to charge for mowing a lawn by square footage, frequency and condition, with edging and bagging, and the hourly rate it works out at.
Put in the lawn size, how often you cut it and the state it is in. You get a suggested price per cut, the maths behind it and the hourly rate it works out at. It runs in your browser. No sign-up, nothing sent anywhere.
The size bands up to 10,000 sq ft are the defaults Servetic loads into a new lawn care account. The rate above 20,000 sq ft, the frequency, condition and add-on figures are this calculator's own assumptions, checked against the published ranges listed under sources.
Starting rates
- $40 Up to 5,000 sq ft - Template price per cut.
- $55 5,000-10,000 sq ft - Template price per cut.
- $80 10,000-20,000 sq ft - Template price per cut.
- $40 Minimum per cut - The smallest band is the floor.
How the pricing works
Mowing is priced per cut, by lawn size
A mowing customer wants one number for each visit, and the fairest number comes from the size of the lawn. Size bands do that without measuring every lawn to the square foot: under 5,000 square feet, 5,000 to 10,000, and over 10,000. The band prices here, $40, $55 and $80, are the ones a new Servetic lawn care account starts with.
Above about 20,000 square feet a single band stops being fair, so this calculator adds $4 for every extra 1,000 square feet, which is an assumption. That puts a full acre at about $175 a cut, inside the $150 to $200 per acre range Jobber publishes for large lawns. Big lots get cheaper per square foot because a riding mower covers them faster, which is why the rate per 1,000 drops as the lawn grows.
Frequency and condition change the time, so they change the price
A lawn cut every week is quick: the grass is short and the mower runs at full speed. Every two weeks it is longer and wetter at the base, and a one-off cut is usually the worst of all. The multipliers here, 1.2 for every two weeks and 1.3 for a one-off, are starting assumptions that reflect that.
An overgrown first cut is its own case. Grass past the deck height needs a high first pass and a second pass at the right height, and the clippings often have to come off the lawn. Pricing that first visit at one and a half times the normal cut, then dropping to the regular price, is easier to explain than a single price that is wrong for both.
Edging, trimming and bagging are what customers notice
The mow is the quick part. Edging the drive and the beds, string trimming round fences and trees, and blowing off the hard surfaces are what make the lawn look finished, and they are the part customers judge you on. This calculator includes edging and trimming by default at $10. Bagging and removing clippings is a separate $10, because it adds a trip to the trailer and a disposal cost.
Questions
How much should I charge to mow a lawn?
By lawn size. The defaults here, from Servetic's lawn care template, are $40 per cut up to 5,000 square feet, $55 for 5,000 to 10,000 and $80 over 10,000. Edging and trimming add $10 in this calculator. Your market, travel and how long the grass gets between cuts all move those numbers.
How much should I charge per acre for mowing?
This calculator puts one acre (about 43,560 square feet) at roughly $175 a cut on a weekly schedule before add-ons. Jobber publishes a range of $150 to $200 per acre for large lawns. Per-acre rates fall as the property grows, because a riding mower covers more ground per hour.
Should biweekly mowing cost more than weekly?
Per visit, usually yes. Grass that has grown for two weeks is slower to cut and leaves more clippings. This calculator uses 1.2 times the weekly price as a starting assumption. The customer still pays less per month on a biweekly schedule, which is the comparison they will make.
How do I measure a lawn without visiting it?
Use an aerial image: break the lawn into rectangles, measure each, add them up and subtract the beds and the house. The free measure-property tool on this site walks through it. In Servetic you can draw the lawn on a satellite map inside the estimate and the square footage prices the line.
Can customers book lawn mowing online at these prices?
In Servetic, yes. A mowing service priced by size bands asks the customer which band their lawn falls in, shows the price, and books a repeating weekly or biweekly series into your calendar.