Lawn and Landscape Pros: Why You MUST Price High

How high should you price your landscape and lawn care services?

The short answer: as high as your market will bear. 

The cost of business increases every year: gas prices go up, vehicles and maintenance get more expensive, and labor rates are growing at an unprecedented pace. These challenges will hit the green industry the hardest. Most business owners are not charging enough. Their profit margins are shrinking, and they don’t even know it.

Which means, they’re getting paid less to do more work. 

But you can stand out. You can become more profitable than ever, without breaking your back. The answer lies in your prices.
I’m going to show you why you must price your lawn and landscaping services as high as possible, and why high prices are the best way to grow your business in the long term.

Why Your Landscaping Prices Are Too Low

When you price any service, you need to price for profit. Otherwise, you’re working for cheap (or worse, you’re paying to work). 

Right now, workers can walk into any fast-food restaurant, and get paid $5/hr more than the average lawn care job. As a bonus, they get AC, benefits, and year-long stability.

That means if you want great employees—people you can trust, and people who will make your business grow—you have to pay them. You must pay top dollar.

I know. You’re already paying a lot for labor. Labor is the largest expense in any landscaping business, but you can’t scale your business without employees. You can’t grow without employees.

And we all know there’s a huge difference between your best and worst employees.

The only way to pay top dollar (and to hire great people) is to raise your prices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVFYJ9BdZoA 

If you haven’t raised your prices this year… you are losing money. It’s hurting your business and your growth, and it’s making your life harder than it needs to be.

The Only Pricing Strategy That Matters

Why do some landscape companies grow so fast?

How do lawn care companies find reliable employees?

What is the best, most stress-free business to run?

The answer: be a company that charges premium prices for premium work.

Anyone can sell lawn care. A teenager can walk his mower over to his neighbor’s house, and charge $20. 

Only you can sell a lawn experience: clean edges, perfect cuts, and that fresh feeling of a healthy lawn under your feet. This mindset will land better-paying clients that are actually worth your time.

Focus on delivering the premium experience. Don’t compete with others on low prices. You’re too good for that.

And don’t be afraid of clients balking at your higher prices.

You’re doing the work better than they could do themselves. You have the skills and expertise to make their lawn healthier than ever. Your service makes their lives easier, and good clients want to pay you for that.

When you become this kind of company, you will solve so many of your headaches.

Ask yourself, “What is the highest I can charge for my services?” and you will open new doors to growth: 

• You’ll build a better reputation

• You’ll be able to hire better employees

• And you’ll have more money for better marketing (for example, Facebook ads that generate new clients)

All this leads to faster growth, without the stress.

How to Price Landscaping Services (the Right Way)

Don’t copy your competitors.

Don’t ask your neighbors and friends what they’re willing to pay.

Only you will know your business and your goals. Only you can decide on your price.

The plan is simple:

Figure out your hourly costs, add in a healthy profit margin, and start selling. 

You want to build in the highest profit your market will bear. This will require a little math and some experience, but once you start charging high, you will figure this out fast, and your business will become so much easier to grow.

Here’s how it works:

5 Steps to Guarantee a Healthy Profit

Step 1: Find Your Hourly Production

For lawn maintenance: how long does the average property take to service? You may need to adjust for different property types (small, medium, and large).
For landscaping: how long for one person to complete the entire project by themselves?

Step 2: Know Your Overhead Costs

• Gas

• Vehicle maintenance

• Equipment maintenance

• Labor (this is the big one)

Make sure to include a labor wage that will attract solid employees. In this case, you should look at the pay offered by your competitors and entry-level jobs in your area, because you will compete to hire from the same pool.

If you don’t know your overhead costs, make an educated guess. Then, compare for the following months to get a more accurate number. You can always adjust your rates. You are in control.

Step 3: Fold Your Overhead Costs into Your Hourly Rate

The average work month is about 188 hours. 

Let’s say your overhead costs are $10,000 per month. Divide $10,000 by 188, and you get about $53.19, which means you need to charge $53.19 an hour just to break even. 

But we’re not here to break even. We’re here to make a profit.

Step 4. Add a Healthy Profit to Every Hour

Add a profit surcharge to your hourly rate. The point of running a business is to make money, and this is how you do it.

Your profit will depend on the services you offer, your sales skills, and the finances of your service area. High-income neighborhoods will pay more, but they may want high-quality services.

If you don’t know how much profit to add, start with 15% above your hourly rate and see how it feels.

So, instead of $53.19/hr, you might charge $61.17/hr or more.

Step 5. Apply Your New Hourly Rate to Every Job

If it takes you 30 minutes to complete a property, your new price might be $32.

If it takes you 2 hours to complete a landscaping project, your price might be $123.

No more guess work: when you build profit and costs into your rates, you will always make money on every hour your team works in the field. You’ll have money to reinvest in your business, hire more employees, and you will grow faster…

Price High and Sell with Confidence

Stop undervaluing your work. Your time is extremely important, which means you should charge a premium. 

When you set a higher price for your landscaping work, you ensure the money comes in—which you can use to grow your business. 

More profit means more dollars in your growth engine, which leads to more profit. It just keeps getting better.

Lightspeed Social Agency can help you build up your marketing engine. If you want your advertising budget to go further and sell more work, our expert team of landscaping marketers is standing by, ready to help. We can even help you find new employees through our Indeed advertising strategies.

Talk to us here, and we’ll show you what we can do for your business.