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Category: Articles » Business » Entrepreneurs » Article » Article Code

4 Easy Tips to Establishing Prices for Your Lawn Care Services

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Providing quotation to prospective clients is an important aspect of a lawn care 
business. If you are new to the lawn care industry, you'll need to do some serious 
research before you can come up with a pricing model for all the services that 
you provide. Here are 4 things that you should keep in mind when establishing 
the prices for your lawn care services.
1. Know how much to charge per square foot
This is the basic factor in your pricing model that determines whether your 
business will be profitable in the long run. 
Here is a quick way to generate some idea on how much to charge. Measure your 
lawn size and then call up a few reputable lawn care companies and ask for their 
quotations. Taking this a step further, you can ask a few of your friends to 
do the same and then get the feedback from them. You will have a good idea on 
the various pricing for different lawn size and help you determine the acceptable 
price range for your services.
Once you have an idea on how much to charge, set up a pricing schedule based 
on the type of service performed per square foot. For example, you may charge 
$3 per square foot for mowing and $1.50 per square foot for fertilizing. Most 
lawns various from a few hundred square feet to a few thousand square feet. 
Thus it is more convenient to set your price in terms of per hundred square 
feet or per thousand square feet.
Bring this pricing schedule with you whenever you meet up with your clients. 
It will make you look more professional and increase your credibility.
2. Do not quote or bid blindly
When your customers call you up to get a quotation, remember to ask for the 
dimension of their lawns. Do not quote off the bat blindly. Give them an initial 
estimate of the cost and tell them that the final pricing can only be determined 
after you have surveyed the site. 
Try to meet up with your client and survey the actual site together. You will 
have a better picture on how much to quote and provide your client with a more 
accurate pricing. The other advantage is that you can pitch additional service 
at the same time. Try to pitch in a few other services like aeration, fertilizing 
and other add-ons but do it with a soft approach. 
3. Cheapest isn't always the best
As a new business owner, it is unwise to set a high price for your lawn care 
services. However, it is equally unwise to be the cheapest in the industry. 
Being too cheap can raise doubt about your personal and business credibility. 
Pricing your services somewhere in the middle or a notch above the average is 
a good starting point. Once you have proved that you are really professional 
and able to consistently provide a high quality of service, you can justify 
charging a higher price. 
Do not attempt to undercut your competition with low prices. Entering a price 
war can hurt your business profitability and you will have a hard time staying 
afloat with a low profit margin. Instead, try to add value to your services 
without any price reduction. For example, you can provide a free soil analysis 
as part of your standard lawn care package.
4. Know your business costs
As a business owner, you need to be fully aware of all the costs involved in 
running your business. Your cost of doing business will depend on your business 
size and the type of services provided. The basic costs will include mower acquisition 
and maintenance, fertilizer spreader, measuring wheel and other tools required 
for your business. 
You should also factor in the time you used for running the business. This 
means your personal labor cost. Unless you have an assistant, you will have 
to do the administrative tasks yourself. These administrative tasks include 
scheduling jobs, handling customer queries and complaints, preparing invoices 
and mailing them out and many others. The more time you spend on these administrative 
tasks, the less time you have to service your clients. 
To grow your business, you probably have to advertise and this can constitute 
a significant portion of your business cost. You will have to spend time crafting 
up a sales message and researching good advertising sources. Put in some form 
of tracking mechanism so that you know which advertising sources are giving 
you a good return in investment and eliminate those that are not effective.
With these four tips, you should be able to come up with a good pricing model 
that will allow you to stay profitable and compete fairly with other lawn care 
companies. By consistently adding value to the services you provided, you will 
be able to build a large loyal customer base that will keep you in business 
for years to come.

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