Job Description of Lawn Mowing Service Business
- Perform basic lawn care, including lawn mowing, trimming around buildings and lawn furniture, and edging.
- Conduct seasonal fertilizing and application of other lawn chemicals, including weed killer.
Do you have a lawn? You need to keep it trimmed. It’s not just a matter of keeping up with the Joneses; in most communities, laws and regulations require that property owners keep their land reasonably neat. Cutting the grass also helps reduce the incidence of ticks, fleas, and other unwelcome visitors in residential neighborhoods.
That said, not everyone has the time, inclination, or ability to take care of their own lawn. The market for lawn mowing services includes older homeowners, with disabilities, and people who just don’t have the time to do it themselves.
Lawn Mowing Service Business Challenges
In most parts of the country, lawn mowing is a seasonal job. (In northern climes, lawns generally hibernate at least half the year, from about October through May.) You’ll need to pay off the cost of equipment during the growing season . . . and watch it gather dust over the winter.
You will also likely have to pay for 12 months of insurance and licenses even if your business runs only 6 months of the year. Rain helps the grass grow, which is good news, but a particularly dismal summer could result in long periods when lawns cannot be mowed. Similarly, a drought could cause lawns to grow unusually slowly.
Know the Territory
Will you bring your own equipment, or use whatever you find at your client’s premises? Using your client’s equipment simplifies your operation in many ways: You won’t have to buy a lawn mower and other devices; you will not be responsible for maintaining it and providing gas; and you will not have to transport bulky and
heavy machines from your home to your customer’s lawn.
On the other hand, the equipment you find may be of poor quality or unreliable. Some homeowners won’t have lawn mowers, costing you a job. Using your own equipment should guarantee you’ll have machines you can rely on; you will, though, have to properly maintain the devices. If you bring your own equipment, you’ll need to transport the devices to your clients. If you’reworking on your own street, you may be able to roll the mower down the sidewalk; anywhere more distant will probably require that you use a truck or a trailer with a ramp.
Will you be responsible for removing grass clippings? Are there any local regulations regarding disposal? (A mulching lawn mower may solve this problem, if that’s okay with your client.) Investigate other local ordinances. For example, some towns may limit the hours when noisy power equipment may be used.
Educate yourself on lawn chemicals, including fertilizers, weed killers, and pest control options. Take care to avoid exposure to dangerous substances. Remember, although a manufacturer may claim that a chemical is not harmful when its instructions are followed, you may be exposing yourself to repeated use of the substance as you move from one job to the next.
Not all lawns are the same. If the property is hilly or irregularly shaped, it will likely require more time and effort than a flat, square property. Lawn mowing is the sort of job that can be done by one person or by a crew. A lawn that takes one person two hours to cut could be done in one hour by a crew of two.
Although having a crew may allow you to cut many more lawns, you’ll also have to pay additional salaries and benefits, and you’ll need more equipment. The principal advantage to hiring a crew is that you may be able to step back from actually cutting the grass yourself and instead earn your income as the manager for your lawn mowing empire.
How to Get Started Lawn Mowing Service
Market your services before they are needed. In the best of all possible worlds, you will be able to sign up enough clients ahead of the season to justify purchase of equipment. Place ads on bulletin boards, at gardening supply stores, and in community newspapers. Ask friends and neighbors for referrals. Offer a discount or a free service for any clients they bring to you.
Draw up a simple but complete agreement with clients listing exactly which services you will be providing and the cost. Include in the agreement whether lawn mowing services will be provided on a regular schedule (weekly, biweekly, on a particular day of the month) or whether the client must call to schedule a visit each time. Get specific written instructions about any special conditions—a flower bed to be avoided or a section that needs to be hand-trimmed.
Up-front Expenses for Lawn Mowing Service
Commercial equipment can be quite expensive; you may need to amortize the cost over an entire season, or even over more than one season. A heavy-duty machine can easily cost $1,000, reaching to $3,000 for the most powerful, widest, and most flexible devices.
Investigate buying used equipment from a reliable dealer who will offer a warranty and provide service. Additional services such as edging and trimming, fertilizing, weed killing, and pest control will require purchasing additional equipment and chemicals.
Charge for Lawn Mowing Service
Underlying the charge for lawn mowing services is the amount of time each job requires, plus the cost of fertilizer or chemicals. You’ll also need to build into your price the cost of equipment (amortized over its useful life) plus an allowance for maintenance and repair.
You can establish an hourly rate and bill customers for actual time on-site, or you can estimate the time a job will require and then charge a flat rate. Remember that square footage alone is not an adequate indicator of the amount of time required for a job: Take into account the shape of the land, whether it is level or hilly, and any other special conditions. Lawns that are overgrown or wet will take more time and effort to cut.
Offer a discount to clients who sign up for an entire season, which could be in the form of a reduced rate or a bonus, such as a free end-of-season lawn mowingor fertilizing.