Hey brain I'm 15 I have a lawn care business in Memphis TN your channel has helped me out so much thanks for all you do I wish I could make it to GIE but I can't
Bro you get right down to the money. A lot of us love what we do and some its just a job. Some of us want to start a lawn care business and don't have a clue what to charge. Thanx for spittin str8 fire. Your right, why don't people want to talk about the money??
Hard to say. Honest answer, no one likes being exposed or wants the criticism of letting folks know what they charge or even what they make. Can’t blame em. But I’m over it. :-)
Your pricing tips have really helped me out this year. I have been able to charge more just because I am more confident in what I am charing. I am also able to explain why I am charing that to the customer if they ask. Now I have a good idea on what I will charge if people want me to do fall clean ups.
As I said before I have 31 years in the business! I was told 30 years ago it's a dollar a minute cutting grass! Hasn't failed me yet! For leaf removal it's one and a half normal rate for weekly leaf removal! I do golf course yards that are small! If nothing pit pruning it's $50 an hour with debris left on owners property! BTW I just got a text tonight that I have another customer coming on board! For me that says when your good it shows in your work! Client says not happy with his current service. I actually have a customer that pays $200 for a 40 minute mow! God I love her!! She offered the $ and I don't turn it down. I'm in NC!
That was 30 years ago do you not go up with inflation because your costs to live and work are always climbing and you are charging 30 year old pricing?
Dope video. I charge my hourly rate $75 per hour and when I let my clients know I tell them them they are on a 2 week schedule from oct to first or 2 week in December so we can stay on top of the leaves 🍁 for other clients that don’t want that option we estimate the cleanup and my starting point is $150 plus $25 to haul away
I'm a solo guy running a small pickup and 4x6 trailer, in a generally low income-rural area in the PNW. My targeted rate is $60/hr. I'm usually within range of that number, sometimes well above. Though sometimes I feel like I'm charging too much and adjust clean-ups to more like $50/hr, which imo is still really good money cause I have very little overhead atm. I've recently been trying to finetune my landfill prices, I'm currently working with doing $40 for the first yard them $25 per cubic yard on top. Before I would try to make $60 per cubic yard but I felt like $180 for 3 yards was just too much given my location and business size (I'd love to be making that all day but I try to see things from the customers pov as well). Landfills here are always within ~8 miles and only cost $3/yard of debris so generally low costs for me. I think this fall I'm just going to try to price my leaf clean-ups pretty straight forward with my hourly rate + landfill pricing. So 1 hour of labor with 2 yards of leaves would be $60+40+25= $125. I never tell customers my hourly rate because they usually just don't understand, but I will try to explain my landfill prices to them that way if I underbid the clean-up time at least I'll be making a consistent rate for dumping
We (two man crew) charged $350 for a leaf cleanup today. It took us almost 6 hours and we filled up a 10 x 6 trailer. We still have to take it to the dump in the morning. If left unchecked leaves can multiply quickly.
i charge 60.00 per man hour on everything and that seems to work out for covering equipment, manpower, and all ither expenses. And as you know it is a learning experience so i can always raise prices as i go.
Finishing up my 1st full year in business. Had my 1st leaf job after Christmas light season last year and after 4 days and 50ish 50gal trash bags later I realized I way under bid the job by hundreds. Live and learn, this video definitely helps, thank you!
I have found that mulching leaves is a real time saver for fall cleanups. I know a lot of people bag and haul away. This can eat up a lot of time particularly when the days are so short.
I prefer to just continue weekly cutting until December in SE Ohio and my customers like that. Blowing leaves to the tree line with the 8010 and mulching the rest. There are a lot of dynamics to leaf clean up, great topic and I do like your price scale for how you do it.
Leaves are a weird one to price. I know for me at least; when I first started I lost my shirt on a couple leaf jobs. With experience you get better and better. In our area most properties are lined with mature trees. We average between 600-800 per property and we can do about 3 a day with 2 guys, 2 blowers, tarps and a dump trailer. Debating whether to get a power chute with bagger or a nice leaf loader to go on the dump trailer. Pumped for leaf cleanups though and can’t wait to plow some snow.. I’m just itching
Haha amen pal. I can't believe the prices I used to charge way back in the day. But you know what, my overhead was a third of what it is today, so I guess it's all relative! Live and learn, right?!
Brian's Lawn Maintenance it’s true but you also have to start somewhere and slowly build up good quality clients. Great video. Great topic. Great timing
IthinkthereforeIam OrsoIthought where abouts are you located? And the loaders are super nice just debating if it would be faster combined with the blowers or if the mower with bagger would speed up things more.
Muskoka Property Care i’m the same way two blowers two guys and some tarps , and my trailer is not a dump trailer but we still get the job done” but I’m sure The set up Brien lawn maintenance haves would help on going much faster . What’s your opinion?
Don’t take one for under $150. Base rate. With that said we actually average 2 per prop, so ends up being $300 minimum. If it will only be a single cleanup rates are pushing $300 for one all day because of, like you said, thick matted down plant material. Solo currently and part time, dump insert coming end of next week and will be much more efficient and dump more material quicker. Always just a blower and triple bagger. Enclosed trailer first, debris loader probably after a stand on aerator. Like you said, always learning. Finally figured out how to price and now I’m netting a much friendlier profit for me while being within the rates of competitors (thus why the aerator will be first) haha. Keep up the quality work, Brian. Although, that second property, dude the clumping? Not in western Mass, that wouldn’t fly, you’d get a call back and then fired after the second time if not 3rd.
Hey Brian its Rocco from R &J here in ct always enjoy your videos I've been in the business for 25 years and really enjoy your channel you really teach them well and explain everything thanks Bro 👍💪💵 I have 2 guys with me daily and 1or 2 more during leaf season with have the box truck dump with the leaf sucker so we will be getting ready for war soon thanks your friend Rocco from CT
Definitely definitely check the yard BEFORE you price it COMPLETELY!! My first leaf job I underbid and lost a few hundred dollars easily just because I didn’t walk around back and/or check the thickness of the leaves on the ground. At first sight, it looked so simple.. I shot the customer a bid and he accepted. I thought I could do it alone. I show up at the house, walk around back and holy crap!! Oak and maple trees everywhere! Needless to say, 8 hours later and calling in 2 buddies.. I definitely lost big money. Moral to the story.. don’t get in a hurry to make your bid. If you’re rushed for time.. wait and do the bid when you can take the time to actually LOOK at the property fully and assess the situation. Thanks @Brian for another good video brother!! Just a couple more weeks till GIE!! Hope to meet ya brother! Stay safe and God bless!!
Hey Brian! Just a thought but I think it would be great if you added a fertilize and yard weed control into your Lawntrepeneur academy! I know you don't offer this service but you have the connections to get the information. I know it would be a lot of work so I would understand if you made it one of your $100 ones. I would spend that money for that. I currently have bought the rest of the trainings, but I would love for a fert and weed control! If it's too much work I totally understand!!
In the past we usually did 2 people. But this year we will do 3. Efficiency is key. Also, our prices are usually always determined hourly. But we give the customer a flat rate. Our usual leaf removals range between 200-350. (These are usually sizable jobs) We all have the same 40 hours per week guys! Make sure your recovering your costs.
Hmmm cutting those yards would be $49-$59 here in Atlanta. Amazing your only getting $30. 🤔. For leaf cleanups maybe $95 each yard. The pruning would be another $125 on top of that.
A 4000 sqft. lawn would be $35.75 a week here in Greenville SC. We normally charge 4x the cut rate for leaf removal. We also offer a $50 per residence curb side leaf pickup with our debris loader. We got together with a bunch of local small landscape companies and offered it to them. A bunch are interested in it this season. It's a great way to make extra income to help cover the cost of the loader.
I charge between $125 to $150 for small to medium sized yards...and $150-$250 for large to XLarge yards depending on how long it takes, how bad the yard is or how much needs to be done. But this year I may just do $250 across the board because of dump fees and gas going up. It may sound bad for some but I know some yards don't have trees or a lot of other obstacles, so I can adjust the price on that but on less than $125🤷🏾♂️
Great video Brian, I am getting ready for fall myself after September 30th when I close my landscaping down for the year, I will use the skid steer and put the box on top of the dump trailer and truck! I can go and just suck up all the leaves on the curb!
Thank you it's hard because some people charge or undercharge to get better business but to do a good quality job you definitely want to make sure that you're getting paid for what you're doing
I’m 6 times mow price for spring leaf cleanups and 8 times for fall. Get it all day. It’s an all inclusive price: dump fee, pruning, blowing and vacuuming.
yo brian! love your videos man, i just started a landscape company this year with my homie. We found charging $10 every 1000 sqft works well for us for basic lawn cuts. Was totally in the dark when it came to pricing out the leaf cleanups and glad i watched this video, 4x the price of the lawncut seems reasonable we will have to record some data and get back to you with results. Thank you!
Brian, question for you - I live in illinois and leaves fall for 4-5 weeks before they are all down. I have come to learn it is more efficient and productive that we cleanup our weekly clients yards each week during those 5 weeks that the leaves fall. It makes the final service much easier because we have been cleaning up the yard each week as we go. My question that I still am unsure of is what is the best strategy/fair way to charge the customer? Do you give them a flat additional price for each service, is it best to charge them based on time during those weeks or what? What's the best practice here so to say?
I've seen alot of companies just continue to charge the same price per week and mow/bag up the leaves from the lawn, whatever gets mowed up is what gets done. Then one final clean up to clean out garden beds etc
Thanks for this timely video. I charge my hourly rate four Haul Away $50, our County charges the same to vacuum leaves out of the gutter(homeowners rake or blow them to the curb). I researched my local rates as well as the state (VA) and national averages. I plan on charging $150-$250. I have my postcards ready to go. Picking up a new trailer Monday. I’m hyped up for Fall. Let’s make $$$!!!
Kinda wish I had a dump insert for mulch and stuff but I’m getting a new trailer soon and I’m gonna do plywood sides on it and a roll up tarp so we can haul stuff to the dump. I charge the person by yard because it’s $12 at my dump per yard of leaves so I charge them $15 per yard and my trailer if it is filled level to the top it is about 12 yards. Usually in our area in eastern PA I do 3-5 cleanups and the trailer is full even with the leaves and debris cut up by the mower then again with the vacuum on the mower. Usually my properties are about 2 acres. I like to aim for $150 hourly but I run a three man crew including myself and run a John Deere x738 and a stihl br450 and a husqvarna b125 for cleanups and then I’m planning on buying a stihl hedge trimmer
I'm solo and charge by the job. I have a small, med, lg area guide with haul away being: $150, $220, $290 + OST @ 6.5% (I'm a state registered business and have to charge tax). My happy price is $40/hr + $20/hr equipment. I've been thinking of adding a growth % as well. Haven't come up with a number there yet.
Purchased a 3 bag grass and leaf collector for our Scag Turf Tiger this year. We are really looking forward to utilizing it. By the way, in the fall and winter it’s just me so I’ll charge anywhere from 75 to 100 dollars an hour.
Hey Brian where I’m from we charge $50/hour for one guy $75/hour for two guys $100/hr for three guys during leaf removal these prices don’t include the owner as a guy or employee but it’s been doing us great here in ms for years
I live in Mississippi to. you have to get good customers. You have make them understand that this is your only in come and that if your not making money there no since in you do the work.
I usually charge by each tree. If I do a bid and the leaves are on the tree I just bid by what’s on the tree and if the leaves will all be down when we do it. So like the tree at the end of your video I would say $75 and that is including hauling the debris away. I also like to add up everything and then compare it to my hourly rate which is $50 for each guy. So say all the trees add up to be like $400 and it’s going to take 3 hrs to do with two guys thats $300 so I would then know the $400 bid is good. I also do the same when trimming bushes. We just blow out the flower beds and use leaf suckers to suck up the leaves and then we throw it in our dump trailer.
Well just saying it’s $250 no matter what is a weird way to do it. What if it only takes you 20 minutes?.. mine probably aren’t the size of yours, just thinking out loud
Brian's Lawn Maintenance i typed this reply then my phone died but I use to do it the way you do but a buddy of mine started showing me doing the minimum prices he’s starting at $400 for his he has 3 trucks for lawn care out Monday-Friday and killing it . Not bragging or anything of that sort but he’s banging shit out he does lawn and hardscape . But he’s guided me and in one year I have jumped profits almost double last year and I have more equipment and quality than any years previous so it’s worked man . I just don’t want to see you going cheaper than your value you know I want good people to succeed anyway possible your good people in my book man . If your prices work for you then use them . Every thing doesn’t work for everyone the same that’s what I’ve learned in the past 3-5 years man .each person and company has different goals needs and bills
great video. im small time . 18 customs. but growing . im solo. still pushing a mower . looking to buy a stag or wright. was confused on the leaf clean up charge. im about $45. each house . some are $55. so ill definitely follow 3x rule . thanks
Hey Brian. Thanks for sharing your numbers. Know buddy in this business we'll share that. I think you are a little low on mowing . I would get at least $40 for the yards you showed. I love your vids you are the first lawn care vid I have watched
Great tips man!! Starting next spring for myself..the videos have helped a lot!!! You adding to the fleet anytime in the near future?? Dump truck or another pickup? Those 550 power stroke dumps are beasts!! God bless man
I'm solo. My goal is to eventually be charging $36 per hour when I'm running equipment and $25 an hour when for things like spreading mulch. This is for big jobs. For anything 2 hours or less I charge a dollar per minute this is my goal anyways. For debris, I just take them home pile them up and burn them every so often. I have land so I have the ability to do that..
@@joeymarks9159 yeah i couldnt charge that here. Before expenses i can get about $60 an hour mowing but if you go over that ur likely to get out bid here in ga Edit i say charge but i mean after flat rate prices per job prices, 60 is doable
Just had to laugh when you mentioned 10 old oak trees in the back yard. That's exactly what I have and if I dont take care of the leaves twice a week its a nightmare!
I charge a minimum of $60 leaf clean ups if I have to brang dump trailer I get $40 a load plus time to load debra. How I charge on my mowing. I charge $1 a inch of mower and that's how I figure my hourly rate. So if I have a 54inch deck I get $54 hour. My minimum on mowing is $40 that in Mississippi
Simple! I set a standard hourly rate depending on if it's one guy or two and so forth. Simply cause most of my customer's are weekly cleanups similar to weekly cuts..
Hey Brian, I'm looking to get into lawn care, but I'm wondering how leaf clean-ups and spring clean-ups should look in terms of schedule, and how you pace you work being that you're not spending nearly as much time like when in full mowing season. In the fall, do you schedule routine leaf clean-up? (if so, I imagine it would probably be no more than bi-weekly?) And what about spring clean-ups - when exactly do you do them - on a schedule? Just knock 'em out one at a time, once per customer? - maybe use to pick up new customers as well? ;) Also wondering about when you do the more specialty kind of jobs like hedge trimming for example. For the customers that need it, do you do it every time with the mowing schedule, do it just when you see that it needs done when you're there mowing, take note of the customers that need that done and do it later or another day, or maybe just a simple bi-weekly or monthly schedule or something? Thanks!
I'm curious if you could get into the details of your business. Such as days you work. How you hire and pay employees. How you hire them legally and pay taxes and W2 and all that jazz. Just questions I have. Thanks!
Man I work for Great Lakes here in Michigan and we work all the way up till it snows. last year I had a normal day just cutting day lilly’s and that same night went out to do snow.
Thanks for the info. Always a great help when a lawntepenuer will give information like this. It helps us at least get a starting point. Great 👍 information Brian.
One thing that I'm sure a lot of guys or gals don't consider is that each job for a leaf cleanup is a specialty visit. Some of the leaf cleanup jobs won't be for a contract customer, so you should approach it like any other professional service such as a plumber or an electrician. Consider the investment in equipment that you need to bring that far exceeds that of either of the latter two examples. Just to show up with your equipment has to incurr a minimum charge. Each job may be miles apart and require travel time. It will enure to your benefit if they happen to be in close proximity all paying the same minimum. That's just business.
It just clicked that you're in Michigan. I've been watching a few of your videos for advice. (By the way love them. They help a lot) I just started my business about a year ago. Got probably 5 yards which isn't much at all but also have a full time job and do this by myself. There's been many times when I just wanted to quit but your videos help me keep going. So here's my question. I want to expand but don't know if it's worth the risk of not having the customers to pay for the equipment. What's your advice on that. -Nashville, Mi, Red Beard Lawn and Snow. Thanks
GoPro Black 7 audio is horrible. We just purchased a few upgrades on Amazon, hoping to take that camera's production to a better level, especially on the audio. Thanks for noticing! Always trying to improve, and one of the reasons I like the GoPro 7 is the picture quality is just amazing for such a nimble camera.
I just go by time, it may not be as profitable but it also minimizes the losses from under bidding but it takes time to establish that trust with a client as many have been burned by people over charging or milking the clock. Id agree with what your charging for time but imo it should vary with each person on there equipment and efficiency, but it should vary for ease of access,difficulty,hazard windows/ponds/etc. Noticing potential damage prone areas might make you charge $5 more but over time can offset the cost for the bay window that is in a bad location. For dumping here you wouldnt even pay for the fee let alone the gas/load/unload. Cheapest place ive found here after they closed all the cheap organic places is 30 per yard. Most choose to just mulch or add it to there weekly trash as they have taken all the cost effective places away.
I take my hourly rate $50 and times it by how long I think it will take me to do a clean up. Does not take long to figure out if you're low. I still make money just not as much as I would like. Most of the time I hit that target price. Sometimes I get a job done quicker and it makes up for the job that took me longer. Most of my clean ups are in the $250 range. If pruning more depending on how much I have to prune
Just subscribe to your channel love the quality work you do very informative I recently started a lawn care business this season very small starting out in West Georgia area but you have helped me alot with tips and tricks on advertising thanks man.
hello all my name is Chuck my former business was my long guy in Illinois I have relocated to Denton Texas and it is now Noble Oaks Landscaping I'm using voice to text so forgive me if something looks weird as you're reading it. Before I relocated to Texas and now that I am in Texas I never once bagged a single leaf and the majority of my cleanups for bushes and trimming down hedges and cutting down hospice and daylilies I would bag up into lawn and leaf bags and throw it at the curb which is free disposal but charge 25 or $50 for disposal or I would throw it in my 12-ft wide burn pit and burn it at my own discretion then have a good time and still make money on it. But the game changer and the life changer is get yourself a set of gator blades for your mowers. blow all your leaves in any remaining brush or debris into the center of the yard in the biggest space and then take your mower on the highest setting go over it forwards and then backwards backwards is the key because backwards it the leaves and debris will not blow all over the place out from the mower going forwards they will blow out from you and you won't be able to mulch them up. and after everything is chopped down to a decent height I lowered my deck two around three or four inches and one over it again backwards and backwards again until it was even finer normally my jack was set around 3 in when I lowered it and I literally would mulch any leaves in debris literally into dust and then I would take the pile of leaf debris and blow it throughout the lawn and it was so fine nobody could ever see it I never had to haul away any debris I never had to pay for anything that I didn't bag and I would take it to my fire pit anyway and the least material was so fine and it would stay in the yard all winter and spring break down by spring time in a super healthy for the lawn. Brian I would love to be able to talk to you further if you got a cell phone or if you're able to look me up look up Noble Oaks Landscaping or if you have an email I'd love to chat you. We've spoken a couple times before but I'm telling you that this is a game changer and instead of spending that 45 to an hour of time to suck up leaves and dump them in your trailer and then drive to a dump site to dump all your debris you can spend that same amount of time most the leaves literally into dust blow them around the lawn and walk away and nobody would ever see them and I did that same process for 10 years and my customers loved me and I'm home advisor of a 4.9 out of 5 star rating.
What do you do to keep all your lawns green and full that keeps them from browning? Most of our lawns are browning and have been since September especially since we went all of August with no rain here here in Tennessee.
Depending on where your at the lowest ive seen for a base rate is $10 per 1k sq ft if your higher up 20 per 1k sq ft. Seeding will vary depending if your just throwing it down or if your seed slicing and doing a better prep for best results, if its just throwing it down double the cost of the seed for labor/profit as a general base in most business. Its a good rule of thumb that transverses from mulch,rock,mowing,cleanup, aeration etc. if your not keeping that rule your likely failing or falling way behind.
I am going to mow/pick up once a week to keep up on the leaves. My one customer, commercial, has a dozen trees in the lawn. My city picks up yard waste once a week. I put as much as I can in bags. People here are not to hot on the idea of paying a dump charge, since we have curb side pick up. The place where I dump my yard waste charges between 45 - 65 dollars per pick up truck load. I am not sure if people would pay that much for fall clean up down here. ($125 -$175) Do they make an accelerator bagging system for a Toro ZTR? I have the bagging system, but run into clogging problems if I go to fast, or take too big a bite.
Most localities don't allow contractors to put debris at the curb. Mine don't. I've gotten pushback in my county and city on 2 properties I put branches out at. I'm not even a contractor, just helped a couple buddies trim some trees.
no if you showed up to a house for a regular cut and there's already leaves covering the lawn what would you charge because it's not a fall cleanup it's just a regular Bowl but the Lawns covered in leaves already how would you go about that
don’t full throttle if there’s not many leaves in beds, if there is you can full throttle until you get to the mulch. that’s what i do seems to work. i always blow flowerbed edges back in just incase any mulch made it into the grass.
Are you typically cleaning you leaf customers 1 time a year? Most of mine i charge alittle more than a mowing to mulch it up until it just becomes too much then i do a cleanup, Beds and all.
Hey great show. I was thinking that spring time was really the only time to do pruning and encourage new growth? If new growth appears, it may be susceptible to frost or freezing?
Hey Brian what’s a way to charge for fall cleanups with simple equipment. Rake and bags. I have experience in landscaping so you know I’m not “neighborhood kid” lol by bag maybe? I’m just not sure how much to charge per bag
A lot of the other guys never post their real numbers, so I appreciate you posting your numbers!
Yeah I agree. I may be high, I may be low, but I love to at least share em to help you guys out, idc!
Hey brain I'm 15 I have a lawn care business in Memphis TN your channel has helped me out so much thanks for all you do I wish I could make it to GIE but I can't
Hey buddy that's awesome. I hope they can help you guys get your feet wet and start to bring in more revenue to grow your business! Rock on!
cool
Bro you get right down to the money. A lot of us love what we do and some its just a job. Some of us want to start a lawn care business and don't have a clue what to charge. Thanx for spittin str8 fire. Your right, why don't people want to talk about the money??
Hard to say. Honest answer, no one likes being exposed or wants the criticism of letting folks know what they charge or even what they make. Can’t blame em. But I’m over it. :-)
For real, I wish more ‘Tubers would talk about leaf cleanups. I used to dread leaf season when I wasn’t charging correctly. Now it’s alllll gravy
Amen and amen
Your pricing tips have really helped me out this year. I have been able to charge more just because I am more confident in what I am charing. I am also able to explain why I am charing that to the customer if they ask. Now I have a good idea on what I will charge if people want me to do fall clean ups.
As I said before I have 31 years in the business! I was told 30 years ago it's a dollar a minute cutting grass! Hasn't failed me yet! For leaf removal it's one and a half normal rate for weekly leaf removal! I do golf course yards that are small! If nothing pit pruning it's $50 an hour with debris left on owners property! BTW I just got a text tonight that I have another customer coming on board! For me that says when your good it shows in your work! Client says not happy with his current service. I actually have a customer that pays $200 for a 40 minute mow! God I love her!! She offered the $ and I don't turn it down. I'm in NC!
As the say goes "you get what you pay for" I could not agree more 👍
What size mower for a dollar a minute?
That was 30 years ago do you not go up with inflation because your costs to live and work are always climbing and you are charging 30 year old pricing?
Dope video. I charge my hourly rate $75 per hour and when I let my clients know I tell them them they are on a 2 week schedule from oct to first or 2 week in December so we can stay on top of the leaves 🍁 for other clients that don’t want that option we estimate the cleanup and my starting point is $150 plus $25 to haul away
I'm a solo guy running a small pickup and 4x6 trailer, in a generally low income-rural area in the PNW. My targeted rate is $60/hr. I'm usually within range of that number, sometimes well above. Though sometimes I feel like I'm charging too much and adjust clean-ups to more like $50/hr, which imo is still really good money cause I have very little overhead atm.
I've recently been trying to finetune my landfill prices, I'm currently working with doing $40 for the first yard them $25 per cubic yard on top. Before I would try to make $60 per cubic yard but I felt like $180 for 3 yards was just too much given my location and business size (I'd love to be making that all day but I try to see things from the customers pov as well). Landfills here are always within ~8 miles and only cost $3/yard of debris so generally low costs for me.
I think this fall I'm just going to try to price my leaf clean-ups pretty straight forward with my hourly rate + landfill pricing. So 1 hour of labor with 2 yards of leaves would be $60+40+25= $125. I never tell customers my hourly rate because they usually just don't understand, but I will try to explain my landfill prices to them that way if I underbid the clean-up time at least I'll be making a consistent rate for dumping
We (two man crew) charged $350 for a leaf cleanup today. It took us almost 6 hours and we filled up a 10 x 6 trailer. We still have to take it to the dump in the morning. If left unchecked leaves can multiply quickly.
i charge 60.00 per man hour on everything and that seems to work out for covering equipment, manpower, and all ither expenses. And as you know it is a learning experience so i can always raise prices as i go.
Finishing up my 1st full year in business. Had my 1st leaf job after Christmas light season last year and after 4 days and 50ish 50gal trash bags later I realized I way under bid the job by hundreds. Live and learn, this video definitely helps, thank you!
I have found that mulching leaves is a real time saver for fall cleanups. I know a lot of people bag and haul away. This can eat up a lot of time particularly when the days are so short.
I prefer to just continue weekly cutting until December in SE Ohio and my customers like that. Blowing leaves to the tree line with the 8010 and mulching the rest. There are a lot of dynamics to leaf clean up, great topic and I do like your price scale for how you do it.
Leaves are a weird one to price. I know for me at least; when I first started I lost my shirt on a couple leaf jobs. With experience you get better and better. In our area most properties are lined with mature trees. We average between 600-800 per property and we can do about 3 a day with 2 guys, 2 blowers, tarps and a dump trailer. Debating whether to get a power chute with bagger or a nice leaf loader to go on the dump trailer. Pumped for leaf cleanups though and can’t wait to plow some snow.. I’m just itching
Haha amen pal. I can't believe the prices I used to charge way back in the day. But you know what, my overhead was a third of what it is today, so I guess it's all relative! Live and learn, right?!
Brian's Lawn Maintenance it’s true but you also have to start somewhere and slowly build up good quality clients. Great video. Great topic. Great timing
IthinkthereforeIam OrsoIthought where abouts are you located? And the loaders are super nice just debating if it would be faster combined with the blowers or if the mower with bagger would speed up things more.
Muskoka Property Care i’m the same way two blowers two guys and some tarps , and my trailer is not a dump trailer but we still get the job done” but I’m sure The set up Brien lawn maintenance haves would help on going much faster . What’s your opinion?
Omegahunter6950 Sumano That’s what I’m thinking with the bagger I think the leaf loader might be a 2020 purchase.
Don’t take one for under $150. Base rate. With that said we actually average 2 per prop, so ends up being $300 minimum. If it will only be a single cleanup rates are pushing $300 for one all day because of, like you said, thick matted down plant material. Solo currently and part time, dump insert coming end of next week and will be much more efficient and dump more material quicker. Always just a blower and triple bagger. Enclosed trailer first, debris loader probably after a stand on aerator. Like you said, always learning. Finally figured out how to price and now I’m netting a much friendlier profit for me while being within the rates of competitors (thus why the aerator will be first) haha. Keep up the quality work, Brian. Although, that second property, dude the clumping? Not in western Mass, that wouldn’t fly, you’d get a call back and then fired after the second time if not 3rd.
Hey Brian its Rocco from R &J here in ct always enjoy your videos I've been in the business for 25 years and really enjoy your channel you really teach them well and explain everything thanks Bro 👍💪💵 I have 2 guys with me daily and 1or 2 more during leaf season with have the box truck dump with the leaf sucker so we will be getting ready for war soon thanks your friend Rocco from CT
Definitely definitely check the yard BEFORE you price it COMPLETELY!! My first leaf job I underbid and lost a few hundred dollars easily just because I didn’t walk around back and/or check the thickness of the leaves on the ground. At first sight, it looked so simple.. I shot the customer a bid and he accepted. I thought I could do it alone. I show up at the house, walk around back and holy crap!! Oak and maple trees everywhere! Needless to say, 8 hours later and calling in 2 buddies.. I definitely lost big money. Moral to the story.. don’t get in a hurry to make your bid. If you’re rushed for time.. wait and do the bid when you can take the time to actually LOOK at the property fully and assess the situation. Thanks @Brian for another good video brother!! Just a couple more weeks till GIE!! Hope to meet ya brother! Stay safe and God bless!!
Hey Brian! Just a thought but I think it would be great if you added a fertilize and yard weed control into your Lawntrepeneur academy! I know you don't offer this service but you have the connections to get the information. I know it would be a lot of work so I would understand if you made it one of your $100 ones. I would spend that money for that. I currently have bought the rest of the trainings, but I would love for a fert and weed control! If it's too much work I totally understand!!
Brice Klausing thats a great idea
In the past we usually did 2 people. But this year we will do 3. Efficiency is key. Also, our prices are usually always determined hourly. But we give the customer a flat rate. Our usual leaf removals range between 200-350. (These are usually sizable jobs) We all have the same 40 hours per week guys! Make sure your recovering your costs.
Hmmm cutting those yards would be $49-$59 here in Atlanta. Amazing your only getting $30. 🤔. For leaf cleanups maybe $95 each yard. The pruning would be another $125 on top of that.
Gwinnett Lawns totally agree same here in SC
Lol he's in Michigan what did you expect
A 4000 sqft. lawn would be $35.75 a week here in Greenville SC. We normally charge 4x the cut rate for leaf removal. We also offer a $50 per residence curb side leaf pickup with our debris loader. We got together with a bunch of local small landscape companies and offered it to them. A bunch are interested in it this season. It's a great way to make extra income to help cover the cost of the loader.
I charge between $125 to $150 for small to medium sized yards...and $150-$250 for large to XLarge yards depending on how long it takes, how bad the yard is or how much needs to be done. But this year I may just do $250 across the board because of dump fees and gas going up.
It may sound bad for some but I know some yards don't have trees or a lot of other obstacles, so I can adjust the price on that but on less than $125🤷🏾♂️
Nice video I charge by the yard usually a minimum of 300$ for leaves and for yards I’ve been trying to keep my yards at 35-40$ a cut for the grass
Brian - I find the walk-around videos really helpful and informative - keep putting out quality content
Of course pal. And thank you
Hey Brian we are located in the greater Toronto area , we charge by the hour 65-70.00 per hour per person
For fall cleanup
Steve - THE LAWN RANGER INC
Your prices are spot on. Im mirror to you. Get what you're worth guys, and dont leave any money on the table....Good vid Brian!
This video really is helpful because you actually share numbers and how you charge, thank you for that.
Great video Brian, I am getting ready for fall myself after September 30th when I close my landscaping down for the year, I will use the skid steer and put the box on top of the dump trailer and truck! I can go and just suck up all the leaves on the curb!
Thank you it's hard because some people charge or undercharge to get better business but to do a good quality job you definitely want to make sure that you're getting paid for what you're doing
You have very fair prices. I have a similar yard and most companies around Boston are charging me in the $300 range
I’m 6 times mow price for spring leaf cleanups and 8 times for fall. Get it all day. It’s an all inclusive price: dump fee, pruning, blowing and vacuuming.
yo brian! love your videos man, i just started a landscape company this year with my homie. We found charging $10 every 1000 sqft works well for us for basic lawn cuts. Was totally in the dark when it came to pricing out the leaf cleanups and glad i watched this video, 4x the price of the lawncut seems reasonable we will have to record some data and get back to you with results. Thank you!
That’s awesome pal
Brian, question for you - I live in illinois and leaves fall for 4-5 weeks before they are all down. I have come to learn it is more efficient and productive that we cleanup our weekly clients yards each week during those 5 weeks that the leaves fall. It makes the final service much easier because we have been cleaning up the yard each week as we go. My question that I still am unsure of is what is the best strategy/fair way to charge the customer? Do you give them a flat additional price for each service, is it best to charge them based on time during those weeks or what? What's the best practice here so to say?
I'm from Illinois as well... trying to figure out the same thing...
I've seen alot of companies just continue to charge the same price per week and mow/bag up the leaves from the lawn, whatever gets mowed up is what gets done. Then one final clean up to clean out garden beds etc
Florida turf pros does a great job of explaining prices also. And Wyatt’s lawn care
Great job Brian! Thanks again for all the advice and info!
When you get a chance , can you make a video about installing mulch & prices . Thanks !!!
Thanks for this timely video. I charge my hourly rate four Haul Away $50, our County charges the same to vacuum leaves out of the gutter(homeowners rake or blow them to the curb). I researched my local rates as well as the state (VA) and national averages. I plan on charging $150-$250. I have my postcards ready to go. Picking up a new trailer Monday. I’m hyped up for Fall. Let’s make $$$!!!
Finally the video I’ve been waiting for!
It would be grate if you can give me a call so I can explain how we do it in jersey. I got about 16 house and started last October
Thank you for all your help I just started this year and I appreciate all your advice. Hope next year I can double my business
Kinda wish I had a dump insert for mulch and stuff but I’m getting a new trailer soon and I’m gonna do plywood sides on it and a roll up tarp so we can haul stuff to the dump. I charge the person by yard because it’s $12 at my dump per yard of leaves so I charge them $15 per yard and my trailer if it is filled level to the top it is about 12 yards. Usually in our area in eastern PA I do 3-5 cleanups and the trailer is full even with the leaves and debris cut up by the mower then again with the vacuum on the mower. Usually my properties are about 2 acres. I like to aim for $150 hourly but I run a three man crew including myself and run a John Deere x738 and a stihl br450 and a husqvarna b125 for cleanups and then I’m planning on buying a stihl hedge trimmer
I'm solo and charge by the job. I have a small, med, lg area guide with haul away being: $150, $220, $290 + OST @ 6.5% (I'm a state registered business and have to charge tax). My happy price is $40/hr + $20/hr equipment. I've been thinking of adding a growth % as well. Haven't come up with a number there yet.
Purchased a 3 bag grass and leaf collector for our Scag Turf Tiger this year. We are really looking forward to utilizing it. By the way, in the fall and winter it’s just me so I’ll charge anywhere from 75 to 100 dollars an hour.
What about if uts just me. Not a lot of expensive, fancy equipment.
How would I price leaf clean up, hedge trimming, etc??
These videos are a huge educational piece for me. Thank you for all of this advice!
Always so good and so helpful to here from the best source out there 👍 thanks so much Brian its always much appreciated 👌
Hey Brian where I’m from we charge $50/hour for one guy $75/hour for two guys $100/hr for three guys during leaf removal these prices don’t include the owner as a guy or employee but it’s been doing us great here in ms for years
Up in New England 65 to 75 per MAN hour 100 150 per 1 ton dump load of debris depending on size and how much debris.
Man people down here( south Mississippi) don’t want to pay that kinda money for lawn care no matter what it is.
I live in Mississippi to. you have to get good customers. You have make them understand that this is your only in come and that if your not making money there no since in you do the work.
Same way in N Mississippi
I usually charge by each tree. If I do a bid and the leaves are on the tree I just bid by what’s on the tree and if the leaves will all be down when we do it. So like the tree at the end of your video I would say $75 and that is including hauling the debris away. I also like to add up everything and then compare it to my hourly rate which is $50 for each guy. So say all the trees add up to be like $400 and it’s going to take 3 hrs to do with two guys thats $300 so I would then know the $400 bid is good. I also do the same when trimming bushes. We just blow out the flower beds and use leaf suckers to suck up the leaves and then we throw it in our dump trailer.
Leave the perennial for spring cleaning. Adds insulation to the roots and cleans up better.
Kinda looking forward to fall. I am so burnt out........ do you offer fertilizer services as well?
Hey Brian awesome timing on this video, i did my first quote for leaf cleanup, looks like I waaaaay underbid it
2 man crew. Usually 4 to 6 times weekly mowing price. Depending on amount of trees.. fenced in back yard etc... central Illinois.
I’d be way higher brotha especially for pruning stuff included . Our base price is 250$ for any and all clean ups no matter what
Well just saying it’s $250 no matter what is a weird way to do it. What if it only takes you 20 minutes?.. mine probably aren’t the size of yours, just thinking out loud
Brian's Lawn Maintenance i typed this reply then my phone died but I use to do it the way you do but a buddy of mine started showing me doing the minimum prices he’s starting at $400 for his he has 3 trucks for lawn care out Monday-Friday and killing it . Not bragging or anything of that sort but he’s banging shit out he does lawn and hardscape . But he’s guided me and in one year I have jumped profits almost double last year and I have more equipment and quality than any years previous so it’s worked man . I just don’t want to see you going cheaper than your value you know I want good people to succeed anyway possible your good people in my book man . If your prices work for you then use them . Every thing doesn’t work for everyone the same that’s what I’ve learned in the past 3-5 years man .each person and company has different goals needs and bills
JKC Lawn Care And Landscape 🧐 $250 you’ll be out of Business here in Indiana.
Omegahunter6950 Sumano 250$ covers me for 1 hour and profit a lot .
Thanks Brian for doing pricing with services , keep up the good work 👍
Wow 30.00 that lawn is 45 to 50 here in Louisiana. But to each it's own. Do you!
great video. im small time . 18 customs. but growing . im solo. still pushing a mower . looking to buy a stag or wright. was confused on the leaf clean up charge. im about $45. each house . some are $55.
so ill definitely follow 3x rule . thanks
Hey Brian. Thanks for sharing your numbers. Know buddy in this business we'll share that. I think you are a little low on mowing . I would get at least $40 for the yards you showed. I love your vids you are the first lawn care vid I have watched
I wish, but most are $30-$35 here
Great tips man!! Starting next spring for myself..the videos have helped a lot!!! You adding to the fleet anytime in the near future?? Dump truck or another pickup? Those 550 power stroke dumps are beasts!! God bless man
I landscape properties in a very wealthy suburb of NYC and you cant believe owners of 3 million dollar homes complain of 50.00 weekly lawn cuts!
gregory chernalis that’s how the richer and get richer😂
If you saw their tax bill they might not have much money left.
I'm solo. My goal is to eventually be charging $36 per hour when I'm running equipment and $25 an hour when for things like spreading mulch. This is for big jobs. For anything 2 hours or less I charge a dollar per minute this is my goal anyways. For debris, I just take them home pile them up and burn them every so often. I have land so I have the ability to do that..
I make $100-$150 an hour as a 17 year old in VT.
@@joeymarks9159 yeah i couldnt charge that here. Before expenses i can get about $60 an hour mowing but if you go over that ur likely to get out bid here in ga
Edit i say charge but i mean after flat rate prices per job prices, 60 is doable
Just had to laugh when you mentioned 10 old oak trees in the back yard. That's exactly what I have and if I dont take care of the leaves twice a week its a nightmare!
I charge a minimum of $60 leaf clean ups if I have to brang dump trailer I get $40 a load plus time to load debra. How I charge on my mowing. I charge $1 a inch of mower and that's how I figure my hourly rate. So if I have a 54inch deck I get $54 hour. My minimum on mowing is $40 that in Mississippi
Simple! I set a standard hourly rate depending on if it's one guy or two and so forth. Simply cause most of my customer's are weekly cleanups similar to weekly cuts..
Hey Brian, I'm looking to get into lawn care, but I'm wondering how leaf clean-ups and spring clean-ups should look in terms of schedule, and how you pace you work being that you're not spending nearly as much time like when in full mowing season. In the fall, do you schedule routine leaf clean-up? (if so, I imagine it would probably be no more than bi-weekly?) And what about spring clean-ups - when exactly do you do them - on a schedule? Just knock 'em out one at a time, once per customer? - maybe use to pick up new customers as well? ;)
Also wondering about when you do the more specialty kind of jobs like hedge trimming for example. For the customers that need it, do you do it every time with the mowing schedule, do it just when you see that it needs done when you're there mowing, take note of the customers that need that done and do it later or another day, or maybe just a simple bi-weekly or monthly schedule or something?
Thanks!
We answer all of this in our leaf clean up how to videos! Start there!
Aloha,
I just started and really appreciate the help and information you provide. I need help on bidding here in Sacramento California.
Mahalos!
I'm curious if you could get into the details of your business. Such as days you work. How you hire and pay employees. How you hire them legally and pay taxes and W2 and all that jazz. Just questions I have. Thanks!
Man I work for Great Lakes here in Michigan and we work all the way up till it snows. last year I had a normal day just cutting day lilly’s and that same night went out to do snow.
Brian: “charge 3 times your mowing price... this lawn is $30”
Also Brian *charges $175 for the cleanup” 😂😂
I said base lol 😝
Thanks Brian for your help!!! Awesome!!!
Thanks for the info. Always a great help when a lawntepenuer will give information like this. It helps us at least get a starting point. Great 👍 information Brian.
Hey you bet Ronny, hope it helps!
One thing that I'm sure a lot of guys or gals don't consider is that each job for a leaf cleanup is a specialty visit. Some of the leaf cleanup jobs won't be for a contract customer, so you should approach it like any other professional service such as a plumber or an electrician. Consider the investment in equipment that you need to bring that far exceeds that of either of the latter two examples. Just to show up with your equipment has to incurr a minimum charge. Each job may be miles apart and require travel time. It will enure to your benefit if they happen to be in close proximity all paying the same minimum. That's just business.
It just clicked that you're in Michigan. I've been watching a few of your videos for advice. (By the way love them. They help a lot) I just started my business about a year ago. Got probably 5 yards which isn't much at all but also have a full time job and do this by myself. There's been many times when I just wanted to quit but your videos help me keep going. So here's my question. I want to expand but don't know if it's worth the risk of not having the customers to pay for the equipment. What's your advice on that. -Nashville, Mi, Red Beard Lawn and Snow. Thanks
Sweet!
Stihl HS 82R. Rejuvenate. Or HS 82T. Trimfine. Are $500 each. And are for those who trim a lot
Audio was peaking a little? Barely noticed but maybe ur mic is going. Great video Brian!
GoPro Black 7 audio is horrible. We just purchased a few upgrades on Amazon, hoping to take that camera's production to a better level, especially on the audio. Thanks for noticing! Always trying to improve, and one of the reasons I like the GoPro 7 is the picture quality is just amazing for such a nimble camera.
Brian's Lawn Maintenance ah makes perfect sense. And I agree that video quality is incredible, GoPro or NoGo😎
As usual excellent content & info! Thanks for sharing! 👍🏾👍🏾
Hey thanks pal!
That lawn is beautiful!
Great video…Great Advice; i always enjoy your Speaking points!big leaf job…I charge 300 bucks in Va!
Great advice, especially coming up to the leaf season! The audio in this video was a little weird but I didn’t mind it too bad.
Yeah we’re working on that! Just bought some new accessories to improve the audio quality, hoping it gets better.
appreciate you brotha!! your the man!! VERY helpful!!
Honest and informative, I love your videos.
Thanks B!
Brian, I think you bed to up your mowing price on those properties. Those are $35 cuts for us. I think you can get that for those size lawns.
35-40
Learning a lot from your Channel thanks I also would like for more people to teach about pricing
So I want to try it out this year and what would I do with all the leaves blown/picked up? Bagged? Thrown onto the side of the house?
I just go by time, it may not be as profitable but it also minimizes the losses from under bidding but it takes time to establish that trust with a client as many have been burned by people over charging or milking the clock. Id agree with what your charging for time but imo it should vary with each person on there equipment and efficiency, but it should vary for ease of access,difficulty,hazard windows/ponds/etc. Noticing potential damage prone areas might make you charge $5 more but over time can offset the cost for the bay window that is in a bad location. For dumping here you wouldnt even pay for the fee let alone the gas/load/unload. Cheapest place ive found here after they closed all the cheap organic places is 30 per yard. Most choose to just mulch or add it to there weekly trash as they have taken all the cost effective places away.
I take my hourly rate $50 and times it by how long I think it will take me to do a clean up. Does not take long to figure out if you're low. I still make money just not as much as I would like. Most of the time I hit that target price. Sometimes I get a job done quicker and it makes up for the job that took me longer. Most of my clean ups are in the $250 range. If pruning more depending on how much I have to prune
Just subscribe to your channel love the quality work you do very informative I recently started a lawn care business this season very small starting out in West Georgia area but you have helped me alot with tips and tricks on advertising thanks man.
Glad to hear business is booming buddy
Here in CT I would charge 40-45 for that yard
hello all my name is Chuck my former business was my long guy in Illinois I have relocated to Denton Texas and it is now Noble Oaks Landscaping I'm using voice to text so forgive me if something looks weird as you're reading it. Before I relocated to Texas and now that I am in Texas I never once bagged a single leaf and the majority of my cleanups for bushes and trimming down hedges and cutting down hospice and daylilies I would bag up into lawn and leaf bags and throw it at the curb which is free disposal but charge 25 or $50 for disposal or I would throw it in my 12-ft wide burn pit and burn it at my own discretion then have a good time and still make money on it. But the game changer and the life changer is get yourself a set of gator blades for your mowers. blow all your leaves in any remaining brush or debris into the center of the yard in the biggest space and then take your mower on the highest setting go over it forwards and then backwards backwards is the key because backwards it the leaves and debris will not blow all over the place out from the mower going forwards they will blow out from you and you won't be able to mulch them up. and after everything is chopped down to a decent height I lowered my deck two around three or four inches and one over it again backwards and backwards again until it was even finer normally my jack was set around 3 in when I lowered it and I literally would mulch any leaves in debris literally into dust and then I would take the pile of leaf debris and blow it throughout the lawn and it was so fine nobody could ever see it I never had to haul away any debris I never had to pay for anything that I didn't bag and I would take it to my fire pit anyway and the least material was so fine and it would stay in the yard all winter and spring break down by spring time in a super healthy for the lawn. Brian I would love to be able to talk to you further if you got a cell phone or if you're able to look me up look up Noble Oaks Landscaping or if you have an email I'd love to chat you. We've spoken a couple times before but I'm telling you that this is a game changer and instead of spending that 45 to an hour of time to suck up leaves and dump them in your trailer and then drive to a dump site to dump all your debris you can spend that same amount of time most the leaves literally into dust blow them around the lawn and walk away and nobody would ever see them and I did that same process for 10 years and my customers loved me and I'm home advisor of a 4.9 out of 5 star rating.
We definitely need to up our prices for leaf clean ups. Luckily we don’t have any that we haul away debris.
What do you do to keep all your lawns green and full that keeps them from browning? Most of our lawns are browning and have been since September especially since we went all of August with no rain here here in Tennessee.
What about aerations and overseeding pricing/estimates?
Depending on where your at the lowest ive seen for a base rate is $10 per 1k sq ft if your higher up 20 per 1k sq ft. Seeding will vary depending if your just throwing it down or if your seed slicing and doing a better prep for best results, if its just throwing it down double the cost of the seed for labor/profit as a general base in most business. Its a good rule of thumb that transverses from mulch,rock,mowing,cleanup, aeration etc. if your not keeping that rule your likely failing or falling way behind.
I charge 15 dollars for every 1000sqft with overseeding I charge 35 dollars per 1000sqft
Love the video Brian!! 😀
I am going to mow/pick up once a week to keep up on the leaves. My one customer, commercial, has a dozen trees in the lawn. My city picks up yard waste once a week. I put as much as I can in bags. People here are not to hot on the idea of paying a dump charge, since we have curb side pick up. The place where I dump my yard waste charges between 45 - 65 dollars per pick up truck load. I am not sure if people would pay that much for fall clean up down here. ($125 -$175)
Do they make an accelerator bagging system for a Toro ZTR? I have the bagging system, but run into clogging problems if I go to fast, or take too big a bite.
Most localities don't allow contractors to put debris at the curb. Mine don't. I've gotten pushback in my county and city on 2 properties I put branches out at. I'm not even a contractor, just helped a couple buddies trim some trees.
Great video, Brian!
Them stripes look great 👍🏽 great video
no if you showed up to a house for a regular cut and there's already leaves covering the lawn what would you charge because it's not a fall cleanup it's just a regular Bowl but the Lawns covered in leaves already how would you go about that
How do you blow out plant beds with mulch in them without blowing out the mulch?
don’t full throttle if there’s not many leaves in beds, if there is you can full throttle until you get to the mulch. that’s what i do seems to work. i always blow flowerbed edges back in just incase any mulch made it into the grass.
Taking away a little mulch is never a bad thing. It gives merrit to mulching next year ;
you could also water down the mulch before trimming , that way its more likely to stick in place.
@@alchemyalligator4431 damn that's smart.
Are you typically cleaning you leaf customers 1 time a year? Most of mine i charge alittle more than a mowing to mulch it up until it just becomes too much then i do a cleanup, Beds and all.
Hey great show. I was thinking that spring time was really the only time to do pruning and encourage new growth? If new growth appears, it may be susceptible to frost or freezing?
Just don’t trim below the buds of most of them and you’ll be fine
Hey Brian what’s a way to charge for fall cleanups with simple equipment. Rake and bags. I have experience in landscaping so you know I’m not “neighborhood kid” lol by bag maybe? I’m just not sure how much to charge per bag