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What to charge for the mow, from the mower up.

Your price per yard comes from how fast your mower covers ground. Put in the lot, your deck, your speed and your rate, and see the price per visit, per acre and for the month.

acres
Square feet ÷ 43,560. Leave out the house, beds and drive.
mph
Your real working speed, not the top speed on the spec sheet.
in
%
Time lost to turns, overlap and obstacles. Example value; time a few of your own yards.
min
$
Example only. Enter your own.
$
Weekly = 52 ÷ 12 = 4.33. Every other week = 2.17.
Acres mowed per hour1.58
Hours per visit0.80
Price per visit$56.09
Price per acre$56.09
Price per month$242.87

Redline remembers your per-visit price for each yard, and the calendar's repeat control sets up weekly or every-other-week mows in one save.

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How the math works

First, how many acres an hour your mower really covers. Speed in miles per hour times deck width in feet gives the ground swept in an hour. Multiply by 5,280 feet per mile, divide by 43,560 square feet per acre, and take off the time lost to turns, overlap and backing around trees. That last part is the field efficiency percentage. It's the standard field capacity formula used for any mowing or spraying equipment, and it works out to speed × width × efficiency ÷ 8.25.

Divide the mowable acres by that rate to get mowing time, then add the minutes you spend unloading, string trimming, edging and blowing off the drive. Multiply the total hours by your hourly rate. If it comes in under your minimum, the minimum wins.

Price per acre is the visit price over the acreage, so you can see how small lots cost more per acre. Monthly is the visit price times visits per month: 4.33 for weekly (52 weeks over 12 months), 2.17 for every other week.

Worked example

A 52-inch deck at 4 mph and 75% efficiency covers about 1.58 acres an hour. With 10 minutes of trim and blow, an example rate of $70 an hour and a $45 minimum, weekly service:

Mowable areaHours per visitPrice per visitPrice per acrePer month, weekly
0.25 acre0.33$45.00 (minimum)$180.00$194.85
0.5 acre0.48$45.00 (minimum)$90.00$194.85
1 acre0.80$56.09$56.09$242.87
2 acres1.44$100.51$50.26$435.22

Speed, efficiency, rate and minimum here are examples, not market figures. Time a few of your own yards and use your numbers.

What to watch for

  • Use mowable area, not lot size. A half-acre lot with a house, a drive and beds might only have a quarter acre of grass.
  • Efficiency drops hard on yards full of trees, beds and swing sets. Time a cut-up yard and an open one and you'll see the gap. Run those yards with a lower efficiency.
  • Trim time grows with fence line and beds, not with acreage. A small yard with a long fence can need more trimming than a big open one.
  • Drive time between yards isn't in this price. If a yard sits out of your usual towns, a trip charge or a higher minimum covers it.
  • Spring's first cut and overgrown yards take longer. Some crews add an overgrown fee rather than reprice the whole season.

Questions contractors ask

Why does my small yard come out at the minimum?

Because on a quarter acre most of your time is trim, blow and loading up, not mowing. The minimum is what keeps those stops paying for the stop. You can see it in the per-acre column: small yards pay more per acre, and they should.

Should I charge per visit or monthly?

Both come from the same visit price. Monthly is easier for the customer to budget and smooths out five-mow months, but make sure the visits-per-month number matches how you actually bill. 4.33 assumes weekly all month, every month.

How does Redline help with mowing customers?

Tell Redline "the Garcias are $56 a mow, weekly" and memory saves it on its own. The calendar's repeat control sets up weekly or every-other-week visits as one series, and the scheduling assistant suggests days that keep same-town yards together (by town name, not by map). On Solo ($29 a month) you invoice the month by chat with a card pay link, and Redline flags unpaid invoices to you at day 3, 7 and 14. Quotes for new yards work on Free and save as drafts.

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