Do this course if you plan to run a solo business until you can have a few trucks. Jonathan has more to say that can help you! I did the course. So worth it!
To do the math another way, take the amount of money the yard made you ($45) divided by the minutes it took you to complete (10 minutes) then multiply that by 60 (60 minutes in an hour) $45/10= 4.5 x 60 = $270 / 3 men = $90/man hour! It just seems a little easier this way. Great video!
@Fresh Mann yeah but i think he said at the start of the video he was gonna do 30 lawns that day? So lets just say they make $15 each per house thats $450 each for the day?? I'd say thats pretty good money
i like the ugly dead yards even though they arent appealing. little trimming and never anything to really cut so double cutting is virtually nonexistent. as far as i care their money is as good as anyone elses just gotta wear a dust mask sometimes
Excellent video for not just the lawn care industry, but all service related industries. As a former owner of an office machine repair and sales company, your advice is excellent. The number one thing to be taken from your video, is that no matter your passion, if you parlay it into a business, the tough part of it at the end of the day is, it's a business, and if you don't apply a version of the formula provided in this excellent video, no matter how quality your service, you'll fail. One of the first hard lessons I learned is, hold firm to your prices, and make room for philanthropy along the way. You can't outgive God. Playing Wal-Mart with your customers though, will make you an employee of Wal-Mart. Again, excellent video on the harsh reality of not ignoring the numbers in business management.
This is probably your top 3 or 4 videos you've ever made! I've watched 80% of your videos and I can say this is the best info you've provided. Thanks for doing what you do.
The reason you don't want to use non-billable time in this scenario (driver time, loading unloading, gas station etc) is because your good properties would hide the bad ones, and you would not have an accurate picture of each property. Properties have to be individually monitored. Once you’re sure each property is hitting your per man hr rate, then your goal is to drive out non-billable time; driving, loading and unloading, gas station etc. Use this formula is to ensure that each job is profitable on its own. -Jonathan C.
Thank you for all the info you share. I started this year and your channel helped me grow and be profitable. I got 87 accounts since April. Thanks you.
@Hall's Pro Lawn Mowing Service weed them out .... or train them up, then weed them out. Do you put the information out there for all to see? I worked in the semi-conductor industry and had 10 people below me. One job, the last job of our section, I tracked daily. Each person got their results and if they wanted I showed them the table of all workers. 1. I could show if someone cherry picked easy work. 2. Was an underperformer 3. Having a bad night 4. If they were new to the position were they getting better over time. I used me as the baseline, which in itself wasn't fair, but my numbers were my numbers and if someone outperformed me .... They were damn sight awesome. Bad thing. I didn't have hire / fire abilities. Best I could do was piss off my boss when I put slow pokes on at the end of shift and we left easy production numbers for the next shift. Of course he was squeamish about firing people or decertifying them at the job. Go figure. My feeling was IDC how fast you are as long as you're fast when you need to be ( and quality ), I like those that wanted to know how they ranked over the section. It showed some initiative to be the best.
There is no such thing as non billable time, but that does not render this exam useless. All time is billable by looking at how many hours you spent at the clients curb vs. how may hours were worked in the total day. There needs to be an efficiency factor calculated. Let's say you worked 8 hrs but only 6 hrs at the curb. Immediately $60/hr becomes $45/hr for the day. Your costs of operation are based on that payroll day of 8 hrs, not 6 hrs. If your cost of operation by payroll and your hours you payed for was $39/hr, you made $6/man hr. not $21/hr.
maybe not. you could have a very profitable yard and a 20-30 drive it would kill you. best to do when you start, keep a close tight route and set everyone on prepay on the first. no payment by the first no mow. also need to figure in trimming hedges if you do that.
Daven and friends 12 bro good luck on the business I am trying to start a lawn care business I only have a weed wacker a lawn mower and a blower but it is something
Manuel Valdes keep it up. Being young and working in the neighborhood will get you some easy work as people are more likely to help out the local kid. Then you can grow this into a good quality work and spread further.
That's seriously awesome. I helped an old friend in the late 90's run a company and seeing this and knowing how long we we on the yards says he didn't charge enough. I also watched a guy yesterday talking about a Drop Gate Fee of $30.
So I do something similar but I also figure in my drive time. I actually figure in my drive time to each property from my house. My day starts when I leave the house and time is money so I need to make money while I'm driving too.
So i just started my business this year, I did pretty good! But one thing I concentrated too much on this year was mulch jobs, clean up jobs, pinestraw I wish I would've got more yards, I was thinking that the bigger jobs pay more...but I'm beginning to realize for me as a solo flyer I should def concentrate more on getting more yards then maybe I can hire someone
I like how you switch up the work. I worked for a guy who would always do the riding He never did any weed eating or blowing and wondered why he always had men quit This man was my step brother.
So thankful for this video! Watched it last year before getting started in the business and have been tracking my times at yards. Now that I want to do price increases I see who painfully needs one and who is already a great (profitable) client.
If this video was helpful for you, please consider subscribing! I'm always trying to share helpful info with you that you can use to apply to your lawn business immediately. -Jonathan C.
Florida Turf Pros, I love this idea but not realistic for my area Most of my clients live on a fixed income. How would you handle someone who is a senior and can’t afford to pay more to mow ?
@@FloridaTurfPros the yard price your stating! Are the prices per cut or monthly fees? When you say this yard is 45$ is that 45$ per cut/per visit done in 10 minutes?
This math is only true if you pay the guys when they are mowing. It doesn’t not include drive time. We calculate this way and at the end of the way to figure out the $ man hour for the entire day including drive time.
@@FloridaTurfPros i agree, yes very informative... just trying to understand how well you pay your employees, to better gauge how the man hours get paid
I do like your formula. The only thing to consider for guys looking to get into this is your drive time is going to be insane and overhead on equipment also. Day job= drive yourself to work and drive home you get 8 hours pay or more if overtime is available, plus benefits and paid vacation. Your making $65 per man mowing, but it's a seasonal job also. A $25 per hour day job year round with benefits you would gross more $$ then $65 per hour mowing.
reverse the formula.....estimate how long you think the yard will take....run the formula with speculative money amounts until you achieve the premium value for your labor that you desire...
@@bigskyab do you work in this industry? because you can speculate and wish and hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up faster. customers have the end say so. you have to charge enough money so that your business can grow, you can afford gas and repair parts, and you can eat 3 meals a day lol choosing your customers, in my opinion after a few years of being around the lawn care and pressure washing business, is the most important thing to focus on. then once you have the foot in the door, let word of mouth and youre advertising make your business keep growing and growing
@@CashensPowerwashing nope....I dont, business principles aren't typically industry specific ....the question was, " how do you figure out what to charge" I answered the question within the context of the information given in the video....you can want in one hand and shit where ya like ..a question was asked, and I answered it
Husband and wife lawn care. I don't know why I'm just now getting this video, but I've subscribed to your channel, this is the wife, thanks for the info 👫❤
Real world information helps us who is about to start a lawn business and I know this one is going to help lots of people that are already in the business. Thank you for putting out real information. I always hit the like on your videos. Lol
I just went through my yards and I don’t have allot cause I just started last year but watching this video has shown me how much money I’ve been losing. What an eye opener you gave me. Thank you.
So many variables can change your time. I dunno about Florida but in Pennsylvania spring grass takes much longer than summer grass. Way more trimming and also rain/wet grass can change your time especially if it’s clumping and you have to blow out clumps or double cut. A lawn in spring that takes 20 min can usually be done in half the time in summer. So are you timing every lawn every cut all season long ?
Invaluable secret to success in the theme of the pumpkin plan. Thank you so much for the video and for recommending the book!! I’ve just started implementing my Profit first strategy for the past 2 weeks. Your You tube content is very special to those select individuals that it really reaches. Thank you again!
Jonathan, I'm going to watch all of your videos, and I'm going to follow your every step, but if it don't work for me, I'll change it need be. I'm going to record it every step of the way, using your techniques, but tweaking them to fit my needs. I've been scowering RUclips, for days, hoping to find somebody, who'll simplify the lawn care business, and I found you. I'm going to share my journey with you, starting tomorrow.....
How much do you pay your guys and how do you go about finding them? Like how do you interview them and determine how u hire ? Is there a video about this part? If not can you make one . Thank you brother !
jeeezy $50 per cut on Mrs. Kims yard. I mean i couldn't see much of it, but what is the lot size maybe 11k-12k square feet and also do you mow it every week? wtf wish i could get those prices for every week mowing.... i throw $35 dollar prices in mo for corner lots and they bawk at it majority of the time
Tried it. No one in my area is going to pay using the techniques used here that's just way to much even the people on the hill side that are filthy rich won't pay this. I went back to how I do things and my income skyrocketed. Anyway it might work in different areas just not in mine lol was a good concept and worth trying.
I am sure you don't want to give the details about how you came up with the man per hour charge minimum but would be nice to see how you calculated all that if you didn't mind! I haven't done anything yet but I am one of those weird people that enjoy cutting grass and would love to slowly build a lawn business down the road but I want to soak in a lot of knowledge before I head out on that path. Thanks for the great video!
I've been in this business a long time and there's no way you can force everyone into a one size fits all type thing. I've had customers that I just really like! And they may not pay the greatest but they pay on time and you never have to worry IF they'll pay. The next person follows you around wondering about everything you do, or else they're never there and you wonder when they'll ever pay. You price accordingly upon individual circumstances. The next one has fallen on hard times. Work with them and give em a break. What goes around comes back around.
Man this has me thinking alot. Im co owner and i handle the actual labor of things. But i agree having the nice pretty lawns isnt always the best. . Thanks for your raw honesty.
This probably the best I have ever seen this explained! We bang out over 1000 mows per week! I have always looked at the number of mows per hour because that had non billable drive and prep time included!
What do u do with a client your not hitting your numbers for grass but u get a ton of other work like shrubs mulch spring and fall clean ups where you make a killing? Do u drop the client ?
When you bill say monthly. Do you just add sales tax or do you have that in your pet cut rates ? Also, can you do or do you have a video to help figure out your fixed costs such as ins, truck, gas to help me figure out what your true hourly cost is? Thanks.
My question is weather or not the 3rd man really helps out? If you increase the time on site but decrease the total man-hours, than the per man hour rate increases. How efficient is the 3rd man on most lawns?
Thanks for the insight... I have yards that i can do in 20 mins by myself for $40 and yards i do for $50 that can take me over an hour to do. Just like using a weed eater to cut out weeds i will now start to weed out my less profitable clients. What i will try doing though as opposed to just quitting them is i will try to subcontract the work out " for a small commission" to a yard hungry lawn service provider who is probably new to the business and is looking for yards to do.
You may have already answered this but what was the application you were using kept all your customers in order gave you a map to their house that looks pretty slick
Thk you for the info. I appreciate you telling me how you do the figures. I have not began a lawn business yet, but am wanting to get one started in order to be able to give it to my son eventually. I already work as an RN and have another business I operate in building furniture, Longbows and Blacksmithing. My son cannot do this other stuff yet, however he is capable of mowing. Thx again .
Nice video but also wondering about drive times and how you bill. These examples are based on a per week service? do you bill per week or month? A $45 example would be $180 per month, yes? and how do you deal with the 4 extra weeks per year? also how hard is it to collect on invoices? how do you pay employees? weekly? each week? do you start the timer when you pull up or when you start mowing? loading/unloading equipment? Thanks. I'm a contractor in the central valley in California.
Really enjoy the content. As someone who is in a different service industry, curious how you account for travel time during the day. Do you take total time traveled in vehicle and divide amongst all properties to add time? It might sound silly but even a couple mins per property can really throw off operational cost.
I understand. The reason you don't want to calculate drive time or nonbillable time with this calculation is because the good properties can end up covering/hiding for the bad ones. Meaning you don't truly know which jobs were most and least profitable on its own merit. Each service must stand alone on its own, then the goal is to drive out non-billable time such as drive time and improving efficiencies of nonbillable activities.
Hi, I have a question: we do charge monthly . For example $ 100 a month, do you divide that amount into 4 weeks or 5 weeks? to check if we are charging the right price. I would like to apply that formula .
I use yardbook too! It is a landscapers best friend! Ive tried yardbuddy but im not about to pay for it. Id rather pay yardbook cause of the free service they offer makes it worth it. I would recommend yardbook at any landscaper, tree cutter, fence builder, snow plowers, anyone in that industry needs yardbook.
Wow. Finally a co. Owner that isn't all like "this shits top secret, for those that can't swing the latest and greatest tech. Advantage... Bravo! my friend. And thank you
Good stuff man, I teach turf management, I like to show my kids this at the beginning of the semester. As long as the jobs are quality which seems like yours are, timing is good. I think the most profitable thing you can do is aeration if you have the strength and stamina to deal with it. not a lot of training involved either. Hire a good hard working kid, 10 bucks an hour if he does right, he's happy $20 per 1000 ft2. 45 min to do a 10,000 lawn. get about 8 of those in a day, you doing pretty good. Especially when Im teaching making money then have them go out and do the work. Train your guys well. Treat them well, pay them well, and golf course here I come
my yardcut last ave 2 too 6 hours . not just yardcut . edging, trimming bushes and trees, yes i do take garbage with me ..my charge is between 55 to 175.
Man this was a GREAT video. It's gonna help me a ton. Thank you for your time . Also just listened to you with Brian's lawn maintenance pod cast. Awesome videos and info
great info. I started in 2018 ,im wanting to do more yards ,but I only want to cut grass only no weed eating or blowing..edging eect . thinks for your way to charge.great info im only want to work 4 days a week ,not trying to do 7 day week.,havea great year..
This is a great video! You should repost this with a title relating to “how to calculate hiring employees to grow your business” I’ve spent weeks thinking about how and when I could hire employees and there are no videos on RUclips that explain what you did in this video. Bottom line, thank you for making it simple!
Cost of product applied / time /and travel time to get there . I apply Fert and weed control so it,s a bit different . Minimum pricing no matter how small and put in the piss me off factor .Flat sites are easy and mountains are extra . Get it done or go broke !
I'm trying understand your model. So you chaege a flat base + hourly rate? Example your yard you charged 59$ @ 18/60 = $196. How do you tell customer her 59$ yard is now $196.
Excellent video. I wondered how you guys figured what to charge for a lawn. What app are you using with the GPS to schedule your property's for the day?
For instance, I cut a yard 25 mins....25/60 =.416 lawn is $30....30/.416 = $72 / hour...Why though, I cut it 4 times a week i get $120?? Can you explain what each step is doing mathematically? time / 60 is just breaking minutes worked into a decimal? then the price / decimal is the hourly rate? at 11:30 you said take this # .2167 into 50....Wouldn't it be 50 divided by .2167....??? if I take .2167 into 50 I get 0.004334
Somewhat more simple formula and explanation. At $65/hour (his mentioned minimum rate) desired rate, you need to charge $1.08 per man minute worked ($65 per hour divided by 60 minutes in an hour). If a lawn takes 1 person 51 minutes, 2 people 25.5 minutes or 3 people 17 minutes, the per man minute minimum fee stays the same. The example at 10:57 indicates the dollar rate for that lawn needs to be $55 not $45 at 17 minutes with 3 workers. If you need $75/hour to account for non-billables, divide $75 by 60 minutes to get $1.25 per man minute minimum. Reducing the time by maybe having 2 workers instead of 3, more efficient trimming/loading/unloading, larger mower perhaps? Combine dropping a few minutes with a small price increase and the customer stays yours. If the 17 minute job done by 3 people can drop to 15 minutes done by 3 people, the labor cost per man minute at $65/hour is still $1.08 and the labor cost is now actually $48.60 (15*3*1.08) for the job. Charge them $5 more up to $50 and at 15 minutes divided by 3 workers, the new hourly rate is $66.66.
I live in Latvia. And I'm on the country side. With a small. Like really small City beside me. And I'm 13, the yards are pretty big. And I'm thinking of getting the John Deere x300. Is it a good idea? Most properties have 1 or 2 hectares of land
wish I would have known this in 1991 when I started and had a service for over ten years. Two things would like to mention. Location and how close together properties are. For instance a whole neighborhood where you may not even need to move the truck and do multiple yards, clients all paying roughly same price. you could figure per client price a bit lower. To me it made a big difference if properties were close together. Also think about adding service to fix not so good looking yards, even if you sub the work out to another company doing landscaping/replanting. On the first point of proximity, if you have to drive and hour to do one or two yards that are not close to anything else you do, you have to charge a lot more because having 3 guys sit in the truck for an hour is costly. I am 54 now still mow but just for my landlord's few properties using his equipment basically covering my rent and some extra, so I am just kinda of an employee. This year I may start up on my own again on a small time basis as I am employed with a lawn irrigation company (in the office). This formula will come in very handy. Thank You.
That doesn't seem to make sense if you factor travel and load/unload time.What if your jobs that dont meet the rate are all close so you dont have the travel n load/unload time but your 6 to 10 minute jobs are 15 to 20 or more apart??
Love the videos . Would mowing tractor be good enough to start off with for first couple of months. I can't afford to invest in 0 turn pro lawn mower at the moment but would like to give it a shot
Jonathan, please post advice on mower sizes! I know it has to be based on the size of lawns I service, which is 1/4-2 acre residential, but does that mean 52” zeroturn and a push, or 52” zero and 36” standon. Maybe even 56-58” zero with a push. I don’t know! And I can’t go buy all of the combinations to test efficiency.
Hey Jonathan your videos have been extremely valuable. Were are in the process of moving to FL. Starting biz up in 2 months. Me and my wife would love to ask you some questions and begin networking with ppl like yourself. We just sold our other biz and we are super excited about our new adventure in FL. Thanks Jonathan.
Start your own business using Jonathan's business model: www.turfprosacademy.com/turf-academy use FIRST100 to get $100 off for a limited time.
Do this course if you plan to run a solo business until you can have a few trucks. Jonathan has more to say that can help you! I did the course. So worth it!
This guy is my hero. Dropping gems on inspiring lawn care guys. Channel should be a lot bigger. Thank you for what you do!
To do the math another way, take the amount of money the yard made you ($45) divided by the minutes it took you to complete (10 minutes) then multiply that by 60 (60 minutes in an hour) $45/10= 4.5 x 60 = $270 / 3 men = $90/man hour! It just seems a little easier this way. Great video!
Walker Chapman I was wondering if the math could be more simplified. I get it but I like this way better.
@Fresh Mann the 45$ yard doesn't take 1hr to cut.
@Fresh Mann yeah but i think he said at the start of the video he was gonna do 30 lawns that day? So lets just say they make $15 each per house thats $450 each for the day?? I'd say thats pretty good money
i like the ugly dead yards even though they arent appealing. little trimming and never anything to really cut so double cutting is virtually nonexistent. as far as i care their money is as good as anyone elses
just gotta wear a dust mask sometimes
PCGonline I heard that! Many of my most profitable yards are “ugly yards”! I’ll take $125per hr for an ugly yard!
i never bag the ugly yards im in and out FAST
@@FloridaTurfPros can i have your unprofitable lawns? Im in N Miami
Excellent video for not just the lawn care industry, but all service related industries. As a former owner of an office machine repair and sales company, your advice is excellent. The number one thing to be taken from your video, is that no matter your passion, if you parlay it into a business, the tough part of it at the end of the day is, it's a business, and if you don't apply a version of the formula provided in this excellent video, no matter how quality your service, you'll fail.
One of the first hard lessons I learned is, hold firm to your prices, and make room for philanthropy along the way. You can't outgive God. Playing Wal-Mart with your customers though, will make you an employee of Wal-Mart. Again, excellent video on the harsh reality of not ignoring the numbers in business management.
This is probably your top 3 or 4 videos you've ever made! I've watched 80% of your videos and I can say this is the best info you've provided. Thanks for doing what you do.
The reason you don't want to use non-billable time in this scenario (driver time, loading unloading, gas station etc) is because your good properties would hide the bad ones, and you would not have an accurate picture of each property. Properties have to be individually monitored. Once you’re sure each property is hitting your per man hr rate, then your goal is to drive out non-billable time; driving, loading and unloading, gas station etc. Use this formula is to ensure that each job is profitable on its own. -Jonathan C.
Thank you for all the info you share. I started this year and your channel helped me grow and be profitable. I got 87 accounts since April. Thanks you.
@Hall's Pro Lawn Mowing Service weed them out .... or train them up, then weed them out. Do you put the information out there for all to see? I worked in the semi-conductor industry and had 10 people below me. One job, the last job of our section, I tracked daily. Each person got their results and if they wanted I showed them the table of all workers.
1. I could show if someone cherry picked easy work.
2. Was an underperformer
3. Having a bad night
4. If they were new to the position were they getting better over time.
I used me as the baseline, which in itself wasn't fair, but my numbers were my numbers and if someone outperformed me .... They were damn sight awesome. Bad thing. I didn't have hire / fire abilities. Best I could do was piss off my boss when I put slow pokes on at the end of shift and we left easy production numbers for the next shift. Of course he was squeamish about firing people or decertifying them at the job. Go figure.
My feeling was IDC how fast you are as long as you're fast when you need to be ( and quality ), I like those that wanted to know how they ranked over the section. It showed some initiative to be the best.
There is no such thing as non billable time, but that does not render this exam useless. All time is billable by looking at how many hours you spent at the clients curb vs. how may hours were worked in the total day. There needs to be an efficiency factor calculated. Let's say you worked 8 hrs but only 6 hrs at the curb. Immediately $60/hr becomes $45/hr for the day. Your costs of operation are based on that payroll day of 8 hrs, not 6 hrs. If your cost of operation by payroll and your hours you payed for was $39/hr, you made $6/man hr. not $21/hr.
maybe not. you could have a very profitable yard and a 20-30 drive it would kill you.
best to do when you start, keep a close tight route and set everyone on prepay on the first.
no payment by the first no mow. also need to figure in trimming hedges if you do that.
I like this I track my times but gonna sit down and crunch the numbers closer. Thanks
I am 11 and I already have a business so I am loving to learn new things
Daven and friends 12 bro good luck on the business I am trying to start a lawn care business I only have a weed wacker a lawn mower and a blower but it is something
Manuel Valdes keep it up. Being young and working in the neighborhood will get you some easy work as people are more likely to help out the local kid. Then you can grow this into a good quality work and spread further.
I’m 11 two I’ve made 100 bucks on leaf blowing this year and looking to do lawn mowing next year
Yall young bucks need to stay in school and get your education, as well as enjoying your childhood. Youll thank me when you are 20 trust me
M U I’m homeschooled and get up early and get all of my school done
That's seriously awesome. I helped an old friend in the late 90's run a company and seeing this and knowing how long we we on the yards says he didn't charge enough. I also watched a guy yesterday talking about a Drop Gate Fee of $30.
So I do something similar but I also figure in my drive time. I actually figure in my drive time to each property from my house. My day starts when I leave the house and time is money so I need to make money while I'm driving too.
So i just started my business this year, I did pretty good! But one thing I concentrated too much on this year was mulch jobs, clean up jobs, pinestraw I wish I would've got more yards, I was thinking that the bigger jobs pay more...but I'm beginning to realize for me as a solo flyer I should def concentrate more on getting more yards then maybe I can hire someone
I like how you switch up the work.
I worked for a guy who would always do the riding
He never did any weed eating or blowing and wondered why he always had men quit
This man was my step brother.
I think that fence, edging, and ditches really suck the profit out of a yard. That mow n go is the money yards.
So thankful for this video! Watched it last year before getting started in the business and have been tracking my times at yards. Now that I want to do price increases I see who painfully needs one and who is already a great (profitable) client.
Best video on pricing and how to raise prices I have seen and buddy I have seen em all. You did the best by far. Thanks and hell yeah I'm subscribing!
I still don’t understand how you only have 20k subscribers. You deliver exceptional content. Thank you so much for the time you put into these videos.
If this video was helpful for you, please consider subscribing! I'm always trying to share helpful info with you that you can use to apply to your lawn business immediately. -Jonathan C.
Can we use yardbook. Great cloud-based software for running a lawn business
Florida Turf Pros, I love this idea but not realistic for my area Most of my clients live on a fixed income. How would you handle someone who is a senior and can’t afford to pay more to mow ?
@@FloridaTurfPros the yard price your stating! Are the prices per cut or monthly fees? When you say this yard is 45$ is that 45$ per cut/per visit done in 10 minutes?
So on the first example you charge $45 so you would got $53 that means you would bump it up $12 dollars more to the $45 dollars? Thank you
Florida Turf Pros is that per visit?
This math is only true if you pay the guys when they are mowing. It doesn’t not include drive time. We calculate this way and at the end of the way to figure out the $ man hour for the entire day including drive time.
Probably your best vid yet ! Great informative content 👍
J's Crazy Cutz, LLC Thank you! Put the info to use. It will change your business!
@@FloridaTurfPros i agree, yes very informative... just trying to understand how well you pay your employees, to better gauge how the man hours get paid
This is the nitty gritty details of running your Business.. per job.. per hour.. once again thank you Johnathan.. real deal information..👊👌👏👍
I do like your formula. The only thing to consider for guys looking to get into this is your drive time is going to be insane and overhead on equipment also. Day job= drive yourself to work and drive home you get 8 hours pay or more if overtime is available, plus benefits and paid vacation. Your making $65 per man mowing, but it's a seasonal job also. A $25 per hour day job year round with benefits you would gross more $$ then $65 per hour mowing.
How did you come up with $45 to start with??? How do you calculate how much you charge your clients?
Exactly
thats why i watched the video and he literally never even mentioned it.....waste of time. already knew this lol
reverse the formula.....estimate how long you think the yard will take....run the formula with speculative money amounts until you achieve the premium value for your labor that you desire...
@@bigskyab do you work in this industry? because you can speculate and wish and hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up faster. customers have the end say so. you have to charge enough money so that your business can grow, you can afford gas and repair parts, and you can eat 3 meals a day lol choosing your customers, in my opinion after a few years of being around the lawn care and pressure washing business, is the most important thing to focus on. then once you have the foot in the door, let word of mouth and youre advertising make your business keep growing and growing
@@CashensPowerwashing nope....I dont, business principles aren't typically industry specific ....the question was, " how do you figure out what to charge" I answered the question within the context of the information given in the video....you can want in one hand and shit where ya like ..a question was asked, and I answered it
Husband and wife lawn care. I don't know why I'm just now getting this video, but I've subscribed to your channel, this is the wife, thanks for the info 👫❤
Real world information helps us who is about to start a lawn business and I know this one is going to help lots of people that are already in the business. Thank you for putting out real information. I always hit the like on your videos. Lol
I just went through my yards and I don’t have allot cause I just started last year but watching this video has shown me how much money I’ve been losing. What an eye opener you gave me. Thank you.
So many variables can change your time. I dunno about Florida but in Pennsylvania spring grass takes much longer than summer grass. Way more trimming and also rain/wet grass can change your time especially if it’s clumping and you have to blow out clumps or double cut. A lawn in spring that takes 20 min can usually be done in half the time in summer. So are you timing every lawn every cut all season long ?
Making a pricing sheet was one of the best things I have done. Thank you so much Jonathan!
Invaluable secret to success in the theme of the pumpkin plan. Thank you so much for the video and for recommending the book!! I’ve just started implementing my Profit first strategy for the past 2 weeks. Your You tube content is very special to those select individuals that it really reaches. Thank you again!
Jonathan, I'm going to watch all of your videos, and I'm going to follow your every step, but if it don't work for me, I'll change it need be.
I'm going to record it every step of the way, using your techniques, but tweaking them to fit my needs.
I've been scowering RUclips, for days, hoping to find somebody, who'll simplify the lawn care business, and I found you.
I'm going to share my journey with you, starting tomorrow.....
Jonathan thank you for this info. Keep turning the vids out! Your vlogs are much more valuable to me than a product review vlog.
figamblitz Thanks for the kind words. And thanks for watching
How much do you pay your guys and how do you go about finding them? Like how do you interview them and determine how u hire ? Is there a video about this part? If not can you make one . Thank you brother !
To figure your true per man hour number for each yard you need start timing yourself when you leave the previous cut.
I agree man! My guys complain about the trash lawns we do but man they pay more and they grow in the drought because of the crab grass. Love it
Sam K. , so true buddy. My first year doing lawn care PT the nice lawns just looks nice
jeeezy $50 per cut on Mrs. Kims yard. I mean i couldn't see much of it, but what is the lot size maybe 11k-12k square feet and also do you mow it every week? wtf wish i could get those prices for every week mowing.... i throw $35 dollar prices in mo for corner lots and they bawk at it majority of the time
Tried it. No one in my area is going to pay using the techniques used here that's just way to much even the people on the hill side that are filthy rich won't pay this. I went back to how I do things and my income skyrocketed. Anyway it might work in different areas just not in mine lol was a good concept and worth trying.
I am sure you don't want to give the details about how you came up with the man per hour charge minimum but would be nice to see how you calculated all that if you didn't mind! I haven't done anything yet but I am one of those weird people that enjoy cutting grass and would love to slowly build a lawn business down the road but I want to soak in a lot of knowledge before I head out on that path. Thanks for the great video!
I've been in this business a long time and there's no way you can force everyone into a one size fits all type thing. I've had customers that I just really like! And they may not pay the greatest but they pay on time and you never have to worry IF they'll pay. The next person follows you around wondering about everything you do, or else they're never there and you wonder when they'll ever pay. You price accordingly upon individual circumstances. The next one has fallen on hard times. Work with them and give em a break. What goes around comes back around.
Question... how about when you have to trimmed the bushes,,,pull the weeds,,,rake the rocks,,,remove debris ....etc
Man this has me thinking alot. Im co owner and i handle the actual labor of things. But i agree having the nice pretty lawns isnt always the best. . Thanks for your raw honesty.
How do you determine your prices for hedge trimming?
Just picked up my first mower TODAY. Great information. I now need to figure out how to get clients. Thank you so much.
How did it go? Did you get many? How?
This probably the best I have ever seen this explained! We bang out over 1000 mows per week! I have always looked at the number of mows per hour because that had non billable drive and prep time included!
Lies..impossible
What do u do with a client your not hitting your numbers for grass but u get a ton of other work like shrubs mulch spring and fall clean ups where you make a killing? Do u drop the client ?
We are a new business. I already appreciate this video!! I respect your hard honesty!! Thanks again
If you’re new in the game, try out as many customers as possible. Only drop the 1’s who are assholes/ mistreat you and or are slow payers.
No charge.
When you bill say monthly. Do you just add sales tax or do you have that in your pet cut rates ? Also, can you do or do you have a video to help figure out your fixed costs such as ins, truck, gas to help me figure out what your true hourly cost is? Thanks.
My question is weather or not the 3rd man really helps out? If you increase the time on site but decrease the total man-hours, than the per man hour rate increases. How efficient is the 3rd man on most lawns?
How often do you do their lawn? Do you charge that specific amount per mow?
Thanks for the insight... I have yards that i can do in 20 mins by myself for $40 and yards i do for $50 that can take me over an hour to do. Just like using a weed eater to cut out weeds i will now start to weed out my less profitable clients. What i will try doing though as opposed to just quitting them is i will try to subcontract the work out " for a small commission" to a yard hungry lawn service provider who is probably new to the business and is looking for yards to do.
Great video. Keep up the great content. One of my favorite channels. You have helped me grow my business 🔥👍🔥
Amazing content. Your channel has truly helped me so much. Thank you.
You may have already answered this but what was the application you were using kept all your customers in order gave you a map to their house that looks pretty slick
You are so smart man, it's such simple math, but the numbers don't lie! It's all about your time!
This vid just opened my eyes that im not hittin profit margins with some of my accounts they are getting a phone call, thanks your the man ! 💯💰
Thk you for the info. I appreciate you telling me how you do the figures. I have not began a lawn business yet, but am wanting to get one started in order to be able to give it to my son eventually. I already work as an RN and have another business I operate in building furniture, Longbows and Blacksmithing. My son cannot do this other stuff yet, however he is capable of mowing. Thx again .
Nice video but also wondering about drive times and how you bill. These examples are based on a per week service? do you bill per week or month? A $45 example would be $180 per month, yes? and how do you deal with the 4 extra weeks per year? also how hard is it to collect on invoices? how do you pay employees? weekly? each week? do you start the timer when you pull up or when you start mowing? loading/unloading equipment? Thanks. I'm a contractor in the central valley in California.
Ok so the 159 is that monthly or how does it work because you divide it into your workers hours pls explain
Really enjoy the content. As someone who is in a different service industry, curious how you account for travel time during the day.
Do you take total time traveled in vehicle and divide amongst all properties to add time? It might sound silly but even a couple mins per property can really throw off operational cost.
I understand. The reason you don't want to calculate drive time or nonbillable time with this calculation is because the good properties can end up covering/hiding for the bad ones. Meaning you don't truly know which jobs were most and least profitable on its own merit. Each service must stand alone on its own, then the goal is to drive out non-billable time such as drive time and improving efficiencies of nonbillable activities.
I do have a question as far as your rate per man hour. How do you determine your market for your per man rate
Hi, I have a question: we do charge monthly . For example $ 100 a month, do you divide that amount into 4 weeks or 5 weeks? to check if we are charging the right price. I would like to apply that formula .
Kevin Rios how often are you cutting property?
What is the name of the application you used to determine your routes?
I use yardbook too! It is a landscapers best friend! Ive tried yardbuddy but im not about to pay for it. Id rather pay yardbook cause of the free service they offer makes it worth it. I would recommend yardbook at any landscaper, tree cutter, fence builder, snow plowers, anyone in that industry needs yardbook.
Just to add on. If a property is slightly under your margin. To offset that. Up sale other services. Mulch,bushes,pine straw etc.
How do you incorporate drive time and fuel costs?
Wow. Finally a co. Owner that isn't all like "this shits top secret, for those that can't swing the latest and greatest tech. Advantage...
Bravo! my friend. And thank you
really curious how do you get a $59 yard??
In everything in life, you don't get what you don't ask for. Don't mow in $30 neighborhoods. You have to know your target client.
Are you counting strictly cut time or are you counting equipment unload & reload time into the total time?
Hi Jonathan C. Is there an all around formula anyone can use, in order to figure out pricing on it's own, before doing the rest of the calculation?
Good stuff man, I teach turf management, I like to show my kids this at the beginning of the semester. As long as the jobs are quality which seems like yours are, timing is good. I think the most profitable thing you can do is aeration if you have the strength and stamina to deal with it. not a lot of training involved either. Hire a good hard working kid, 10 bucks an hour if he does right, he's happy $20 per 1000 ft2. 45 min to do a 10,000 lawn. get about 8 of those in a day, you doing pretty good. Especially when Im teaching making money then have them go out and do the work. Train your guys well. Treat them well, pay them well, and golf course here I come
my yardcut last ave 2 too 6 hours . not just yardcut . edging, trimming bushes and trees, yes i do take garbage with me ..my charge is between 55 to 175.
I am a new business and I work by myself at the moment, would I use this formula?
Man this was a GREAT video. It's gonna help me a ton. Thank you for your time . Also just listened to you with Brian's lawn maintenance pod cast. Awesome videos and info
1.5 acre hilly but no trees. How much should be charged?
what is the routing program you are using?
great info. I started in 2018 ,im wanting to do more yards ,but I only want to cut grass only no weed eating or blowing..edging eect . thinks for your way to charge.great info im only want to work 4 days a week ,not trying to do 7 day week.,havea great year..
This is a great video! You should repost this with a title relating to “how to calculate hiring employees to grow your business” I’ve spent weeks thinking about how and when I could hire employees and there are no videos on RUclips that explain what you did in this video. Bottom line, thank you for making it simple!
When you give a potential customer an estimate, do you let them know the price could possibly change later in the year based on cutting time?
Cost of product applied / time /and travel time to get there . I apply Fert and weed control so it,s a bit different . Minimum pricing no matter how small and put in the piss me off factor .Flat sites are easy and mountains are extra . Get it done or go broke !
Hey I wanted to know what was the application you used that organized the properties that were on your to do list.
Patrick Condet YardBook
how do you figure out how much you need per man hour to run your business
What was the software you use to route your jobs?
I'm trying understand your model. So you chaege a flat base + hourly rate? Example your yard you charged 59$ @ 18/60 = $196. How do you tell customer her 59$ yard is now $196.
I'll do a video on the topic.
Excellent video. I wondered how you guys figured what to charge for a lawn.
What app are you using with the GPS to schedule your property's for the day?
For instance, I cut a yard 25 mins....25/60 =.416 lawn is $30....30/.416 = $72 / hour...Why though, I cut it 4 times a week i get $120??
Can you explain what each step is doing mathematically? time / 60 is just breaking minutes worked into a decimal? then the price / decimal is the hourly rate?
at 11:30 you said take this # .2167 into 50....Wouldn't it be 50 divided by .2167....??? if I take .2167 into 50 I get 0.004334
The numbers your showing in this video are price per cut or month ??
Which all are you using for that list of jobs?
And how do you charge and how do they book ?
Somewhat more simple formula and explanation. At $65/hour (his mentioned minimum rate) desired rate, you need to charge $1.08 per man minute worked ($65 per hour divided by 60 minutes in an hour). If a lawn takes 1 person 51 minutes, 2 people 25.5 minutes or 3 people 17 minutes, the per man minute minimum fee stays the same. The example at 10:57 indicates the dollar rate for that lawn needs to be $55 not $45 at 17 minutes with 3 workers. If you need $75/hour to account for non-billables, divide $75 by 60 minutes to get $1.25 per man minute minimum. Reducing the time by maybe having 2 workers instead of 3, more efficient trimming/loading/unloading, larger mower perhaps? Combine dropping a few minutes with a small price increase and the customer stays yours. If the 17 minute job done by 3 people can drop to 15 minutes done by 3 people, the labor cost per man minute at $65/hour is still $1.08 and the labor cost is now actually $48.60 (15*3*1.08) for the job. Charge them $5 more up to $50 and at 15 minutes divided by 3 workers, the new hourly rate is $66.66.
What was the 60 for ? When divided.. is that the rate for 60 minutes..?
60 is your denominator and is always constant. 60 never changes. It's Price divided by (Time/60). I will do a video explaining this.
How do you keep your tablet from over heating? I'm in GA and my tablet gets hot and shuts off.
I live in Latvia. And I'm on the country side. With a small. Like really small City beside me. And I'm 13, the yards are pretty big. And I'm thinking of getting the John Deere x300. Is it a good idea? Most properties have 1 or 2 hectares of land
wish I would have known this in 1991 when I started and had a service for over ten years. Two things would like to mention. Location and how close together properties are. For instance a whole neighborhood where you may not even need to move the truck and do multiple yards, clients all paying roughly same price. you could figure per client price a bit lower. To me it made a big difference if properties were close together. Also think about adding service to fix not so good looking yards, even if you sub the work out to another company doing landscaping/replanting. On the first point of proximity, if you have to drive and hour to do one or two yards that are not close to anything else you do, you have to charge a lot more because having 3 guys sit in the truck for an hour is costly. I am 54 now still mow but just for my landlord's few properties using his equipment basically covering my rent and some extra, so I am just kinda of an employee. This year I may start up on my own again on a small time basis as I am employed with a lawn irrigation company (in the office). This formula will come in very handy. Thank You.
That doesn't seem to make sense if you factor travel and load/unload time.What if your jobs that dont meet the rate are all close so you dont have the travel n load/unload time but your 6 to 10 minute jobs are 15 to 20 or more apart??
what is the app you were using for your routes
What software you tracking with miss it
My biggest question is on a open trailer u have to pull all that equipment off and put in ur garage every day ...right???
Love the videos . Would mowing tractor be good enough to start off with for first couple of months. I can't afford to invest in 0 turn pro lawn mower at the moment but would like to give it a shot
I personally wouldn't waste my time with a lawn tractor. Get a used zero turn or a zero percent interest zero turn from a dealer.
Jonathan, please post advice on mower sizes! I know it has to be based on the size of lawns I service, which is 1/4-2 acre residential, but does that mean 52” zeroturn and a push, or 52” zero and 36” standon. Maybe even 56-58” zero with a push. I don’t know! And I can’t go buy all of the combinations to test efficiency.
Hey Jonathan your videos have been extremely valuable. Were are in the process of moving to FL. Starting biz up in 2 months. Me and my wife would love to ask you some questions and begin networking with ppl like yourself. We just sold our other biz and we are super excited about our new adventure in FL. Thanks Jonathan.
Do you have a video breaking down exactly how you got your per man hour? Thanks
I’ll make one.
What app is that? I would like for it to route it for me.
Very helpful. I’m just starting out and it’s thinking like this that’s going to get me where I want to go. Thanks for doing what you do