"What should I charge per square foot?" is one of the most common questions new lawn care owners ask. The honest answer: the right number comes from your own costs and speed, not from a forum post. Here's how to build a per-square-foot rate you can trust, then turn it into simple per-visit prices customers understand.
Why square footage works
Mowing time scales with lawn size. If you know how long it takes your crew to mow, trim and blow 1,000 square feet, you can price any lawn in seconds from an online map measurement, before you ever drive out. That speed wins jobs.
Step 1: Time yourself per 1,000 sq ft
For two weeks, write down the lawn size and the on-site minutes for every stop. Divide minutes by thousands of square feet. Most crews land on a number for "open" lawns and a slower number for lawns with lots of beds, trees, slopes or gates. Track both. A simple log beats any rule of thumb.
Step 2: Know your cost per minute on site
Add up what a crew hour costs you: wages with payroll taxes and workers' comp, equipment (mowers, trimmers and blowers wear out), fuel, and your overhead per billable hour (insurance, phone, software, truck payment, advertising, your own office time). Divide by 60 to get a cost per minute.
Example: a two-person crew with a loaded labor cost of $44 an hour, $12 an hour of equipment and fuel, and $22 an hour of overhead costs $78 an hour, or $1.30 a minute.
Step 3: Don't forget drive time
Drive time is real cost that never shows up in a square-foot number. If your crew drives 10 minutes between stops on average, every stop carries 10 minutes of paid time before the mower starts. That's why tight routes are so profitable, and why a weekly route planner pays for itself.
Step 4: Add profit and set a minimum
Add your target profit (see Markup vs. Margin for how to do this right). Then set a minimum charge per visit. Small lawns still need loading, driving, trimming and blowing, so a tiny lawn priced purely by square foot loses money.
A worked example
- Lawn: 8,000 sq ft, open, few obstacles
- Your speed: 4 minutes per 1,000 sq ft on site, so 32 minutes
- Drive time: 10 minutes
- Total paid time: 42 minutes × $1.30 = $54.60 cost
- 25% markup for a 20% margin: about $68 per visit
Divide $68 by 8,000 and you get about $0.0085 per square foot, or $8.50 per 1,000 sq ft for this kind of lawn at this crew's speed and cost. That's your rate. Another company with different costs and speed will land somewhere else, and that's fine.
Turn the rate into simple size tiers
Customers don't want to hear about square footage. Most successful lawn companies publish easy tiers instead:
- Small (up to 5,000 sq ft): your minimum
- Medium (5,000–10,000 sq ft)
- Large (10,000–20,000 sq ft)
- Over 20,000 sq ft: custom quote
Then add set adders for things that slow you down: steep slopes, heavy trimming, gates, pet waste, overgrown first cuts and bagging.
Lock in recurring revenue
Per-visit pricing is where you start. Recurring service agreements are where lawn businesses get stable. A written seasonal agreement with a clear visit schedule, rain policy, and payment terms (autopay if you can) keeps your route full and your cash flow predictable.
Run your own numbers in two minutes with the free Job Profit Calculator.
The Lawn Care Estimate & Quote Template prices by the visit with a built-in cost check, and the Lawn Care Toolkit adds the route planner, recurring service agreement, invoice tracker and intake form.
All prices in this article are examples to show the method. Your market, equipment and labor costs determine your real rate.