Real Hourly Rate Check for Lawn Mowing

Your week

What you invoice in a normal weekBefore anything comes out. Use an average week, not your best one.

Hours on site mowingGate to gate, every lawn added up for the week.

Hours driving between jobsPlus loading up, fuelling and dump runs. Nobody pays you for these, but you still work them.

Hours on everything elseQuoting, invoicing, chasing payments, answering the phone, fixing gear, sharpening blades.

Running costs, % of what you invoiceFuel, repairs, insurance, phone, vehicle, gear wearing out. Mine sit around 35 to 40%.

Tax set aside, % of what's left after costs25% is a safe number to put away. Your accountant can give you the real one.

What you really earn

$18

an hour in your pocket, across every hour you work. After running costs and tax.

$60

an hour on the invoice. The number most people think they earn.

$39

an hour you bring in across all your hours, before costs

13

hours a week nobody pays you for

$675

take-home for the week

■ Mowing 66% ■ Driving 21% ■ Everything else 13%

Under $45 an hour across all your hours. Prices need to go up.

What would fix it?

Take-home an hour you wantWhat you'd want to earn an hour in a job, after tax.

$2,111

a week you'd need to invoice, same hours

+41%

on your prices to get there

Don't know your hours?

Track one normal week. Put the free Toggl app on your phone and tap a timer for mowing, driving and everything else. Most people are shocked how much of the week is driving and paperwork. That's the time this calculator is built to show you.

Now check each lawn

The price calculator tells you what each lawn should cost, and the capacity calculator shows how many you can fit once the driving is tightened up.

Try the price calculator Try the capacity calculator

Working hard for not much?

How I raise prices without losing customers, tighten a route so you drive less, and get paid on time. It's all in the free group, with a few thousand lawn care owners working the same numbers.

Join the free group