Start a Lawn Care and Landscaping Business
Route Money Worksheet
Companion to the lessons "What the Money Actually Looks Like" and "When the Season Ends"
1. Set Your Floors (before the first quote)
| Number | Your value | Reference band |
|---|
| Target hourly rate | | New solo operators commonly start $40–$60 per labor-hour |
| Minimum visit price | | Most routes run a $35–$45 minimum in typical markets |
| First-cut multiplier | | First cuts quoted at 1.5–2× the ongoing rate, regular price from cut two |
Quote = hourly rate × minutes for that lawn, rounded up, never below the minimum. Sanity-check against the national band of $40–$70 per typical cut; big properties plan at roughly $150–$200 per acre.
2. Minutes-per-Lawn Log (time honestly: unload, mow, trim, edge, blow, look-back, load)
| Lawn / street | Measured minutes | Quote given | Quote your watch supports | Fix? |
|---|
| | | | ☐ |
| | | | ☐ |
| | | | ☐ |
| | | | ☐ |
3. Close-Rate Tracker (first month, then adjust once)
| Week | Quotes given | Signed | Close rate |
|---|
| 1 | | | |
| 2 | | | |
| 3 | | | |
| 4 | | | |
Rule of thumb, not a law: about 75% of quotes hiring means the price is about right. Higher means too cheap. Under half means too high or quoting badly.
4. Season Revenue Projection at Three Densities
Worked example from the course, stated assumptions: $50 average cut, five days per week, about 28 billing weeks (a planning assumption for much of the US between spring green-up and fall slowdown).
| Scenario | Lawns/day | Days/week | Weekly revenue | Season revenue |
|---|
| Loose route, big lawns | 6 | 5 | $1,500 | $42,000 |
| Typical suburban route | 9 | 5 | $2,250 | $63,000 |
| Dense route, tight loop | 12 | 5 | $3,000 | $84,000 |
| Your route | | | | |
This is revenue, not income. A common working rule: half to two-thirds of solo revenue survives to pay the owner. Solo operators report mowing 6–15 lawns in a full day; the spread is route density.
5. Expense Checklist (know these before dreaming on revenue)
- ☐ Insurance: general liability at $1M/$2M limits runs roughly $375–$810/yr, most solo policies $450–$650. Your quote:
- ☐ Fuel: the drive and the equipment; a loose route burns far more than a tight one
- ☐ Equipment and maintenance: blades, oil, filters, trimmer line, repairs; commercial warranties run as short as 90 days, so repairs are a when
- ☐ Vehicle and trailer costs: even paid-off vehicles cost per mile
- ☐ Taxes: 15.3% self-employment tax on profit before income tax. Set-aside per invoice: %
6. Off-Season Fund Target (run it in month one of the season)
| Line | Your number | Planning input |
|---|
| 1. Lean-month living costs × dead months | | Plan 3–4 dead months in the northern half; about 6 slow weeks in transition zones; the deep South slows rather than stops |
| 2. Overhead that survives the frost | | Insurance, loan or equipment payments, storage, phone |
| 3. Spring restart margin | | Fuel, blades, repairs, marketing for the first green weeks |
| Off-season fund target (1+2+3) | | |
7. Automatic Savings Percentages
- ☐ Off-season slice moved out of every invoice the day it arrives into a separate account. Common starting band for a northern operator: 10–15% of every payment. Your %:
- ☐ Repair fund percentage moved on invoice day. Your %: