If you love having a freshly mowed lawn but don’t have the time or inclination to mow it yourself, or you don’t know how to get an accurate lawn mowing cost, you’re not alone.
More and more busy Australians are getting someone else to mow the lawn because the last thing they feel like doing when they get home from work and school pickups is dragging the mower out of the shed and sweating up a storm.
How much does lawn mowing cost?
Lawn mowing prices can vary from $20-$220+ a lawn. Every mowing provider has a different pricing system and a different reasoning for their prices.
GreenSocks uses an instant, online, transparent, set-hourly-price system. But to learn what’s involved in how mowing jobs are priced when mowing providers don’t use our system, we talked to the 200+ mowing providers who have chosen to sign up to get some extra mowing jobs through GreenSocks. Here’s what we learned:
Factors which can influence lawnmowing prices?
Size of the lawn to mow – as you would expect, the bigger the yard, the more time (and blood, sweat and tears) needed to mow it and the higher the lawn mowing cost
Density of the grass – some types of grass are easy to breeze the mower through, but other types of grass are thicker to mow and therefore take more time and result in more clippings to remove
Height of the grass – if a lawn has not been mowed for a while, it might need to be whipper snippered first, to get it down to a height that is easier to mow (or if it’s not whipper snippered first, it might be necessary to mow the lawn two or three times to get the grass down to a good height and leave a neat finish)
Terrain and access – a flat yard with no obstructions is much quicker to mow than a sloped yard (perhaps with multiple sections bordered by retaining walls) and/or only accessible by stairs
Obstacles in the yard – such as trees or garden features to mow around, trampolines or guinea pig cages to move, palm fronds to take off the lawn
Amount of edging – footpaths, stepping stones, trees, swimming pool, garden features and/or multiple lawn sections can create extra edging work that adds time and money to a lawn mowing quote
Whipper snipper or edging tool – most mowing guys will edge lawns with a whipper snipper, but for customers who prefer they (also) use a specific edging tool, this too can add time and money to the lawn mowing cost
Clippings – it takes time to collect the clippings, empty the catcher and get mowing again (unless of course you don’t need them to be collected and you let your lawn mowing professional know that they can mow without the catcher to save time)
Waste removal and dump fees – if the mowing guy is unable to put the clippings in the wheelie bin (or a compost or designated backyard waste area), then the clippings need to be taken a dump/tip – which incurs dump fees and labour fees
Collecting lawn mowing clippings can add to how much lawn mowing costs © GreenSocks
Push mower or ride on mower – push mowers cost less to purchase and maintain than ride on mowers (some mowing guys use $25,000 ride on mowers), so ride on mowing prices are typically higher per hour than push mowers, but on the plus side, ride on mowers can cut the mowing time by at least half
Suburb location – some mowing providers charge more for certain suburbs, based on how long it takes them to get to/from certain locations and/or how far the dump is from certain locations for potential waste removal afterwards
Price of the house – yes, it’s true, some mowing guys charge higher lawn mowing prices to customers who live in more affluent homes (that’s another reason why GreenSocks mowing providers use set pricing)
Urgent mowing job – most full-time gardeners and lawn mowing professionals have full schedules for the upcoming week, so to accommodate urgent mowing jobs requires them to rearrange their other mowing jobs and will often require an urgent fee to compensate for the inconvenience
Regular or one-off job – most mowing guys prefer ongoing, regular work (some won’t even take one-off jobs!) and so it’s not uncommon for the one-off jobs to be priced at a higher hourly rate to attract them to undertake the one-off jobs
End-of-lease mowing jobs – these mowing jobs (which are often overgrown lawns with lots of clean up work, pruning and hedging) can be much harder physical work than regular mowing work, and mowing providers understandably price these jobs to reflect this higher level of difficulty
End of lease mowing jobs attract a higher lawnmowing price © GreenSocks
Weeding, weed spraying, pruning, hedging, soil aeration and fertilisation services – additional lawn services will increase the price for yard work and/or garden maintenance
Peer pressure – some mowing guys do not want to undercut their competitors by too much, for fear of a fallout between local providers that could get nasty, so once they know the prices that their peers charge, they might try to align their own prices and keep the playing field fairly level
Lawn mowing franchise fees – if a mowing provider paid to join a mowing franchise (there are lots in the market, but names you might recognise include Jims Mowing, Fox Mowing, Express Lawn Mowing, VIP Home Services, and Andrew’s Affordable Mowing), they might understandably charge a bit extra on every job they do, in order to recoup their original outlay in buying a lawnmowing franchise
Lawnmower costs – it costs money to buy a quality lawnmower and other reliable mowing equipment (such as a good whipper snipper, edging tool, hedger, brushcutter, slasher, weed sprayer, chainsaw, cutting saw, mulcher, lawnmowing trailer and more)
Lawn painting – if you book a lawn paint with your lawn mow, this will add to the lawn mowing cost
Thought about lawn painting for your lawn? Image credit: abcnews.go.com
Professional golf courses and sporting fields – these require high end mowing equipment and very experienced mowing providers, who tend to charge accordingly
Lawn mowing insurance – lawnmowing professionals who pay for lawn mowing insurance need to factor in administrative fees like this into their mowing jobs, in order to recoup insurance premiums over time
Lawn striping – fancy lawns that require lawn striping might incur a higher lawn mowing price
Lawn striping will add to how much your lawn mowing costs
Fuel costs and vehicle running costs – again, lawn mowing pros need to recoup all of their fuel and vehicle costs each day and will likely factor these costs into the lawn mowing cost
Business running costs – every mowing business needs to cover their administrative, accounting, tax, staff and/or other office costs
GST – if a mowing provider is registered for GST (Goods and Services Tax), they will need to add this onto the lawn mowing price so they can then forward the GST amount to the tax office
Concession discounts – some mowing companies give discounts for pensioners and other holders of concession cards
Low season – some lawn mowing guys will offer cheap lawn mowing in off-peak seasons where they are more in need of extra mowing jobs
High season – established mowing providers who have a lot of regular customers can get extremely busy in the summer months and have been known to double or triple their prices if they need to squeeze in mowing jobs for customers who say they are desperate
Weekend or public holidays – some lawn mowing companies charge more for lawn mowing on the weekend and/or on public holidays
Market demand – lawn mowers guys based in areas of high competition tended to charge lower prices than mowers who could dominate their local market
Keep it simple, book through GreenSocks?
If you’d rather be out enjoying yourself, not mowing your lawn, why not let us organise your lawn mowing services?
We keep it simple. Book your mowing job through GreenSocks and our mowing providers agree to set pricing so you know exactly how much you will be paying per hour, regardless of how big your lawn is, how expensive your house is, or what day of the week it is.
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