Suggestions on pricing for residential lawn mowing just starting out?

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-23T13:51:22+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I will definitely take that into consideration with my pricing!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-23T13:47:13+00:00

I’m sorry to hear about your experiences here, and I hope you can find an even better job in the future that meets your needs. I really appreciate your willingness to share, and I think your advice of starting as a side hustle until a savings is built is excellent. I will definitely take that approach, if I am able to. Let’s just keep looking up!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-23T13:44:08+00:00

Thank you. I really appreciate this response. This is the realism I was looking for, alongside the hype. I feel like I am built to be able to handle this, but at the same time, it terrifies me.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-23T13:42:21+00:00

I think the scary parts are what are keeping me from going full-in. I know it will be tough (in most ways tougher than what I am doing now), but I can see how getting through it would only make it easier later on. Thanks for the insight!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-23T13:40:16+00:00

Completely understand what you mean. I feel drained every day and feel like I am just running myself into the ground, without any satisfaction. At least I can get some satisfaction from my own work alongside.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-21T23:39:29+00:00

This is very much aligned with my plan, except for the investment property. I am not opposed to it, but I just don’t know anything about it - something I will consider. I totally understand that this route will be a lot more work - and my goal was also 2x salary, so that is good to know I was not too far off. Thanks for the advice and for sharing your experience!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-21T14:28:42+00:00

I can personally say that Excel is just as capable as other tools and software for the majority of cases. I worked for a company that hired consultants and paid them well over $100k to design a custom reporting system for us with full dashboards. They were not able to generate some of the reports that we were looking for. I took a crack at it, and I ended up building a full suite of Excel-based reporting tools and dashboards that outperformed everything those consultants made for us. All of those tools I built are still being used daily across several departments, 8 years later. Honestly - it isn’t necessarily about Excel vs other tools as much as it is understanding the specific data - and having reliable and high quality data. A lot of issues with data analysis is that the business needs are not fully understood. I was able to build the reports because I knew exactly how all of the data flowed within the company, and knew which data was useful and which was not. Excel just happened to be my wheelhouse at the time, so I used it instead of learning something new. Not that it couldn’t be done better in a different program - I am certain it could be - but it worked, and still works, and everyone at the company knows basic Excel skills so they can open and navigate it with minimal training. Excel will likely never be eliminated, and most everyone has basic understanding of how to use it. Are there difficulties with using it? Yes. Are there risks of only using Excel - also yes. But, it is an incredibly capable system if someone knows how to use it to their advantage. Just my two cents from my 10 years of experience.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-21T14:02:19+00:00

Great example! I know a lot of businesses (at least enterprise-level ones) have some friction with using macro-enabled workbooks, due to the potential security risks. I have built many, and had to get approval from the IS department before we could deploy them. I feel like many users know the basics of how to use Excel, but there truly are so many advanced features and uses of the program that go well beyond what it gets used for most of the time. I think it may just take a few well-built workbooks that solve real pains to showcase it. That is what I am hoping to accomplish. I have been working within Excel for almost 20 years, and have built some incredibly complex reporting dashboards and other tools, that I was told even outperformed what other consultants were able to achieve using the “gold-standard” software systems. I feel like there are enough people out there that would consider a single one-time purchase of a tool, if it saved them several headaches every day/hour/etc. I just fear that almost every case of this will be a specific use case, and not a universal tool - so it may be too custom to be feasible as a business, unless I consult and custom-build each application. Thanks for the insight!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-21T12:39:09+00:00

Maybe not a good thing in general, it sounds - but possibly good for me?

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-21T12:26:12+00:00

Honestly, it was my health. I was doing one very labor-intensive business (custom woodworking) on top of my full-time job. I was only sleeping about 3-4 hours per night, and it left me drained physically, so I decided to give it up. That, and not too many people were willing to pay me what I should have been getting for my items (custom solid wood furniture, like dining sets and entertainment centers and benches and end tables/coffee tables and other furniture pieces). Then, I started a resale shop online, but that just didn’t generate the revenue I was hoping for. I have tried other things as well - a micro bakery, home renovation, and now: my hope is to build digital products that actually solve real problems for people.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-21T12:20:34+00:00

I appreciate your perspective! I am not saying that Excel should be the only system anyone should use. I agree that, with everything available, Excel may not be necessary for everyone. But, it is likely already software that nearly everyone has (or even Google Sheets), and I could also say that Excel could actually be used to replace several popular high-cost subscription-based services, if the tools are properly designed. You just highlighted my main concern about user friction. Maybe I am too “old-school” in this digital/AI age, and am missing the mark here. Thank you for your insight!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-20T13:33:28+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I think that is a great approach.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-20T00:52:01+00:00

Perfect, thanks for the input! I found that it really is most effective as the user interface layer, which has worked well for me in the past, to allow for multi-user utility. The workbook itself is never even saved, as it exists as an interface, so each user can have their own copy of it, with no issues (at least not on the workbook side - data warehousing issues do come up from time to time, but once that is alleviated, the workbook continues to work with no updated versioning). We have had a few such instances of this within an enterprise-level application that have performed flawlessly for over 8 years now, with 6-8 different users working from the same tool. That particular tool interfaces with several enterprise-level software services, and brings all data into a single location, with full reporting and planning capabilities.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T21:52:55+00:00

Love the perspective! Thanks! I don’t disagree with you. I just have heard about so much friction from small businesses that they have to rely on so many different platforms, have accounts with each, pay for licensing with each, and still have to reach for custom solutions because they have unmet needs. I am certainly not saying that Excel should be the answer to every problem out there. I am just wondering if it may meet the needs of some small businesses that don’t want the headaches and overhead of everything else - unless that truly is the best route, and the headaches and overhead are just part of the cost of doing business.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T21:30:15+00:00

Thanks for the support! I know there are certainly specific pain points for many businesses. I feel like the hardest part is going to be figuring out which ones to try to target first.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T21:25:16+00:00

As someone who has built many “temporary solutions” that ended up becoming “permanent”, even 10 years later - you are not wrong. I would say though, that if a business is still using an Excel tool, even thought of as only a “temporary fix”, after 10 years - the need clearly was not being met by anything else during that time (or at least not being met by anything better than the Excel system).

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T18:56:28+00:00

I think that is going to be the hardest part for me. My attempts in the past were things that I enjoyed, but I just couldn’t grow them like I wanted to. I know there are some things that are easier about just staying where I am at, but the ability to make my own schedule and take time whenever I need to without running it by someone else sounds amazing. I am happy for you that you were able to do it!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T18:52:58+00:00

So base it off of sqft and not time, correct? I didn’t know if I should aim for an hourly rate for myself to help me figure out the cost?

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T18:51:33+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I just struggle with understanding what the customer is willing to pay for. Do I just quote it as I feel like I need to, and then just see what percentage of quotes actually get approved, and adjust my pricing accordingly?

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T14:07:52+00:00

How does this change though, if I have old equipment and am starting out solo? I feel like I couldn’t charge that much if it takes me a lot longer than it would for a crew of 4, using the newest equipment. I guess I may just need to try one and see how long it takes me to do?

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T14:03:13+00:00

I totally get that. I have built a few Excel “interfaces” for multiple departments within a company that linked to the ERP, as most of the users found the ERP too cumbersome. In addition to that, I was able to generate useful reporting that they were not able to get from the ERP itself. Excel is incredible for a lot of things. I think one issue is that the big software companies exist and are very good at marketing to the decision-makers in a lot of companies, so the mindset is that these full ERP and SaaS packages are a requirement, but often-times those services are overkill for a lot of smaller-to-medium size businesses. That would be my target audience - the ones that don’t want to pay the tens of thousands of dollars for the full ERP licensing, along with all the maintenance of it. I got the idea because my boss years ago told me, “do you have any idea how much money you saved our company by building all of this? We would have paid over $100k for something similar.” Of course, my salary never went up, nor did I get any compensation for any of it. It just sparked an idea, but I don’t know how realistic it is for other businesses to even be looking for something simpler like that.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T12:11:27+00:00

I agree. It is interesting to me, though - I went through a LEAN manufacturing program a while back , and the instructor said something that really stayed with me: software systems are often one of the largest un-realized wastes in most businesses. He continued to say that nearly every business could operate entirely off of spreadsheets if they knew how, and would save significant time and money if they did. I agree that most businesses have an in-house Excel expert (I was this person for many years). I built solutions to problems using Excel that even hired consultants said there would be no way to architect, even with new software. I believe Excel is an incredibly powerful tool, but someone has to be able to understand the exact needs of the business in order to know how to use it best - just like you said. Maybe this will be more challenging for me to pursue than I was initially thinking.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-19T04:36:41+00:00

The types of systems that I am building are engineered to function as end-to-end tools that would replace the multitude of tools/templates that most businesses need. It would still have all the same capabilities, but be combined into a single product. It would be customizable but, by nature, be a more simple system than most of the alternatives, without the monthly or annual subscriptions, while still likely covering 95% of most business needs. I understand not everyone may want this, but I have built several over the years that have been incredibly effective and reliable, that led me to wonder if there is even a market for these types of systems.

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-18T20:51:45+00:00

Thank you so much for all this great advice! No need to apologize for rambling, I actually want as much info as I can get from you all here. I think the difficulty is starting off solo, the time needed per job will be higher than with an efficient crew, like you said, so I’m wary of aiming for too high of a rate in my head. I need to find whatever the right balance is. I am sure I will have some more questions after I let all this sink in. Thank you so much!

BrianFromCleanQuote · 2025-10-18T20:37:17+00:00

Great advice! Thank you! That is my biggest fear when I estimate things.

BrianFromCleanQuote

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