This guide is for lawn care and landscaping owners pricing recurring commercial maintenance: office parks, retail pads, HOAs, apartments, and small business properties.
Residential pricing basics still apply. Start with how much to charge for mowing a lawn and flat rate vs hourly if you have not locked your target rate yet.
Commercial contracts vs residential quotes
- More surface area, more details. Islands, sidewalks, loading docks, and litter take time residential jobs skip.
- Slower decisions, more and stricter paperwork.
The best way to price commercial contracts
At the end of the day you just need to calculate the cost of the work and determine how much extra your services are worth on top of it. As long as you feel like you're making a healthy profit on a job and you're not losing money then you're good.
You can generally charge a decent amount more for corporate or commercial properties since they themselves are a money making business.
Three ways to structure the price
| Structure | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Per visit (flat) | New commercial accounts | Customer compares only visit price |
| Monthly retainer | Property managers | Extra mows or skips in a month |
| Season / annual contract | HOAs and portfolios | Need accurate visit count |
Step 1: Write the scope before quoting a price
Put turf frequency, trim, blow, clippings, exclusions, and rain rules in the proposal and service agreement.
Step 2: Estimate how long it will take
Walk the site: turf area, obstacles, slopes, access, trim-heavy borders.
Step 3: Calculate visit price from how long it will take you
Estimate crew hours × hourly target + commercial overhead bump. Round to a clean per-visit number, then multiply by season visits.
Example: 2.5 hours × $65/hr → $162.50, +15% commercial overhead ≈ $187, round to $190 per visit weekly.
Property types that change your bid
Office parks, retail pads, HOA common areas, apartments, and industrial sites each add different trims, litter, and access constraints. Price those honestly as well.
Anything that genuinely makes a job harder you can charge more for.
Season visit count and monthly invoices
Season total ÷ service months = your monthly retainer. Define five-mow months and rain make-ups in writing. See invoicing guide.
Commercial accounts will definitely want more official documentation on service level agreements and exactly what they're being charged. Don't be afraid to be detailed on the contract/bid documentation.
Track commercial accounts long term
Use LawnRoute for per-yard price, mark done, mark paid, and owed lists.
Bottom line
Define the scope of work, measure time it would take, price per visit from your hourly target, multiply by real season visits, and keep track of owed balances on the agreed upon commercial terms.
Good luck! If you're getting into commercial lawn care you're definitely going to start making some good money.