SwardOps
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What should you charge for a grounds maintenance job?

Put in your time, crew, travel and costs. Get a defensible per-visit price with a proper margin — plus what you’re really earning per hour, and the annual value if it’s a recurring round.

Margin is on the sell price, the way accountants mean it — a 30% margin, not a 30% markup on cost.

Charge this per visit (ex VAT)

£74.29

≈ £37.15/hr on site£22.29 profit/visit£1,931.54/yr
Labour (2.5 hrs)
£40.00
Machinery
£12.00
Your cost
£52.00

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SwardOps does this on every quote — automatically

From your own costs, crews and kit. Then it schedules the round and invoices the work.

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Pricing questions, answered

How should I price a grounds maintenance job?
Start from your real cost — labour (including travel), machinery running cost, and materials — then add a target margin on the sell price. This calculator does exactly that: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin%). Pricing on cost alone, or guessing a day rate, is how firms end up busy but not profitable.
What margin should a grounds maintenance contractor aim for?
25–40% is typical for grounds & garden maintenance. The default here is 30%. Remember a 30% markup on cost is only a ~23% margin — margin is measured on the price you charge, not the cost.
Should I charge for travel time?
Yes. Yard → site → yard is paid time your crew can’t spend earning elsewhere. Leaving it out is one of the most common reasons a round looks profitable on paper but isn’t.