How do I price a grounds maintenance contract?

Work out the true cost of one visit — crew time including travel, machinery running cost, materials — add your margin, then multiply by the number of visits a year. Pricing the whole contract off a rough day rate is how firms end up locked into unprofitable rounds.

What margin should I put on a maintenance contract?

25–40% is typical. Remember margin is measured on the price you charge, not a markup on cost — a 30% markup is only a ~23% margin. The default here is 30%.

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Grounds maintenance contract · free tool · no sign-up to use it

What should you charge for a grounds maintenance contract?

Price a recurring commercial round properly. Put in your per-visit time, crew, travel and machinery and get a per-visit price with margin — plus the annual contract value to quote with confidence.

Time on site

hrs

Crew sizepeople

ppl

You pay each person

Travel (round trip)

min

Machinery running costfuel + wear

£/hr

Materials per visit

Target margin

Visits per year1 = one-off

/yr

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)

£264.69

≈ £66.17/hr on site£79.41 profit/visit£6,352.56/yr

Labour (9.33 hrs): £149.28
Machinery: £36.00
Your cost: £185.28

Stop pricing one job at a time.

SwardOps builds this into every quote — travel, machinery and margin — then schedules the round and invoices the work.

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Pricing something else? Use the general calculator · Grass cutting · Hedge cutting · Turf laying · Weed control & spraying · Leaf clearance · Lawn treatment

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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Grounds maintenance contract pricing, answered

How do I price a grounds maintenance contract?: Work out the true cost of one visit — crew time including travel, machinery running cost, materials — add your margin, then multiply by the number of visits a year. Pricing the whole contract off a rough day rate is how firms end up locked into unprofitable rounds.
What margin should I put on a maintenance contract?: 25–40% is typical. Remember margin is measured on the price you charge, not a markup on cost — a 30% markup is only a ~23% margin. The default here is 30%.