Forum Discussion
Great Question!
I have a lawn care/landscaping business as well. I think it's reasonable to question your pricing when you start.
If we're just talking about one time jobs, I go off a "budgeted hours" model. You've done several jobs now so you can guestimate how long it will take you.
If you decided you wanted to charge $100/hour, and you go to the job and think it will take you 5 hours, I'd quote $500 + any materials. Sometimes you might be off in either direction, but as you get better at quoting, it should average out.
You can check check your competitors pricing, but I find that doesn't matter in the long term. You'll find out based on your quote conversion whether or not you're pricing competitively. If you're in the early stages and feel like undercutting for now, you can just mark down your "hourly rate" by $10 or $20/hour. As you get more confident you should aim to increase that price.
As for software tools, I use Crew Insight in the app marketplace. You can track your job efficiency rate (based on budgeted hours), keep track of recurring clients, sales metrics, etc. Disclaimer, I built this for myself because I found the Jobber metrics and exporting spreadsheets to be a pain. If you're starting off and don't feel like the cost is justified, I think simply using Jobber and staying organized can be sufficient.