Lawn Mowing and Garden Maintenance Plans: How to Price a Recurring Service

Here's the problem every mowing business knows. In November you're turning down work. In June you're mowing a third as often and still paying for the trailer, the ute, the insurance and the phone.

In The Subscription Playbook I write about turning revenue that depends on the season, or the phone ringing, into revenue that arrives automatically every month. A lawn and garden plan is one of the simplest examples.

The plan structure that works

Illustrative only. Price from your own costs and local market.

How to price it

A worked example: the Lawn plan

A Newcastle mowing business offers a lawn plan for an average suburban block.

At A$99 a month, a price many mowing businesses would reach for, this business would lose money on every lawn. That is why its Lawn plan is A$135. If you're registered for GST, don't forget that one-eleventh of every payment isn't yours. If you're not registered (turnover under A$75,000), you don't charge GST at all, but keep an eye on the threshold as plans grow. Run your own figures in the maintenance plan calculator.

Even monthly billing

Tell customers exactly how it works: "Your plan includes 26 visits a year, about fortnightly in the growing season and monthly in winter, billed as 12 equal monthly payments."

That's honest, it's simple, and it means June's revenue looks like November's.

Route density is your profit

In the example, travel is A$8 a visit. On a scattered route, it could easily be A$25, which wipes out the margin. Grow deliberately:

• Letterbox the streets around your existing customers.
• Offer a neighbour discount when two houses on the same street join.
• Be willing to let go of far-flung customers or price them higher.

Retention: why customers leave, and how to keep them

• Missed visits. Rain happens. Tell customers when you're rescheduling, before they notice.
• Inconsistent quality. Standardise what "done" looks like for each crew.
• Winter. Customers question paying in July. Even billing explained upfront, and a visible winter visit, solves most of it.
• Moving house. Offer to transfer the plan to the new owner. It's a free referral.

How to launch

1. Pick your 50 most reliable customers on dense routes. Offer them the plan first.
2. Move them from per-cut invoices to monthly direct debit.
3. Add the plan to your quote for every new customer.
4. Introduce the higher tiers once the base plan works.
5. Track customers per route, visits completed, cancellations and revenue by month.

The rules to get right

A maintenance plan is a subscription, so the same rules apply as for any other subscription sold to Australian households. Here's the short version, as at October 2026. It's general information, not legal advice.

• Consumer guarantees still apply. Your plan can't take away customers' rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Don't describe it as a "warranty" that replaces those rights.
• Be careful about promising to pay for repairs. A plan that sells your lawn and garden services (inspections, servicing, priority attendance, discounts) is a service contract. A plan that promises to cover the cost of repairs or replacement if something breaks starts to look like an extended warranty, which ASIC says can be a financial product. If you want to include repair cover, get legal advice first.
• Clear terms. State the price, what's included, how often, the term, renewal and how to cancel, before the customer signs up. Unfair terms in standard form contracts can be void, and using them can attract penalties.
• GST. If you're registered, plan fees are generally taxable. On an annual plan paid upfront, the GST is generally reported when you're paid or invoice. See GST on subscriptions.
• Direct debit. If you collect by direct debit, follow the direct debit rules.

• From 1 July 2027, the national subscription-trap rules add disclosure at sign-up, prescribed notices and an easy way to cancel. They apply to plans entered into from that date, and to earlier plans once renewed or varied. Build them in now. See subscription trap laws.

• Chemical application. Applying herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers commercially can require a licence or accreditation in some states. Check with your state regulator before including weed control in a plan.

• Safety. Mowing and trimming carry real injury risks for staff and the public. Your insurance and safety procedures matter more as the business grows.

Why your accountant cares: a business worth more

Recurring revenue changes what your business is worth. Two lawn and garden businesses with the same profit can sell for very different prices if one has hundreds of customers on automatic plans and the other relies on the phone ringing. Buyers pay more for revenue they can see coming, that's billed automatically and that doesn't depend on you.

It also changes the day-to-day. Plan revenue arriving every month covers wages and vehicle costs before the month starts, and scheduled work fills the quiet weeks. See how much is my business worth and how to value a subscription business.

What to do next

Calculate your real cost per visit, including travel and tipping. Then check whether your current per-cut price, multiplied by visits per year and divided by 12, gives you a monthly fee you'd be happy to charge. If it doesn't, your pricing was the problem, not the winter.

Free Subscription Profit Review

Australian business owners can book a free 30-minute review with a BPAG Accountants adviser. An honest conversation about:

• whether a subscription model could work for your business
• how recurring revenue could cover your fixed costs each month
• how it could lift what your business is worth

Book my free review Call 1300 272 422

No cost, no obligation. General information only until we understand your situation.

Frequently asked questions

Robert Coorey, MBA

Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.