Lawn and Tree Service Cost Calculator

Lawn care by the season, tree work by the tree, on one page

Lawn care is a repeating service and tree work is a one-off project, and mixing the two in one quote is how both get mispriced. This page keeps them apart: the lawn side prices mowing from your area and rate, multiplies honestly by the visits in a season, and adds edging, fertilisation and aeration on the schedules they actually follow; the tree side prices trimming, removal and stump grinding per tree, with debris hauling where it belongs. The results show the lawn cost per visit, the lawn season total and the tree work separately before combining them, with any minimum charge applied openly and contingency and tax once each.

The lawn, per visit and per season

If your quote is a flat per-visit price instead, divide it by your area in thousands of square feet and enter the result; the per-visit figure in the results will rebuild the flat price for checking.

The trees, one-off

Removal and stump grinding are quoted separately in the trade and buy different things: a removed tree with its stump left is a finished felling and an unfinished garden, and the two lines here keep that distinction priced.

Minimum, contingency, tax and range

Applied once, on the subtotal (or the minimum-charge base) plus contingency.

Disclaimer: This calculator gives estimates for general information only. It is not financial, medical or other professional advice. Tree work near structures, roads and power lines is hazardous skilled work for insured professionals; some trees and removals are protected or permitted by local rules, which this page cannot check.

What this calculator does

It prices a property’s two distinct kinds of outdoor work in their own structures and only then adds them. The lawn side is arithmetic about repetition: a per-visit mowing figure derived from area and rate, an edging figure where it is charged separately, both multiplied by the visits a season genuinely contains, plus the treatments that follow their own calendar (fertilisation by application, aeration by season). The tree side is arithmetic about objects: each tree trimmed, removed or ground at its own per-tree price, because tree work scales with the tree’s size, position and risk in a way area-based pricing never captures, and hauling as the job’s shared cost. The results separate lawn per visit, lawn per season and tree work one-off before combining, which is the comparison structure quotes should be forced into: a season contract and a felling project are different purchases, and this page prices them as such.

How to use it

  • The visit count is the season’s real multiplier. Twenty six weekly visits and twenty fortnightly ones differ by six payments, not by a rounding error, and contracts quote per visit precisely because the season total hides there. Enter the visits your schedule and climate actually produce, including the shoulder weeks, before comparing any two lawn quotes.
  • Area means the grass, not the parcel. Mowing rates per thousand square feet apply to the lawn itself; the house, driveway, beds and trees come out. Measuring the lot and pricing it whole is the classic way to overpay quietly for years, and a rough pacing of the lawn’s edges gives a close enough area for estimating honestly.
  • Removal is not removal until the stump question is answered. Felling and grinding are separate trades steps with separate prices, and a removal quote silent on stumps includes a stump. Enter both lines here and make any competing quote state its basis the same way.
  • Per-tree prices carry size and access inside them. The rate for your tree, at its height, over your roof or fence, is the figure to enter, not a rate for trees in general. Two trees of one species can differ threefold in removal price on position alone, which is why this page takes per-tree figures from your quotes rather than averaging a species.
  • Hauling is where tree quotes quietly diverge. A felled tree is a large volume of heavy material, and chipping, loading and tipping it is real work with real cost. Quotes that “include removal” and quotes that leave arisings on site differ by exactly this line; pricing it visibly stops the difference ambushing the comparison.

How it is calculated

  • Mowing per visit = lawn area / 1,000 x mowing rate. Lawn cost per visit = mowing per visit + edging per visit. Lawn season = (mowing + edging) x visits, + fertilisation per application x applications, + aeration. Each season line in the table is its per-visit or per-application figure multiplied out, rounded to cents.
  • Tree work = trimming count x price, + removal count x price, + stump count x price, + hauling flat.
  • Subtotal = lawn season + tree work. Minimum charge: if a minimum is entered and exceeds the subtotal, the minimum becomes the base and the results state that the minimum charge applied. Contingency applies once to the base; tax once to base plus contingency. Total = base + contingency + tax. Range = total less and plus your percentage.

Worked examples

A season of lawn care plus tree work. Illustrative figures: an 8,000 square foot lawn at $9 per thousand is $72.00 of mowing per visit; edging at $18 makes $90.00 per visit, and 26 visits is $2,340.00. Fertilisation at $65 across 4 applications adds $260.00; aeration $180. Lawn services for the season: $2,780.00. Tree work: 3 trims at $220, $660.00; 1 removal at $950.00; 1 stump ground at $140.00; hauling $120, for $1,870.00 one-off. Subtotal $4,650.00; contingency at 5% adds $232.50 for a combined total of $4,882.50.

Why the season view changes lawn decisions. Per visit, the lawn service reads as $90.00, a modest figure that invites no scrutiny. Per season it is $2,780.00 before any tree work, the level at which comparing contractors, renegotiating schedules or pricing the equipment to do it yourself becomes a real exercise. The same contract, honestly multiplied, is the difference between a chore and a budget line, and the multiplication is this page’s main service on the lawn side.

One stump meets the floor. A single stump ground at $140.00, against a $175 minimum charge: the estimate builds on the minimum and totals $175.00, stating that the minimum charge applied. Small outdoor jobs are priced by the visit, and the minimum is the visit speaking.

Reading your results

Read the three headline figures as three different decisions: per visit for comparing lawn contractors, per season for budgeting the property, and tree work as a project to be quoted competitively on its own. Then examine the removal and hauling lines together on any quote you compare, because their combined weight decides whether a cheap felling price is cheap. Finally, treat the season total’s sensitivity honestly: it moves visit by visit, so a wetter year with faster growth is a longer season, and the contingency line is the grown-up way to carry that.

Limitations

  • Tree prices are per-tree averages of one property’s quotes. Height, spread, lean, targets beneath and access for machinery move individual prices widely. A row of similar garden trees averages fairly; a mixed set prices better tree by tree, added outside the form, using its per-tree lines as the structure.
  • The season is entered, not forecast. Growth rates, drought restrictions and the contractor’s start and finish dates set the true visit count. The figure here is the count you give it, and mid-season the honest move is to re-run with the visits remaining rather than defend an April estimate in September.
  • Treatments are priced as sold. Fertilisation per application bundles product and spreading at the contractor’s figure; whether the programme suits the soil is an agronomy question an estimate cannot answer, and soil testing belongs upstream of a multi-application commitment.
  • Protected trees and permissions sit outside the price. Some trees cannot lawfully be removed or heavily pruned, and some work needs consent regardless of cost. The estimate prices the work as specified; legality is a check for the property owner and the contractor before the work, not after.

Frequently asked questions

How many visits are in a mowing season?

As many as the schedule and the growing season produce together: weekly service across a 26 week season is 26 visits, fortnightly across the same span is 13, and shoulder seasons add or trim at the edges. It is the input that most changes the season total (on the worked example, each visit is $90.00, so six visits either way move the lawn season by $540.00), and it is worth taking from the contract’s actual calendar rather than from the per-visit price’s smallness.

Why is stump grinding not part of tree removal?

Because they are different operations with different equipment: felling brings the tree down and sections it; grinding then destroys the stump below ground level with a dedicated machine, often by a different operator on a different visit. Quotes bundle or separate them inconsistently, which is precisely why this page carries them as two lines: on the worked example the stump is $140.00 standing beside a $950.00 removal, and a quote that appears cheaper on removal may simply be the one that left the stump unpriced.

Should lawn care be priced per visit or per season?

Both views are honest and they answer different questions. Per visit compares contractors on a like unit and reveals rate differences. Per season is the budgeting figure and the one that exposes schedule differences, where a cheaper visit on a longer committed season costs more in total. This page reports both deliberately, with the season built from the visits in the open, so neither a low visit price nor a low season claim can hide the other.

What does debris hauling cover?

Everything between a felled tree and a clear site: chipping the brush, loading and moving the timber and grindings, and the disposal or tipping fees where they are charged. On the worked example it is $120 against $1,750.00 of cutting and grinding, a modest share that grows quickly with tree size and distance to disposal. Where firewood is kept or mulch is left on site by agreement, the line falls, and the agreement belongs in writing before the work starts.

Related calculators

Method: lawn services built per visit and multiplied by the season’s visits and applications, tree work priced per tree with hauling separate, minimum charge applied to the base, contingency once and tax once, exactly as defined on this page. Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.