On the last Tuesday in April, Mrs. Pruitt was waiting on her front step at a quarter after seven with two twenty-dollar bills folded in half. That's how Tyler found out she'd read his note.
Season two of the mowing business started that week. Last year Tyler mowed six yards at $35 a week. This year it's nine yards at $40. Here's how he raised his price, who stayed and what the summer looks like now.
Why $40, and how he told them
We went back through last season in the sheet first. Gas for the mower went up, blades and trimmer line went up, and the $180 mower is a year older. Tyler was also clearing about $25 an hour after gas and the 25% we set aside for taxes, which is close to what he makes at the plant, and those were evenings and Saturdays he wasn't spending at home.
We also asked around. The two lawn crews in town quote $50 to $60 for the same size yard. Tyler didn't want to be the expensive option. He just didn't want to be the cheapest by $20 anymore. $40 felt fair to him and fair to them.
Tyler is not a phone person. In March he sat at the kitchen table and wrote six notes by hand on index cards, one for each customer, and dropped them off the first week of April. Each one said about the same thing: starting this season, weekly mowing will be $40. Gas and parts went up, and I'd rather tell you now than surprise you on the first mow. Same day, same work. Thank you for last year.
That was it. No apology and no long explanation. I helped with the wording, and my main contribution was crossing out the word "unfortunately."
Who stayed and who's new
All six stayed. Five said yes within a week. Mrs. Pruitt, my coworker's mother, said she'd have paid $45. The retired couple who spend every weekend at Long Branch Lake texted back a thumbs-up and a picture of the water.
Mr. Dale, our landlord, was the holdout. He has two of the six yards, and he asked if two yards got a discount. Tyler said no. Mr. Dale said he'd think it over. Ten days later he called to say a crew had quoted him $55 a yard and he'd see Tyler on Tuesday. I'm not sure I've ever seen Tyler that pleased about a phone call.
Tyler said all last summer that he could handle nine yards with a full-time job, so when people asked, he said yes until he got to nine. Two came from his customers: the young family's next-door neighbors and the widower's sister, who lives on the same street as him. The third is a woman I work with at the pharmacy, who saw me eating lunch next to a stack of mowing receipts and asked if he had room.
Two of the new yards started this week, and the last one starts Monday. So far this season he's mowed 14 times: six the first week and eight this week. That's $560.
What a full season looks like now
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Yards | 6 | 9 |
| Price per mow | $35 | $40 |
| A full week | $210 | $360 |
| Hours a week | About 6 | About 8.5 |
| Season total | $3,360 (96 mows) | About $6,300 (our guess) |
The guess comes from last year. This season should run from the end of April to the end of September, about 22 weeks. At $360 a week, that's $7,920 if every yard gets mowed every single week. That won't happen. Last year, between a dry August, a couple of rainouts and customers on vacation, he mowed about 80% of what was possible. 80% of $7,920 is about $6,300.
The time goes up too, from about six hours a week to eight and a half. That means two evenings and most of Saturday instead of one evening and a Saturday morning. We talked about that part more than the money, because it comes out of the same evenings we spend together and with Moose.
The mower is still the $180 one off Marketplace. This spring it got a new blade, a spark plug, an air filter and fresh oil, $32 in all, and it started on the first pull. My dad told Tyler to just keep the trailer at our place until October.
The money rules didn't change. 25% of every payment goes to the tax bucket the day it comes in, gas comes out of what's left, and the rest goes to the house fund on Sunday nights. With more coming in this year, there's a note on the fridge calendar for June to check whether we need to pay quarterly estimated taxes, which our preparer told us to watch for back in January.
Tonight Tyler is out in the carport sharpening the spare blade so it's ready when the first one dulls. Nine yards starts Monday.
