Money vs. HealthMowGreen carbon neutral lawncare is priced comparably to gas powered (and too often non-organic) lawncare providers.
At times our prices match competitors’, but they may be higher for a few reasons.
What is reducing the annual carbon footprint by about 4 metric tons per average home worth? It’s like taking a car off the road from an emissions perspective, not to mention the quiet, and lack of spillage.
We have found our rates may range from 5 to 25% more than carbon-emitting competitors. Why?
- We zero out our footprint annually by buying carbon credits to offset our vehicle gas use (everything else is zero carbon already)!
That means we pay to zero out 5 car’s-worth of emissions while we effectively remove those of 150 plus cars! You might say we are CARBON NEGATIVE! Considering ocean acidification, global warming and severe weather, we have few competitors due to our unique zero (negative actually) carbon footprint, and are certainly worth more than, say, a competitor our size who effectively adds the pollution of putting another 150 more cars on the road per year. The difference between us and a similar gas-based service provider is about 600 metric tons of carbon emissions annually!
- We invested in solar panels for charging at our HQ.
- We pay additionally monthly charges for any electric draw from our utility co. to be 100% green-backed.
- We employ staff and pay all taxes.
MowGreeners are paid 10 to 40% higher than market rates. In a way you might say MowGreen increases our tax base! Also, workers who earn above the poverty line require less social assistance, further limiting tax increases for all. - New commercial battery powered electric mowers are not cheap. They range in price from $9,500 to $25,000, but there are big annual savings in fuel costs and maintenance to offset that.
MowGreen invests in an online modern customer relationship management (CRM), professional services application (PSA), email marketing system, and multi-user web calendaring system, Word Press website and social media presence (Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook), for customized services management and other reporting to foster continuous service improvement, support a lean virtualized workforce, and manage growth. We track specialized data for customers like soil sample results and all materials and labor costs and revenues to support fairness and budgeting.- MowGreen’s mission to cut pollution inspires us to take on pockets of customers in a wider range of territory, hoping to fill in the blanks and localize in the future. This is a more costly strategy to range farther to meet the zero-emission mission, but will foster faster pollution reduction for those altruists anxious to bring us to their neighborhoods. When the average emissions equivalent of a single lawn mowing can be around 300 or 400 emission equivalent automiles, then it’s worth driving a few extra miles to make that large net gain happen.
Our first trailer cost less than an electric blower, and the Prius less than the electric mower which runs all day on a single (clean energy) charge. Recent trailers are all aluminum to save gas. Low emission 30+ MPG gas used is zeroed out with carbon credits for a 100% Carbon Neutral Co. The ave. lawn mowed with gas is equiv. to car on road = 4 metric tons carbon emissions. Competitors increase pollution, like another car on the road, while we reduce it! Get the Gas off the Grass! Clean & Serene, No Gasoline! Less Lawn Mowing, More Food Growing!Ways we have reduced costs:
- We often use smaller fuel efficient cars including Prius’ and Mini-vans. We haul commercial mowers in vans and tow lightweight trailers with Prius’s. As noted above, we zero out the gas consumed with annual carbon credit purchases.
- Our first trailer cost less than an electric blower, and the Prius less than the electric mower which runs all day on a single (clean energy) charge. Recent trailers are all aluminum to save gas. Low emission 30+ MPG gas used is zeroed out with carbon credits for a 100% Carbon Neutral Co. The ave. lawn mowed with gas is equiv. to car on road = 4 metric tons carbon emissions. Competitors increase pollution, like another car on the road, while we reduce it! Get the Gas off the Grass! Clean & Serene, No Gasoline! Less Lawn Mowing, More Food Growing! We have had low garage rental costs and have a barter situation on one of our garage locations. The larger vans we use are like garages on wheels and can avoid the need for more garage space as we grow.
- I think I worked over 10,000 hours in the early years without compensation, to help get the business built (est. in 2006).
- I invested over $100k in startup capital to subsidize growth to a mildly profitable scale.
Our costs are higher and therefore in some cases our prices are higher. We certainly aren’t getting rich, but we are now sustainable and still growing (30% annually since 2013), thankfully, with your support. Considering all of the above benefits to our health and the hope to help halt global warming, we are a compelling value and an investment with an immeasurably positive return. Clean & Serene, No Gasoline.
