Foo - How much $$ to cut landlord's lawn?

My land lord asked me to cut the lawn the other day cause he couldn't get to it. He offered $20 to cut it and weed wack it, and since I wasn't doing anything, I didn't mind. Now's he's offering to do to pay me every two weeks to do it for $20 each time. Is that a fair price? I mean, he's providing the lawn mower and fuel (he lives in the house with me), all I gotta do it cut a fairly small lawn, maybe 150'x20'. If I was kid, I'd jump on it but I was thinking more like 25-30.

Keep in mind that, I don't need the money at all, I'm usually somewhere else at least every other weekend, and this is northern New Jersey where the amount I'm paying for a small room in a 3bdrm house could get me a nice 1 bdrm apartment all to myself in other parts of the country, meaning, if I'm gonna pay out my butt for a room, you're gonna pay more to get your lawn cut.

That's really small....sounds fair to me.

Ask him what the most he'd be willing to pay you to do it would be...

And if you don't need it... save it! Blow it on something nice for yourself (or someone else... I guess...).

Tell 'em to drop your rent $100/month

as far as fairness of pay, if he's providing the mower and gas, $20 is fair. I think it's more a matter of:

Is this now part of your rental contract/agreement? What, as you said, will happen when you are not there to do it? Will he/she feel you are reneging? What if you hurt yourself mowing his lawn? Does he pay for your injuries, i.e. work comp?

I just mowed mine in triple digit high humidity Texas heat. It is a corner lot, and on a hill. Based on how I feel right now, I say counter with $100. And with all the rain we have had, my grass is growing like Bonds hat size on steroids, so I am mowing it twice a week.

My allergies are a misery when mowing grass. $100 wouldn't be enough...

Hire a high-school kid to mow it in 30-minutes each time. Pay the kid $10 and pocket the other $10.

Hire a high-school kid to mow it in 30-minutes each time. Pay the kid $10 and pocket the other $10.

Heh, already thought of that. But my landlord might cut out the middle man (me) and go directly to the high school kid.

EFF THAT! 100 bucks. Was he actually friggin' serious? You're supposed to go out there and do 2-3 hours of hard labor for 20 bucks???? YOur landlord takes you for a schmuck.

double whatever you pay for rent... for each mowing. he/she has made a considerable killing off of you for some time now...

ok... maybe that's kinda high. i would go for $30. just have him knock it off the rent each time you do it (with his prior approval) get something in writing - unless he's trustworthy (HA!) no professional company will do it for that... and in the heat of summer, $30 is chump change for him. buy some margaritas after you're done too.

[edit spelling maflunction]

How long does it take you to mow and whack the lawn?

Take the $20, then pop a roomba on it and let science take care of the rest!

Heh, already thought of that. But my landlord might cut out the middle man (me) and go directly to the high school kid.

Do you speak any languages other than English that you landlord cannot speak or understand? If so, find a highschool kid that speaks that language and use him or her.

I wouldnt have the nerve to offer someone 20.00 to do
yardwork........50.00 at the least, only because Im a cheapster, too.
You're doing a service. I would like to see him go into a
restaraunt and say Ill give you .50 for a salad because a
whole head of lettuce is only 1.00 :rolleyes:

My land lord asked me to cut the lawn the other day cause he couldn't get to it. He offered $20 to cut it and weed wack it, and since I wasn't doing anything, I didn't mind. Now's he's offering to do to pay me every two weeks to do it for $20 each time. Is that a fair price? I mean, he's providing the lawn mower and fuel (he lives in the house with me), all I gotta do it cut a fairly small lawn, maybe 150'x20'. If I was kid, I'd jump on it but I was thinking more like 25-30.

Keep in mind that, I don't need the money at all, I'm usually somewhere else at least every other weekend, and this is northern New Jersey where the amount I'm paying for a small room in a 3bdrm house could get me a nice 1 bdrm apartment all to myself in other parts of the country, meaning, if I'm gonna pay out my butt for a room, you're gonna pay more to get your lawn cut.

Depends on if you want to and if you have more time than money or the other way around. Probably would be worth more than that to me. There is a reason he is only offering you $20. He is trying to get a steal. Can't blame him.

EFF THAT! 100 bucks. Was he actually friggin' serious? You're supposed to go out there and do 2-3 hours of hard labor for 20 bucks???? YOur landlord takes you for a schmuck.

OK, i absolutely HATE yard work... but how freaking slow do you walk? 2-3 hours? WOW. I guess you might've been rounding up and being generous.

I wouldn't think it would take that long.

Include shower time and look at $/hr, and go from there.

Without knowing the terrain (my yard is a biotch), sounds like you could finish that in under half an hour easily.
Just mow it-what the hell?

Hire a high-school kid to mow it in 30-minutes each time. Pay the kid $10 and pocket the other $10.

Shoot. I used to get $20 a week for a lawn that size back in the 80s. According to http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl that's worth $40.11 in 2007 dollars.

I wouldn't do it for 20 bucks. Then again I hate manual labor, and have tons of other stuff I could be doing.

... buy some margaritas ....

Good call!
As a matter of fact, tell your landlord no (you don't need the money or the hassle) and drink the margaritas on the porch while the new guy is suffering for $20!

That's what? 30 minutes to an hour's work. Mowing and weedwhacking isn't terribly strenuous, it doesn't require much skill, there's no travel involved, all the tools are provided.

$20 is plenty. If it were my house I'd be paying a neighborhood kid $10 to cut it. Bonus for you just because it's not a normal expectation of your tenancy.

Which certainly doesn't mean you can't ask for more. The worst that could happen is he finds somebody cheaper to do it and you're back where you started.