The High Cost of Using Lawn Love and LawnStarter for Lawn Care Vendors

The High Cost of Using Lawn Love and LawnStarter for Lawn Care VendorsLawn Love and LawnStarter claim many things. But, on top of every lawn care professional's mind is how much they can expect to make on a platform. While both Lawn Love and LawnStarter can help vendors land new clients, we wanted to know how much professionals benefit from these platforms.

Both companies profit from vendors by charging high commissions for jobs.Let's look further at the language provided on their websites and explore some vendor feedback. 

Key Takeaways

How Lawn Love and LawnStarter Operate

Before jumping in, let's talk briefly about how Lawn Love and LawnStarter operate. LawnStarter acquired Lawn Love a few years back. Different brands, similar structures — more or less.

Homeowners can use both apps to hire local lawn care providers and to schedule and confirm appointments. After a homeowner makes a booking, the platform will send a vendor to do the job. 

In exchange, Lawn Love and LawnStarter take a cut of the commissions on each job. That's it in a nutshell.

No platform connecting homeowners to service providers can do well if it does not care for its contractors. Unfortunately for these companies, many lawn care professionals feel their lack of experience in the industry is evident in their operations.

One lawn care professional had this to say about their operations after spending hours on the line with customer service about yards in poor condition:

"What should have taken me three hours took me six. Of the seven scheduled lawns, I only mowed three. Between the phone calls with the help desk and walking the properties prior to mowing, it took much longer than I thought it should have. ... Lawnstarter has a lot of learning to do from the mowing side of the business, and I don't think they are quite 'there' yet"

Another lawn care professional said:

"(These companies) are run by start-up geeks, not lawn-mowing guys. This is why you and I see success with the online business model. We learned the problems and made policies to avoid them.”

How GreenPal operates

GreenPal created a system for booking lawn care services by a team that genuinely understands the lawn care industry, both from the professional and homeowner's point of view.

Each element of the GreenPal app is designed as a win for the lawn care service provider. With over 20 years in the lawn care industry before creating the app, the GreenPal team drilled down its processes to ensure its app truly functioned as a demand-generation tool for vendors and not as a headache within their daily operations.

One GreenPal contractor said:

"I like it. It has been a consistent money maker for me. I started (a few months ago) and still have the same yards I started with. Just show up on that day, cut grass, edge, weed eat, blow, and go to the next house. Three days later, the money is in the bank. I bid on an average cut for that neighborhood; the app shows the picture of the yard and lot size through Zillow. So you have an idea of what to expect."

Payout Structures

What Lawn Love and Lawn Starter take from vendors

According to taskeasy, Lawn Love takes 15 to 20 percent of each completed job. So, let's say a customer pays $100 for a job, and a vendor may only walk away with $80 of the job's value after the platform's fees. The high commission has a significant impact on the vendor's bottom line.

LawnStarter's commissions are steep, too. They'll take up to 20 percent as well. So, there's not much benefit in their setup.

GreenPal's payout structure

GreenPal takes 5 percent. It's set. We also never touch your money and use Stripe for secure, easy payouts within 48 hours. Their processing fee is 2.9 percent, so we encourage our vendors to factor that percentage into their quotes. So, if you won a lawn that you quoted at $50 ... first off, congratulations! ... you can expect $46.05 within your account within two days. Out of that, $50, $2.50 goes to GreenPal, and $1.45 goes to Stripe. Not too bad.

What's more, the customers belong to your lawn care service, not GreenPal. GreenPal is built to help homeowners find, hire, and pay you more quickly while allowing you to bid on lawn care efficiently. Get new customers with minimal effort and get paid faster.

GreenPal is the easiest way to grow and manage your lawn care service. We provide the demand generation, and your take-home pay is much better.

Comparing LawnStarter, Lawn Love, and GreenPal

When comparing Lawn Love and LawnStarter to GreenPal, several key differences become apparent:

Commission Rates: As we've already discussed, GreenPal's commission fees are up to 15 percent less than LawnStarter and Lawn Love's. This means that the vendor will receive a larger amount of the transaction in their account. This can generate a sizable increase in profitability and reinvestment opportunities for the vendor.

Bidding process: Lawn Love and LawnStarter vendors are assigned jobs, but GreenPal provides a unique process that allows you, not us, to maximize your relationship with customers. 
Here's how it works:

We're in the demand generation business. We deliver leads and new business to you without significantly cutting your profit margins — like our competitors often do. By tilting the playing field toward the vendor and helping lawn-care professionals grow their businesses, GreenPal is valued by many.

LawnStarter, LawnLove, and GreenPal: Vendor Experiences

Vendors have posted comments about inconsistencies in job pricing and high commissions with LawnStarter and Lawn Love. Of course, some benefit from these platforms, but it's a story we hear time and again: LawnStarter and Lawn Love take way too high of a cut. Some vendors complain that their pricing often doesn't adequately reflect the work required, resulting in less money earned than anticipated.

GreenPal Vendor Experiences

Many GreenPal vendors appreciate GreenPal's lower commissions and more transparent pricing structures, meaning they keep more of what they earned. GreenPal's bidding process and knowledge of the lawn care industry sets them apart.

GreenPal's focus on demand generation means that vendors have an automated, unending pipeline of leads they can pursue if they choose.

Quick Summary

LawnStarter and Lawn Love are two companies that provide lawn care vendors with additional income. The problem with these companies is their high commission rates. While these companies can cut into a vendor's profits up to 20 percent, GreenPal's 5 percent rate helps lawn care companies thrive.