Price increase letter to landscaping and gardening clients
Copy it, replace the bracketed bits, send it. Below the letter: the text-message version, how much notice to give, and what to say when they push back.
Hi [NAME], Before the season starts, a note on pricing. From [DATE], your [FREQUENCY] visit goes from [OLD PRICE] to [NEW PRICE]. First change since [YEAR]. Green waste disposal is the main driver — the tip charges have gone up considerably — along with fuel and machinery servicing. The garden has also filled out since we started, which is a nice problem, but it is genuinely more work than the visit I originally priced. Same visit, same day, same team, everything taken away as usual. If you would rather keep the price where it is, we can drop to [ALTERNATIVE FREQUENCY] and I will keep it at [OLD PRICE] — happy either way, just let me know before [DATE]. [YOUR NAME] [BUSINESS NAME]
before the season starts, never mid-season
8–12%
The text-message version
For the customers whose entire relationship with you lives in a phone. Send it before the visit, never on the invoice.
Hi [NAME] — before the season kicks off: your [FREQUENCY] visit goes to [NEW PRICE] from [DATE], first rise since [YEAR]. Can keep the old price at [ALTERNATIVE FREQUENCY] if you'd prefer. Just let me know. [YOUR NAME]
Why it is going up, in words you can use
“Rising costs” persuades nobody because everyone says it. Name the actual driver in gardening and landscaping instead:
- green waste disposal charges have risen sharply
- fuel, machinery servicing and replacement blades
- the round was priced when the gardens were smaller than they now are
When they push back
You will hear these within a week. Having the answer ready is the difference between holding the price and folding on the phone.
- "I'll just do it myself this year."
- Offer the smaller package rather than losing them: the hedge and the heavy cuts only, twice a year. They almost never actually do it themselves, and a reduced client returns to full service far more often than a lost one comes back.
Is a price rise even the right move for you?
Sometimes it is not. Sometimes the money is in a service plan for customers you already have, or in the job you are quoting below cost without realising. Describe your business in one sentence and you will get three specific moves back — priced per month, with the arithmetic written out so you can put your own numbers in.
Free, no signup, about thirty seconds. If one of them is a price rise, you will get the number to put in the brackets above.
Give me three movesOther trades
A template, not legal advice. If you have a written contract with these garden maintenance clients, check what it says about notice periods and price changes before you send anything — the contract wins over any template, including this one.