Landscaping
Landscaping Customer Lifetime Value Calculator
Work out what a maintenance customer is worth across seasons, where retention dominates.
Result
Gross profit, not revenue, because revenue you spend delivering the work is not available to spend winning customers. Referrals are the least reliable input here; measure yours rather than assuming.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Seasons retained, which multiplies everything else.
- Annual value including any installation work they commission.
- Whether they anchor a route, which makes them worth more than their own revenue.
Where this one goes wrong
Ignoring route value. A long-standing customer in an area you serve well makes the surrounding customers viable, and losing them can undermine the economics of a whole round.
Questions
About this calculator
What drives landscaping lifetime value?
Retention across seasons. Maintenance revenue is modest annually and substantial over several years, so the business is built on customers staying rather than on the first contract.
Does installation work count?
It should. Maintenance customers commission the patio, the planting and the irrigation, and that work frequently exceeds several years of maintenance revenue.
How do I improve retention?
Consistency and communication. Most maintenance customers leave over missed visits and poor communication rather than over price.
The formula
lifetime value = average job x jobs per year x years x gross margin
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How to use this calculator
- Average job value ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $340.
- Jobs per customer per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.4.
- Years they stay. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6.
- Gross margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 44%.
- Customers they refer. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 0.4.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to lifetime gross profit, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Average job value | $340 |
| Jobs per customer per year | 1.4 |
| Years they stay | 6 |
| Gross margin | 44% |
| Customers they refer | 0.4 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Lifetime gross profit main result | $1,257 |
| Lifetime revenue | $2,856 |
| Including referred customers | $1,759 |
| Gross profit per year | $209.44 |
One customer is worth $1,257 of gross profit over 6 years, or $1,759 once the people they refer are counted. That is what you can afford to spend winning one.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only average job value, this is what happens to lifetime gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Average job value ($) | Lifetime gross profit |
|---|---|
| $170 | $628.32 |
| $255 | $942.48 |
| $340 example above | $1,257 |
| $510 | $1,885 |
| $680 | $2,513 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Average job value ($)
- A money amount, starting at $340.
- Jobs per customer per year
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 1.4.
- Years they stay
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 6.
- Gross margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 44%.
- Customers they refer
- A number, between 0 and 20, starting at 0.4.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Lifetime gross profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Lifetime revenue | A money figure. |
| Including referred customers | A money figure. |
| Gross profit per year | A money figure. |
Seasonality is not in this
Coverage and material figures assume the area you enter. Slope, access for machinery, existing growth and the time of year all affect both quantity and labour, and none of them appear in a calculation like this.
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.