Getting Started With TurfPlanner: A Worked Example With Real Numbers

To get started with TurfPlanner, create a free account, enter your prices, send your first estimate, then turn the finished job into an invoice with a pay link. Next, check which plan fits your card volume. On a sample month of 60 card-paid invoices averaging $65, the Free plan's platform fee comes to $39.00, and the $34.99 Business plan would save you $4.01 a month.

What do you need before you start?

Have your prices written down before you open the app. You need a minimum stop charge, a rate for the larger lots and a recurring discount if you offer one. If you do not have those yet, the mowing pricing guide walks through how to build them from your hourly target. Entering prices you have already tested is faster than guessing inside the app. If you already keep customers in a spreadsheet, export that list with addresses before you start. Typing a full route in by hand is tedious, and a clean export saves that work.

How do you set up the account in the right order?

Work in this order so each step has what it needs:

1. Create the account and enter your business name and contact details. Fix any typos now, because they will show up on what customers receive.
2. Enter each service with its price, using the minimum and per-thousand-square-feet rates from your pricing sheet.
3. Add your customers and their properties. The Free plan has no cap on either, so add the whole route.
4. Send your first estimate. The customer approves it online with a signature.
5. When the job is done, build the invoice from it and send the PDF with the pay link. The invoicing guide covers why same-day invoices get paid faster.

Record any check or cash payment against the invoice once it arrives. That keeps the aging report accurate.

What should you check before you send the first invoice?

Run through four checks before the first real invoice goes out. Confirm that each service price matches your pricing sheet, because a typo there repeats on every invoice. Open the PDF on a phone and check that the pay link is there and readable. Confirm that the sales tax setting matches what your state requires, and ask your accountant if you are not sure. Finally, run the aging report once with a test customer so you know what it looks like before you need it.

Each one is quick, and each one prevents a correction email later. The best time to find a wrong price is before the customer does.

What does a sample month of card payments cost?

Take a small route that bills about $3,900 a month by card, spread across 60 invoices averaging $65. Every payment is made online and by card. The table shows what the card side costs on each plan.

Stripe lists higher rates for some card types, including international cards, so the real rate on your account can run above 2.9%. Plan around the standard rate and check your own statements.

Each platform fee is $0.65, since 1% of $65 is 65 cents. Sixty of them come to $39.00. The Stripe line uses the standard domestic rate, which Stripe lists on its US pricing page as "2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards." Each payment costs $2.185, so sixty payments cost $131.10. That line is the same on both plans, because Stripe charges it whether or not you pay for Business.

At what card volume does Business pay for itself?

Business pays for itself once monthly card volume passes $3,499, provided no single payment is over $2,500. The break-even is the $34.99 subscription divided by the 1% platform fee. Above $2,500 on one invoice, the fee stops at $25, so a large single payment does not raise the cost the same way.

The math has a limit. It assumes every payment is made by card online. If most of your customers pay by check, the platform fee is a small line item, and Business is harder to justify on fees alone. The reminders on Business may still be worth the money if late invoices are your problem.

What if your card volume is different?

The $3,499 line is only one point on the curve. Here are three accounts on the same plan settings, each paying Stripe the same standard rate on every card payment. Each invoice in these scenarios is under $2,500, so the $25 cap never applies.

The first account should stay on Free, because the $34.99 costs more than the fee it removes. The third account is where Business starts to earn its price. The middle row is the line itself, and it only matters once your card volume sits near it for several months.

For the full product overview, read what TurfPlanner does and who it is for. If you are comparing tools, use the TurfPlanner alternatives comparison alongside this worked example.

Which plan should you start on?

Start on Free. The Free plan has no seat limit, so adding a seasonal hire does not change the bill, and the plan is enough to run estimates, schedules and invoices for a route. Move to Business when your card volume is near the $3,499 line, or when you want the automatic reminders more than you mind the fee. Below that line, the $34.99 costs more than the platform fee it removes. One good month at $4,000 does not prove a trend, and one slow month does not prove the opposite. Look at three or four months of card volume before you decide.