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Polygon quoting, with margin protection built in

The question we hear from every operator: "won’t customers just draw a tiny lawn to pay less?" Short answer — they can try, but the quote is a starting price, not the final word, and eight built-in safeguards keep you from losing money on it.

Here’s each one, in plain English.

Start 14-day free trialSee the eight protections

Eight ways we keep customers honest

Every one of these is already running on every booking. Try it free for 14 days and watch them work on real jobs.

  1. 01

    Minimum price floor

    You set a minimum price for every service. If a customer draws a tiny lawn, the math might spit out $1.50 — but they pay your minimum instead. Most operators set this at $40–$50 for residential mowing. Customers can’t draw their way below your floor.

  2. 02

    Maximum price cap

    You also set a maximum. If someone outlines a whole subdivision by accident (or on purpose), the booking flow won’t quote four figures and lock you into a job you can’t deliver. Big jobs get routed to an in-person estimate instead — you visit, send a real quote, and collect a deposit.

  3. 03

    Target hourly rate warning

    You set the hourly rate you need to hit on each service. If a quote won’t get there, you see a warning — both on the customer’s screen as they draw, and on your operator queue before you dispatch. No surprise unprofitable jobs on the schedule.

  4. 04

    Surcharges for overgrown, cleanup, and hauling

    Set surcharges for overgrown lawns, cleanup, or hauling. The booking page asks customers to flag conditions up front — and if they don’t, your crew can flag them on arrival. The surcharge rolls into the price automatically. Customers don’t get to opt out of "yes, my lawn is two feet tall."

  5. 05

    The drawing is locked and visible to your crew

    What the customer drew is saved with the job and shown to your crew on the job card and job detail. When they arrive, they see exactly what was outlined. If the real mowable area is bigger, that’s your evidence for an on-site price adjustment.

  6. 06

    On-site price adjustment with customer signature

    Every job in the crew app has an Adjust Price button. Enter the new price, pick a reason from a list, and for any increase, get the customer’s signature on the screen. The signature is required and saved with the job. No hand-wave "I’ll add it later" — every increase is documented at the time.

  7. 07

    Paid at booking — no chasing invoices

    The customer pays the full quoted price the moment they book. No "we’ll invoice you later," no chasing payment after the job. The money is in your bank account before the crew leaves the shop. Worst case for someone gaming the drawing: they pay $10–$30 less than they would’ve with a walkthrough — but you’ve already been paid. On-site increases are charged automatically to the same card with the customer’s signature on file; if the auto-charge fails, your crew collects on the spot.

  8. 08

    Per-zone minimum job value

    Each service-area zone has its own minimum job value. The default setup requires $80+ on far-distance bookings (20–30 miles out). Customers too far away to book a $40 mow profitably don’t see available slots until their quote clears the zone’s minimum. No more 25-mile drives for a small job.

Why we don’t auto-measure the whole property

The alternative — what tools like DeepLawn do — is to look up your customer’s property records and measure the whole lot automatically. That sounds safer (they can’t draw less than the truth), but it has a real downside.

Whole-lot measurements over-count. They include the house, driveway, garden beds, fenced patio, shed, and anything else inside the property line. The actual mowable area is usually 40–70% of the lot. Quote on the whole lot and you’ll quote too high — high quotes get abandoned a lot more often.

When customers outline their own lawn, they tell you exactly what they want mowed. If they only want the front yard, they draw the front yard. You quote the actual job, not a hypothetical one. You win bookings you wouldn’t have won otherwise.

The safeguards above handle the downside. Customers can’t draw below your floor. The drawing is locked and your crew sees it on arrival. You adjust on-site with a signature when reality differs. The realistic upside for someone trying to game it is $10–$30 — and most people aren’t going to draw a deceptive shape and then sign a price-increase form when the crew shows up.

In practice, what customers draw matches a walkthrough quote within a few percent on residential lots up to about an acre. This isn’t a compromise — it’s the right model for residential lawn care.

Big or unusual jobs go through in-person estimates

Not every job belongs on the instant-quote flow. Multi-acre properties, brush clearing, commercial sites, anything where you genuinely need to walk the lot — set those services up as in-person estimates instead. The customer requests an estimate with photos and notes, you visit, fill in your line items and a deposit amount, and send them a real quote. The deposit gets charged through the same payment flow; the rest is invoiced when the job is done. No instant-quote risk on jobs that don’t fit the model.

Polygon-quoting FAQs

Won’t customers just draw a small lawn to pay less?+
They can try — the safeguards above are why it doesn’t work. Drawing a tiny lawn just hits your minimum price floor. And the crew sees exactly what was drawn when they arrive — if the real mowable area is bigger, they adjust the price on-site with a signature, and the extra charges to the same card on file. The realistic upside for a customer trying to game it is usually $10–$30 — and most people won’t draw a deceptive shape and then sign a price-increase form when the crew shows up. Remember: the original quote was already paid at booking. The worst case isn’t "we don’t get paid." It’s "we got paid slightly less than a walkthrough quote."
What if the customer outlines exactly the area they want mowed, even if their lawn is bigger?+
That’s the right outcome. What they drew represents what they want mowed, not their whole property. Tools that auto-measure the entire lot would quote them for grass they don’t want cut — and lose the booking. With this approach, you get a quote that matches the actual job. If a customer says "I only want the front yard," they outline just the front. You know the scope before you arrive, and pricing the rest is a separate conversation if they ask later.
How does the on-site price adjustment actually work?+
When your crew shows up and sees the lawn is overgrown, bigger than what was drawn, or the customer added a back yard, they tap Adjust Price in the crew app. They enter the new price and pick a reason from a dropdown (Overgrown, Larger area than quoted, Additional cleanup, etc.). For any increase, the customer signs on the screen with their finger. The signature is saved with the job — you’ve got proof. Price decreases (customer wants less than originally outlined) don’t need a signature.
What happens if the lawn is way too big for an instant quote — say, 5 acres?+
Your max price cap catches it. Depending on how you’ve set up the service, the booking page either caps the price at your ceiling or routes the customer to your in-person estimate flow. For multi-acre or unusual jobs, set up a separate service as an in-person estimate. Customers describe the work, upload up to 3 photos, and pick a preferred site-visit slot. You visit, fill in line items and a deposit amount, and send them a real quote. No instant-quote risk on jobs that don’t fit the model.
What if the satellite imagery is wrong or out of date?+
Satellite imagery gets refreshed on a regional schedule. New construction sometimes shows a vacant lot when a house actually exists. The drawing tool works either way — the customer outlines the lawn as it is today, even if the image is six months old. New construction is the only place this comes up regularly, and it usually clears up within a year.
Can someone game the drawing tool by making a weird shape with no area?+
No. The drawing tool requires at least 3 points before they can finish, and any zero-area shape falls through to your minimum price. The floor still applies.
Is there an audit trail if a customer disputes a price adjustment later?+
Yes. Every price adjustment is logged with who made it (which crew member), the price before and after, the reason, and the time. The customer’s signature is saved with the job. If a customer disputes the charge with their bank, you have: the original outline they drew, the price they paid at booking, the reason for the adjustment, and their signature on the new amount. That’s stronger evidence than most field-service tools provide.

Related reading

vs DeepLawn

Customer-drawn lawn outline vs parcel-data auto-measurement.

vs Jobber

Lawn-care-first instant booking vs generalist quote-request forms.

Crew mobile app

How operators see what was drawn and adjust price on arrival.

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