What should a kid charge to rake leaves?

Leaves are the clearest case on this whole list of a kid being worth far more than they think.

What they are really buying

Not a clean yard. They are buying not spending three weekends of a short fall dragging tarps around, and not being the house on the street where the leaves are up to the porch.

There is a deadline underneath it too. Leaves left long enough go wet, matted, and start killing the grass, so the problem is not just ugly, it is getting worse while they think about it.

What adults pay proves it

Professional fall cleanup on a typical quarter acre lot runs somewhere between $160 and $400 in 2026, and national averages across the major cost guides land between about $170 and $380. Companies commonly set minimums of $150 to $200 even for small jobs, because a crew and a truck cost the same whether the yard is big or small.

Where to start, and why

For a normal yard, raked, bagged, and taken to the curb, somewhere between $30 and $60 is a sensible opening price. A yard with three or four mature trees is above that.

The gap under the company price is for being unproven, and here it is genuinely small. Raking is not a skilled trade. A careful twelve year old with a tarp produces the same result as a crew, just slower, and slower does not matter to somebody who was not going to do it at all.

The discount should not last

After one yard done properly, with the bags at the curb and the beds cleared rather than just the lawn, you have shown exactly what a company would have shown.

Second season, with the same customers asking for you before you ask them, you are not the cheap option. You are their guy, and their guy can charge more than a stranger.

Where you should not discount at all

This is the strongest example on the site. That $150 to $200 minimum means a company will not come out for a small yard at any sensible price. For those houses you are not competing on price, you are the only option there is.

The late caller is the other one. Someone who waited a month has wet matted leaves that weigh several times what dry ones do, and professionals price that higher for good reason. Explain it in one sentence rather than apologizing for it.

Look at the yard first, always

Leaf volume varies more than any other variable in yard work. One oak can produce more work than a whole yard of maples. Never quote from the sidewalk without walking the property.

The second pass is where the money is

Most yards need clearing twice, and the second is easier because the volume is lower. Book it before you leave the first job. Eight yards booked for two passes is a sixteen job season off about three weekends of asking.