Fuel Spikes: 4 Pro Moves

It happened in 2026… again! Every single time fuel takes a sudden jump at the pump, the industry chatter starts instantly. My inbox lights up with panicked messages: “Tony, diesel’s over $5!” and “What are we gonna do?!”

I’ll tell you the exact same thing I’ve been telling landscape contractors for over 25 years: Don’t let a small problem make you act like a rookie.

Let’s Put Fuel in Its Place

Fuel feels like a massive crisis because you see the price staring you in the face every single day when you fill up your trucks. But let’s look at the actual math. In a well-run landscape company, fuel typically accounts for just 1.5% to 3% of total revenue. Even with a dramatic spike, you might only see that number climb by an extra 1% or 2% max. That's a minor fluctuation, not a business-ending catastrophe.

Before you panic and try to completely rewrite your entire business model, take a deep breath and run your real numbers. Guessing in business is incredibly expensive, and emotional decisions rarely lead to high profit margins.

Option #1: Fuel Surcharges (Handle with Care)

Sure, you can immediately slap a fuel surcharge line item on your invoices. A lot of folks do it because it feels like a quick fix. But you need to realize that every extra line item you add gives your customer one more reason to scrutinize your bill and start shopping around.

You know exactly what happens next—some desperate lowballer shows up on their property in a worn-out pickup truck, pricing their work like an amateur. If your company’s financials are healthy, you can often absorb this short-term bump without hurting your future client relationships. Think of customer retention as a long-term asset that shouldn't be risked over a temporary pump spike.

Option #2: Fix Your Bad Accounts (The Real Gold)

Here’s where the seasoned pros make their real money: NEVER raise prices across the board! That is a classic rookie mistake. If you increase prices on your best, most profitable clients just to cover a fuel hike, you risk alienating the very people who keep your business alive.

Go hunting instead. Pull up your job costing data and find the bottom 10% to 20% of your accounts—the ones generating the lowest dollars per man-hour. That is where your cash is leaking. Bring only those underperforming accounts up to proper, modern pricing. If you service 200 properties, we’re only talking about adjusting 20 to 40 accounts. By fixing the structural pricing flaws on those specific jobs, you’ll easily cover the fuel increase across your entire fleet—and then some. Many of my coaching clients have quietly doubled their net profits simply by executing this targeted cleanup process.

Option #3: Adjust Equipment Rates (Quietly and Effectively)

If you want a strategy that is clean, simple, and entirely professional, this is it. Instead of changing your base labor rate, you adjust the hourly operational rates for your machinery on all new work, upcoming add-ons, and landscape enhancements:

• Gas-powered equipment: Increase by +$0.50 per hour
• Diesel-powered equipment: Increase by +$1.00 per hour

There is no need for high drama or defensive explanations to the client. It’s just good, solid business. Hard costs go up; professionals adjust their estimating models while amateurs complain.

If you don't currently have distinct hourly rates set for your equipment, or if your equipment costs are blindly "built-in" to a flat man-hour rate, you lack operational clarity. To fix this, look at your equipment's annual depreciation, maintenance, and lifetime fuel consumption. Breaking this down into a true hourly cost ensures that heavy-equipment jobs pay for their own fuel consumption. Companies that price their equipment accurately are the ones that take home big profits.

Option #4: Write It into Your Future Contracts

The best time to handle a crisis is before it ever begins. For all recurring maintenance services and multi-year contracts, add a protective trigger clause to your standard agreement:

“If regular gasoline exceeds $4.00 per gallon or diesel fuel exceeds $5.00 per gallon at the pump, the company reserves the right to implement a proportionate monthly fuel surcharge.”

When you explicitly put this framework in writing upfront, it ceases to be an emotional argument down the road. Your clients see it as a transparent, standard business practice. That way, you are always prepared and protected by your contract, rather than reacting out of panic when market conditions shift.

Final Word from the Field

Fuel didn’t put you in business, and it won’t put you out—unless you let it paralyze your decision-making. The real threat to your bottom line isn’t the price of fuel; it’s underpriced work, weak operational systems, and guessing at your numbers instead of knowing them down to the penny. Stop playing defense. Fix your pricing, tighten your routing numbers, and lead your business like a pro.

Tony Bass is the author of 7 books, including “50 Ways To Find, Recruit, Hire and Retain Super Star Employees.” He provides strategic consulting and business coaching services to owners of landscape companies worldwide. To learn more or get control of your numbers, visit SuperLawnToolKit.com or email Tony@TonyBassConsulting.com.