NDIS lawn mowing jobs: who you can mow for, what you can charge and how you get paid

NDIS mowing is paid by the hour, and for most participants the hour is capped at $59.01. That is less than most mowers make on a lawn quoted by the job, so the first question is whether the work suits your round at all.

This guide covers who you can work for, what you can charge, what the invoice has to say and how the money reaches you. A plan manager, who comes up a lot below, is a business paid from the participant's plan to receive their providers' invoices and pay them. What the NDIS covers and how a participant claims is in the NDIS lawn mowing guide. I run Mowie, a lawn mowing marketplace. I'm not a plan manager or an accountant, and each figure below links to the page it came from.

Who can you mow for without registering?

Anyone whose funding is self-managed or plan-managed. In Victoria that is everyone except the 3% whose funding the NDIA manages. The NDIA's page for participants says "you can choose either registered or unregistered providers" when funding is self-managed or handled by a plan manager, and that "you can't use unregistered providers" for funding the NDIA manages. The shares in the table above are from its June 2026 quarterly report.

Ask a new customer how their plan is managed before you quote. The answer decides what you can charge and who the invoice goes to.

If you do want the NDIA-managed work, you register with the NDIS Commission, and the group a mower registers for is 0120, Household Tasks. For a solo mower I don't think it is worth it for that small a share. The Commission's register is public, so anyone can check a claim to be on it.

What can you charge for an NDIS lawn mowing job?

Up to $59.01 an hour when a plan manager or the NDIA is paying, and your ordinary price when the participant self-manages. Mowing is billed as House or Yard Maintenance, item number 01_019_0120_1_1, and the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 sets its limit at $59.01 an hour, up from $56.98 last year. Since 24 September 2026 that limit is law under the Minister's pricing determination. Not being registered doesn't get you around it. The NDIA's claiming rules tell plan managers to hold prices to the limit "regardless of whether the participant purchases the support from a registered or an unregistered provider". Where GST applies, "the price limit is inclusive of GST".

The limit is a maximum. The same rules say "the NDIA does not set the prices that providers charge participants", and that "providers should not charge NDIS participants more for a support than they would charge anyone else for the same support". So don't keep a dearer price for NDIS customers. Charge what you charge anyone, and on a managed plan no more than the limit.

Travel can be billed too. You can bill "up to 30 minutes of travel" to a participant in Melbourne, at the same hourly rate, counted from your usual place of work or from the job before. Several participants on one run can share it between them. On top of the time, the NDIA treats "up to $0.99 a kilometre" as a reasonable contribution to the vehicle, claimed under 01_799_0120_1_1. None of it can be billed unless "the participant has agreed to the travel costs in advance". The item has no line of its own for fuel, tip fees or fertiliser, and Plan Partners, a plan manager, tells gardeners to build those into the hourly rate.

The times come from our FAQ and the dollars are rounded. The first cut is an example. A one-off visit on a 165 m² lawn draws bids of about $95 to $135 in our Melbourne price guide, so the capped job pays less. On those numbers the work pays best where travel is short or shared, such as a regular close to home or two participants in the same street. An overgrown first cut is less of a gamble than usual, because you bill the hours it actually takes. A one-off across town pays worst.

How do you write an NDIS invoice?

In hours, with the item number, the participant's name and NDIS number and your ABN, sent to the plan manager and not to the participant. The NDIA's guide to getting paid says "you need to send invoices directly to a participant's plan manager" and that the invoice must carry a valid ABN. Plan Partners warns that the NDIS "will not accept just a price for the job on your invoice without breaking it up into hours". Another plan manager, My Plan Manager, lists what a provider's invoice needs:

• an invoice number
• your ABN and contact details
• the participant's name and NDIS number
• the date of each visit
• a description of each service with the item number and the hours delivered
• the hourly rate charged

Here is an hour of mowing and 15 minutes of agreed travel, written the way a plan manager can pay it. Travel goes on its own line under the same item number.

A self-managed participant needs less from you. An ordinary invoice or receipt with your name and ABN, the date, what you did and the amount covers what their claim asks for. Either way I'd write "No GST charged" or the GST amount on it, so nobody has to ring you to ask.

How and when do you get paid?

A self-managed participant pays you directly. A plan manager pays your invoice by bank transfer, usually within days. The NDIA pays registered providers through its portal. For self-managed work the NDIA's guide says "send your invoice to self-managed participants and they'll pay it". Give them a receipt once they have. Some will claim the money from the NDIS on your invoice first and pay you once it reaches their account, so an invoice sent on the day of the mow gets you paid sooner.

Plan Partners says it usually pays within four business days through its own system. My Plan Manager says that once the NDIA has paid a claim "it typically takes one or two days for the funds to appear in a provider's bank account". On NDIA-managed funding the NDIA says valid claims are usually paid within two to three business days.

A late cancellation can be billed if you set it up beforehand. For this support the notice period is two clear business days. With less, or a customer who isn't there when you arrive, the rules let you "claim up to 100% of the agreed fee", provided the terms were in your service agreement and you couldn't fill the time with other paid work.

What do the Code of Conduct and the Worker Screening Check ask of you?

The Code of Conduct applies to every mower who takes an NDIS job, registered or not. The Worker Screening Check, a background check, is needed only when the customer asks for it. The NDIS Commission says its Code of Conduct "must be followed by" unregistered NDIS providers and their workers. Two of its lines matter most on a mowing round: "respect the privacy of people with disability" and "act with integrity, honesty, and transparency". A customer's plan and disability are nobody else's business, and the invoice has to say what was done.

On screening, the Commission's worker screening page says a sole trader needs a check when a self-managed participant has decided that everyone who works for them must have one. Its page for unregistered providers says they "aren't legally required" to screen their workers, and that "self-managed and plan-managed participants can decide if the workers that support them must have a worker screening clearance". In Victoria the check costs $139.20 and a clearance lasts five years. A sole trader is treated as both the worker and the provider, so you set up access to the Commission's screening database first and apply after that. Allow time for it.

Do you need a service agreement, and do you charge GST?

A written agreement isn't required, but have one, and most solo mowers charge no GST. Travel and a cancellation fee can only be charged if they were agreed first, and a GST-registered mower can't treat the mow as GST-free without a written agreement. The NDIA's page on service agreements tells participants "you aren't required to create a written service agreement, in most cases" and recommends one with every new provider. Its list of what a good one covers works as a template for a single page: the support, when and where, the price, "the cost of travel for your provider", "whether you need to pay GST", the cancellation policy and how you will be paid.

The ATO's test for a GST-free NDIS supply has four parts: the participant has a plan in effect, the support is a reasonable and necessary one specified in it, there is a written agreement, and the support is on the ATO's GST-free list, which household tasks are. The ATO accepts "a single document or a combination of documents", emails and invoices included. If you are under the $75,000 threshold and not registered for GST, none of this changes anything. You charge no GST, as usual.

How do NDIS jobs work on Mowie?

A self-managed job runs like any other on Mowie, with a fixed bid and a card payment. A plan-managed job is bid by the hour and paid on your invoice. Mowie is a general lawn mowing marketplace, not an NDIS provider, and it never handles plan money. On an NDIS-funded job you are the provider and the price is yours. The commission is the same 10% plus GST as on any job, and it comes off your side. The rules are in section 11 of the vendor terms.

Set up your Stripe payouts first, then tick "I take NDIS-funded jobs" in your profile. If you are a registered provider or hold a Worker Screening Check, add it and a badge shows on your bids once we have checked it. Your registration or clearance number is never shown.

When a plan manager is paying, the listing says so. You bid an hourly rate at or under $59.01, the time you expect to be on site in quarter hours, and travel to the job of 15 or 30 minutes if there is any. The customer compares the totals, and no card is involved. When you mark the job done you confirm the time you actually worked. The invoice bills that time at the rate you bid, and never more than your bid unless the customer accepted a price change in the app. It goes to the plan manager in your name, with your ABN, and the plan manager pays your bank account. Mark the payment received when it lands.

The commission is charged at that point, at 10% of the invoiced amount plus GST, with no card fee because no card was used. It is itemised on your earnings page and taken from your next card-paid payout. On the $73.76 invoice above that is $7.38 plus $0.74 GST, leaving you $65.64. A founding mower's 0% period covers these jobs too.

Disputes work differently from a card job. A customer has to raise an issue before they approve, and once your invoice has gone to the plan manager, any dispute over it is between you, the customer and the plan manager. Funding the NDIA manages itself can't be booked through Mowie.

Where NDIS mowing jobs go wrong

Quick answers

Can an unregistered lawn mowing business work with NDIS participants?

Yes, for participants who self-manage their funding or have a plan manager. You need an ABN, and the NDIS Code of Conduct applies to you whether you register or not.

How do you get NDIS mowing contracts?

There is no tender to win for household mowing and gardening. The NDIA tells participants they can choose the providers they want, so the work arrives one customer at a time.

How much can a gardener charge under the NDIS in 2026-27?

Up to $59.01 an hour when a plan manager or the NDIA is paying, GST included, because gardening and mowing share item number 01_019_0120_1_1. A participant who self-manages can agree any price with you.

Do you charge GST on NDIS lawn mowing?

Usually not, because most solo mowers are under the $75,000 threshold and charge no GST to anyone. If you are registered for GST, an NDIS mow is GST-free when the ATO's four conditions are met, a written agreement among them.

Do you need an NDIS Worker Screening Check to mow lawns?

Not by law, if you are an unregistered sole trader. A self-managed or plan-managed participant can decide the people who work for them must hold one, and in Victoria the check costs $139.20 and lasts five years.