Methods to Pay Kids for Raking Leaves to Avoid Loopholes for Laziness Like Rodrick Does in Rodrick Rules

In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2008), Greg and Rodrick are hired by their grandmother Gramma to rake her backyard. Their mom Susan will pay them the equivalent of 10 American cents (15 cents in 2025) for each bag they fill. Rodrick finds a loophole with this. He tells Greg to fill each bag only halfway and tie it closer to the bottom, so they'll go through more bags. They end up running out of bags, with much of Gramma's backyard still covered with leaves. The leaves sit there and kill the grass beneath. By Dog Days, there's big patches of dead grass around Gramma's backyard.

There's a few other ways to do this:

• By the hour: This is what landscaping companies often do. However, the disadvantage is that the worker can stand there dallying around, adding time to amount of time spent at the sight. A lazy kid might figure this out and do it.
• By the entire job: Landscaping companies often do this too. However, this method is more complex to figure out the final cost. Growing up, I used this method when figuring out how much to charge my parents and neighbors for raking their yards.
• By the square footage/unit of area: This is a simpler method and good for landscaping jobs that cover flat areas in two dimensions. However, it doesn't work well for three-dimensional jobs like trimming bushes. There may also be areas of yard that are buried deeper in leaves that others. However, in my experience, the depth of the leaves covering a lawn is usually pretty low and uniform.