To mow weekly or Biweekly

[WarriorLandscapingCAN]

Hey guys,

Some of my clients want weekly cuts, others Biweekly.

I find that weekly is obviously more profitable and the lawn generally does better with regular cuts.

Do the veterans on this forum offer always weekly when it comes to seasonal agreements?

Generally if someone wants it done biweekly would you increase the rate due to less visits and potentially more work due to longer lawn and more weeds?

Like 40$ weekly,
Or 60$ Biweekly,

What about doing weekly cuts for Spring and Fall and biweekly cuts for summer due to less growth in the hotter temperatures?

[Steve]

It seems as businesses are around longer, they tend to look for weekly customers only.

When getting started, it's understandable to go after almost any customer you can get, but as you get more customers, you can replace bi-weekly customers with weekly ones.

Depending on if you use a contract or how you write it, you could visit the customer's property weekly throughout the year and perform different services or make sure it clear of debris. The more you are on site, the more money you can make.

[Chilehead]

I offer weekly and three times per month. The 3X/month is what 90% of my clients are on. It's easy as pie to schedule, and allows for alot of flex time for unseen delays. I also cut a couple twice a week with a reel mower.....bermuda grass at .75".

[Steve]

What would be an example of a three times per month schedule? Like would it be every1st, 2nd, and 3rd monday and then skip the 4th monday?

[Stevenor92]

True. Id say that if you are just starting off and trying to drum
Up any business at all, bi weekly could be an option for you, as long as you do remember to charge more than you would for a weekly cut. Having said that, weekly is always the goal and the standard for a lawn business. (With empty lots, and fields being the exception). Good luck!

[Chilehead]

What would be an example of a three times per month schedule? Like would it be every1st, 2nd, and 3rd monday and then skip the 4th monday?

Most months have 30 days. I divide the three mowing rotations into ten-day sets: the 1ST-10TH, the 11TH-20TH, and the 21ST-30TH. If there are 31 days, the last set is 11 days, and February has two nine-day, and one ten-day set.
I will start on the 1ST and mow till, say, the 6TH. The 7TH-10TH are time off. I then may have a dry spell the next set and be able to finish quicker: mow the 11TH-15TH. The 16TH-20TH is time off. The last set may be rainy, so it will take longer to mow: the 21ST-27TH. Usually, I will mow a long set over the full ten days, and take a three-day weekend on Fri/Sat/Sun. This schedule works out great, and is better for the turf than mowing every 2 weeks....less thatch.

[jrs.landscaping]

3x sounds like a routing/ scheduling nightmare IMHO

I've found staggering bi weeklies can be good. We have an a week and b week, the goal of any long term business is profitability not necessarily filling a route with weekly customers.

Bi weekly = more properties

More properties = more chances to upsell

[Chilehead]

3x sounds like a routing/ scheduling nightmare IMHO

I've found staggering bi weeklies can be good. We have an a week and b week, the goal of any long term business is profitability not necessarily filling a route with weekly customers.

Bi weekly = more properties

More properties = more chances to upsell

It's really not that bad. I don't know where you are in the country, but where I live everyone has bermuda, zoysia, or centipede. The first two do best with weekly mowing, but will do poorly with biweekly mowing. Biweekly mowing leads to thatch, lawn disease, and overall thinning of the turf (not so much with centipede). Most customers also do not want to pay what it costs for weekly service. This is where 3x/month service really shines: it is the bare minimum required to maintain decent turf health, and it is budget-friendly enough for clients to purchase.
Logistically speaking, all routing and scheduling is done with ease. I have a .pdf file of a street map of our service area. Every customer is represented by a small dot (color-coded for internal business reasons) with a number inside. The numbered dots (customers) are placed along the tightest route possible on the map. When all of the customers are serviced once, that constitutes one rotation. When a new customer comes along, we place them into our rotation at the most efficient point on the route. They are informed of the lead time before their first service call, and then they are routinely locked in.
Also, I don't jam-pack all ten days with work**EVER. When six days are routinely being serviced, that's the limit for that crew. The four off-days are reserved as a buffer for time off, rain delay-induced makeup time, or small landscaping installs.

[jrs.landscaping]

It also helps 90% of your customers go this route.

We are 98% commercial with service areas up to one hour travel from the shop. There would be no way to juggle weekly commercial and 3x due to the distance traveled. Having a really tight service radius must help you as well.

In the northeast we have a lot of KBG rye and clover most of which go weekly in spring and then bi weekly in later months.

It's great that businesses can do things so differently and remain profitable, thanks for sharing and giving some insight to others as to how it can be done.

[lawngawd7]

Weekly or Bi-weekly

While weekly might be more profitable, taking into account the type of grasses that you mow is also important. Weekly mows often start to hurt the grass if the grass doesn't have ample time to grow, especially if it's not a very thick lawn. I always suggest the weekly to try and optimize profit; obviously let the customer decide at the end which is best for them BUT, try and sneak in the weekly and if you see the grass starts to get hurt then let them know, be honest, and switch to the bi-weekly.

Andrew

[SC93]

My calculator doesn't understand how a weekly is more profitable than a bi-weekly.

Weekly $30 x35 weeks = $1050
2 Bi-weekly accounts $45 x 35 weeks = $1575

That's just mowing only. Not including any up-sell to twice as many customers.

Did I miss something?

[SGL1]

I offer weekly and three times per month. The 3X/month is what 90% of my clients are on. It's easy as pie to schedule, and allows for alot of flex time for unseen delays. I also cut a couple twice a week with a reel mower.....bermuda grass at .75".

Nice to see others do 3x a mo as well. I do all three. All about options.