How many yards should one person take on alone?

I am 32 and have been mowing for some time now. I prefer to landscape, but decided to take on as many yards as I can handle this year alone. Of course I understand there are too many variables to list that figure into this answer**yard size, distance between jobs, type of mowing equipment, etc.,but I was curious if anyone had a good rule of thumb to follow. If my average yard is a half acre, how many yards should one man working alone take on?

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by SOKY I am 32 and have been mowing for some time now. I prefer to landscape, but decided to take on as many yards as I can handle this year alone. Of course I understand there are too many variables to list that figure into this answer yard size, distance between jobs, type of mowing equipment, etc.,but I was curious if anyone had a good rule of thumb to follow. If my average yard is a half acre, how many yards should one man working alone take on? As you noted it is almost impossible, there are other factors also, hedges, edging, trimming what is the distance between jobs etc. I have some guys that can do 20 a day in certain areas, I have another sites due to travel, if they can do 10 they are doing good. Then I have one place which is a gated area, 7 homes, about 9 acres in total area, two guys, 7 to 9 hours flat out. Also depends on the time of year, when the days are long we quite often work until dark.

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Andy
Halifax, Nova Scotia

[Steve]

How many hours do you find yourself working per day or per week? Are your customers relatively close together or have some distance between them?

[LawnCareMan280]

My limit of lawns a day is 9 yards a day. Well yours may be diffrent then mine because I have a small lawn service. If I was on backup when we got a lot of rain and grass is growing like crazy I do 10 yards a day so I can keep up with more jobs too keep me busy.


Hoped this helped!


Travis

[Cashin H&P]

Originally Posted by LawnCareMan280

My limit of lawns a day is 9 yards a day. Well yours may be diffrent then mine because I have a small lawn service. If I was on backup when we got a lot of rain and grass is growing like crazy I do 10 yards a day so I can keep up with more jobs too keep me busy.


Hoped this helped!


Travis

Wow you've gone from the biggest lawn care company with the lowest prices to having 2 lawns in your neighborhood, to doing 9 yards a day. Kid if your gonna lie keep it consistant. I dont care if your 12, this **** is getting old.

Oh, and this thread is from 2010, good thing you answered this for him.

[Steve]

Cashin,

Why not add to the thread and give your view of how many properties can be done in a day? Your insight is important to us.

[mdewiese]

Well, it is difficult to estimate, but I’ll do my best. In the past I’ve personal done 32 Lawns per day with a 54” zero turn with another guy with me to trimmer and blow of. Don’t think that you need to do this much. There are many factors like: the compaction of the route, is the grass seeding, or annoying customers stopping you to talk, or having to mow a majority of the lawns the long way. Not knowing your situation I would hope you could do 20 Lawns per 12 hour day. You really just have to be efficient in all your moves. For example: driving not making wrong turns and back tracking, or taking the shortest/faster route. But remember during rush hour the shortest route might not be the fastest. If you have a trimmer, training them so when your done mowing they are waiting there with the blower and finishing as you load up. How about lunch: stopping and taking an hour is pointless, pick something up and get going. If your worried about getting fat, trust me if you move at a high pace like this the extra calories won’t stay around long.
Now I just want to be clear, speed is only good if your quality isn’t diminished.