A newbe in Oregon needs advice please!

We are in the Portland, Oregon area and have been doing landscape maintenance and plant health care for a number of years. We have now decided to add lawn maintenance to our program. However I realy do need some advice from other local companies. When does the mowing season start and end in the Portland, OR area ? How many mows per season ? I can't go by my own lawns requirements as this needs mowing about twice a week from when the weather warms up in +- March until about Nov. It grows at this rate because all fertilizer/biostimulant solutions left over from deeproot ferting trees and shrubs is applied to my lawn/landscape every time I need to flush my spray tank to switch to a different chemical, result, It all grows like mad. As this is not the norm, so I would realy appreciate some advice. Thanks in Advance

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome to our forum! It seems like you are on track with the months you need to mow. Most lawn care businesses will want to mow weekly and not bi-weekly. As far as mows per season. March = 2 April = 2-4 May = 4 June = 4 July = 4 August = 4 September = 4 October = 2-4 November = 2? What made you decide to branch out to lawn care?

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Originally Posted by Steve

Welcome to our forum!

It seems like you are on track with the months you need to mow. Most lawn care businesses will want to mow weekly and not bi-weekly.

As far as mows per season.
March = 2
April = 2-4
May = 4
June = 4
July = 4
August = 4
September = 4
October = 2-4
November = 2?

What made you decide to branch out to lawn care?

Thanks so Much for your advise.
My husband (OTS) and I have been doing Plant Health Care and Landscape Maintenance, ie hedging, ornamental prunning, landscape cleanup and rejuvination for a cuople of years. My Husband has been toying with the idea of lawn care for a while and eventually he found your awsome site and signed us both up for the Business School. By the time we had completed that we had made our minds up to get serious about lawn care. And here we are.

[Steve]

What got you interested in offering those services first? It seems like many start with lawn care first.

I have been working in Plant Health Care for 25 years and have my CPA and CPO licenses and a spray truck and all the necessary equipment to do deeproot ferts, micro-injections etc. My husband has been in the Tree Service industry for 23 years and had all his own equipment, so it just kind of made sence to do what we knew.
My husband wanted to retire from large tree prunning, and I suck as a groundman, so we were just doing plant health care and ornamental prunning. Adding lawn care just seems to make sence.

[Steve]

You both have some great skills together! WOW!

With all that going for you, had this thought of starting your own business ever come up in the past? Is there any reason why you hadn't previously gotten a business started?

Originally Posted by Steve

You both have some great skills together! WOW!

With all that going for you, had this thought of starting your own business ever come up in the past? Is there any reason why you hadn't previously gotten a business started?

I had my own business in South Africa for 9 years before I was imported to USA by one of the largest tree service companies on the West Coast. Thats were I met my husband. I worked for them for 5 years until they closed shop just before 9/11.

I then took a 2yr break, went back to college, became a EMT and CNA just incase something like that happened again, I'de be able to help. I hated working in the ambulance, long hours of sitting around like a vulture, waiting for something awfull to happen to somebody so that you can have something to do. That did not last for to long, then I worked for an elder care facility that specialized in Alzheimer and Dementia cases for +- 6 months ( very deperessing).

Another large tree company offerd me a Plant Health Care mangement position, I worked for them for a number of years, inherited my spray truck and started my own business.

[Steve]

That is very interesting!

With your experience what do you feel are the top 5 things most new business fail to understand?

Are there any business lessons you learned over time that you wish you knew when you first got started?