Mowing slowing here in texas..ideas for off months?

[dirtbikekid]

Hey guys, I've had a pretty good season for lawns in my first full season of taking it seriously, being pressured from my wife on the "time" thing and was wondering some of your stories of when you decided to take it full time? Mowing is slowing here and Im solo and was trying to get ideas for services for Nov.-feb/march? I hate leaves but....Im up to about 18 clients now all done solo,using a 38" cub rider and two 22" Toro recyclers, but taking on more means more time and most likely would need some dependable help! Ideas and help please?!! thanks!

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

How about gutter clean outs? Do people use firewood in your area in the colder months? Could you potentially offer that?

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[Sprinkler Buddy]

Invest in a bigger commercial mower if you can, you'll be amazed at the time it will save you each week. Build it slow, build it strong.

[patrick6411]

Originally Posted by dirtbikekid

Hey guys, I've had a pretty good season for lawns in my first full season of taking it seriously, being pressured from my wife on the "time" thing and was wondering some of your stories of when you decided to take it full time? Mowing is slowing here and Im solo and was trying to get ideas for services for Nov.-feb/march? I hate leaves but....Im up to about 18 clients now all done solo,using a 38" cub rider and two 22" Toro recyclers, but taking on more means more time and most likely would need some dependable help! Ideas and help please?!! thanks!

I am in South East Texas. We offer pressure washing in the off months. Word of caution if you are considering doing this, try to stay away from decks. We don't even do Decks. We will offer fence repair and misc.. things. On fence repairs we sub these out. We also do a lot of clean up and leave removal.

One thing we started about three years ago is hanging holiday decorations. We start doing this around Oct, 10th or so. So we are able to do Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• For Halloween we place orange lights along with the consumers decorations.
• Thanksgiving we change the bulbs to orange and red.
• For Christmas we of course do various colors.

We do not purchase our own lights. We simply charge for putting their lights and decorations up. We have had calls to replace bulbs that have gone out. This falls on the consumer because the lights are theirs and not ours. You would be surprised at how much you are able to make on catering to the holidays.

One thing I always do is offer a discount if I am able to place a small sign in the person's yard. The day of the holiday, sometimes right before it, I will remove it out of respect.

[Steve]

One thing we started about three years ago is hanging holiday decorations.

For those who haven't experimented with this yet, what kind of suggestions do you have when it comes to marketing such a service? What's the best way to get the word out about it?

Also, how do you price jobs? Is there any comparison to the way you price your mowing jobs? Are there basics to it you could recommend?

[patrick6411]

Originally Posted by Steve

For those who haven't experimented with this yet, what kind of suggestions do you have when it comes to marketing such a service? What's the best way to get the word out about it?

Also, how do you price jobs? Is there any comparison to the way you price your mowing jobs? Are there basics to it you could recommend?

We market to our current customers and ask for referrals. We give a free mow for every referral. We price basically just like mowing $1-1.50 a min it takes us. But we go the extra mile and have a large holiday card made. We personally deliver it when we cut their grass, we started last week. My wife makes homemade chocolate chip cookies and we give them a discount on the next time they use any of our services. Let me tell you this really means a lot to the consumers that use us!!

[Grass Doctor]

i am in the south central TX the grass might soon go dormant 29 of November, try re-seeding some lawns with winter ray grass, you know winter weeds are about to take over , try sell winter lawn program, u still need to water etc. here in SOUTH TEXAS you know we can have a 80 degrees marry Christmas.

[patrick6411]

Originally Posted by Grass Doctor

i am in the south central TX the grass might soon go dormant 29 of November, try re-seeding some lawns with winter ray grass, you know winter weeds are about to take over , try sell winter lawn program, u still need to water etc. here in SOUTH TEXAS you know we can have a 80 degrees marry Christmas.

You are 100% right!!

[Steve]

But we go the extra mile and have a large holiday card made. We personally deliver it when we cut their grass, we started last week. My wife makes homemade chocolate chip cookies and we give them a discount on the next time they use any of our services.

WOW This sounds great! Do you have a picture of any of this?

What kind of responses have you been getting from your customers when you give them these gifts?

[patrick6411]

Originally Posted by Steve

WOW This sounds great! Do you have a picture of any of this?

What kind of responses have you been getting from your customers when you give them these gifts?

I just asked my wife and you know we have not taken any photos as of yet. This is our third year doing it. we are planning on building a website and this would be great content for the site.
Response yes it is awesome!! Our referrals have gone through the roof, along with Xmas presents for us I give candy out this time of year, of course we are slowing down a lot, sugar free for the older customers and regular for the younger.
I will say on top of doing these little things around the holidays, birthday cards help a lot.
In fact next year for my birthday I am sending out a $10.00 off coupon to everybody that has ever used our service. Even the ones that don't need us. I am in and near a major metropolitan city and the little things mean a lot to our customers.