Lawn Service Client Perspective - New Poster

[patrick6411]

Originally Posted by willshome most types of grass need mowing every 4 to 8 days. 2 times a month is just to long. You are cutting to much of the grass blade and hurting the grass (only cut up to a 1/3 at a time) Most grass needs watering once a week 1". Take a tune fish can and put it on the lawn turn on the sprinklers time how long it takes to fill, that is how long to run you sprinklers. Run your sprinklers at 4am The water spots on the car, are you watering during the day? don't watering during the day burns lawns $40 for two mows I would be broke, you are getting a cheap mow This is sound advice.

[Smitty911]

Lawn care business tips

Willshome and CHEESE2009, Thanks for your suggestion, I'll reset the sprinklers and check the time. I'll adjust the heads so that only a mist is by their car, I't a Black Hummer and a dark grey 300 so any water spots as soon as the sun comes up. I'll report back. KateLatierra, I'll talk with him next time I see him about your suggestion. Et al, I think I see the problem in the lawn care world. It's the lawn care service providers. I hate to be an *** and a few of you have made wild *** assumptions. It's cheaper for me to pay for someone else's time when I can be in my garage working on my CNC Milling machine making parts, doing CAD drawings, etc. etc. etc. Testing Fiber Optic passive and active components pays me a lot more than the time it takes to mow. I didn't set the price or ask for a discount, he offered I accepted he cuts the front yard, once every two weeks. He edges once a month and hedges when needed. This is the same deal I've had with the last two people. He's been doing it for two years now. He runs a two man crew, plus himself, so he must be making enough money for his needs. I won't just run out there and throw money at him and say "Your not charging me enough, according to some people on the web, here's a extra $100.00." You must have lost your collective minds. I'm willing to pay to get a good lawn. At this point I'm tempted to get rid of all of them and do it myself. I'm more than capable of laying out a new sprinkler system, wire new controller for multiply zones, new top soil and sod. My last back yard I brought in 10 yards of compost and rototiller it in, I had a great yard in 8 weeks. Heck if I felt like talking to my ex-wife who happens to be a Landscape architect from Penn State, I could have her redo my yard for award winning yard. Shes won several design awards for her Golf course and residential/commercial work. I cut the back because I have two dogs that I would prefer not to have loose in the area. I'm pretty sure my wife and my last few tax returns were for over $120,000 year. I'm also pretty sure I worked on a $250,000 quote for a Canadian company that I'll probably get, not bad for three months work or the $100,000 PO that came in last week. So it isn't always the money. For those that would only provide "Full Service" what the hell does that mean? That I pay you more I get great grass at X a month. No one goes into my back yard, not even the gas man or power company. My side yard is fenced to flush with the front of the house, and the other side is a walkway. SECTLANDSCAPING, Water spots are a concern, glad your not my neighbor. I also clean up after my dogs if I walk them. I also don't open my trucks door into other peoples cars. I guess I was raised to show a little respect for other peoples property. A few of you have touched a few nerves, I asked about getting a good lawn, I didn't asked to be judged on how cheap I am or how much I can afford to pay, or my guy isn't legit, (he has his business lisc and workers comp), he isn't making money, etc. etc. If any of you believe that your clients care if you eat or not, new flash, they don't. They care about you providing a service that you said you would for the price You agreed to. If you make money fine, if not, fine. Steve, Instead of projecting "your" problems onto "your" clients, maybe you (the imperial "you") should set up a 5-10 minute discussion once a year and go over a plan for problem yards to get back up to acceptable conditions and discuss the cost to do so. "You" (the imperial) are supposed to be the experts. Rant over, Flame suit is on. Smitty

[Cashin H&P]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

I hope that was your lawn since its a $5000 fine to even advertise using.

Let's call the epa on this kid haha

[dougcaskey]

I knew it would end up like this when I read your post...You came on here and ask opinions and now you have decided to slam every service provider as being your problem

My only thought on this...If someone mows for you for $20.00..He doesn't give a damn about you or your lawn...

[Cashin H&P]

Your post is proving our point about you being cheap. If your going to pay some one to do it pay some one to do.it right, not pay then to do a half *** job. Your lawn guy probably Hayes your yard, for me that situation would almost be a waste if time

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

My neighbors like me. So does there dogs since they **** where my daughter plays. I just pick it up and throw it back in their yards. My closest neighbor is a 90 yr old lady. I cut her grass and plow her driveway for free. She calls me on the holidays and wishes me well.

I would be a little ticked about property damage and dog poop but water? You could go hose down my salty trucks right now and Ill make you a cup of coffee.

The issue with your yard was explained. Its maintenance as in lack of it. You cant cut the grass in half without burning it. You cant get by with 2 cuts a month in a warm climate.

If you dont have a problem mowing your yard cut in between the time your lawn guys come or pay him to come more often or even do the backyard.

[Smitty911]

Originally Posted by dougcaskey

I knew it would end up like this when I read your post...You came on here and ask opinions and now you have decided to slam every service provider as being your problem

My only thought on this...If someone mows for you for $20.00..He doesn't give a damn about you or your lawn...

Doug,

I didn't slam anyone that added valuable information, I actually thanked them.

For $20.00 he may not, but as a professional, wouldn't you want to take care of someones yard as it reflects on your quality of service? Wouldn't you also make sure that the persons yard is brought up to "your" standards? Wouldn't you also make suggestions and cost to allow for the home owner to have a nice yard. I'm not the professional, I don't know what it would take or the cost involved. Am I willing to pay for a nice Front Yard, certainly if I get value for the money.

Thanks for your response.

Smitty

[Smitty911]

Originally Posted by cashin home and property

Your post is proving our point about you being cheap. If your going to pay some one to do it pay some one to do.it right, not pay then to do a half *** job. Your lawn guy probably Hayes your yard, for me that situation would almost be a waste if time

It hardly proves anything. Nice try though.

The going rate is what I pay, I checked with the people on both sides of me. Two different guys, on the right, he pays $60 a month, every other week, front and back, mow, edge, hedge when needed on several sculpted shrubs. On the left side, he pays $45 a month for every other week, he only mows and edges, no shrubs, larger front yard.

If you don't know what your talking about it's ok to admit it.

If this guy came up and said, "Look your yard is a wasted, here's what I'd like to do. Replace Sprinkler systems to address the over spray concern, remove tree roots that are on the surface, bring in some top soil to even the landscape, put down sod or seed your choice. It will cost about X,XXX.XX when did you want me to start." That is what I'm looking for in a lawn care professional.

[Smitty911]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

My neighbors like me. So does there dogs since they **** where my daughter plays. I just pick it up and throw it back in their yards. My closest neighbor is a 90 yr old lady. I cut her grass and plow her driveway for free. She calls me on the holidays and wishes me well.

I would be a little ticked about property damage and dog poop but water? You could go hose down my salty trucks right now and Ill make you a cup of coffee.

The issue with your yard was explained. Its maintenance as in lack of it. You cant cut the grass in half without burning it. You cant get by with 2 cuts a month in a warm climate.

If you dont have a problem mowing your yard cut in between the time your lawn guys come or pay him to come more often or even do the backyard.

Thanks for your suggestion, I'll start getting the water issue handled and talk with him next time I see him about fixing the issues with the grass.

Once the grass issue is corrected, I'll drag my mower out and do the front in between his visit.

So to get this correct, Once a week as a minimum and adjust the height so that only the top 1/3rd is cut, and water long enough once a week to get a 1" accumulation.


I guess it would have been easier to ask how to fix my lawn and leave the guy cutting my grass out of it. Live and learn.

Smitth

[CHEESE2009]

I'm taking a step back, and putting myself in the shoes of a client, and service provider.

It's actually very interesting when both sides can justify their ways, but it's not too great if we can't find a solution.

Clients POV
I believe that the service provider shouldn't have accepted the job if he is not capable of taking full responsibility of the lawn, even by providing a 'heads up' to any problems with the lawn.

Regardless if he is only paid to mow and nothing more, the service provider should at least point out any noticeable lawn flaws to the client; If the lawn dies, his current service wouldn't be required: lose-lose situation.

Service Provider POV
We do our best to make the most amount of money for our time; however, we will often accept mediocre work to fill up our schedules, and losing one of these jobs isn't a big deal to us.

If we have 99 clients who all pay the premium cost, that 100th client that pays less will not be taken very seriously.

The same goes for complaints; if 99 clients are satisfied while 1 client is always frustrated with our service... Foresight will tell us not to go out of our way to fix what statistically isn't our problem.

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It's an annoying situation, but in the case like this, the amount of money paid to the service provider reflects the priority of the client. It's not "right", but it's business.

I personally wish I could accept any/all jobs big or small, but it's amazing how much money a service provider can miss out on by not focusing on better work only.



If a client wants me to mow their lawn for a low cost, it can be done, but there are other people willing to pay more for the same amount of work, and I'm doing my best to avoid other issues that may arise:

Nothing is worse than a client who not only pays less, but also has impossible expectations; I had a client who's lawn could take me 8 minutes to properly maintain, but she had a habit of jumping in front of my lawn mower every second to point something out. Every time I went to maintain her lawn, I was there for 1-2 hours every week. This client was also paying the right amount, but I was actually losing money because of her personality.


It's not that you are a bad guy or wont pay more, we are just afraid of taking chances and accepting low paying work that could end up demoralizing us for the entire season. All it takes is one client to put us in a bad mood.


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In a nutshell, finding a service provider that can work around your needs is all trial and error. You may want to look into the newer companies, as they wont have any standards yet.... you can probably even heckle them on the price.

You might be switching to a new company every year, but that's because we all become more picky the larger we get. I have nothing against people trying to save money.