2 Questions

[jasonw]

I explained to my wife that's what I am worried about. This customer is an older guy. In my experience they want everything perfect for as cheep as possible. I saw a B&D 18V trimmer at Wallyworld the other day, maybe I will pick that one up. It really depends I may find out this guy has 4300 bushes and have to get something more heavy duty as I have found B&D to be only good for minor stuff.

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White Company

[turfmaster]

Lawn care business tips

If you can lay a tarp down and around the bushes to catch the debris it will save you a lot of work. The cleanup is the worst part of a hedge trim job.

[jasonw]

Im sure the first service will be the worst of it. Seems everyone waits until things are overgrown and ugly before calling us. He wants the bushes trimmed and the lawn cut and edged every 3 weeks so hopefully with only 3 weeks of growth the bushes will be a cake walk after the first service.

[jasonw]

Well good news and bad news. The good news is we got the job. Its weekly and offers a ton of work. So much that I may employ the services of my brother in law for it each week. Bad news is this guy has a ton of bushes, literally. They are neatly shaped and one even looks like a perfect elephant siting in his back yard. Quite intimidating sence I have never trimmed bushes before. I went strait away and purchased a battery powered hedge trimmer. Got it home and decided with only one battery a 16 hour charge is not acceptable to killed the warranty by modifying the plug for use in my 20 minute field charger. Lucky for me I have a large bush out back that I have yet to trim sence buying my house last November so I went to work. Its actually not really any big deal but true the clippings are a job to pick up. Most of this guys property is white rock so every single little green clippings will have to be carefully removed or it will be an eyesore on the ground. I decided to quote him an hourly rate rather than a per visit rate as for sure it will take several hours per visit to keep everything as nice as they want it.

[Steve]

This should be a great learning experience.

I'd love to see some pictures of these hedges!

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by Steve

This should be a great learning experience.

I'd love to see some pictures of these hedges!

You know what, while looking at the yard and walking around with the old guy I told myself to get my cell phone and take some pictures before I leave. Then I got in the car and told myself to turn around so I was facing the right way to leave and get those pictures. Then after turning around I drove past and went home. I will try to get those pictures tomorow when I get out there and start working

[jasonw]

Steve. Here is the Google Earth view of the front of the house.

thats the old manual routine. i dont think i could take an electric trimmer to those. speed is 2 fast and what happens if you do make a mistake? i dont think i would personally, some could of course, i just dont think i would chance it. plus, your getting paid by the hour whats the rush..LOL

[jasonw]

I almost agree. I am bringing some manual old clippers just in case. There are some large bushes on the side of the house that they want cut back so they can walk through the area without brushing them. They are large enough to take a few days so I will go at them with my electric trimmer and get it done. I am not so much worried about getting paid by the hour as much as I am about the customer being happy with the service so my plan is to get in and get out as fast as I can and have there yard in top shape for the coming weekend.

[kdexpd]

Hey Jason
Just my 2 cents worth on the bushes. I hate trimming bushes because I'm always afraid I'm gonna screw it up. However, once I started I found out it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. The biggest key in cutting hedges or bushes is to take off just a little at a time. I start by just trying to shape them first, and then I work on trimming them back. This way you have a good guidline to go by. Also, if you come to a thin spot, always leave a little green on there. It looks better and keeps it from looking like it was your fault. The trimmer I use is just a Poulan Pro. It's the one that has the removable attachments. It came with a pole pruner but I went to Home Depot and bought what they call an "Expand-It" hedge trimmer attachment. The pole pruner really comes in handy for customers wanting a small pruning job. It's heavier than an electric hedge trimmer, but it sure makes quick work of bushes. I also like the extended reach as well.