Thank God I mow 3 1/2 to 4 inches for the last 3 weeks, and most of my people fertilize and water so with that, it’s been ok for me. BTW, who won the weed whacker?
We’ve been doing a lot of landscape maintenance to fill in the gaps but also we start mowing higher the second there is any hint of a dry spell. It keeps the lawns greener for longer and allows to have a chance at growth. The customers are happier with their yards looking better than their neighbors who scalped theirs and looks like a desert. We’ve been mowing about three quarters of an inch higher than normal for about four weeks now in central Illinois. Also gotta make sure blades are sharp so you aren’t browning the grass even more than it already is. Still mowing about 75% of the weekly mows but it’s been getting pretty borderline for sure. At a certain point it doesn’t matter how high you mow, you obviously need some rain.
I just got back from a camping trip today after a 5 day no lawn, no calls& no stress( Other than what my kids bring me lol). 1st vacation in a good 5 plus years. We went camping 20 minutes from the house and everybody had a great time it was well worth it and I am so recharged now I don't know what to tackle 1st.
I am on every 2 week--17 days. Got some rain Sunday. First rain since June 6th. Big rain chance Friday and Saturday. I went out today and looked at lawns. Cut 5, trimmed some shrubs, called it a day at noon because the temperature was 99 and a 112 heat index and gonna be the same until Saturday. Been high heat and heat index since mid June. Mowing some each day this week and calling it a day by 2. I offer brush cleanup, shrubs, light tree work. Also offer to mow overgrown slopes with a walk behind brush cutter for clients out in the county.
You must be close to me lol. It was 101 with a 115 index today in St. Louis. Pretty much drove around in the AC skipping lawns all day. I think we still got like 6 cut but they were yards I've skipped over last week.
Weed pulling and hedge trimming. Times of dormancy is actually the best time to do hedge ND tree trimming. I don't want to be out in the winter so summer is the next best time. I just keep the grass long 4" it stays green and cut bi weekly. As opposed to not at all. I will also be quoting mulch job. That can be done at any time of year.
Not sure about you guys but with lots of companies downsizing this season, I've been getting tons of calls for lawn cuts from new prospects so with things slowing down the last two weeks, I have been taking on new clients on a temp basis to help fill in the slow down. I've also been crushing it with tons of shrub trimming/pruning jobs, they haven't dried out so people want them clean up which has been Ka-Ching!
Our lawn care is all seasonal so we get paid regardless. Doing a lot of pruning right now too. We also install and service underground sprinkler systems so that’s really busy right now with the dry weather. Have some landscape jobs to get done in the next couple of weeks too.
In the trailer park that I do some customers pay for the year and get a discount, the bright side of that is in a drought I can skip these. Also, I have some yards that are near the Clinton River and they still seem to need a weekly cut. I just cut 8 lawns from my route that are in high end sub divisions, they have sprinklers but don't use them and the yards were huge. I can do 4 trailer park yards at $20. per yard and it takes me 40 minutes (10 minutes per yard), the "McMansion" yards paid $35.-40 per yard and took 45 minutes to do. I found that the high end crowd is pretty frugal with money and the lower end home owners are quick to pay the price that I quote. Since I will be 70 soon it doesn't break my heart if I have to skip some lawns and get some rest.
I try to engage in conversations with people about both sides of my business, both mowing and stone driveway maintenance. Sometimes it results in immediate work, other times it is helpful to network future jobs.
Here in the upstate NY suburbs we are crispy. Our rain count is well below average and the only grass that is green is either being watered or is in full shade. My 60 lawn business is about 1/2 right now, at least on a 2 week or more mowing schedule. I always lean toward cutting higher during the summer…dead lawns don’t pay. I am lucky that my operation is low overhead and no employees, if I can hit $1000 per week…we are ok, of course more is always better but so far there has not been a week below the $1000 base number. I try not to stress out and enjoy the part time job hours. I ride mountain bike and road bike, I am a wood carver and have a cabin in the ADK as well as a vintage custom camper van…..so I have other things to do than just mow lawns. The trick is to be able to afford the cut in pay while waiting for the inevitable weather pattern change in August. My heart goes out to the small business owners who have to scramble to meet their overhead. For me I’m an old man who did the “everything for a buck” for 40 years and all I can say is a hard working honest man will never go hungry, and change will always come.
I have a Pit Boss grill. The Pit Boss is just as good as the Traeger grill and you can get them from Lowes for a lot less than a Traeger. I can get a Pit Boss 850 for around $500 or $600. I smoke pork butts, grill steaks, chicken, hamburger or pork chops on my Pit Boss and the Pit Boss has a sear plate where you can open it up and get direct flame contact to sear your steaks or burgers. Nice video
Looking into smokers myself, ribs, mmmm. With it being so dry right now I have been focusing on pruning spirea after the first bloom, some tree pruning and an going to move up a few tree removals in my schedule. Just did some pruning and touch up mulch today at a couple places. One customer sold their house, new owner loves our work and is retaining our services
Half my customers prepay for the year so skipping it doesn’t bother me. Also I always keep a couple larger cleanups and landscape jobs for later in the season
I picked up a few Tree trimming and hedge removal jobs. I gonna say it right now you will use the new smoker more than the built in cooker when you get your outside area done.
I'm busy until mid August and then it slows down for us. We never skip a month at a time, at least every other week. This time of the year we are trimming shrubs and pruning small trees, weeding and still doing mulch. I have always said in this business is to be diversified. I have added services after studying and learning them and have started with lighting and fixing small repairs on sprinklers and am certified with both. The key is to keep your money flow because we all know ow that big repair or purchase can happen anytime. Stay profitable. Know your numbers and network with other companies. That's what's kept me around for 20 years. Good luck to everyone out there. Have safe rest of the Summer and Enjoy the little things in life.
i just started this year with mowing, but now im already doing mostly landscaping maintenance, weed removal, ect... and my lawns just hardly need mowed. every 2-3 weeks here for most lawns. but now I found that I love doing the landscaping stuff and im going to further my skills in that area
Once I see the lawn start to stress out just a tiny bit, I always noticed that if you cut without a catcher on it does help lawn stay alive. Also send a text out to customer or call to remind them to water at night for at least a hour to hour and half. Usually always help always notice customers are watering during the day time in high heat and just kill their own lawn
That’s why we put them on a seven month budget for lawn mowing. If it doesn’t rain we skip it and still get paid just do some weeding in the rock gardens or trim some shrubs.
This is the time when I haul off the sticks that have been piled up throughout the season. I also do some light pruning to keep limbs and leaves away from gutters. Sometimes this work pays better than the lawn care because I can charge by the hour
I’m considering going to a flat monthly rate next year for service from April through November. This rate will not change whether we service your lawn once per month or five times. You don’t save money on a cell phone bill if you use less minutes or send less text messages anymore. Lawn maintenance is a luxury service and when hiring a professional, the lack of maintaining a healthy lawn to be serviced should not fall on anybody but the home/business owner. Fellow southeast Michigander here!
Strugggling with this issue now. In Texas it has been mid 90’s and this week 100 plus. Prob a total of one inch the last month and a half. Been racking my brain on ideas. I can see people are cutting back with Lawncare right now. Just praying for rain because if it’s this dry and with fertilizer being high and crops not getting rain, there’s no telling how the grocery bills are about to start looking. Which means prob more cutbacks with Lawncare. Just my thoughts. 🙏🏾
We have had no real rain for about 3-4 weeks. The temps have been in the 80's and 90's. I am still mowing but now it is becoming mowing half the daily customers one week and the other half the next week. Doing hedge trimming and yard clean-ups to supplement. Also taking care of extra work that the city is throwing my way.
I live in the desert but have maintained a lawn of Kentucky blue and perennial rye for 10 years now. It's hard work. If you miss one watering in the summertime you have to put in replacement sod.
Ann Arbor here very few people have irrigation so I skipping this week hopefully by next week I will be cutting the lawns at 4” and offering a sprinkler service education for my clients to setup a diy irrigation.
We are mulching but a lot of customers dnt want to pay 120-140 a yard installed .. so what we doing is a special for all the small lawns .. we do simple bed cleanup and refresh mulch bed for 60-100 depends … so I fill my 6 yard mulch dump truck and I do 20-30 houses at. 60 -100 that’s takes care of that revenue for the week
I usually skip lawns once they get really dry or when its super hot that day. If i do that then I do more of the Scrap Metal more than I do every week and once that slows down I sell stuff on Marketplace.
Some municipalities have water restrictions when there's a drought and penalties can be stiff because you're choosing between having enough drinking water vs lawn. A overgrown lawn will survive better than a low cut lawn (well manicured) lawn.
We cut super high. Metro detroit area. 4.25. We service the properties even if it’s low because they usually want their edge done and the walkways blown off.
Great tips. We went camping and floating last week since business has slowed down. I'm supplementing with hedge trimming, gutter cleaning, brush cleanup up etc. Really anything I can do to bring in some cash flow. Even have a 8x12 concrete pad to pour soon. This drought has been pretty rough but if you don't give up you can make it through.
Hey Brian, Chris here with Quality Lawn Services in Warsaw Indiana. We amazing are still mowing about 75% of our lawns. We are filling the gaps with trimming shrubs, cleaning gutters, power washing, landscaping and even doing a deck here and there! We just got back from a four day breather in Kentucky for the Fourth! Thank you for the videos. Have a blessed day!
Brian, Kalfas & Florida turf pros, some of the few channels left that haven’t gone down the rabbit hole of mowing tall grass. Their content is actually educational.
Month of July I get a lot of pruning and trimming jobs that can bring in good money and really your not spending money driving and I use battery equipment so that helps out also.
All clients pay a monthly price so we have to be there every week its always something to do , on 🌧 days we just go and blow driveways and porches and we get pay the full amount monthly
We had A big 20 yard mulching job to do (that’s a big one for us) and also did some tree elevations hedge trimming and the like but we also do window cleaning and power washing so in the summer months that’s when we do that the most.
Had a drought here in northern Illinois for much of June then last night got big storms with 4 inches of rain in just a few hours. From drought to flooding in 1 day.
Congratulations Luka!!! :) we need rain skipping yards doing some bushes but wish it would rain! I just got a new 18 ' enclosed trailer ben hit twice this year out of the back of my truck while I was mowing first time they got my backpack blower then last Tuesday they got my new backpack blower and a hand held blower!!!! So now locking everything up!
Not mowing right now took few years to pursue other things.. But we used to have 50 \75 % clients on april - november contracts .. And it spelled out skipping due to dry conditions etc . cause they did not pay extra for spring rush double cutting etc it all worls out somehow.. Overhead does not stop cuz grass gets toasty july august 👍
Like Kalfas would say “I’m not your little lawn boy” I don’t let businesses owe me money, everybody is required to put billing card on file. Or they don’t get my service. My company Super Green Lawn Care is the number 1 rated service in Fort Wayne Indiana and we get minimum 15+ calls per day requesting new service right now July 5th 2022. Our service is in high demand and if a business or homeowner wants to get on OUR schedule? Then you’ve got to put a card on file. We charge $125/acre minimum plus extra if you’re located past 5miles of the office. When we show up to cut before anyone gets out of the truck we run the card first, if it gets declined, the customer gets an immediate phone call from the office and if no response you are off our schedule till the billing issue gets resolved. We’ll be back the following week and it’s a double cut charge. Nothing personal. It’s business. As tight as things are in the economy these days it is how we operate and let me say. Not having a single person or business owe us money is a breath of fresh air and happiness level couldn’t be higher! You wanted our service, great, you pay up front and we’ll provide the A+ service you were looking for!
Show the customers that you are here to care for their lawn. Caring for it may mean skipping it. We are only cutting those with sprinkler systems or those that we know are watering. (Arlington TN area) We are filling the time with a few landscape cleanups. Try a beef roast with potatoes, carrots and onions on the smoker - hmmm
Spend the 15-20 mins you normally would mowing.spend that time edging,trimming/pulling weeds,curb cleanups,property cleanups sidewalk/driveway blowoff etc trimming 15-20 mins of shrubs or whatever.or even watering?that's what I do.
Our area is actually getting restricted from watering (Utah) so I don’t really have any other option but to do other landscaping projects and wash some windows
Got a couple I've been having to skip but most so far are doing OK and then the ones that irrigate are still nice. But I've shut off my own irrigation....easily doubles the watermill after their rate hikes too.
I have a customer who's new to town and she's blaming me for cutting it "right before a drought." She's got zoysia that's got a western exposure, no trees, and it's crunchy. I cut it high as always, and I say to myself it's because she doesn't water it. So I went over there one day and moved the sprinkler around over several hours and it looked somewhat better. Did I kill her grass?
No you didn’t kill it. Grass goes dormant, it’s shocked from lack of water and high heat. Happens all the time. Grass is very resilient, give it a few good waterings and cooler temps and it’ll come right back.
Brian this is why I bump my lawn height to 4 to 4.25 inches going into summer. It allows the lawn blades to hold more chlorophyll in its blades to keep it green longer. I do mow 3.5 and less for spring and fall. I am in WI
Great advice but my thing is monthly rates! Get paid a set amnt each month (not commercial) u stop by every week and do something if ur not mowing pull weeds edge walks pick up sticks etc either way u get paid lol But I do schedule shrub trimming mulch etc as well just nice knowing I’m getting paid for the month anyway
I have an irrigation “department” (1 guy) and we recently started doing seasonal adjustments on the customers we do irrigation services for, residential and commercial. However the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, as soon as it warms up the phone starts ringing wanting theirs adjusted immediately haha
How much are you guys up north paying for water monthly? I'm in a suburb north of Atlanta and my monthly water bill is roughly 20$. Most of my friends and family pay between 20-30$ monthly. I assume that my customers in the area are paying the same price. In times of drought or low rainfall I tell them that water is your cheapest utility but greatest investment for your lawn. Run that sprinkler or crank up the irrigation. It doesn't have to be for the whole cutting season but just long enough until we start getting adequate rainfall. During our recent dry spell I offered watering service with hoses and sprinklers to a few customers that aren't able to be out in the heat. It's extra revenue and keeps me cutting.
@@got2getit204 wow! That's crazy expensive. Why so much? Is the water being pumped in from somewhere else? We have an abundance of water where I live. Springs, creeks, rivers and lakes. The local geography helps us with water as well. Even in drought our creeks won't run dry.
So we do shrubs, any maintenance on accounts we can do, machine maintenance including trucks and trailers! If there is no work or not enough work, we take time off .
The last few years Iv focused on having more bi weekly cuts. I tell these customers that this is a minimum charge for bi weekly service. I kept finding the years we get drought like this would be too costly.
Open the grate on your grill, turn heat up to 450 or 500 and seer the steaks about a minute and a half to 2 minutes on each side, then check meat with thermometer, you should be close to 120 to 135 degrees. About 8 minutes absolute tops.
Great content as always Brian. Those of us been in the game 10yrs + know to expect these variables & pivot our services more broadly, its tough sometimes to go through these waves both income & mentally & if your like me I luv to be crazy busy always so take a breath & book a vaycay & learn to chill.We're all in this together.
Hey Brian, guick question. What blades do you recommend with a grass catcher? Alot of my customers are wanting their stuff bagged now. I can't justify buying a walker or any other expensive collection system yet.
Gotta ask- when the only thing growing is the weeds so all you are cutting is weeds, and they are not everywhere, just some places, do you go or no go or ask permission first?
I do full property maitenance for most of my customers so there's always monthly to every month and a half hedge and shrub jobs, sod patch, weed control in landscape beds, maintaining gardens. Something is always growing here in the south no matter the heat.
@@edi5851 we recently had a lack of significant rainfall accumulation that lasted for 3wks to a month. Also we had prolonged abnormally high temps for my area. 95+ for over a week straight. The bermuda grass never stopped growing. Some parts of some lawns got a little crunchy but we finally got one good rain and it all greened right back up and is now super thick and lush. I'm thankful that in the Southeast our turf isn't as affected as it is in other parts of the country.
We show up no matter what. It’s not our fault Mother Nature turned the water off. We atleast pull weeds, trim and edge and maybe mow. Nonetheless we show up and atleast do something.
What do you guys try to do to keep the extra revenue coming in when the lawns are toast?
Do landscaping, but we r getting crushed in metro Detroit. I have not cut my own lawn in a month,
Thank God I mow 3 1/2 to 4 inches for the last 3 weeks, and most of my people fertilize and water so with that, it’s been ok for me. BTW, who won the weed whacker?
Cutting hedges, maybe keep the edging tight so you can still get paid. We are camping this week as we speak!
Hey @Brians Lawn Maintence did you get my email about stickers im shopping around to get stickers made so when I get them ill send you a few
@@markmilan01 Luca with Luca’s Yard Service!
We’ve been doing a lot of landscape maintenance to fill in the gaps but also we start mowing higher the second there is any hint of a dry spell. It keeps the lawns greener for longer and allows to have a chance at growth. The customers are happier with their yards looking better than their neighbors who scalped theirs and looks like a desert. We’ve been mowing about three quarters of an inch higher than normal for about four weeks now in central Illinois. Also gotta make sure blades are sharp so you aren’t browning the grass even more than it already is.
Still mowing about 75% of the weekly mows but it’s been getting pretty borderline for sure. At a certain point it doesn’t matter how high you mow, you obviously need some rain.
I just got back from a camping trip today after a 5 day no lawn, no calls& no stress( Other than what my kids bring me lol). 1st vacation in a good 5 plus years. We went camping 20 minutes from the house and everybody had a great time it was well worth it and I am so recharged now I don't know what to tackle 1st.
I am on every 2 week--17 days. Got some rain Sunday. First rain since June 6th. Big rain chance Friday and Saturday. I went out today and looked at lawns. Cut 5, trimmed some shrubs, called it a day at noon because the temperature was 99 and a 112 heat index and gonna be the same until Saturday. Been high heat and heat index since mid June. Mowing some each day this week and calling it a day by 2. I offer brush cleanup, shrubs, light tree work. Also offer to mow overgrown slopes with a walk behind brush cutter for clients out in the county.
Days like that you have to be done by noon or so, it’s just too much on the body.
You must be close to me lol. It was 101 with a 115 index today in St. Louis. Pretty much drove around in the AC skipping lawns all day. I think we still got like 6 cut but they were yards I've skipped over last week.
I live in KY. St Louis is about 3 hours from me. One town today hit 120 heat index.
Weed pulling and hedge trimming. Times of dormancy is actually the best time to do hedge ND tree trimming. I don't want to be out in the winter so summer is the next best time. I just keep the grass long 4" it stays green and cut bi weekly. As opposed to not at all. I will also be quoting mulch job. That can be done at any time of year.
Not sure about you guys but with lots of companies downsizing this season, I've been getting tons of calls for lawn cuts from new prospects so with things slowing down the last two weeks, I have been taking on new clients on a temp basis to help fill in the slow down. I've also been crushing it with tons of shrub trimming/pruning jobs, they haven't dried out so people want them clean up which has been Ka-Ching!
Our lawn care is all seasonal so we get paid regardless. Doing a lot of pruning right now too. We also install and service underground sprinkler systems so that’s really busy right now with the dry weather. Have some landscape jobs to get done in the next couple of weeks too.
In the trailer park that I do some customers pay for the year and get a discount, the bright side of that is in a drought I can skip these. Also, I have some yards that are near the Clinton River and they still seem to need a weekly cut. I just cut 8 lawns from my route that are in high end sub divisions, they have sprinklers but don't use them and the yards were huge. I can do 4 trailer park yards at $20. per yard and it takes me 40 minutes (10 minutes per yard), the "McMansion" yards paid $35.-40 per yard and took 45 minutes to do. I found that the high end crowd is pretty frugal with money and the lower end home owners are quick to pay the price that I quote. Since I will be 70 soon it doesn't break my heart if I have to skip some lawns and get some rest.
I try to engage in conversations with people about both sides of my business, both mowing and stone driveway maintenance. Sometimes it results in immediate work, other times it is helpful to network future jobs.
we Skip when they're too dry - no point killing my revenue stream!
Wise move!
Here in the upstate NY suburbs we are crispy. Our rain count is well below average and the only grass that is green is either being watered or is in full shade. My 60 lawn business is about 1/2 right now, at least on a 2 week or more mowing schedule.
I always lean toward cutting higher during the summer…dead lawns don’t pay. I am lucky that my operation is low overhead and no employees, if I can hit $1000 per week…we are ok, of course more is always better but so far there has not been a week below the $1000 base number. I try not to stress out and enjoy the part time job hours. I ride mountain bike and road bike, I am a wood carver and have a cabin in the ADK as well as a vintage custom camper van…..so I have other things to do than just mow lawns. The trick is to be able to afford the cut in pay while waiting for the inevitable weather pattern change in August.
My heart goes out to the small business owners who have to scramble to meet their overhead. For me I’m an old man who did the “everything for a buck” for 40 years and all I can say is a hard working honest man will never go hungry, and change will always come.
I have a Pit Boss grill. The Pit Boss is just as good as the Traeger grill and you can get them from Lowes for a lot less than a Traeger. I can get a Pit Boss 850 for around $500 or $600. I smoke pork butts, grill steaks, chicken, hamburger or pork chops on my Pit Boss and the Pit Boss has a sear plate where you can open it up and get direct flame contact to sear your steaks or burgers. Nice video
Looking into smokers myself, ribs, mmmm. With it being so dry right now I have been focusing on pruning spirea after the first bloom, some tree pruning and an going to move up a few tree removals in my schedule. Just did some pruning and touch up mulch today at a couple places. One customer sold their house, new owner loves our work and is retaining our services
We’ve been doing some landscaping, shrub trimming, and brush haul offs. It’s just my wife and I, so we’ll work through this.
Half my customers prepay for the year so skipping it doesn’t bother me. Also I always keep a couple larger cleanups and landscape jobs for later in the season
I picked up a few Tree trimming and hedge removal jobs. I gonna say it right now you will use the new smoker more than the built in cooker when you get your outside area done.
I'm busy until mid August and then it slows down for us. We never skip a month at a time, at least every other week. This time of the year we are trimming shrubs and pruning small trees, weeding and still doing mulch. I have always said in this business is to be diversified. I have added services after studying and learning them and have started with lighting and fixing small repairs on sprinklers and am certified with both. The key is to keep your money flow because we all know ow that big repair or purchase can happen anytime. Stay profitable. Know your numbers and network with other companies. That's what's kept me around for 20 years. Good luck to everyone out there. Have safe rest of the Summer and Enjoy the little things in life.
i just started this year with mowing, but now im already doing mostly landscaping maintenance, weed removal, ect... and my lawns just hardly need mowed. every 2-3 weeks here for most lawns.
but now I found that I love doing the landscaping stuff and im going to further my skills in that area
Great video Brian, during this time we do tree pruning, landscaping, pressure washing, maintenance on our machines! Great to hear you like your grill!
Once I see the lawn start to stress out just a tiny bit, I always noticed that if you cut without a catcher on it does help lawn stay alive. Also send a text out to customer or call to remind them to water at night for at least a hour to hour and half. Usually always help always notice customers are watering during the day time in high heat and just kill their own lawn
That’s why we put them on a seven month budget for lawn mowing. If it doesn’t rain we skip it and still get paid just do some weeding in the rock gardens or trim some shrubs.
This is the time when I haul off the sticks that have been piled up throughout the season. I also do some light pruning to keep limbs and leaves away from gutters. Sometimes this work pays better than the lawn care because I can charge by the hour
I’m considering going to a flat monthly rate next year for service from April through November. This rate will not change whether we service your lawn once per month or five times. You don’t save money on a cell phone bill if you use less minutes or send less text messages anymore. Lawn maintenance is a luxury service and when hiring a professional, the lack of maintaining a healthy lawn to be serviced should not fall on anybody but the home/business owner.
Fellow southeast Michigander here!
Strugggling with this issue now. In Texas it has been mid 90’s and this week 100 plus. Prob a total of one inch the last month and a half. Been racking my brain on ideas. I can see people are cutting back with Lawncare right now. Just praying for rain because if it’s this dry and with fertilizer being high and crops not getting rain, there’s no telling how the grocery bills are about to start looking. Which means prob more cutbacks with Lawncare. Just my thoughts. 🙏🏾
You said it perfectly. I don’t feel most people can afford five dollar gas AND a $400/month water bill.
We have had no real rain for about 3-4 weeks. The temps have been in the 80's and 90's. I am still mowing but now it is becoming mowing half the daily customers one week and the other half the next week. Doing hedge trimming and yard clean-ups to supplement. Also taking care of extra work that the city is throwing my way.
I live in the desert but have maintained a lawn of Kentucky blue and perennial rye for 10 years now. It's hard work. If you miss one watering in the summertime you have to put in replacement sod.
Ann Arbor here very few people have irrigation so I skipping this week hopefully by next week I will be cutting the lawns at 4” and offering a sprinkler service education for my clients to setup a diy irrigation.
We are mulching but a lot of customers dnt want to pay 120-140 a yard installed .. so what we doing is a special for all the small lawns .. we do simple bed cleanup and refresh mulch bed for 60-100 depends … so I fill my 6 yard mulch dump truck and I do 20-30 houses at. 60 -100 that’s takes care of that revenue for the week
I usually skip lawns once they get really dry or when its super hot that day. If i do that then I do more of the Scrap Metal more than I do every week and once that slows down I sell stuff on Marketplace.
Some municipalities have water restrictions when there's a drought and penalties can be stiff because you're choosing between having enough drinking water vs lawn. A overgrown lawn will survive better than a low cut lawn (well manicured) lawn.
We cut super high. Metro detroit area. 4.25. We service the properties even if it’s low because they usually want their edge done and the walkways blown off.
That’s why you have 30 week service contracts if it burns we still cut it if they don’t want to cut they still have to pay very simple
I mowed one lawn today. Rest was all hedge trimming and equipment maintenance. And this heat here in western NC, whew! I can smell myself stinking 🦨
Great tips. We went camping and floating last week since business has slowed down. I'm supplementing with hedge trimming, gutter cleaning, brush cleanup up etc. Really anything I can do to bring in some cash flow. Even have a 8x12 concrete pad to pour soon. This drought has been pretty rough but if you don't give up you can make it through.
Hey Brian, Chris here with Quality Lawn Services in Warsaw Indiana. We amazing are still mowing about 75% of our lawns. We are filling the gaps with trimming shrubs, cleaning gutters, power washing, landscaping and even doing a deck here and there! We just got back from a four day breather in Kentucky for the Fourth! Thank you for the videos. Have a blessed day!
Brian, Kalfas & Florida turf pros, some of the few channels left that haven’t gone down the rabbit hole of mowing tall grass. Their content is actually educational.
Hey thanks Bobby
Month of July I get a lot of pruning and trimming jobs that can bring in good money and really your not spending money driving and I use battery equipment so that helps out also.
Those are great suggestions
All clients pay a monthly price so we have to be there every week its always something to do , on 🌧 days we just go and blow driveways and porches and we get pay the full amount monthly
We had A big 20 yard mulching job to do (that’s a big one for us) and also did some tree elevations hedge trimming and the like but we also do window cleaning and power washing so in the summer months that’s when we do that the most.
Had a drought here in northern Illinois for much of June then last night got big storms with 4 inches of rain in just a few hours. From drought to flooding in 1 day.
Congratulations Luka!!! :) we need rain skipping yards doing some bushes but wish it would rain! I just got a new 18 ' enclosed trailer ben hit twice this year out of the back of my truck while I was mowing first time they got my backpack blower then last Tuesday they got my new backpack blower and a hand held blower!!!! So now locking everything up!
Shrub trimming and mulching jobs. And enjoying a little down time. Maintenance on all the equipment etc.
Not mowing right now took few years to pursue other things.. But we used to have 50 \75 % clients on april - november contracts .. And it spelled out skipping due to dry conditions etc . cause they did not pay extra for spring rush double cutting etc it all worls out somehow.. Overhead does not stop cuz grass gets toasty july august 👍
This is exactly the reason why we have a flat fee per month!
I bought a grill from Grilla Grills - it goes low enough to smoke as well as grill temps 250 - 450
I am in central Illinois and I bought a new bobcat the day after Memorial Day and have used it once!
Like Kalfas would say “I’m not your little lawn boy” I don’t let businesses owe me money, everybody is required to put billing card on file. Or they don’t get my service. My company Super Green Lawn Care is the number 1 rated service in Fort Wayne Indiana and we get minimum 15+ calls per day requesting new service right now July 5th 2022. Our service is in high demand and if a business or homeowner wants to get on OUR schedule? Then you’ve got to put a card on file. We charge $125/acre minimum plus extra if you’re located past 5miles of the office. When we show up to cut before anyone gets out of the truck we run the card first, if it gets declined, the customer gets an immediate phone call from the office and if no response you are off our schedule till the billing issue gets resolved. We’ll be back the following week and it’s a double cut charge. Nothing personal. It’s business. As tight as things are in the economy these days it is how we operate and let me say. Not having a single person or business owe us money is a breath of fresh air and happiness level couldn’t be higher! You wanted our service, great, you pay up front and we’ll provide the A+ service you were looking for!
Show the customers that you are here to care for their lawn. Caring for it may mean skipping it. We are only cutting those with sprinkler systems or those that we know are watering. (Arlington TN area) We are filling the time with a few landscape cleanups.
Try a beef roast with potatoes, carrots and onions on the smoker - hmmm
Trimming shrubs and cleaning gutters during this time. Our fence installation and repair business has also more than filled in during this dry time
Spend the 15-20 mins you normally would mowing.spend that time edging,trimming/pulling weeds,curb cleanups,property cleanups sidewalk/driveway blowoff etc trimming 15-20 mins of shrubs or whatever.or even watering?that's what I do.
Gota take the good with the bad. I like the summer break when things are dry and hot. Enjoy what down time you get...
Our area is actually getting restricted from watering (Utah) so I don’t really have any other option but to do other landscaping projects and wash some windows
Our lawns are real dry here in Massachusetts. We haven’t had any rain lately. Hopefully we get some soon!
Got a couple I've been having to skip but most so far are doing OK and then the ones that irrigate are still nice. But I've shut off my own irrigation....easily doubles the watermill after their rate hikes too.
I'm doing hedges,pruning and cleaning fence lines went it slows down.💯
We still swing by and mow. A lot of my work is biweekly anyways
-North Carolina
Enjoy your new Traeger. Traeger has an excellent customer service even on holidays and weekends
Power washing in this hot weather is my go to 😂 you get cooled off and still make moneys
I’m working on landscaping jobs this week because I’m not mowing any lawns this week. Have to keep that money coming in.
Ty for this video. This is the perfect situation I got rn
I have a customer who's new to town and she's blaming me for cutting it "right before a drought." She's got zoysia that's got a western exposure, no trees, and it's crunchy. I cut it high as always, and I say to myself it's because she doesn't water it. So I went over there one day and moved the sprinkler around over several hours and it looked somewhat better. Did I kill her grass?
Send her this video lol
No you didn’t kill it. Grass goes dormant, it’s shocked from lack of water and high heat. Happens all the time. Grass is very resilient, give it a few good waterings and cooler temps and it’ll come right back.
Brian this is why I bump my lawn height to 4 to 4.25 inches going into summer. It allows the lawn blades to hold more chlorophyll in its blades to keep it green longer. I do mow 3.5 and less for spring and fall. I am in WI
Plus it shades the soil better to prevent weed growth and the soil drying out more quickly
Great advice but my thing is monthly rates! Get paid a set amnt each month (not commercial) u stop by every week and do something if ur not mowing pull weeds edge walks pick up sticks etc either way u get paid lol
But I do schedule shrub trimming mulch etc as well just nice knowing I’m getting paid for the month anyway
I noticed that too. Ton of my irrigated lawns are fried that never have been
Same here buy many are leveled with too much sand which adds to the problem.
I have an irrigation “department” (1 guy) and we recently started doing seasonal adjustments on the customers we do irrigation services for, residential and commercial. However the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, as soon as it warms up the phone starts ringing wanting theirs adjusted immediately haha
How much are you guys up north paying for water monthly? I'm in a suburb north of Atlanta and my monthly water bill is roughly 20$. Most of my friends and family pay between 20-30$ monthly. I assume that my customers in the area are paying the same price. In times of drought or low rainfall I tell them that water is your cheapest utility but greatest investment for your lawn. Run that sprinkler or crank up the irrigation. It doesn't have to be for the whole cutting season but just long enough until we start getting adequate rainfall. During our recent dry spell I offered watering service with hoses and sprinklers to a few customers that aren't able to be out in the heat. It's extra revenue and keeps me cutting.
@@got2getit204 wow! That's crazy expensive. Why so much? Is the water being pumped in from somewhere else? We have an abundance of water where I live. Springs, creeks, rivers and lakes. The local geography helps us with water as well. Even in drought our creeks won't run dry.
So we do shrubs, any maintenance on accounts we can do, machine maintenance including trucks and trailers! If there is no work or not enough work, we take time off .
I usually force it to die off in my side yard. Trying to rid more weeds and prepare for spring seeding
Should've bought a Recteq 1250. I'm in South Central PA, so far grass still growing, we've received just enough rain.
Same. Up here in Flint there isn't a green grass blade in site. I have been able to get at some odd jobs but it's rough.
My neighbor has pellet grill, Cool machine I have no idea on brand.
The last few years Iv focused on having more bi weekly cuts. I tell these customers that this is a minimum charge for bi weekly service. I kept finding the years we get drought like this would be too costly.
Open the grate on your grill, turn heat up to 450 or 500 and seer the steaks about a minute and a half to 2 minutes on each side, then check meat with thermometer, you should be close to 120 to 135 degrees. About 8 minutes absolute tops.
Noted!
I’m in Central Florida and we’re still getting 4 to 6 inches of growth each week we’ve been getting a lot of rain
Dang!
Great content as always Brian. Those of us been in the game 10yrs + know to expect these variables & pivot our services more broadly, its tough sometimes to go through these waves both income & mentally & if your like me I luv to be crazy busy always so take a breath & book a vaycay & learn to chill.We're all in this together.
If a client calls for a week skip due to dry grass do you still charge? Or should you still charge? Just had this happen!!
We do not, since we only charge if we mow.
Hey Brian, get some grill grates. Burgers and steaks in about 8-10 minutes
Pitboss 1150 I love my smoker for the price.
I’m on lake Columbia and Clark lake and everyone uses lake water 💦 for sprinklers and we don’t have any brown out here
We have a trager smoker too. Get the 40lb pellet bags from Menards. Best value for the almighty $$$
Still anxiously waiting for Redmax 8560 video
Hey Brian, guick question. What blades do you recommend with a grass catcher? Alot of my customers are wanting their stuff bagged now. I can't justify buying a walker or any other expensive collection system yet.
Ballard Catch Pro and the Highlift blades with a mulching blade on bottom, ripper blade on top. (X blade setup).
Do you mean ripper on top and high rise on bottom? I bought the rippers the other day. Appreciate the coupon code by the way.
It's been a drought in Tennessee too! Been horrible
You can always do some weeding after all you know in the heat the weeds grow but the lawns dont
Even all those weeds growing in the cracks of pavement or where the roads meet up with the curbs , buzz that stuff down and round it up
Great video!
We're on well so we have are sprinklers on full blast
Skip but it’s also a good time to catch up on trimming scrubs.
Gotta ask- when the only thing growing is the weeds so all you are cutting is weeds, and they are not everywhere, just some places, do you go or no go or ask permission first?
We still mow if they're on the weekly schedule.
Hope you feel better Brian!
Thank you, I will
Very timely video Brian. Thanks!
Mow higher. Talk to customers about appropriate times to water effectively. Enter other areas of landscaping. Be hungry…😎
Hey man Are you going to do a video on the new redmax ebz 8560 backpack blower
Yep!
I skip a lot . Some of my non irrigated lawns stay fairly green somehow. I credit aeration and deep rooted fescue
California Baby Co. Play pen is great!!
We got 5 inches of rain in the last day here in nw Ohio
I never skip. You don’t water your CANCELED
I do full property maitenance for most of my customers so there's always monthly to every month and a half hedge and shrub jobs, sod patch, weed control in landscape beds, maintaining gardens. Something is always growing here in the south no matter the heat.
Yeah same here in Florida. Even during winter months. Non stop growth
@@edi5851 we recently had a lack of significant rainfall accumulation that lasted for 3wks to a month. Also we had prolonged abnormally high temps for my area. 95+ for over a week straight. The bermuda grass never stopped growing. Some parts of some lawns got a little crunchy but we finally got one good rain and it all greened right back up and is now super thick and lush. I'm thankful that in the Southeast our turf isn't as affected as it is in other parts of the country.
Pray for rain. Find neighborhoods with strict HOAs.
We show up no matter what. It’s not our fault Mother Nature turned the water off. We atleast pull weeds, trim and edge and maybe mow. Nonetheless we show up and atleast do something.
Great grill Brian!
landscaping and early days