1st Question...

[Joatmon]

What type of customer are you?

Do you give yourself full service...or are you so tired of seeing green by the end of the day that you can't bring yourself to take care of your own grass?

Surely this topic has been discussed...

I just remember being in construction. Every contractor I worked for had a new house, been in it for a few years, & still weren't finished with it. I hope I don't get that way with the lawncare...everybody drive by & see my ratty yard but yet I'm supposed to do a good job for them.

Just wonderin,
Joatmon

[HOMER]

If your flying solo get ready for a ratty yard! Mine is the last on the list..............always. I really want to try this year to put it a little farther up the list, maybe 2nd or 3rd.

I'm tired when I get home.

[Eric ELM]

Mine looks as good as my customers, but it is WAY smaller and I'm glad of it. We mow it twice a week.

[1MajorTom]

Our yard is small, but the back yard is by the far nicest grass we have seen in a long time. Lush and green with nice stripes. Brand new grass planted last year.
Our neighbors are constantly asking about our back yard. A nice garden, a bed of wildflowers, and another bed of petunias, marigolds, and zinnia add the finishing touches to our back yard.

Now our front yard is another story. We have a mediocre front yard because we have a beagle puppy who loves to wreck havoc on the grass. But I wouldn't trade my dog in for nicer grass. She's too much part of the family.

We mow at least once a week, sometimes two. We're always the last yard cut for the day.

[Scag48]

My lawn usually gets done after all my customers get theirs done. I usually try to do a good job though but my lawn can't really be seen unless you drive up my driveway so it usually doesn't get done 'til dad wants it done. :)

[JimLewis]

My landscape is kept in meticulous shape. Lawn is always deep green and crisp. No weeds, no leaves in the yard, plants kept well groomed, etc. Especially the front yard.

Of course, I don't have to do any of it. I am in my busiest neighborhood so I am just one of the regular stops for one of my crews. And I throw them a few extra things to do when they check in throughout the week.

It's easy to keep it all in great shape when you don't have to do it ;-) But I'd still keep it in great shape even if I were the one doing it.

[Twotoros]

Mine is only 2k foot so I do it twice a week. It used to look good but now have a lot of warm season grass taking over my good grasses. I try to keep it tiptop and always looks better than most of the neighbors.

[Runner]

After they thank me and tell me how nice their lawn looks, I always thank them, tell them how much of a pleasure it is, and tell them I wish MY yard looked like this. Well, one day one of my customers put it to me like this; "Yeah, Joe, and the painter's house always neds paint and the mechanic's car always needs work."

[moonarrow]

My yard is pretty high on my list, I consider it part of my advertising, and besides my wife would not let me put it last on the list if I did I might have to sleep in it

[awm]

When I retire ,assuming I EVER WILL,I want
a nice half acre yd to get old playing with.
Now small and neat as it can be w all the equip
and work material I have.

WORDING SHOULD READ GET OLDER.

[Greenkeepers]

This year will be the first summer in my new house.. I don't even have it seeded yet (4 acres) so I have a good advertising pitch to do..... It will be fun though.

[DBALLARD]

I agree with "moonarrow" my yard is a part of my advertising. I try to keep it as nice as I can. If I keep my lawn looking beter than my neighbors, mabey they will want me to take care of theirs as well.

[TJLC]

Sorry, mine is also the last to be done. I do tend to take pretty decent care of the landscape. We are getting ready to have continuous curbing put around the entire house and remulch and add rock and some lighting. My yard looks OK. It could be better. My wife laughs and says "you do lawncare and look at our yard,nice advertising"LOL. I think she knows that after a long hot day of mowing, the last thing I want to do when I get home is cut more grass. This year I'm going to try and put more time into my yard. Yeah right, we'll see.LOL

[russman]

My wife likes to mow it. So all I have to do is leave a mower on certain days and she will do the mowing. I still have to go out and trim though.

[John DiMartino]

My lawn is getting better every year,it is 3 yrs old,and its very full and thick,but when we put it in,we had a thunderstorm the next night,a lot of top soil got washed away,and there were ruts here and there.i have top dressed and drag matted it for the last 3 yrs,and rolled it once.I aerate in the fall.It is better than any of my neighbors lawns by far,but still not picture perfect,although its getting close.My wife likes to mow it,but she doesnt stripe it straight,she wiggles and squirms a lot-so i do the front yard and she can do the back.I trim every week too,and edge the drive once amonth or so when it starts to grow over the edge.I admit,I hate trimming my yard,but i love mowing it,people stop and watch me,some have snapped photos ofmy yard since its so big ,and the stripes are sweet,the dixie chopper with stripe kit really lays down a nice stripe.

[thelawnguy]

I had no lawn, bought the house on the brink of foreclosure, last year cleared the 1/2 acre lot and had an awesome yard but hard to find the time to keep it up. This year I will be turning the front lawn into a giant perennial/vegetable garden with no mowing needed at all and will just keep the back cut 2x a month.

[KirbysLawn]

I personally think your lawn should reflect your work and I use my lawn for advertising. Funny, a guy in a small town near me has a lawn service called "Green Grass Lawn Care", he does not have a single blade of grass in his lawn...just weeds!

My Front Lawn (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=681893&a=4967155&p=19958880&Sequence=0&res=high)

My Back Lawn (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=681893&a=9151333&p=29701559&Sequence=0&res=high)

[HOMER]

In defense of my previous post:

My yard is almost an acre. I moved in last March thinking "OH BOY" look at what I get to play with! Only problem was I can't water an acre of grass, we had one of the worst droughts in history also. I did fertilize it twice in hopes of rain but it never came. If we get the rain this year it will be taken care of, if we don't get rain I suppose it will be low maintenance again! It never really grew so there wasn't much to take care of! I just recently put out rye seed because I want to be the envy of the "county road". When I start seeing some signs of life I intend to hit it hard with the ammonia so I can lay down some stripes like you Yankee's do. I will be sure to post a picture of it too. Rain is supposed to be here tonight so between that and the very mild temperature I should see some sprigs of green pretty soon. I cut down all the overgrown shrubs in frt of the house a while back and am waiting to do something with the beds, maybe I'll put a picture up and some of you more creative landscapers out there can advise me on what plants and how to arrange it. I think by mid summer we should have a photo contest to see who has the nicest lawn and landscape, but you can't cheat! Has to be YOUR house...............what cha think?

[CCLC]

My lawn used to be the last one done, but I fixed that problem. I bought a lawn boy push mower for my wife and now she takes care of it. She said she wanted exercise and that I didn't mow the grass often enough or short enough. Now we are both happy!!!

[thelawnguy]

Originally posted by KirbysLawn
I personally think your lawn should reflect your work and I use my lawn for advertising. Funny, a guy in a small town near me has a lawn service called "Green Grass Lawn Care", he does not have a single blade of grass in his lawn...just weeds!

So you are inferring that apartment-dwelling LCOs do substandard work?

[DanG]

Near me there's a spraying company who has just bought one of these trucks to do this type of work.

What would you pay for them to come in and mulch per yard?
Or if you have one what do you charge?

If I bought it it would cost me $28 a yard for colored mulch with me trucking it,and then the cost of putting it in the beds,my help etc...

I know if he buys it in bulk(20-30 yards at a time)he should get it alot cheaper.

I'd still like to make some money on my end too.

Thanks,

Dan

[KirbysLawn]

TheLawnGuy
"So you are inferring that apartment-dwelling LCOs do substandard work?"

People who rent apartments around here do not maintain their property, the apartment complex does. Do they do it differently up north??

I mentioned nothing about people who live in apartments, townhouses, and so on, your reading way too much into it. I did say someone who runs a lawn service should be able to maintain their own lawn to the standards they advertise. Therefore, if your business name is "Green Grass Lawn Care" it might be a good idea to have at least one blade of green grass in your own lawn.

I sure would not take my truck to a mechanic who was not able to fix his own auto, or visit a dentist who had rotten teeth.

Am I missing something?

[MIDSOUTH]

HEY RAY- I looked at your pics and the front edge on the curb looks a little crooked and the backyard needs cutting--just kidding-it looks nice.

[Eric ELM]

It's the same way up North Ray. Bill had to be pulling your leg, at least I hope so. :)

[VLM]

I view my lawn as an advertisement tool also, espcially since I live on a road which leads to a very popular Park. Customers frequently stop by and say hello on weekends when I'm working outside. Neglecting it is not an option for me, but I must admit there are times that if I did live on some remote back street I would probably skip it.

[Redmowers]

My lawn is small and with a 48" deck takes all of 5 min. to cut.I usually do it later in the eve when I get back.But in the winter my drive is the first one done on the way out and the last done on the way back to clean up what the state leaves behind.Very rarely is there any snow or ice on my drive or walk, or in the summer is there any leaves in the yard.Just the way I like it

[thelawnguy]

What I meant (after reading again I see where the confusion comes in) was that, if a LCO lives in an apartment or cave and doesnt have a lawn of their own to maintain, does that put them in a different league?

And yes I did start this to get Kirbys flock of bouncing faces in an uproar. :eek:

[Charles]

I tried to do better with my yard last year. BUt it is still last on the list. I make a vow do do better this year and make it next to last LOL

[kutnkru]

and they do a damn good job too.

Kris

[greenngrow]

I you would have to say that is how I got addicted to this business. We moved into our house about 7 years ago. The yard was a mess. After the nest spring I had it looking OK. By the next year I had the neighbors asking what I did to get the yard looking so good. Even the previous owners came by about a yeaf after and were so impressed that they asked me to do their new yard. So I am off and running.

[KirbysLawn]

Originally posted by thelawnguy
What I meant (after reading again I see where the confusion comes in) was that, if a LCO lives in an apartment or cave and doesnt have a lawn of their own to maintain, does that put them in a different league?


I'm surprised you asked this question once, espesically twice. To answer the question (again) no. How do you figure it would? I said if they do have a lawn it should look nice and well kept. If you have am huge lawn this may not be possible, if you live in an apartment then it would also not be possible.

[thelawnguy]

Originally posted by KirbysLawn
I personally think your lawn should reflect your work and I use my lawn for advertising.



Funny, a guy in a small town near me has a lawn service called "Green Grass Lawn Care", he does not have a single blade of grass in his lawn...just weeds!

This is your post which made me ask the question I did. I quoted word for word so as to not leave anything out.

[KindGardener]

I lease a condo - I've go maybe 15 5&15 gal plants sitting in a stand of hawthorne shrubs, and another 20+ on my patio.
It's more of an infirmary... Had a lady last week - wanted a perfectly good 15gal seedless dwarf Valencia pulled out (I told her we could clear up the whitefly & sooty mold - but she insisted on removal). OK Fine! Into a 15 gal container, onto the truck & home it went!

I've only been at this for 7 mos... I'm going to have to cough up the extra bucks to rent a house just for more room in the yard!

[KirbysLawn]

Alright Bill, whatever. I still don't see the point of your question since I said "Your lawn", if you don't have a lawn then it can't be "your lawn". If you live in a cave then I also guess you don't have a lawn either.

Sorry this has been so confusing for you.

[thelawnguy]

What happened to the bouncing faces?