Leaf Clean Up

[LandscapeMember]

I know it is hard to answer a questions like this.... I have a potential customer with about 3/4 of an acre that needs to be cleaned up. The ground is 80% covered with leaves. She has trees all over the place. I would need to dispose of the debris.

I can not mulch mow it, way too many leaves and to use the backpack blowers would take days.

Do you have any suggestions on how to bid or a fast way to get rid of the leaves.

I do mostly hardscaping, mowing and landscape installs. I do not do too many clean-ups.

I appreciate your help.

[daveintoledo]

lawns like that i mow and bag it, easiest way for me..

[marko]

I did a small cleanup with advise Bobby G gave last fall. I have a 36" Toro. I put double blades (gators over normal lifts in an x pattern. I mowed several times and it ground the leaves up pretty good. Then put on the bagger and caught them. It reduced the mass to 1 bag full (compared to 6 - 10 if I had not done this). Give it a try. Also, do a search on megmo (they are a sponsor here). They are expensive, but some swear by them.

[jbell113]

What i like to do is mow the yard and side dicharge it. Cut in a square and discharge the clippings and leaves to the inside of the square. Then once it is all chopped up put your bagger on and run back over all the chopped up leaves.

[LandscapeMember]

Thank you for the posts. I thought mowing it would make more of a mess. I will take your suggestions and let you know how it turns out.

What do you think I should charge... ballpark

[marko]

Make sure you do it as Jbell suggested. Keep discharging from the outside in to the middle. Chop the **** out of the leaves, then bag to pick up whats left. Double blades help on this.

[jbell113]

Make sure you do it as Jbell suggested. Keep discharging from the outside in to the middle. Chop the **** out of the leaves, then bag to pick up whats left. Double blades help on this.


Every one has there own way of figuring but what I do is figure what you would charge to mow it and then double that plus the cost of bags.
$40 to mow $80 to clean up leaves $10 for bags =$90

[rickman]

What i like to do is mow the yard and side dicharge it. Cut in a square and discharge the clippings and leaves to the inside of the square. Then once it is all chopped up put your bagger on and run back over all the chopped up leaves.

I did that the other day...I just couldnt get the leaves where I wanted them so I said heck with this and dropped the deck and mowed around and around till they were in 1 small area and just bagged it right there! saved lots and lots of time :D

[Patrick.B]

Thats what i do like rickman said ,,,,i'll mow all the leaves to one side and bag it and if you work by your self ..get you a bag holder for your bag ..i build me one and it work great when working by my self ....i'd did a job liek that few weeks ago and charge $325.00 Took me 6.5 hours ....Good Luck !!

[rickman]

yeah holding a bag with 2 hands you dont have and putting leaves in it with the 2 hands you do have isnt easy :p I was like--> :realmad:
I then lined my big plastic garbage pail..tried it that way which worked better but then had to wrestle it out of the barrel when it got full after being squished in there! :D I like when my son does all the bagging its well worth saying here ya go payup