Winterizing the Business

[cahermit]

So Fall is here and it's far past time to think of how to keep my income substantial through the wintertime. The guy who was doing this route before me charged dirt ass cheap monthly rates, but charged the same rate 12 months a year, so he figured it balanced itself out. The billing goes month to month (charging for the previous month) with no real contracts (which is going to definately change around the 1st of the year). So upon taking the route I jacked the rates up to the industry standards for my area by talking to local LCOs and reviewing this site (thx guys) . So my dilema now is that winter is coming on fast, and with that, I'll have a couple weeks of leaf removal, and fall clean-ups and then from about December to February all cuttings will go down to monthly or bi weekly on an 'as needed' basis. I am assuming that I will just cut monthly rates in half and do biweekly s, which also cuts my income in half. There is no snow here, so no snow removal, and I am pretty sure that I will probably miss some of the biweekly mows due to heavy rains. So what are some of the suggestions to make it through the first winter and not starve? Thx.

[SeaSouth]

I do rental cleanup. Starting 425.00 a house includes interior cleaning cleanings to floors.
Exterior basic lawn service mow edge and trim

Charge extra for anything big like cars or appliances that need to be removed. Save any saleable items found for yard sales or flee market.

Just send an introductory letter to finance company’s, realtors, and don’t forget HUD homes. Add it to your current flyer pass them out.

[Kingram10]

Offer winter Grass to your customers(overseed with Rye seed) then you can mow year round.

[grass_cuttin_fool]

I try to upsell mulch jobs and get them out of the way before the grass starts to grow in the spring. I work solo and its hard to spend 1/2 day or more on a mulch job when I neeed to be mowing.

wayne

[Thirdpete]

seems like that would be great times for clean-ups, mulch, etc. once it freezes here, we can't do mulch in the winter. i'd like to have two or three months where the mulch doesnt freeze but the grass doesn't grow. seems ideal.