loosing ground in years to come?please read and respond!

[AndrewLawn]

just wondering who all think there will still be jobs for lco's in
15-20 years.I mean,I've seen stuff like robots that cut your lawn,fake grass stuff(in other words doesnt grow),more and more popularity(means less and less business for us),and easy riding lawnmowers becoming more available to the public....future doesnt look too bright,most of that stuff is expensive(robots cutters,etc)but will likely decrease in cost over the years..like cd players,right?anyway,about the only job left for people in this industry will be landscaping jobs(providing they dont make a machine for it:p )anyway,what do you all think?

[P&J Lawncare]

I think that in the years to come a professional lawncare company will still be in demand because they will never be able to produce a robot lawnmower that can stripe a yard or trim around trees and fences and blow off walks and as for fake lawns it will take 100 years before that could ever hurt us there are just to many real lawns out there right now even if they put in fake lawns in every new home from today on there would still be millions of homes that had real grass to deal with. The real threat to our industry is the constant lowballing by fly by nite scrubs, the guys that dont have to worry about insurance or taxes. The only way this business is to prosper is through unity and in the near future we are going to have to find a way to make sure that the scrubs can't do what they are doing now. Would'nt it be great if we united as a group (unionized) and forced everybody to compete on a level playing field making sure that everybody carried insurance and ran their business legally then all that would matter is the quality of work that was being performed and these scrubs could'nt lowball us because they would be paying for the same services (insurance,taxes,workmans comp.)that we allready pay for.

[awm]

what i see is continued movement of city apartment
dwellers to so some refuge in the suburbs or country.
these have lawns and after a couple o yrs a lot of them are looking for someone else to take care ofem.change is constant but i believe we ll be alright.

[Kent Lawns]

JUST THE OPPOSITE!

Lawn and landscape industry is BOOMING! With all new developments, municipalities are requiring zoning for "green space", landscaping, lawns & plants.

Robotic mowers have been out on the market for almost 20 years and they'll have no impact on the professional landscaper for the nest 20.

The industry growth is phenominal and will be until we retire.

[parkwest]

The direction this country is headed, 20 years from now we'll all be working for the gov't.

[Fantasy Lawns]

this is a Service industry ....period .....people whom you REALLY want as a customer WILL pay for Good Service ....robots, scrubs, low ballers .....what ever ....they have NO REAL factor on what you should be providing .....Which is Good Reliable, Consistent & SERVICE

Disney provides Excellent Service n people wait in long lines & pay big $$ to experience ....Great Service ....No robot will call back the customer, trim the hedges, trees or weed the beds .....Scrubs n low ballers are in EVERY Service industry .....painters, drywall, roofers, etc..... they come ......they GO!

Just in the last 20 years we see people wanting the cheap fast route .....look at pizza delivery, fast food, video rental .......... same thing fast, convenient, cheap ..........BUT why are Expensive Nice Restaurants or Huge Movie Theaters still around the corner .....Reliability, Consistency & Service that's the KEY ....the Good Customer LIKES to be Pampered ;->

[lawnboy82]

i think that there is a future for these machines and fake lawns. machines for people with postage stamp yards, fake lawns for those who are looking for their own small private putting greens. as for actual lawns. think about photosynthesis? it takes trees and landscape plants, as well as turf to give us clean air to breath. now as for the machines, it is all well and good that they can cut the lawns, however what about feeding? and monitoring? diseases? insects? 1 machine will not do all these things. if anything does come of this test of time i feel it would be only be a bigger demand for educated lawn maintenance professionals. as opposed to joe blow lawn guy who cuts, trims, blows, and goes not noticing that you have a big pythium blight outbreak on your lawn which will kill it within the next 24 hrs. just something to think about, for now and in the future.

[CSRA Landscaping]

I doubt very much that these things are a threat to our trade.

[MATTHEW]

I do think about this a lot. More in the realm of
the economy, though. What will happen if we have a
serious recession. I suppose commercial accounts
and little old ladies will still need someone, but
may feel pressured to go to a lowballer. Other
younger,well to do with little spare time may just
go buy a mower.I might think those of us with big
debt may go under. It is a very real threat. Just
because the last 10 years went well does not mean
it will for the next. We need to look forward and
have a plan for the future in the event of any
possible troubles.

[Craig Turf Management]

I think that our industry will grow, and pro lawn services will be in high demand after we educate all of these hard working homeowners on the value of their leisure time. I sell myself by asking potential clients how they would rather spend their saturday afternoons, mowing and caring for their landscape, or spending time with their families or on the golf course.

What I am concerned about is the way that legislation will affect our industry. Noise and exhaust emmisions in particular. We are already hearing rumblings about posswible water restrictions in my area.

Join an association, be involved, and when the time comes, stand and be counted. Don't let some politician who won't even mow his own lawn tell you that you can't use a blower to clean his walkway.

Bill Craig:cool:

[bobbygedd]

ive been thinking about this for quite a while, and this is what ive come up with. in years to come, computer programmers, rocket scientists, "proffesional types", will be a dime a dozen. when i was in high school there were many different types of proffesions in the minds of my classmates, some were gonna be plumbers, electricians, printers, mechanics, welders, and so on. the students today are mostly colledge minded with a career in the computer field in mind. and, when there r too many of one thing that thing is not worth that much. also consider that to buy a brand new home today is outragoues. around here almost any new home is somewhere around $275, 000. the builders spend a fortune to knock down the plants and trees, then the young geniuses pay us a fortune to plant new ones. i think the blue colar worker will hold the hot hand as the overeducated dime a dozen computer scientist is putting in a million hours a week to pay off his education, home, and two mercades. he will not have time to even cut his own lawn, and if u have to use a broom instead of a blower, its gonna cost them more. u would be surprised how many of my customers are only 25-30 years old and pay me to cut the lawn because they have to put in alot of hours and kiss alot of butt to exsist in the corporate world. this is just my thought, but im only a dumb lawn boy, what do u guys think?

[kutnkru]

I think that as far as service oriented industries are concerned that there will always be the call/demand for them.

The real question is whether or not there will be a depleated fuel supply as they say in 2047.