Leaves!!!

[way2real]

What is the best method of picking up leaves commercially for the fall season? What kind of equipment would I need?

[joshco84]

walkers with a lift to dump in the back of a pickup with dump bed are nice. the old company i worked for had billy goats and they sucked, or i didnt like them anyways.

[jgp Landscaping]

ur best bet is to get a stihl br600 they r one of the best backpack blowers on the market and there incredibly powerful, id also get a little wonder push blower, if u dont want to waste more money on a debris loader then id get a tarp and blow the leaves on the tarp and dispose of them ur own way:)

[topsites]

You do as you wish, but in my experience you really need at least 1,000 tube cfm's at 200mph turbine air, or it just takes forever.

A push blower is a neat idea, here again the 5hp's are a waste of money, you need at least 8hp's to do anything commercially, I bought my 10hp my first year and with 2,400 cfm's this bad boy makes a short afternoon out of the worst of cleanups, never once has a yard taken me more than 4 hours (for the blowing part). 2,400 cfm's is enough power to strip gravel driveways, blow trashcans and chairs and bbq's out of the way, even mid-size sticks and branches are no match for a 10hp push blower, definitely the way to go when you want to earn your keep today.

The purchase price is usually the show-stopper, roughly speaking push blowers run you $100 per horse, so a 10hp = 1,000 to make the math simple, 8hp is 800, and so on... But if money is a problem and you must compromise, then get the br600 and skip the push. Don't forget the days are short and the nights bring frost, by the time the leaves are unfrozen it's hard to get much more than 6-8 hours into a day, so cfm's are a must-have, more is better, always.
You can use the br600 throughout the rest of the season as well, to blow clippings and what have you, it's a royal fine tool.

Loading them up, once again it's up to you, but a leaf sucking trailer runs like 6-8 thousand, I've been piling the leaves with blowers then rake+tarp for that very reason, sux but that's a lot of money.

ur best bet is to get a stihl br600 they r one of the best backpack blowers on the market and there incredibly powerful, id also get a little wonder push blower, if u dont want to waste more money on a debris loader then id get a tarp and blow the leaves on the tarp and dispose of them ur own way:)

See this guy's either smart or well on his way there.
The br600 puts out 700cfm's at 200mph (tubed), the biggest issue with force air is not with light dry cleanups...
Heck, any blower can handle the fluff, but when the leaves get rained on and they're skinny or heavy stuff gets mixed in with dirt and frost and then piles 3-4 feet high, THAT's when the power makes all the difference.

At that point you either got enough power to move the leaves, or (get this) the leaves don't move. Yeah, sometimes you can compromise and the work just takes longer, but other times you either have enough power or you are stuck.

The br600 is powerful enough to move acorns and gumballs too, also most lights sticks and small branches are no match for this beauty, definitely the 'lightest' tool I use that time of year... I am so anal about cfm's I use a 300 cfm handheld in my left hand and hit that crap with both blowers for a combined force of just over 1,000 cfm's, and that gets the job done...
Thou the br600 by itself is not bad, not bad at all.

[Stillwater]

What is the best method of picking up leaves commercially for the fall season? What kind of equipment would I need?

haveing someone else do it.......

[joshco84]

i do like eshkies idea also.

[Sydenstricker Landscaping]

I just blow the beds out into the lawn, then run it over with my mowers. Cleans it right up and can either dump the bag into the woods or the truck

[APV's Mowing]

just wondering do you charge by the job or by the hour, and also how many times do you come back for one house, i have an echo shred n' vac blower, rake, and tarp, also a brand new commercial toro with bag, side discharge, and mulch so i dn what im going to do but i was thinking 20 an hour or so, also im only doing my lawn costomers so i dn if i would just do it when i mow or what...im not sure yet, first year for fall clean-ups and i have about 15 costomers

[JABBERS]

I use a BR600 and a jrco leaf plow on my exmark works great.

[wahlturfcare]

i use my echo 650's and the leaf plows and dethatchers i make along with the truck vac to make it go quick.

heres a link to a picture of my plows

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=201835

[Lawnut101]

just wondering do you charge by the job or by the hour, and also how many times do you come back for one house, i have an echo shred n' vac blower, rake, and tarp, also a brand new commercial toro with bag, side discharge, and mulch so i dn what im going to do but i was thinking 20 an hour or so, also im only doing my lawn costomers so i dn if i would just do it when i mow or what...im not sure yet, first year for fall clean-ups and i have about 15 costomers

I've been thinking about this too. I'm leaning toward the idea of charging by the hour, because this is the only way that it is fair for you and the customer. You can still give them a quote, but try and base it off of how much time it will take you. As far as charging 20/hr, I know that a lot of guys on here will think that your nuts, but here is what I'm gonna do. This year I'm gonna advertise heavily for fall cleanups. I'm gonna charge my existing customers (mowing accounts) around 20 per man per hour (2 man crew). But with any new customers that I pick up, I'm gonna try charging more like 40 per man per hour, because I'm in the early stages of business and I want to experiment a little. I want to see what the market can bare around here. I will either be the lowest priced (doubt it), in the middle(that's what I'm expecting), or the highest (very unlikely). But, charge what you KNOW you can get from your good customers, and charge what you want to see if you can get from other people. Good luck to you. Brant

[JABBERS]

I have a charge per job plus I add on an hourly rate. The leaf plow is so fast and efficient that you tend to loose money if you just do an hourly rate. When I use my leaf plow everyone wants to watch. I use no tarps and rake very little.

[verant]

I've been thinking about this too. I'm leaning toward the idea of charging by the hour, because this is the only way that it is fair for you and the customer. You can still give them a quote, but try and base it off of how much time it will take you. As far as charging 20/hr, I know that a lot of guys on here will think that your nuts, but here is what I'm gonna do. This year I'm gonna advertise heavily for fall cleanups. I'm gonna charge my existing customers (mowing accounts) around 20 per man per hour (2 man crew). But with any new customers that I pick up, I'm gonna try charging more like 40 per man per hour, because I'm in the early stages of business and I want to experiment a little. I want to see what the market can bare around here. I will either be the lowest priced (doubt it), in the middle(that's what I'm expecting), or the highest (very unlikely). But, charge what you KNOW you can get from your good customers, and charge what you want to see if you can get from other people. Good luck to you. Brant

I wouldn't vary your prices from customer to customer. Definitely charge $40 per hour though. it's impossible to estimate exactly how long a clean up will take so charge per hour, make sure you work hard though. 20 is cheating yourself especially if you have professional equipment

[JABBERS]

I agree $20/hr way to cheap. We are all professionals with expensive equipment. The way I look at it is you have to put a price on your time. My regulars get a better price than just a 1st time customer. When I do a clean up I usually have 2 backpack blowers and a 60inch exmark with the leaf plow all running at the same time with 2 guys. I have to charge more than just the 2 man hrs for an hour. Sometimes I have a 8hp push blower running too.

[Lawnut101]

I agree $20/hr way to cheap. We are all professionals with expensive equipment. The way I look at it is you have to put a price on your time. My regulars get a better price than just a 1st time customer. When I do a clean up I usually have 2 backpack blowers and a 60inch exmark with the leaf plow all running at the same time with 2 guys. I have to charge more than just the 2 man hrs for an hour. Sometimes I have a 8hp push blower running too.

So what do you charge your regulars vs. your 1 timers?

[green-pa]

$20 is way too cheap if u are using pro equipment. U gotta think about the gas it takes to get to the job/s, power your stuff, pay for any wear and tear, and so on. $40/hr is closer to right I'd say ( per man hr)

[corey4671]

I've been thinking about this too. I'm leaning toward the idea of charging by the hour, because this is the only way that it is fair for you and the customer. You can still give them a quote, but try and base it off of how much time it will take you. As far as charging 20/hr, I know that a lot of guys on here will think that your nuts, but here is what I'm gonna do. This year I'm gonna advertise heavily for fall cleanups. I'm gonna charge my existing customers (mowing accounts) around 20 per man per hour (2 man crew). But with any new customers that I pick up, I'm gonna try charging more like 40 per man per hour, because I'm in the early stages of business and I want to experiment a little. I want to see what the market can bare around here. I will either be the lowest priced (doubt it), in the middle(that's what I'm expecting), or the highest (very unlikely). But, charge what you KNOW you can get from your good customers, and charge what you want to see if you can get from other people. Good luck to you. Brant
$20/hr? Forget that! I can stay at my regular job and make that on overtime sitting on my butt and not having to fool with with hassle of equipment and fuel! $40/hr? MAYYYYYYYYYYBE....if I average in my drive time to get there and back. If I ain't making AT LEAST $60/hr in the time I spend on the job, I look at it like I've lost money. Remember my opening line. $20/hr, on my butt doing next to nothing.

[Lawnut101]

$20/hr? Forget that! I can stay at my regular job and make that on overtime sitting on my butt and not having to fool with with hassle of equipment and fuel! $40/hr? MAYYYYYYYYYYBE....if I average in my drive time to get there and back. If I ain't making AT LEAST $60/hr in the time I spend on the job, I look at it like I've lost money. Remember my opening line. $20/hr, on my butt doing next to nothing.

I agree with you, however, I don't have a booming business yet and I have very low overhead. I will be making plenty of money charging 40/man. Next year as my business grows, then I can get into the 60/man hour range.

[JayD]

I use a BR600 and a jrco leaf plow on my exmark works great.

What is that ? Got pix?

[APV's Mowing]

thank you for all of your input...i live in the neighborhood i mostly work in and im 16...if i said 40 dollars an hour people would laugh at me and slam their door in my face, they all think im the neighbor kid and blah blah blah...i think ill see how it goes with the first couple costomers

[Matts lawn care]

Do not bid by the hour but by the job. If I told someone it would be 90-120 per hour (2ppl) I would have no chance. There is a huge amount of money in leaves. If you need to bid your first cleanup or 2 by the hour to see how long it takes. Then use that figure to bid the rest of your jobs by the job.