Working On The Weekend !?

[Lawns2nv]

Hello,

How you guys doing, I was just woundering how many people Mow on the weekend. Myself I'm a solo operation basically partime. I mow after i get off work, until I can afford to go fulltime. I picked up a few small plowing accounts, that will lead to summer mowing. One of clients asked me if i will mow on the weekend. He told me absolutly not to even come to his house and do any mowing because his weekends are for relaxing. He doesn't want to be botherd with any noise. Are most people like that or is this guy crazy? I do some accounts on the weekend, but out of respect ,i dont start real earily because of this factor. Is it a good idea to keep working on Sat.& Sun. or what? What do you guys do.. Thanks all....

[lee b]

I'm a part-timer too and most of my work has to be done on Saturdays. But I'm mostly commercial and they don't care when I work. I do have one large yard {6+ acres} they want it done on Saturday, because they have guest on Sundays. Never had a residential customer tell me not to mow on Saturday.

[Craig Turf Management]

My weekends belong to my wife and my kids! I do on occasion work on a saturday to catch up due to rain etc. Your client has a point. How can he chill in his hammock with you mowing his lawn?
Bill Craig!

[General Grounds]

:blob3: well being that we are in a business in which weather is a hugh factor, mowing on the weekend sometimes can not be avoided. i have in my contracts that mowing will be backed up in the event of rain and that weekend mowing may be nec., believ me if i can avoid cutting on the weekend when everybody is home i will, but do not get that lucky. seems like when your behind everone comes out and whats to chat and discuss what they may do. i would make it clear of your situation and that you may have to mow on the weekend, if he has a problem w/ it then send him on his way, for every person you pass on there will be 2 standing behind him. Tony

[PAPS]

We cut Mon- Sat, reserving Saturday's for some Commercial sites and residential customers that dont mind a Saturday visit. In terms of rain, well then the customers have no choice if there day get bumped back to a Saturday.

[65hoss]

I schedule everything monday thru friday. Very seldom do I work on saturday. Then its only a church and maybe a comm'l or two. Never cut a residential on saturday. I like working when most people are not a home. That way you don't have to slow down to talk with them. I get more done that way.

[HOMER]

I try never to mow a residential on Saturday............but I work nearly all of them. My commercial accounts are done then and that number is getting higher than my residentials. When the time changes back I'll just be working later. During the winter I take days off during the week to spend with the little lady.

No kids home then!:D

[ohiolawnguy]

we mow monday , wed, thurs, friday, weather permitting.
tuesdays and saturdays reserved for odd jobs. Also will meet with customers on a sunday if that is only day they are available to do so. IE estimates or to talk about renovating landscaping etc.

[Guardian]

AL Landscaping has a schedule just like ours. BUT I am considering changing (after 2 yrs) from T-F to M-thu. My hope would be that if rain delayed us, we would still not have to work Saturday. Plus having FRI's off seems nicer than MON's (except on SUN night - it feels nice to know I am not working tomorrow)

One challenge would be that we have some residential's on TUE's load and moving them to MONday may not seem bad, but they already barely tollerate TUE (they of course want to be closer to the week end). OUr days are dedicated to certain areas, so its not possible to give them another day.

My only thought as of now would be to re-think the entire way I schedule. Maybe have an enormous commercial day on Monday - and keep residentials still towards the end of the week ( and drive a little more than I want to).

[BigJim]

We mow 52 weeks a year here,Monday-Friday,Saturdays only if its rained and were behind,Weekends are for kids and fishing!

[Richard Martin]

I only mow Monday thru Friday. We have a large population of children in my area and there are just too many around on the weekends.

[TJLC]

I only work weekends if I HAVE to. One of my big comm. accounts is a medical complex that is better done on the weekend to avoid hassle. Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances I must sometimes work weekends. My wife understands that it's part of the business. At least I think she does.LOL

[longslawn]

We mow Mon-Fri only. There may be an ocassion where we would have to mow on Saturday but it would have to be if they were having some type of event (birthday party ect...)at there home and we could not get there on Friday. I tell customers when we are discussing the day that we will service there yard that we do not work on mowing maintenance on Sat. We also do not gaurantee a day in specific. If they insist on a day near the end of the week, we tell them if it rains and we can't get there that day we will do it soon as possible. Lets say they want it done on Thursday and it rains Thur - Fri. We would try to mow on Monday the next week. The following week would be Tuesday, the next Wed. and so forth until we get them back to Thursday. If we miss a schedulded mowing we make it up somewhere down the road. Never had a complaint doing it this way in 13 years.:)

[Craig Turf Management]

Richard Martin... Good point! There are a lot of kids around on the weekends. Lot of liability there.
I want to mow monday - thursday this year. Leave friday open for rain day, errand day, etc. This will give my helper a day to get his stuff done as well. Hope this works.
Bill Craig!

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

I have quite a few accts that are mowed every 10 days and some that are mowed every 5 days, so most weekends I'm working. Put some rain into the equation and I'm mowing on Sundays. Grass grows 7 days a week!! I do 5 doctors offices and 2 post offices, so weekends are the best time to mow these since during the week, these accts are polluted with cars. Rentals are also good to mow on weekends. When I take on a new acct, I'll ask them up front if they mind if I mow on weekends. Most don't mind.

LAWNS AND MOWER

[Mowingman]

We do some commercial properties on Sat. as there are no cars or people in the way. Usually try to finish by 2:00 so everyone can enjoy some of the weekend. We never work on Sun.:)

[RB]

About 90% of my mowing is for seniors. They don't care when it's mowed as long as it's done once a week.

I mow on Mon, Tue, & Wed. If it rains maybe thur. Extra work on thur and fri. Rarely work on Saturday.

When people ask if I can mow on thur or fri I tell them I would be glad to mow them if they are having something going on during the weekend and need the lawn to look good, but I won't mow regularly on thur or fri. I used to mow thur and fri and it seemed I always ended up mowing on Sat because of delays. the people that have not elected to use me because I would not mow them on friday are usually the type of customers that complain a lot. I'd probably end of dropping them anyway.

I guess I'm pretty fortunate that I live in an area where the lawn maintenance biz is not too competitive (yet) and the seniors are very loyal if you do a good job and are very respectful.

PS
Put everyone on contract and mow their lawn at 2 1/2" and it will still look good on sat.

[King City Lawns]

we do not schedual any lawns for the week end. this would be very diffcult to keep up with th first time it rained We really only have a 4 day weekly scedule with a day for extra work. most every week ends up full works well for us and we dont get behind.

[Premo Services]

Weekends were made for Michelob................. :D

Most customers don`t want to be cut on the weekends. BUT THEY ALL WANT THEIR LAWN CUT ON FRIDAY!!! I hate to have to cut on saturdays, it all gets done during the week, unless we get a lot of rain. I will do landscape maint. on weekends, but prefer to do all work on weekdays. One of my older customers like me to do all the maint. on saturdays, and I try to accomodate them, besides they always have coffee in the morn, and lunch also.:D

[kutnkru]

This season I will be cutting five high traffic businesses Sundays that will be closed. I was fortunate enough to add in a lil' something extra for the early start to the week.

I will finish Commercial/Industrial accounts on Tuesday and cut Residentials thru Friday. Saturdays will be reserved for family. I dont think theres anything wrong with six day work weeks as a solo op and my girls dont seem to mind the extra cashflow for their luxuries -LOL!!!

[outrunjason]

I am an owner operator in Dallas. I mow M-F and not on Saturday unless I have to. I want it off as much as everyone else. After all that is why I am in business for myself!

Jason

[BRIAN GALLO]

I mow wherever and whenever I have to to keep on schedule (which is ultimately what the customer wants). I try to accomidate any customer's needs but they have to understand that they all can't get cut at 11:00 am on Friday while they are out for a hair appointment! I try to get in and out as fast as possible to minimize any annoyance.

[JimLewis]

We work Mon-Fri and save Saturdays for overflow (which doesn't happen often).

We never work Sundays. It's a day of rest and worship. Even if you don't believe that way, trust me; many of your clients and potential clients do.

My advice is to not Schedule people in for Saturdays unless you know they are ok with it. And don't work Sundays.

[David Haggerty]

April thru June is 7 days a week for me.

I try to stay out of the customers way on weekends.
Just to show them a little consideration.

By July things slow down to mowing every 7 days.

I have a lot of trouble fitting a 5 day rotation into a 7 day week.
The customer gets confused too. They'll say:
"One week you mow twice, the next you mow only once."


Yeah, It switches every week too. LOL


Dave

[Bob Minney]

We don't schedule any mowing on weekends. I schedule work on Saturdays April, May, June, Sept., Oct., to take care of extra aeration, shrub, dethatch, etc. that I can't get to durring the week. It's very rare I have to make up a mow on a Sat. and I always let the customer know why and when we are changing mow days.

[TGCummings]

Monday thru Thursday is the schedule I'm working on now. Friday is for overflow from rain, holiday, illness, etc. I haven't worked a weekend in nearly two years now, though I'm willing to go out in case of 'emergency'.

Generally, however, I've never met a lawn that couldn't wait 'til Monday. ;)

[Loosestrife]

I think that the longer I am married, the more I enjoy working evenings and weekends!!!

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

I hear you loud and clear Loosestrife!!!! Here's a tough call. Go weedeat in a lightning storm or stay at home with the misses.

LAWNS AND MOWER

[bruces]

Loosestrife,
Lawns & mower,

How can you guys say stuff like that. I've had 10 great years of marriage.


Not bad out of 26 total.

[awm]

me an brother arthur got a deal. i work like a youngun 5 days
and rest like an oldun for 2. so far its workin. i dont really rest but i do what i want to. u know sharpen blds clean up machines an do repairs etc. things lcos like to do:D

[kerr lawn]

my customers don't mind if i get it on sat., but there have been those weeks for whatever reason i squeezed it into 5 days. With no school and straight work for the spring at least, i'm hoping no weekends. I don't really mind working weekends my parents annoy the hell out of me so it gets me out of the house. Sunday is abs no no no unless i screwed up somehow and i go fix it. Or if i know i can charge the customer as much as i want and i don't start till at least 12 or 1 because that is when i get up. It is amazing how long it takes to eat, shower, and get ready with a hangover compared to the weekdays. Other than that sundays is the day to sit at home/friends house sobering up playing PS2, eating, shooting the shiznot, and preparing for another week of the same stuff you did the week before.

[lamblawnscaping]

Monday, Wednesday & Thursday only for mowing this year. Landscaping Tuesday and Friday. We have found that mowing through friday almost always puts you into saturday for one reason or another. Plus landscaping is more profitable and less prone to weather delays. Also try to be off by 3 on fridays, employees will love you for it.

[Craig Turf Management]

kerr lawn,

I'll say a little prayer for you in church this Sunday.
Take care, Bill Craig!