What about this idea?

[AK Lawn]

Do any of your LOC's water lawns, i have some home owner association that do not have access to water and have requested this service is it profitable what could i charge? and esspecially what equipment would i need, i was thinking about a 500 gal sprayer on a designated trailer to pull behind my personal vehicle (my nice truck that the company is paying for that i use for delivery bids and repairs) any thoughts?
AK Lawn

[gravedigger5]

I don't do this myself, but I'll give you my 2cts worth. If you think 500 gal is enough go to a nearby farm machinery dealer and check out their new/used sprayers. they probably will range from 250 to 1000 gal and from almost free (junk) to more than you would want to spend (large and new). With some modification this might work for you. I don't know how many jobs you think you can get (hopefully many) you might be better off looking in a truck/machinery trader paper for a used firetruck/water tanker to handle the volume. does anybody know how many gallon of water is needed for xxx amount of sq.ft. on average?:confused: goodluck:)

[proline32]

You'll need more than 500 gallons to do a bunch of lawns..... you might use 45 gallons every 15 minutes at best, but don't take me to word on that.

[vipermanz]

is there a set way to price YouR overhead cost of the water??
just by the gallon i would assume:)

[MikeLT1Z28]

they don't have water at their houses?? :eek:

[Richard Martin]

Actually Mike AK Lawn's post was about "Home Owner Association" property. In any case sprinkler systems where I live are few and far between. And it's not because the people are cheap. Everybody here is on a well. Wells come in 3 varieties and 2 classifactions. The 3 varieties are shallow, deep and very deep. The classifactions are "gone dry" and "will go dry if you pump too much water". At around 5 grand for a new well... well you get the idea.

[Brad]

Here is a thought on this subject. Maybe my math is off, but I have checked for dimensions and thought it out several times.

a gallon of water contains 231 cubic inches of water. If you were going to water the lawn evenly at 1/4 inch, you would multiply this figure by 4, covering 924 square inches of lawn at an equivilant of 1/4 inch of rain per gallon of water hauled in your tank.

An acre of ground is an equivilant of 43560 square feet. Multiply that by 144 square inches in a square foot, and you get 6.272.640 square inches of dry, brown, thirsty grass waiting for a drink of that nice, cool, nurishing water that you hauled in from the source.

If I am figuring this right, you will need 6789 gallons of water to allow each square inch of an acre a 1/4 inch of drink.

Great big tank (1000 gal) will hold 8,000 lbs of water.

If it takes you 1/2 hour from the time you drive away from the water source to the lawn, spray water, drive back to source, fill tank and be ready to drive away again, you will have 7 trips, or
3 1/2 hrs. I would GUESS, as I have never done this type of thing, you would be looking at more in the area of 1-1 1/2 hrs per trip.

Just my figures and calculations. Not even my opinion! Don't base your bids on my figures without getting a second calculation.

Brad

[lawnstudent]

And now consider that you need 1" of water a week if there is no rain. We are talking 7 x 4 = 28 trips x 1hr per trip and you are talking 3+ days of hauling water per week for 1 acre.

jim

[grassyfras]

Why dont you just usse the houses facuts to water there own lawn. The condos by my hosue hire a bunch of neighborhood kids to just turn the water on and move it in the summer. Then they just roll up the hoses and do the same thing a few days later. Would that work? Even an LCO has his workers do the same thing once an awhile at another group of condos.

[Ric]

Brad

one acre inch of water is 27,154 gallons of water. I got this figure out of a irrigation book many years ago and just remember it. 624 gallons to water 1,000 sq ft to a depth of one inch. 156 gallons per thousand sq ft to water to a depth of 1/4 inch. In my area we need a inch a week to keep grass green. your area and soil are different than mine.


Everybody

Brads figures might not be right but he made a noble attempt. I could not of done better. The idea he was trying to get across is Pipe lines and irrigation are a lot more economical. People please think before you post. There is no way to haul water cheaper than the water company. They can move it up to 5 feet a second through the pipes before water hammer. Irrigation systems can distribute it evenly and automatically while you sleep. If you want to water lawns for a living, get into irrigation, Plumbers make more money than Doctors. But then plumber have to have a brain.

[Russo]

You might be able to use Ric and Brad's input as a selling point. Maybe tell them that for what it would cost for you to haul in water for 1 or 2 season, thay could install irrigation and have a watered lawn for......well, forever almost. Then just sub out the work if you don't do irrigation.

Did I miss something, why aren't the customers considering a irr. system?

Sorry no math, Landscraper.

[AK Lawn]

Where i am at in alaska, esspecially on hillside were we need the water most, no city water, all well, at an average depth of 400+ feet it really starts to get expensive not to mention the well risks running dry, but you have all masde vallied points, it is not profitable i can make alot more mony lawnscaping thanks
AK Lawn

[Grass_Slayer]

do none of yall have wells??? o i forgot, most of u r yankees!! jk:D

wells dont have enough pressure to run an irrigation sys. unless you live close to a creek, river, or swamp and have an extremly high flow pump.

[Runner]

Never watered lawns before, but we HAVE used the hydroseeder to water trees that were vulnerable to the heat and dryness.

[65hoss]

I think you would need a firetruck to hold enough water. I just don't see being able to make a profit with this, much less cover you expenses.