Week of rain

[Tim Enix]

I was wondering how you guy's handle it when it rains most of the week and you get behind. If you miss a lawn because of rain and you cut it the next week do you charge extra because it is so long or do you just eat it and charge the normal rate?:blob4:

[Toroguy]

Man there sure a lot of people from Ohio at this site! I may have to change my profile to Ohio.

Now the question:

If it rains two or more days non-stop, I would skip the first rain days schedule until the next week, no additional charge. Then I make up the second rainy day the following day.

A entire week of rain with no opportunity to mow, I'd take it on the chin, all the rain and no sun, it shouldn't be too bad, unless soggy ground comes into play. Go see "Spiderman".

Ive never been rained out two in a row, always managed to get something mowed early or late during one or both of the days.

Look on the bright side, no drought for at least three weeks!

[John from OH]

We scrape the mower decks, spray them with Mo Deck, put on the rain suits and go. We will stop for thunderstorms and downpours. With sharp blades and slower ground speeds most lawns will look fine. Occasionally we have to use the blowers to break up clumps. We mow twice per week on fertilized lawns, once per week on non fertilized so the grass is never very long. Skipping a route due to rain would put us to far behind. Several days of rain would make catching up next to impossible as everyday you miss, the grass keeps growing. You would have a very hard time charging enough to recoup the extra time spent on a property. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't follow our schedule, we just adapt to hers.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Well as I am now 3 days behind due to rain we WILL be mowing non stop untill Saturday night no matter what.

Mothers day week end, all lawns must be cut rain or shine.

I figure it this way, they will call once the sun starts shinning, so we try to not cut in the rain if we can but when there is no choice we do what we can.

Remember this is a business, charge acordingly.

[lawnkid]

Was cutting in the rain today. It's really not that bad you just have to be careful on the turns because of the divots. Otherwise I don't like to get behind so I usually cut in the rain. The only exceptions are when it is really pouring or there is a storm like what John said.

[SLS]

We've had the same thing happening here...rain, rain, rain!

Got tired of getting behind and double cutting later so I went to Tractor Supply and bought a good rainsuit.

Not so bad "mowing in the monsoon" except for the slowing down (divot and slide factor) and deck scraping aspect...it is overall just more time consuming...and all around yucky.

Oh yeah, and blowing soaked grass clippings off the sopping wet hard surfaces. You learn quickly to watch the discharge more closely under these conditions. Got it down to where the only place to blow off was right where I pull the Lazer up on the trailer. :D

All caught up now (finally) and will mow in a typhoon now if necessary to keep on schedule and cutting single passes.

[Big 12 Lawns]

Hey John from Ohio,

When you mow twice per week, does that offset your following week? Are you mowing every five days or do you start each week the same and just mow twice? I have some apartment complexes that grow pretty fast and I am trying to figure out how to get them to be willing to let me mow more often and how to work it out in my rotation.

[Brickman]

Guys I have been in your shoes, but not for several years. I just suck it up, and take the beatin. The following week sucks the big one. But what do you do. Customers look at it from the stand point that they didn't get a cut and you won't get paid. Unless you have properties that pay monthly then I don't worry about a change unless they bring it up.


I know that most every one wasn't complaining about the rain, just about getting behind on the work. We are in the worst drought that has hit this area in the last while. Nothing is growing without having the sprinklers on. And there is talk of water restrictions, and that will mean greatly reduced mowings, which will mean drasticly reduced income if this happens.
To say nothing of the fact that grass fire danger goes up every day that goes by.

[P&J Lawncare]

We raise the deck a notch and come back in 4-5 days and cut it again.

[keifer]

rain sleet hail or snow iam going to mow. but really go slow and mowin the rain getting behind is no fun.

[TGCummings]

I'll mow in light rains but never in heavy rains, dangerously high winds, or thunderstorms.

I charge a flat monthly rate for my services. If it's a weekly service I get the same rate every month if I'm there 3 or 5 times. 4 is just the "average" number of cuts in a month.

[rick_reno]

I cut a couple of acres two days ago in a heavy snowstorm. Only real problem was I had to keep wiping the snow off my saftey glasses.

[lasher66]

I mow in the rain if I get more than a day behind and it is still raining. Do you guys have customers get mad if you mow when it is wet? I have some that think there lawn will get messed up if I mow it in the rain. You guys do bag if it is raining dont you? I tryed to not bag the other day when it was wet and clumps just flew everywhere so I ended up bagging.

Lasher66

[ohiolawnguy]

ahh the luxury of only mowing four days a week. we knew it would rain, so we mowed ahead as far as we could. we don't have a mowing route on tuesdays(usually spent doing landscape projects etc.). so, yesterday, we mowed the majority of our wednesday route. today we mowed the rest of our wednesday route, and half of the thursday route. yes we did mow in the rain for about two and a half hours.

as far as mowing in the rain goes. we had this dilemna on our monday route two weeks in a row earlier this year the first week, we mowed them just a little higher than usual. the following week, t rained again,so after about six yards, I told the guys to raise it all the way to 4.5" that brought us to this monday. the grass wasn't extremely long,the weather was nice(most of the day) and we went ahead and mowed at 2 3/4", some places 3"

If we are mowing at regular height in the rain, sometimes we bag sometimes we don't. that just depends on the type of customer, and characterisitcs of the yard.

[Aaron Klemme]

I'm all for mowing rain or shine but rain hasent become the problem any more. I am located in the St. Louis area. We have had constant rain for two weeks. Their are clear days but the accumulated rain fall has made ALL yards so soppy that you sink just walking on them. I've be up for 3 days strait. It's still raining and the phone keeps ringing. I service an extemely large amount of yard and am in a pretty large bind. It sucks. I pull mowers out all day long and finnaly made the call to hold out on mowing for a few days because I have over 15 yard I must now fix. I dunno guys but I haven't ever been in a s--t pile like I am now. Over these last two weeks I think I've probably taken a hit of about 8 or 9 thousand dollars. Anyways good luck to all of you, I know I haven't had It latey.

Aaron

[Toroguy]

It has rained here the past two days, starting at 3PM. Cant get any better as far as that goes. The problem here is the COLD, it is crazy cold, in the 40's - 20 degrees below normal, I am wearing gloves and winter hats while mowing. Tomorrow rain and cold, plus a 40MPH wind.

It could be worse, if you add a headache.

Stay positive

[Aaron Klemme]

Boy I don't know. I think I'd rather have the cold. At least I can still mow. I know its got to be crappie but right know I'm done till it gets dry. I don't mind bad conditions but I can't stand not getting the job done. I'm just hurtin for $. I've got a quite a few guys that work for me and with all the eq. I bought this year I've got 0$ till all my first few acounts recievables come in. Its just been crazy. I figure it won't get this bad for the rest of the year so I'm positive in the hopeing the worst should be over.
Hope all goes well for the rest of you.

[Soupy]

Aaron Klemme, Were are you located? I'm in Belleville. we have a flood watch for the rest of tonight, then clearing tomorrow and Friday. Then Rain again untill Tuesday. I've been cutting lawns with Thick grass. But I'm staying away from the ones with thin grass. I took my turf tires off my DC. and went back to the Turf Boss 2's and they have saved my but. I don't know how I've lived without them. I cut a ditch today that had water standing in it and I floated right across it. I have noticed in some spots that the mud will seep up a little but it washes right off dureing the next rainfall.

Edit: well a few minutes passed since I replied, and It is pouring rain and thundering like crazy. I just hope it doesn't rain all night. Oh no, here comes the little one. Thunder must have scared him :(

Soupy

[David Haggerty]

The rain doesn't usually get us off schedule. But the recent flooding has us one whole day behind. On a 5 day schedule that's a lot.
We mowed one the day before yesterday where the flood had floated the dumpster clear across the back lot! We just mulched the debris. It was mostly corn stalks. We mowed around the dumpster. :D
I'm down to 11 psi in the tires of the big mower. That'll let me mow lawns too soft to walk on. It won't leave ruts, but muddy tracks are a given. The owners manual says it can go as low as 9 psi but the sidewalls of the tires wrinkle so bad.
What psi does everybody else have in their tires?

Dave

[Toroguy]

Originally posted by David Haggerty

What psi does everybody else have in their tires?

Dave

Tire pressure? I think they are using oars and outboards.:)

[Soupy]

6 psi, Turf Boss 2 tires

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Well I guess I lied in mt first post to this thread, we did not go out mowing this week yet.

My solution will be so I don't loose any dough, they will still get billed for this week when we spend 3 times the time to mow next week, and will raise the decks to make it easier.

[Flex-Deck]

TGCummings - I am with you - Here in SE. Iowa, we figure 24 mowings a year. I do a year deal based on 24 mowing. Some years I mow 26, and some I mow 22, so it works out. In the spring it may be every 5 days. In August it may be 2 times a month.

[Soupy]

LAWNGODFATHER, I bet you got some moweing in today. It was beutiful today :cool: I live just 15 minutes on the east side of the river and I mowed all week. I had some mud trails on a few lawns, But nothing the next rains didn't wash away. These Turf Boss 2 tires saved my but. I couldn't have mowed without them. I would have sink and left ruts with anything else. Matter of fact, My little Toro Proline did worse then My Dixie. It's a good thing I only need it on a couple of lawns.

Anyway I really enjoyed the Weather we had Today :)
Soupy

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Yup, we did 13 hours of mowing Friday and I am waiting for them to finish sharpening blades while it dries up some from the rain we just got so we can mow some more.

We left very very little tire ruts, which is good.

I may takes some pics of lawns that were rutted up, I have seen many.

Here is a pic of one I mowed yesterday.

[Toroguy]

Holy shnike LAWNGODFATHER, that is some growth! Nice results.

[Robert Pruitt]

if i know it's goin to rain i try too mow a day early. but who knows watchin the weather channel????

[hustlers]

Here in northern MN we havent even
gotten our first cut.

Lots of Rain and Cold,
but no warmth or sunshine.
I've even tried water solube N and it wont
barely make it grow

[Pacific Nursery]

Talked to some guys in our area that tried to mow this past week, left mud tracks (I see them everywhere) and he lost 3 jobs.
Fired because of mud tracks and ruts. We usually mow in the rain but when you leave tracks from walking its time to wait it out.
Did get caught up these past two days though. Just in time for the next bought of storms.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Originally posted by hustlers
Here in northern MN we havent even
gotten our first cut.

Lots of Rain and Cold,
but no warmth or sunshine.
I've even tried water solube N and it wont
barely make it grow

You may experiance excessive growth once it does start to grow.

You can't make Mother Nature work faster than she wants.

Toroguy, that's mowing at 4.5"!!!!!

The grass had an avg. height of 11" before we mowed, I used my tape measure to check.

Live long TGCL!......................................... NOT!!!




BTW in the back ground of the pic you can barraly see the tire rut marks of a LCO who is part time and works the rest of the time at FedEX.

Funny he tore that whole lawn up, wait one day and he wouldn't have left any.