cut every 14 days

[marcie]

Ok guys, I'm sure someone has had this problem before ....... I would like to know how to work through this one

I have a client ( second year of service ) last year everything was fine, no complaints......... even once we got into August and she requested that her lawn be cut every other week because it wasn't growing. We said ok to this as we don't want to waste our time driving over to discover for ourselves that it doesn't need cut.

This year.......... she only wants it cut every other week all year long. And she has a problem with it because after 4 days it looks like it needs cut again.

I told her........ that with all the rain that we have gotten of course it needs cut weekly to look as good as it did last year

She will not go for that and she believes I should lower my price!! because it doesn't look as good as last year. So she feels like she is getting less service at the same price.

I haven't been able to convince her that she is asking us to cut her lawn actually 3-4 times to make it look good but only willing to pay once

She says if we only lower our wheels, then it would look good longer.............. ( I guess the rain has nothing to do with it )

I told her cutting shorter would leave more grass to be mulched up and that would mean cutting it even more times per visit and that cutting it shorter would promote weeds and not grass

All of this came about because she wants to pay less and I tried the line of " you get what you pay for" but that didn't float either

I guess I know I need to just be done with her but my biggest problem is she has a very large mouth and for some reason people listen to her and I don't want the bad publicity.

I just can't afford the overtime pay to send 2 man crews out to cut this small yard several times for the price of one cut and she doesn't want to budge either so I guess I need to get rid of her but is there anyway of doing that without her bad mouthing us

She says her neighbor and son in law have commented on how her yard doesn't look as good as it did last year so I know it has been topic of conversation

I need a tactful way of letting her go

[WashMoBrink]

Every year our local paper puts out a lawn care guide. There is always some place in that guide that says to cut 1/3 the length of the grass at a time. Get this type of documentation, show it to her and tell her that you can't have your reputation suffering if she doesn't want proper care taken. Either she cuts it as often as needed (every 3 weeks in August some years, and 3x week in May other years), or you can't risk people associating shoddy care with you.

[AL Inc]

If I want to get rid of someone immediately, I will just say "It's nothing personal, but you should start looking for someone else". Or I will stick it out for the season, then send a letter the next year saying that I am scaling back my business and will no longer be able to provide service. Usually if someone is unhappy with the service they are getting, they go away. Believe me, getting rid of people like this will make your life so much easier. Mike

[awm]

my sympathies. people wouldnt tell their mechanic how to fix their car but they sure will get into our buisiness.undo everything u have done to make the place rite.worst thing is they want to blame u when it starts looking like c--p
guess it depends on how much u need the money.

[BRIAN GALLO]

Marcie,

Your post could have been placed by me, and would be identical! These people make up most of my clientell. Unfortunately they don't seem to want to listen to reason. I now tell them that I can't afford to go over the lawn more than once and that they will have to live with the results or get more mowings. Some go for more cuts, others live with a mess. I don't like leaving the lawns messy, but we can't do them for free either!

[TGCummings]

Be courteous and professional, but if they won't listen to reason you have to let them go.

[SLS]

I tell 'em right fron the first encounter that I do not do "2 week cuts"...and why. Of course, if it drys up and doesn't need cutting I will skip it as I want the grass to live and be healthy so I can keep mowing it.

I have cut at least 7 of these types (your problem client) loose in the last 3 years...and I do not miss them one bit.

One of them was/is the long time treasurer of my neighborhood association...a very popular lady. I thought for sure that I would lose a few others just because I dropped her. That was sleep needlessly lost...I did not lose a single other account...some inquired-but ALL understood my position.

Like our pal Homer says...."If you dread it-SHED IT!"

That was some of the best advice I've ever received here on LawnSite! :D

[Cut 2 Please]

I sure do wish that yall would send some of this rain you keep talkin about our way. All the grass around here is dying because it is so dry. Rain was forecasted for today but I haven't seen any yet. I have been doing my rain dance but it is not working. Please send the rain. We need it bad.

[GrassMaster84]

Explain to her that I you cut it every other week you will have to charge her more than doing the yard weekly, and also the yard will not look as good if u do it everyother week!

[A1 Lawn@Landscapes]

We all work to earn $. We all have a comfort level as far as how much $ for how much effort/time. I personally hate dealing with long wet grass. I also dislike people who tell me how I should run my business. If you can, be rid of her.

[Hawkeye5]

Sounds to me as though you've explained everything well to the customer, she does'nt want to hear what you are saying. She's the one with the unreasonable expectations, you're the one with the reputation to maintain. Question is, are you going to beat you're head against a brick wall and get nowhere in changing her mind, or leave because she can't or won't allow you to do your job the way you know it needs to be done? JD

[WildWes]

My first year branching into mowing I had alot of customers that wanted to call when they needed cut and plenty that wanted a 14 day program. Being inexperienced I gave in to their demands, I needed money and some exposure. What I got was grief. I lined up two relatives side-by-side on the 14 day deal, it was o.k. until they hired a fertilization company.....

We had heavy rain and their lawn shot up over a foot high in just one week. Stopped and explained the situation and got the "We think it can wait" b.s. treatment, stopped again at 10 days with the same reply. It rained three more days and they called demanding to be mowed, one look at that lawn and all I could do was laugh, no way would my small push mowers have a chance at mowing that grass successfully.

My advise? Never agree to anything less than 7 days unless you know the lawn very well. While some folks are just looking to save a few bucks, some are nothing less than rip-off artists that can't keep a lawn service for a whole season.

[cbukfan]

Give her the ax man. She should be paying at least 50% more each cut if she wants it done every two weeks. She is the kind of customer that you don't need.

[HacMan91]

I think everybody has one of these customers. My problem is that we also cut and fertilize this customers brother. Theyre also in a neighborhood that we want to stay in. So if we cut her loose we lose another acct. The mulch deck on the exmark makes it look OK so were biting the bullet.

[scottb]

Raise the rate's or drop her,shes asking you to work harder for less. Unfortunately around here at the time being I have no choice but to cut every 14 days. And as a man trying to go full time this makes it tough.

[SLS]

Another thing about 14-day accounts....

They never seem to get done in 14 days!

It will rain on day 13 and 14 and day 15 and 16 are promised to your weekly and 10 day accounts...which are already behind because it rained on day 13 and 14. Or your mower or truck broke down. Or you fell ill. Or your cousin got married and you had to go out of town............

So there you are...17 or 18 days since that lawn was last cut...it is raining again...and you are out there double and triple cutting 15" tall, sopping wet grass...in the rain. All for the price of one simple cut. Then, to add insult to injury, the cheapskate customer comes out with their umbrella and says: "Could you go ahead and cut it a little shorter?" :cry:

3 PITA hours spent for $40 bucks...and the deck still has to be scraped. :angry:

All these types of customers are doing is USING YOUR TIME AND EFFORT to save themselves money! I ain't the dayum bank!

2 week cuts??? NEVER AGAIN...EVER!

[Sean Adams]

Everyone here is right. And don't worry about who she might say things to. Yes, people do listen to neighbors and friends, but if you hardly know her and can tell she is a certain way, just think about what the people think who know her well. She is trying to strong-arm you into working harder for less. That's not the way to do business.

Good-bye, See Ya, Adios, Sianara, Ariva Derche, and so on....

[Currier]

I think it was someone on this site that said it..."don't let her rent space in your head"

You need to consider if you want this lawn. If you do keep it and suffer (consider it dues payin) if you don't need it drop her, let her know why, and let yourself know that YOU are now in control of your business. You set the tone for yourself. Who wants to run and dance for the nutsos? Set your own line for a sure and steady business.

[SLS]

I agree, Currier!

The last thing a guy needs is to be known as "The dude who will mow every 2 weeks". Word travels fast on the 'cheapskate grapevine'....and they are always looking for a sucker.

Rule #1:

Do not allow the customers to run your business.

Who wouldn't love 'free' lawn care? ;)

[1MajorTom]

Quote: Another thing about 14-day accounts....

They never seem to get done in 14 days!

It will rain on day 13 and 14 and day 15 and 16 are promised to your weekly and 10 day accounts...which are already behind because it rained on day 13 and 14. Or your mower or truck broke down.

This is SO true!!!
Had that situation happen to us in the past, but no more!
I tell anyone that calls for estimates that we cut weekly. If they don't want weekly, then I've just saved us some time by not having to go on the estimate. We're in this to make money. ;)

I do think though that you just can't expect to have all weekly customers from the start. I think it takes a few years to build up to a good customer base with people who like their grass cut every 7 days. All weekly customers just don't happen overnight.

[MikeLT1Z28]

if you do cut her loose in a nice way and she gets loud mouthed about it, remind her about slander and how it can be dealt with IF it affects your company.

[David Haggerty]

If this person is arrogant enough to dictate a 14 day mowing schedule you won't change her. Drop her.

I mow in S.W. Ohio too, so I know what you're dealing with. I just dropped a customer for insisting his lawn go from a 5 day to 7 day schedule. I said maybe in July. He said now. I said see ya..

But if you really really need the money, drop this customer immediately, because she's costing you money.

Doing this wil reflect more positively on your company than anything bad this crackpot could ever say say about you.

Dave

[Equipguy]

Thank the customer for the business and then hit the road. Let future customer's know in advance we don't cut every 2 weeks during the season.

[MOW ED]

Are you sure you didn't just take on a customer that I just dumped.

I had a lady that wanted it cut ONLY if it is dry. I said that if I skip a week and come back after 14 days then she would be charged double. I suggested that she have one of the old men that told her it was not good to cut grass that is wet cut her lawn.

I finally convinced her to look elsewhere for a person to cut. Some people get silly ideas and you are not gonna change them.

[Brickman]

I am with the Moderator, Jodi. If some body calls and mentions they want a price for every two weeks, I thank them for calling, explain that I don't do two weeks in the season, and hang up. End of story. I have one two weeker from 5 years ago that I hang on to because along the way her daughter wanted me to mow her lawn every week as well, and the two are side by side. So I am not making an extra trip over there every two weeks. I am already there.
Another one that has always been weekly until this year. With the bad drought we are having, she doesn't want to water at all, and is doing her part to voluntary conserve water. I haven't complained yet because she isn't out of the way either. If this continues I might.

Two weeks is nonsense just because they are too cheap to water and fertilize. So is mowing every 10 days. You can save that sort of thing for your own lawn if you want. But not the customers.

Another person mentioned mowing every 10 days, I refused to do that from the start of my biz. What happens when the 10 days falls on a saturday, or sunday?????? I have worked PLENTY of saturdays, but have always refused to work on sunday.

[proline32]

all excellent post, I have discontinued service of those that want 14 day mowings, basicly I send them a proffesional letter stating that I have discontinued service because I will only mow on a weekly basis to maintain a quality look, and that it is not in the best interest of our business to maintain shabby lawns, if the yard does look like it doen't needs to be cut I will skip a week...... If you do find that this customer is bad mouthing you you do need to inform her that you may take a civil action against her for doing so. But truthfully, you shouldn't let this bother you, instead the time can be spent on better customers. I think we all go thru this at one point or another.

[parkwest]

Give the customer what they want, we just tell them the price is 2.5 times the weekly price. When it dawns on them we charge less for weekly they always go weekly.

[John DiMartino]

Drop her now,tell her ithat you are a professional,and will not cut a l;awn on 14 day shedule when it needs a 7.Unless she wants to to do the right thing for here lawn,and pay for it,let here go,and tell her neighbors why if they ask.

[maple city]

I have had to cut people loose before. It's hard to do without hurting business, but sometimes you just have to. I have referred my PITA customers to call other companies. We have a scrub outfit here that I love to refer to. Let them deal with these people.

I have 3 "on call" customers. (I will call you when I want it mowed). Two are really great. They call before it gets out of hand. The third is another story. When we were getting our huge amount of rain here, she waited 3 weeks to call. We mowed it one time and did not bag. Back yard fenced in by privacy fence, cannot be seen by potential customers. That back yard looked like a hay field. (I made sure the front yard looked nice). Anyway, she has kids and a dog that I know tracked plenty of grass into the house. Well, now she calls on time. I would drop this lady, but she lives a block away, and I love to work close to home.

When it's really hot and dry here, I mow as needed, which is often 10-14 days, but it is my decision, not the customer's. I let them know this up front. I refuse to mow a yard that doesn't need it. In the beginning, I do set everyone up on a 7 day mow schedule.

[ADMowing]

A really good way we have found to get rid of customers who don't want to see things our way is to tell them this:

"Obviously we aren't making you happy and you want your lawn done a certain way and we just aren't equipped to do it that way. There are several other lawn services advertising in the local paper who you might call. Thank you anyway and we hope you find what you're looking for."

Done! She has no reason to bad mouth you.

We had a guy we started mowing every week. Then it went to every other week. Now his place looks like a pig sty (worse) and he wants us to mow it. Its gone all winter and spring without mowing. We told him that our equipment doesn't just sit around and wait for him to call on us. We have filled our schedule and he needs to find someone else. Sorry! We explained this to him before and he still was hard headed about it and lost us for his lawn service. We do his neighbor across the street every week -- nice striping and beautiful large yard.... His place is a MESS!

You DO get what you pay for and if they don't listen, then let them find a scrub who doesn't care either!

My 2 cents :)

[crawdad]

I had a moderate price increase this spring, and some customers of course, think that means that they can wait longer between mows. I still have a very few that call when they think it needs mowing. Well, we have had a dry spell here in North-East Tennessee, and this one old gal waited a month to call. Usually I mow it every 2 weeks, small lawn, my last pushmower job, as it has a step, and a gate, can't get the Scag or the Gravely in there. Anyhow, small lawn, steep hill, it's a short but intense workout for me. It was tall but not thick, my 6hp push mower ate it up fairly well. I finish mowing, and she comes out, looks around, and says, "Couldn't you cut it any shorter than that?" I said that I cut it at a height that will survive in this dry weather we're having, any shorter would likely kill it, and that was not my business, my business is making lawns look their best.
I put my headphones back on and did the weedeating. After I finished, she paid, made small talk, and didn't mention cutting height again.
I am going to another customer tommorrow, who called that evening. They have been a call every ten days customer for a couple of years. It's been(wow, I just looked at the calender)26 days! I rode past Thursday, it is getting a little brown, but needed cutting at that time. I have to put an end to this ****. I am not one of these "I cut every week whether it rains or not" guys, but I am getting screwed here. I am considering what someone in this thread said about the price being 1.5 times for anything over a length of time. All my prices are given along with a time frame. How do you politely remind them that the price given was not for bush hogging, but for maintenance mowing? This is my first post on this forum, and it's getting longer than I had planned, but I just know these people are going to ask me to cut it shorter, so they can go even longer without cutting it. I am going to try to be polite and not suggest Roundup on them pesky lawngrasses. Last year the lady asked for shorter, then the husband complained about scalping, wanted me to mow it with a pushmower.
:nono:
Mike
Crawdad Holler, TN

[ADMowing]

You're right, Crawdad, about our equipment not being meant for bush hog jobs. I gave the guy who didn't have us mow at all yet this season a number for our tractor man. We refer him to people who want messy jobs cleaned up before we can get to them. We won't mow his place with our finish mowers. We told him that. But he still really thought he could get away with not having us mow all winter and up till now. He kept telling us there was no grass and there was a lot and the weeds are terrible. He just did not want to pay to have us do it.

The problem down here, too, is that yellow jacket bees make nests in tall grasses! If we don't mow often, we run the risk of running over a nest. A man died not too long ago by mowing over a yellow jacket nest. We are not going to risk our equipment and our lives to do this type of work that our equipment is not meant to do.

Dry or not, the lawns need to be mowed to keep the weeds under control. If the weeds are allowed to seed, then the grass never will have a chance when it does start raining. That is some information we give to customers too! Cutting the grass too short promotes weed growth also. One of our nicest customers (a sweet, sweet lady) does not understand this no matter how many times I try to explain it. So, it is very frustrating trying to get this information to sink in.....

Another REAL good one is when a customer told us that their neighbor said that it isn't good to cut every week. They said the yard should be left alone for 6 months. Meanwhile, the neighbor has a yard full of weeds. So I ask our customer if they want their yard to look like their neighbor's. Also I explain that we are doing a good job and our customer's yard looks nice. The neighbor wants to be lazy and not do it as often, so he's trying to talk our customer into being lame too so his nasty lawn doesn't stand out!

It takes all kinds!!! :rolleyes:

[mlh1598]

I share the information I get from Purdue, with my customers. Ohio State has some good reads also.

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/pubs/ay-32.htm

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/4000/4020.html

[65hoss]

DO IT HER WAY! But...raise the price.

Tell her fine, it will be double or triple cut, whatever it takes, but raise the price accordingly. She will either pay it and be happy or find someone else. Then if you do it you get paid, if not, you got rid of her. Either way you win.

[greenman]

I have a some that I cut every 2 weeks or on call, but they pay for it and they know this. These are customers that are not picky they just want it cut and look decent. There yards are full of weeds and are not ferted. I guess if they pay and they are satisfied then I have done my job. I just try to please my customers.