In school?

[KS_Grasscutter]

Originally Posted by MattsMowing3535

depends what you have for equipment if you can drive and how hard your gonea work I did the math and if i get my lawns in small neighboorhoods in packs of 5-10 next season i can pull 50 solo lawns and 75 with a helper. Its really how hard you want to work and if it is worth it. Once you get 50+ lawns get a really nice Z hire someone to trim push and blow and you basicly get to ride around and make 1000 bucks a week or more. You sound exactly the same as me. Im a sophmore, Wanted a Z in the spring, And am not sure how many accounts i need to make so. . . I did the math. Give yourself 5-10 min transport time beetween your accounts nad ad an extra 5 incase. then take 30 minutes off your total time. its differnet for everyone. and dont get a ZTR get a walkbehind and sulkie.

Actually, I already have a ZTR. Although, I would like to add another one next year (42in Walker) if I can find one cheap enough (haha, Walker and cheap in the same sentence, right... ). I am doing 10 a wk right now. I have basically new edger and blower, plan on new string trimmer for next season. Also MAY get a worktruck ($2000 GMC from a customer) if things work out.

Now to answer some other questions... there is NO WAY i could afford to pay help, let alone find anyone capable of doing the quality of work I expect. Although the thought of never stringtrimming again sounds d*** nice!

Stroker51, yea, driest I can remember. Just got done harvesting soybeans, at 10 bushel an acre, they were about half of breaking even... Really woulda wished we got more rain this fall, as i overseeded a couple nonirrigated lawns that nothing come up, oh well, i got paid anyway. We ARE supposed to get some rain the next couple days, hoping that works out for the wheat that is just now comming up, and of couse the lawns.

Thanks to everyone for the replies! Keep 'em comming.

[MysticLandscape]

I was doing 50-60 a week up until this week but the lawns are just about done around here just waiting for clean-ups. I am a Sr. in high school.

[KS_Grasscutter]

Originally Posted by MysticLandscape

I was doing 50-60 a week up until this week but the lawns are just about done around here just waiting for clean-ups. I am a Sr. in high school.

Wow, that is quite a few. You have any help, or are you solo-op? I see from your sig. that you got quite a bit invested for being in HS still.

[NNJLandman]

I do 45 lawns a week, plus I got plenty of installs...mulch, topsoil, etc. and cleanups. Im a full time college student. School always gets put first, that means if I have a paper due I do it, put the lawns off.

Jeff

[qualitylawnmanagement]

I am doing about 60 accounts each week and it gets tough and I am a sophomore in High School. For a while it was raining 3 to 4 days a week and it was a pain. I have another guy who helps me each day other then him me out I couldn't do it alone. I trained him this year and does pretty well. I gave him a list of property's to do for last week and did pretty good. I guess that was a test cause I plan to have him running another crew for me next season. I plan to have anywhere from 80 to 90 accounts next season and have 2 guys mowing one a crew and have me do more landscaping/ installs and mow a few days out of the week.

[ALarsh]

I do 20 a week right now. It gets dark by 7 here and we (me and my helper) typically start at 3:30. I can get 9 done in that time (.5-1 acre lots) before it gets dark with tight routes. I have my helper ride the Z, I take on the w/b w/ sulky and then the first guy done trims, the next guy blows.

I plan to add another 15 next year.

One word of advice is try out different things to become more efficient. Between 3:30 and 7:00, we would typically get 7 done by staying on the same lots. I have multiple stops where I have 2 or 3 accounts right next to each other. One day I dropped my guy with the Z off at a stop with 2 or 3 accounts and I went around the block and knocked out a different account. I came back when I was finished and started to trim while he was just finishing up mowing and then he blowed. That night we finished 9 in the same amount of time. Logically thinking, it should be slower but it turned out to be much faster. Give it a try.

[J&R Landscaping]

Originally Posted by KS_Grasscutter

Who here is still in school? How many lawns a week do you do, and do you have any help? Reason i am asking, i am trying to plan for next season, so it dont turn out ending like this (NO money in savings in mid-october). I KNOW i can do 25 lawns/wk, but mom aint so convienced. I am also looking for ways that i can explain to her i can keep good grades, still do golf (she wants me to real bad, but it will be tough to make the team anyway, so it may not even be a problem), and still sucessfully manage my accts. Thanks for any replies.

Basically, what i am asking, CAN i do 25 lawns a week between 3:45 to 7 monday through friday? Also have all day saturday and sundy to do lawn stuff, but prefer to keep those open if possible for extra jobs, catchup if rained out, and somewhat of a personal life.

Are you still able to work and have daylight till 7pm? Its been getting dark around here before 7 for the past 2-3 weeks. In the early spring and fall it was tough but do what you have to do. I was always trying to keep the weekends empty but if I had to work, I was ready willing and able to do so. Last year in my senior year of HS, I was managing about 30-35 lawns a week plus the additional customers for mulch and spring and fall clean-ups and stuff. It was tight and there were many days when I was not getting in till 9 o clock but I was able to get the work done.
What time are you getting out of school? 345 sounds a bit late to start. I got done school at 154 and I brought my trailer to school most days. At 215, I was at my first job and ready to go.

[Matts lawn care]

I have the same problem. i have to balance school golf and lawn care. i only have 4 lawns now. my parents onlt want me to dubble my yards now so i only have 8. i am trying to convince them that i will be able to handle 20 just fine.

[surgeon83]

During my senior year in HS I managed 45 lawns per week on Friday evenings and all day Saturday. I NEVER worked during the week. The only way I was able to expand each year was to keep buying more equipment and hiring more helpers because the rest of my week was spent on homework since I was taking 4 AP classes at a time.

My parents kept telling me I didn't need so many mowers to do my job, and I know that anyone else who worked all week could do 45 lawns with 1 or 2 mowers, but I made tons of money and have no regrets about tailoring my expansion to my limited time slot. I'm just glad they didn't try harder to hold me back because I have never been happier in my life than when I was mowing.

My advice: Set aside a time that will always be reserved for lawns that will not interfere with school or golf so your customers get some consistency, then get as many accounts as you possibly can, then buy as much equipment and hire as many helpers as you need to get them all done.

Remember, if you get more than you can handle, you can always SELL the accounts, and if you include your equipment with the accounts, you can recover all of your investment there too.

[nmez21]

I'm 14, and a freshman. I've got 8 accounts right now(5=.25-2 acres,1=3 acres,2=6-7 acres). Even with so few accts. at this time of year im finding it to be tough to balance school, football, and my route. I guess I can't really contribute much here because for one I can't even drive yet, so my schedule probably isn't as easy to change or catch up to, but about all I can say is that a compensation might work in your situation. For say, talk your ma into allowing you to have 20 or so and explain to her in good reason why you can get it done, and work from there- if all goes well, you probably wouldn't be too far behind if you're looking to expand the year after that.
-nate