Equipment Lineup for 2012

[Kennedy Landscaping]

Love the Gravely and Stihl stuff, I used to be very loyal to Gravely before I crossed over to Walker. Still very loyal to Stihl though. I ran a 60" Gravely Z this summer, brand new, used it while my other one was in the shop and it was awesome.

[a clear difference lawn]

Originally Posted by mowing4rlife

Great set up! Do you plan to purchase a longer trailer to haul all that equipment at the same time? What size are you thinking if so?

I am Looking at different prices in mower right now. How much was your 52" Gravely? Do you even us a push mower at all?

I live close to my accounts (my furthest is 8 miles) so I will do 3 days with one mower - then switch up and do 3 with another. We live in a townhome - so I cannot fit a larger trailer in the garage. I got a great deal on the 52" $4699 otd. I also had money from the sale of my other 34z so I was prepared to spend over $8000. I literally went to 10 different dealers looking at mowers over a two day period and - in my opinion - this machine offered the most bang for the buck for my particular needs. Remember, I only do half my route with the big machine (it simply won't fit on some properties) so I can get away with a more entry level commercial machine. I like it because it is light and short vs more industrial models. I can fit it on my 5 X 8 trailer with a 21". I always have a push on the trailer. Here is a pic with my full rig. The setup is exactly the same with the 52" mower on.

[LawnMan19]

I really like the look of the Gravely's because they have a look of there own and don't look like every other Z .

[mowing4rlife]

Originally Posted by a clear difference lawn

I live close to my accounts (my furthest is 8 miles) so I will do 3 days with one mower - then switch up and do 3 with another. We live in a townhome - so I cannot fit a larger trailer in the garage. I got a great deal on the 52" $4699 otd. I also had money from the sale of my other 34z so I was prepared to spend over $8000. I literally went to 10 different dealers looking at mowers over a two day period and - in my opinion - this machine offered the most bang for the buck for my particular needs. Remember, I only do half my route with the big machine (it simply won't fit on some properties) so I can get away with a more entry level commercial machine. I like it because it is light and short vs more industrial models. I can fit it on my 5 X 8 trailer with a 21". I always have a push on the trailer. Here is a pic with my full rig. The setup is exactly the same with the 52" mower on.

GREAT TRAILER SET UP! What do you do for advertising? I try to use all forms of free advertising online. Currently use a facebook like page,craigslist.com,thumbtack.com ( where you can run a free business ad), and the only paying advertising i use to get work is business magnets for my truck, postcards, and business cards.During the growing season i am able to get 2 phone call a day on top of my regular clients just by what i use to advertise my business..

One great site you can use to help post ads on craigslist in html code is "Photobucket.com".You just copy and past upload photo to this site and they give you the html code to post on craigslist. It really easy to ad text to your lawn photo graph to help enhance the amount of phone calls you get in. Try it and let me know how it works for you.

[Five Points]

Looks like all is well. An effecient operation i would think. you are keeping busy, low overhead looks like. and not to many headaches, ie staffing issues and or equipment problems. Are your accounts monthly or per cut. how does your cutting sched work. over a 52 week period. As in when is your slow time?

[a clear difference lawn]

Originally Posted by mowing4rlife

GREAT TRAILER SET UP! What do you do for advertising? I try to use all forms of free advertising online. Currently use a facebook like page,craigslist.com,thumbtack.com ( where you can run a free business ad), and the only paying advertising i use to get work is business magnets for my truck, postcards, and business cards.During the growing season i am able to get 2 phone call a day on top of my regular clients just by what i use to advertise my business..

One great site you can use to help post ads on craigslist in html code is "Photobucket.com".You just copy and past upload photo to this site and they give you the html code to post on craigslist. It really easy to ad text to your lawn photo graph to help enhance the amount of phone calls you get in. Try it and let me know how it works for you.

I'm not trying to brag or say I'm all that - I just don't advertise too much because I almost have more work than I can handle already. I live in an area where people just do not seem to want to do their own lawns. Also, I am not very computer savy or tech savy. This site is all I can handle. I don't even know what "html code" is - I'm just the lawnguy!

[a clear difference lawn]

Originally Posted by Five Points

Looks like all is well. An effecient operation i would think. you are keeping busy, low overhead looks like. and not to many headaches, ie staffing issues and or equipment problems. Are your accounts monthly or per cut. how does your cutting sched work. over a 52 week period. As in when is your slow time?

It varies year to year but generally I go weekly cuts from St. Patrick's Day to Thanksgiving, then switch to every other week between (dec to march). This year has been very wrm so a lot of my properties are still very lush. All my accounts are monthly pay. I have some people that I do on an "on call" basis but I let them know that regular yearly customers come first.

[mowing4rlife]

Originally Posted by a clear difference lawn

I'm not trying to brag or say I'm all that - I just don't advertise too much because I almost have more work than I can handle already. I live in an area where people just do not seem to want to do their own lawns. Also, I am not very computer savy or tech savy. This site is all I can handle. I don't even know what "html code" is - I'm just the lawnguy!

I not offended at all, that's aswome that you don't do much advertising and you get alot of return from little advertisment. What Do you do mostly for advertisement then? My coverage area at this time is 20 miles from my home. I have learned that the best advertisement is still word of mouth from your customers to potential customers. At this time i am a solo operation too. This past year i used a part timer, but was only to do 2 or 3 jobs that were a one time mow.

[a clear difference lawn]

Originally Posted by mowing4rlife

I not offended at all, that's aswome that you don't do much advertising and you get alot of return from little advertisment. What Do you do mostly for advertisement then? My coverage area at this time is 20 miles from my home. I have learned that the best advertisement is still word of mouth from your customers to potential customers. At this time i am a solo operation too. This past year i used a part timer, but was only to do 2 or 3 jobs that were a one time mow.

I started out with fliers and since then its been stricly word of mouth. There is just so much business in my area. Lots of upscale communities with really strict and anal HOA's occupied by people with little time to do yardwork. All that equals mucho business. If you have professional equipment and image, you are reliable, and price fairly people here will find you. I'm not some super lawn guy - I just happen to live in a really good area for a lawn business. The 98% humidity in summer helps to.

[j-ville native]

One guy keeping up with over 90 accounts a week is pretty impressive. It's probably too early to tell since you aren't cutting much growth this time of year, but how much more productive do you think the 52 is over the 34 on those 49 properties? Would you have struggled to keep up with those properties in the summer had you stuck with strictly the 34? Reason I ask is because I run a small ztr on everything just so I could fit through all gates but sometimes I wonder how much more I could get done if I had a large ztr also.