Absolutely horrible year of grass cutting

[CITY PARK CUTTER]

Originally Posted by 944own

Welcome back RPM I always got a kick out of your threads. Sux about the dry summer.

It does suck but hey, I'm in the pool a lot more and enjoying life. Other things kick in and my boy is out of college. Got a great tan working, and not just "farmer's" either. Kind of pisses off my wife, though, when she comes home from a grueling day selling mortgages and sees me floating leisurely in the cool pool waters...

[TinMan1]

Theres a big bright ball in the sky today Im not sure what it is!

[H & M Yard Improvements]

July sucked! My bi weeklys were getting cut after 3 weeks.

[SouthSide Cutter]

The BS is back.

[DA Quality Lawn & YS]

BS as in drought conditions?
Had em since August of 2011.

[BPS##]

Originally Posted by CITY PARK CUTTER

Never happened ever in this city that two months of mowing was cut from the schedule. Larger crews and companies are on life support. Most of their best workers and drivers are gone, zippo, out the door to another line of work. Equipment sits, dealers cut back hours...our JD dealer here in the suburb has been working winter hours for weeks now. When you don't cut grass, you don't bring equipment in for service or buy new to replace. I run one mower, a stander 54" and trailer, that's it now and I used to have 2 61" Scags, 2 72" Hustler Super Z's, backup mowers. I'm one of the lucky ones, most of my friends in the business have too much storage, too much equipment, not enough paying accounts, skeleton crews, and nothing on the horizon.

I like the cash money equipment sales.

Originally Posted by CITY PARK CUTTER

I don't know about other areas of the country, but KC weather is putting the hurt to snow pushers and mowers, back to back alltime worst weather for making money. Grass was microwaved in July, dead, yellow, gone for the year. I stopped making real money the first week of July. Hey, you can't fight two straightweeks of 100 degrees plus. You can water all you want, but most of those customers got tired of high water bills about end of July and got smart. Now, end of August 2012...absolutely nothing to mow unless your schedule is chock full of "water every day" fools who are surrounded by yellow/tan grass neighbors.

Fools???????????????????????


Come on dude, no need for that. Welcome to many of the western states. Water 5 and 6 days a week for 2 to 3 months every year. April, May and Sept is 3 days a week. 2 days by the end of Sept. June thru August is 5 and 6 days a week. Thats a fact of life.

No need to call people fools.

[BPS##]

Originally Posted by rreyn1812

One thing we need to learn from this year is that there are good times and bad times. Don't just live like the good times will go on forever! They don't. There will be years like this. Realize that bad times will come and do your best to be prepared for it.

We see the same kind of thing throughout our country right now, our elected officials have over-extended us and put our future at risk because they believed the good times would go on forever. If we do too much of that as business owners, we will go broke!

Three years ago we had one of the wettest years on record, and now we've had 3 very dry years in a row resulting in exceptional drought in much of the country. Don't just be a mower, diversify into other areas. Will be taking down two trees that have died due to this drought for a customer. There will probably be more before it's over. Be prepared for the wet years & the dry years. Also, remember that this too will pass.

Best of luck and hopefully you will get some rain out of the residual from Hurricane Isaac. I see this morning where it is projected to go more westerly as it comes up through Arkansas.

Good advice. I was thinking of this today.
It does not pay to grow too fast and over extend. Grow slow and smart and pay cash for equipment.
Sure you may not always have the shiniest paint on the block but you WILL have the least stress of all the local lawn boys when it doesn't rain or doesn't snow and you don't have equipment payments.