Customer Opinions - Stripes.. yes or no?

[Dashunde]

Has anyone had a customer complain about them?
Are they really the mark of professionalism?
Are they worth all of the effort we put into them?

We have all seen countless threads about getting this mower or that mower to stripe and what kit works best, roller, flap, chain, blah blah blah...
Some have even said that they never thought about stripes until they came to Lawnsite.
Many of us take great care to make nice stripes... but in the end...
The real question is - Do our customers like the stripes???

I got my wb to stripe to the point that it almost looks, well... bad.
Not bad in terms of being wavy, messy, or inconsistent, but bad because they are very bold and almost obnoxious if your not partial to them.

I have a corner lot, that I have a small sign in, its a Bluegrass mix, and it stripes up very very well. It really does look great to me, but potential customers might hate it and avoid me.

Could stripes be running business off??

[dvmcmrhp52]

I've never heard a customer complain about striping, in fact it's only been compliments as to how nice it looks.

[All_Clear]

In all honesty... Most customers are so busy with the daily grind.. they either don't notice or don't care.... If it's been cut thats all they care, last thing they want to do is mow after work.


All Clear

[Imow4u2]

I would use your time answering all those phone calls you receive at the beginning of each season... Why does your mower cut that way?? How do you do that?? I have a Few new customers this season that switched over to me for the better appearance. The Service is just an added bonus that they receive...

[bigjeeping]

As one of my high-end customers put it........ "the lawn looks really good but would you mind making the lines straighter"

I think they notice!

[Mower For Less]

I have taken lawns at 20% over the going rate just because of stripes. I have lost lawns because of them too. Even though there may be some that dont like them, I believe to any customer who does the slightest research into the subject will see it is a mark of professionalism. And as long as I can command a premium for doing it, I'll keep doing it.

Kevin

[topsites]

I've learned the only stripes that matter are anything fancier than plain straight lines back and forth, such as criss-cross designs and they need to be on class-B or better yards, anything else is a waste of time.

I find great care and attention needs to be paid to time of year, striping puts heavy stress on a lawn, stress that in times of hot droughts some lawns may not survive as easily as if I had just racetracked it once over.

And when a picture of your customer's yard graces not just your Web site but your Business credit card, someone is bound to notice.

[Mower For Less]

Originally Posted by topsites

striping puts heavy stress on a lawn

Striping does not impart any more stress than mowing. What are you talking about?

[olderthandirt]

Originally Posted by dvmcmrhp52

I've never heard a customer complain about striping, in fact it's only been compliments as to how nice it looks.

I agree BUT I also believe its just a passing fad
90% of the homeonwers are now striping there own lawns. To grow your business you need to stay ahead of the curve or fads, come up with something differnt and you will make a killing.

[specialtylc]

I have never had a customer say anything about stripping.