Do you consider youself skilled?

[show-n-go]

There is tons of skill that goes into lawn/landscape. Sure any idiot can mow a lawn or plant some shrubs but the skill set is what makes the work stand out. Your skills are what the customer is paying for, lets face it most people that hire you could dig a hole and plant a bush or hop on a lawn tractor and cut there yard, they want there lawn to stand out from the rest..

[pseudosun]

I think the proof is in the pudding. I mean that if you have been in the lawn business for a long time, and are making progress, than you are skilled. Those that don't make it aren't skilled. Something in their game plan wasn't right. I guess i'm talking about the big picture; getting and keeping business. It's the whole package: the way you treat customers, being on time, learning as you go, improving your equipment, efficiency, etc. I consider myself skilled. 17 years in the biz.

[CreativeLawncareSolutions]

Originally Posted by show-n-go

There is tons of skill that goes into lawn/landscape. Sure any idiot can mow a lawn or plant some shrubs but the skill set is what makes the work stand out. Your skills are what the customer is paying for, lets face it most people that hire you could dig a hole and plant a bush or hop on a lawn tractor and cut there yard, they want there lawn to stand out from the rest..

Disagree. They don't cut their own yard because they don't want to. Quality is rarely of any concern to the average residential customer. As long as they don't have to do it they're golden.

[wegomow]

Sure there are unskilled workers who mow, trim. blow and go. I see them all the time. One homeowners lawn service put down mulch in the early fall and within a month the beds were full of leaves. Real skillful! Whoever posted that statement is on this forum for a reason. I wonder why? I would bet the reason is to learn and be the best at what he does.
The skill comes when you keep learning and growing. Besides just mowing, you learn to identify weeds, disease and pests in turfs and ornamentals and know how to treat them. How to lay sod, what times of year to trim shrubs, fertilize etc. etc. Skill comes when you take pride in your job and want to be the best you can be.

[wegomow]

Originally Posted by CreativeLawncareSolutions

Disagree. They don't cut their own yard because they don't want to. Quality is rarely of any concern to the average residential customer. As long as they don't have to do it they're golden.

REALLY? Is that a gross over generalization perhaps? My client refer me to their friends and neighbors because I am knowledgeable and I do an excellent job. They do care about quality.

[chesterlawn]

Originally Posted by Valk

Seeing the potential for future problems/issues takes a trained eye...and presenting these to your customer takes some skill as well. People skills go a long ways toward customer retention.

One of my longest running customers has a multi-trunked Redbud in her front yard. Over the years, I'm seeing that one of the trunks is beginning to separate itself distance-wise from the others. Unfortunately it is leaning toward the house. An icestorm will no doubt make for some catastrophic issues - as I can envision some damage to her roof/gutters/eaves and even taking out a few windows...so I warned her about this possible scenario. The ball is in her court should she take proactive actions. It is more tree than I would want to tackle...it should be left to an arborist to manage.

Not to bust on you but you call it skill to watch a tree go down hill, then tell the customer about it and have them call someone else to fix the problem?

[CreativeLawncareSolutions]

Originally Posted by wegomow

REALLY? Is that a gross over generalization perhaps? My client refer me to their friends and neighbors because I am knowledgeable and I do an excellent job. They do care about quality.

Yes. The mowers we pay ridiculous amounts of money for do the work. While there may be a few people out there doing crappy work; I'm just not seeing many. Most I see do fine work. They're doing fine work in this industry because the work isn't complicated. It's labor intensive, but it isn't complicated.

The labor intensive aspect is where we make our sales. Anyone can sit on a Z and point it in a straight line and make a yard look great. To argue to the contrary is ridiculous. Anybody can put mulch in a wheelbarrow and dump it. Anybody can plant flowers and shrubs. Anybody can put product into a spreader and walk.....is it worth their time, though? Are they physically able to do it? Do they have the time to do it? When the answer is no we get the sale.

While I can agree that there is a small percentage of customers that do value quality; I just cannot agree that it even represents more than a miniscule amount of where our business comes from.

How many ridiculous retaining walls have you seen? I've seen a blue million. These were done by homeowners who never realized a level was invented a long time ago. They look absolutely ridiculous and they simply do not care. That's just one example of people rarely giving a crap about quality. The list is a mile long, though.

I'm not saying that we don't do quality work. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of us here do. I'm just saying we're fooling ourselves if we think that the quality work we do is the main reason why we're getting this business. I whole-heartedly disagree with that line of thinking.

[LandFakers]

If it is such and unskilled trade, how come I can look at all the guys mowing lawns, and see that they look like crap, and that joe-shmoe missed spots and left the place looking like hell. I can say that just mowing lawns is fairly simple and doesnt take rocket sciencetists, but coomon sense and pride go along way

[CreativeLawncareSolutions]

Originally Posted by LandFakers

If it is such and unskilled trade, how come I can look at all the guys mowing lawns, and see that they look like crap, and that joe-shmoe missed spots and left the place looking like hell. I can say that just mowing lawns is fairly simple and doesnt take rocket sciencetists, but coomon sense and pride go along way

Joe-Shmoe LCO or homeowner? The homeowner who mows his own lawn by and large doesn't give a rats A. He just wants it done.

I've never seen a LCO around here that does bad work. 75% of us run the same Exmark machines. All yards are striped beautifully. All clippings are blown off the walks and the street. The quality is top notch. I've literally never stopped and watched another LCO and said to myself "Man, these guys suck." Never once has that happened in my 10 years.

[RSK Property Maintenance]

cutting a lawn does some skill especially when a 61 or 72" commercial zero turn rider is used, and the yard is wet, has hills or dips in or maybe even a pond at the bottom of a hill. trimming around around objects is a skill, not everyone can do it, some can do it but not very well, so can do it well, but not very fast, some can do it well and efficiently, same with cutting a lawn, anyone can mow a lawn with a 21" push mower but to cut that same lawn with a big commercial zero turn and not screw things up takes some skill. i'm gonna even go as far as saying even doing a fall clean up takes skill, not a whole lot, but i've seen people screw up a spring/fall clean up.