Alright, here's my equip / work pics from today. Remember people, I'm just starting out. These are my only two accts so far, and they happen to be only a couple of doors down from one another. The first one was TERRIBLE when I started two weeks ago. All the edges were about 1 1/2 feet tall of weeds.. the beds were full of weeds.. The rock/retaining wall was full of weeds... so its a work in progress. My edges will look better and better as the grass gets fuller.
The second (larger) one is a little dry. I started this one today. Before I did it, you couldn't even see the top of the bricks (border) really, because the edges were so horrible.. anyway, please be nice
I hope you are very successful. I am one for slow growth, but if your back is against the wall you gotta do what you gotta do. I would just be careful that you build a safety net and don't spend all the spare money on equipment. Man a guy can blow so much money in so little time that at the end of the month there is nothing left to even get the gas you need to keep going.
This is good advice, trying to work on this system to help him out will lose you time and money where as he needs to get a irrigation guy that knows his stuff. The best thing you can do for your customer is give him the same advice.
I do some minor work on them like replacing heads or replace a solenoid, But anything bigger than that I would leave it to the Pros if your main business is mowing/lawn up-keep.
Yes, thank you for the advice as well. I have friend who owns a large plumbing business up here. I'm going to call him and see if he can help with some irrigation repairs, even if its not his primary focus. I know its gotta be nothing to him after plumbing shopping centers and malls..
And thanks for the good wishes. I will be successful... I have no choice. I do appreciate your kind words.
Yes, thank you for the advice as well. I have friend who owns a large plumbing business up here. I'm going to call him and see if he can help with some irrigation repairs, even if its not his primary focus. I know its gotta be nothing to him after plumbing shopping centers and malls..
And thanks for the good wishes. I will be successful... I have no choice. I do appreciate your kind words.
Having your friend do the work is your best bet, I worked for a master plumber for two years, I am always amazed at how easy it is for him to do things. I did learn enough to do my own work in my own home, but when it comes to someone elses properties I would rather they went with the guys that do it for a living. (they know what they are doing and are Insured for their work as well.)
Good luck with the season. keep us all posted on how well things are going.
Yeah when I made the slogan, I thought it sounded good. Truthfully, I do not have a yard. I live on a mountain.
I got the idea from "theyardboy" here on the forums. I am not using the same provider as he is though, because the minimum plan they offer is 100 a month. Mine is only 15 a month. Here's how it works:
Someone texts "LAWNS" to 77948, they get a response back with my business name, coupon for 15% off their first month's service, my phone number, and my website address. Just like "theyardboy", I will be making a youtube vid here pretty soon and have a link to that vid in the text. Just on my way back home yesterday from the sign shop, (maybe 10-12mins) I got a lot of interest. I could see people taking their phones out, and really looking at my truck to read it.
Those signs look like crap dude. Did a 3rd grader do them for you?
Where do you plan to put them? Customer's lawns I presume. Are you offering some sort of incentive to your customer for letting you install them on their lawn. There are a ton of them on lawns where I am, mostly with the wire stakes like the political campain signs. I've thought about getting some but I'm a low key kind of guy and just can't bring myself to order them and then ask my customers if I can put them on their lawns.
Oh, I was just kidding, they look good, lol. The only negative thing I can say is that between the name and the Text Lawns thing, I think I would get the impression that it's some impersonal regional company, not an owner/operator that would pay personal attention to my lawn...just an impression thing...but thought I'd mention it.
Man at first you had my heart jump.. I knew that wasn't your personality so I was wondering what that was about! lol
I will be putting the smaller signs in yards and/or misc low/moderate traffic areas. I have one customer who asked me a few weeks ago when I was going to get signs so I could put one in his yard. So that was easy. Once I get the gas station up to par I will be putting one there too.
The larger signs will be put at a few large intersections with LOTS of traffic that are pretty centrally located.
Darryl, I understand what you mean about the name and text thing. I got the name from my dad, ordered all my junk, started my business and then thought about it more and wished I had gone with a more personal approach. I think once I am established and have money for the change, I will change it a little. But in about a week people who text will get a video of me explaining that I am owner operated and what not..
Have you checked into local zoning ordinances? Where I am if you plopped signs like that down in a busy intersection you could get a hefty fine, at least by the letter of the regulations. I think in most cases for a first offense you'd just get a warning though. You're supposed to get a permit to even put up a tag sale sign....like anybody ever does that! And for signs identifying a property that you're working on they're only allowed to stay for a certain length of time. The ones that really annoy me are the ones that are stapled on every single freaking telephone pole...not supposed to do that either because it's a hazard to the line workers if they rip their gloves on the staples/tacks/nails.
So I scored something nice today. I was doing a hedge job at an old lady's house. Her husband died several months back and she has all kinds of junk she doesn't need/know what to do with. She was telling me that she has this backpack blower that is just too big for her to use (really it isn't big at all) and she wants a handheld. I said "oh I have a hand held that I dont need, maybe we can trade"... I didn't even know what it was yet. So we went to her shed and here's this Echo PB260L backpack sitting on a shelf. I pick it up, put some gas in it and it starts right up! She said she'd love to trade. Mind you the blower I was talking about was a weed eater brand cheapo. I told her I'd trade, but she had to be willing to accept some cash on top because I'd feel bad trading straight across. She said ok at first, then insisted that we trade straight across.. So I did. Oh, and I signed her up for weekly maintenance too.. I explained that her current person was destroying her yard by not bagging or mulching the grass, and it is terribly thatched up. Here it is:
After using that handheld and her arm feeling like it's gonna fall off she's gonna want her backpack blower back, lol. Nice trade for sure...doesn't look like it's had much use. I have never traded a customer for equipment but I like taking theirs that they give me...removes their ability to do it themselves. I picked up one customer because his push mower wouldn't turn over after sitting for the winter. He had apparently forgotten that it has a blade brake and you have to hold the safety lever in...is it wrong that I never told him? lol
After using that handheld and her arm feeling like it's gonna fall off she's gonna want her backpack blower back, lol. Nice trade for sure...doesn't look like it's had much use. I have never traded a customer for equipment but I like taking theirs that they give me...removes their ability to do it themselves. I picked up one customer because his push mower wouldn't turn over after sitting for the winter. He had apparently forgotten that it has a blade brake and you have to hold the safety lever in...is it wrong that I never told him? lol
Yeah its in very good condition. Its one of the best blowers Echo made.
I had another customer give me a "commercial" (not sure if it really is) Yard Man Hi-Vac mower with a Tecumseh motor.. It'll run after about 50 pulls, then your back and shoulder hurts so bad you can't even mow.. I've put a little money and a couple hours into it and just cant make it any better, so I think I'll get rid of it.
Straight lines...not your fault the grass doesn't stripe well. I'd have a hard time mowing that with a 21 inch mower...just don't have the patience anymore after using larger mowers for so many years. So are you lining up on those fence posts? That's what I'd be doing. I'd start on the other side of the lawn and line up my mower with the middle of it centered on a fence post and head right toward it. I will admit that sometimes I get off a bit on my stripes, especially when I have to go around obstacles and end up with banana stripes.
My method to a true stripe is to pick a smooth spot in the lawn and just go straight through then on the other side make the next one perfect and just continue mowing, thats my method and .02
Actually no, I just started mowing, and after a few passes realized my lines were pretty straight. This is actually the most striped look i've gotten out of my mower, so I was pretty excited about it.
And yeah, mowing this big of a yard with a 21 sure isn't ideal.. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (first time mowing this yard) but it I'd sure be happier with a 36 or shoot, even a 32. I have to go up 3 steps to get to the yard so I dont know how a big walk behind would work, unless I have a piece of plywood or something to lay over the steps.. idk.
And also, the lady wasn't home when I mowed; I took a look at her sprinkler timer and it was set for 14 mins in the morning only. Temps have been in the upper 90's so that's not gonna work. I just took it upon myself to adjust it to 20mins in the morning and 20mins in the evening.. so hopefully that will green this sucker up. Also, this lawn is BADLY thatched.
She was paying some odd ball woman to mow it, front and back (back yard is about 2/3 the size of the front) for only $15! I explained that the best I could do (giving her a good deal) was $30, and that paying 15 a week is going to cost her more in the long run; The woman who was cutting it NEVER bagged, or mulched, which could account for a lot of the thatch. Also, she never edged. Her edges where hanging over her sidewalks, so I went ahead and cleaned that up first thing.
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