how do you guys do it??? cotracts

[milo]

i must be the nicest guy in the business. i dont have contracts. if it dont need cutting one week i drive right by and no charge. i always cut on the time, never late. and will come over a day before if they are having a picnic. i dont know if it is just cause of my area or if i am doing something wrong. the first year i started i did contracts and nobody wanted to sign one. i read alot of good points people say on here about double cutting and triple cutting and still get paid the same. and also i am to nice and i got to stop. i dont want to drop my trailer gate for no less than 30.00 a cut. how do you tell someone that when the whole job will only take you 7 minutes? i think next year i am gonna only do 25 lawns a week. not the 55 or so i have now.

 

[lawnman_scott]

Between your truck, trailer and equipment how much money is tied up for 7 minutes? How long would it take them to do it with what they have? You invested your money to make you faster, end of story.

 

[LLandscaping]

We are just starting to go to all contracts. If we go to a property and it has not grown much we go ahead and cut it. It cost time and money to go to a property and if we dont work, we dont get paid. We have a set minimum even if it takes a few minutes we charge that price. In our area we use contracts to keep us busy and money coming in year around. Contracts help cut out the people that want to skip mowings, pay late and do other services done that are not included in the price for lawn maintenance etc.

 

[indy2tall]

Lets see, stopping in front of the house and getting out to drop the trailer gate then pulling off the mower and starting it must take close to 1 minute or more and almost the same to load the trailer back up when your done. That leaves 5 minutes to mow, blow and trim. I can not fathom how small that yard must be.

 

[nobagger]

7 min. lawn? I would suggest synthetic turf and maintain it for them once a month and then make it worth your while. I never step foot on a prop. without a signed contract, period! Our contracts are short and sweet, there is not a lot of "mumbo jumbo" in it. Let me guess, you probably only accept cash or personal checks made out to you right?

 

[Flex-Deck]

LOLLMAO and what ever - heck - I have two JD garden tractors -495 & a 595 - we pull into a 2 1/2 acre place and we are done in 13 minutes. Do not let these people on this site get to you. They do not understand efficiency.

OH BTW we charge $65 for the 13 min. The people are happy.

 

[Hermanator]

i must be the nicest guy in the business. i dont have contracts. if it dont need cutting one week i drive right by and no charge. i always cut on the time, never late. and will come over a day before if they are having a picnic. i dont know if it is just cause of my area or if i am doing something wrong. the first year i started i did contracts and nobody wanted to sign one. i read alot of good points people say on here about double cutting and triple cutting and still get paid the same. and also i am to nice and i got to stop. i dont want to drop my trailer gate for no less than 30.00 a cut. how do you tell someone that when the whole job will only take you 7 minutes? i think next year i am gonna only do 25 lawns a week. not the 55 or so i have now.

contracts, who needs them? we just give our customers a letter that tells them by us mowing their yard, they agree to the following. but it is nothing elaborate. the simpler we can make it the better.

also, we are not the most expensive lco in our area, if you are, then contracts are probably more important. we are after a lot of lawns, so we are trying to make things easy and simple for the customer.

 

[milo]

yea most of my lawns are done in like 20 minutes total till i open my truck door and till i get back in. and yes that is why i dont know how some guys can charge 30.00 for a 7 minute job when i only charge 10.00... hey also i take food stamps. for you no i have a business name and only bill people. i do see alot of other lawn guys get out of the truck and stand around before they do anything. or i really love the guys that are winding string and to cut it off they use a lighter or a mower blade and chop it on the ground. that may be the guys that cant get a job done in 7 minutes..
back to contracts i think alot has to do with your area and the people you cut for, cause in my area i know 6 landscapers i talk to once or twice a week and only one of them has contracts with people

 

[milo]

nobagger, where in PA are you from? i work in allentown. also in your profile you dont have any zero turn mowers. get one of them and you will see what you can get done in 7 minutes

 

[befnme]

LOLLMAO and what ever - heck - I have two JD garden tractors -495 & a 595 - we pull into a 2 1/2 acre place and we are done in 13 minutes. Do not let these people on this site get to you. They do not understand efficiency.

OH BTW we charge $65 for the 13 min. The people are happy.

dang those things must fly and you must not have any landscape to mow and trim around . or else i gotta buy some jd eq.