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How often do you mow your residential accounts?

7K views 38 replies 33 participants last post by  LawnGuy110 
#1 ·
Many of my residential accounts are only wanting bi weekly mows(twice a month).
I'm really wanting 3 times a month or even weekly mows.
How about you guys? What kind of schedule do you guys run on most your residential? Any pointers?

Thanks!!
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#29 ·
All of my lawns have irrigation, they grow enough they really do need to be mowed weekly. Every one of my lawns right now I mow weekly. I have done quotes for bi-weekly and charge 50% more. My average lawn is only 4500 square feet or so. You folks mowing 15000+ on several of your lawns are in a different world than my part of the country. That's probably why people want bi-weekly - they don't want to be paying 70/week. The small lots I am doing are 20-40/week.
 
#31 ·
My lawns range from 7-10 days. Some properties are tenant dwellings and to save on costs the owner asks to lengthen cuts. Even then those owners are willing to spend more on lawn/weed maintenance. In the fall when the growing season comes to an end, or due to lack of precipitation, I'll lengthen cuts to every two weeks as I refuse to cut lawns on schedule that haven't grown. It makes no sense to stir up the dust and not really cut the grass due to slow growth. I see some operators out with their crews mowing 'dirt', which might be part of a contract so they don't have much choice, but I would just let the lawn be.

My light commercial and residential accounts range from 25-60/week. I have one long term client who keeps asking me to cut her lawn more frequently. If it grows more than 1" after I just cut it, she calls asking me to cut it again. I say no, because it's not economically feasible for me to go all the way out there with the truck and trailer just for one lawn. Each year I reassure her that I make my rounds no less than once a week and she says she's OK with that, ha. At most, grass might grow upwards of 2" within a one week period in optimal growing conditions. This is southern Ontario area, so the growing season slows down around early September.

I don't look at it as a scheduling nightmare. My only issue is bringing a new client on board, and working that property into the weekly route schedule.
 
#32 ·
Tell them you do not do EOW.

Some lawns are that poor that they can be cut EOW.

Have a weekly price and a EOW price that is 50% more then that weekly price due to the extra load placed on the mower and the extra time edging and trimming from the over grown grass.

At 50% more per mow EOW still costs less per month then every week.
What he said..

I have a few EOW accounts. Some are people who can't mow and can't afford a lot so I do it at a weekly price as a favor.
One is a rather large property that I have scheduled on the opposite week as another EOW account. It works out.....they are on the same route...so I am mowing every week. I also make 160 to cut it each time and it takes 2 guys just barely over an hour....3 guys 45 minutes.
 
#33 ·
All but two
of my accounts have Centipede turf and it doesn't require weekly mowing. In July and August maybe every 10 days for my year long accounts the bi-weeklys on the pay per cut plan remain the same. Two of my accounts have Zoysia and they want it cut every week and that's fine with me, that grass is like steel wool.
 
#36 ·
Flat rate year rounders get cut 1x per week April thru October, then usually bi-monthly Nov. thru March but sometimes it's not needed, I let them go for 3 weeks with no complaints.

By the cut as needed but every week during the rainy season, Bahia lawns go dormant during the winter, I may not need to mow them for several months.
 
#38 ·
Know I'm gonna get reamed out for this !

The few accounts I have left are call as needed . . AND . . tell me what height to mow at!

Got fed up with being questioned and and listening to all the stupid talk.

I use to mow only as needed, even when scheduled weekly. If they didn't need mowing I'd skip them. Would double cut when needed, would mow at three or four different heights to make a lawn look nice and blend together. Did mowings twice a week to keep lawns looking nice for the same price as a once a week service.

Would preach and preach to the same people year after year about proper cutting heights and frequency. It's like we never had the conversation at least twice every year.

Whatever they want is OK with me now. My lawns can look just like the big time guys. Guess it's what they want, and consider acceptable.

Windrows at the hospitals and clinics. Scalp them down near to bare ground when you get behind. Year after year these lawns on a main hiway here look like this. Suckers four feet long on the bottoms of trees. Guess it's OK cause it doesn't change. These are contracted, not in house mowers.

Can't fix stupid.
 
#39 ·
We do almost all weekly. every seven days unless it rains and we get backed up. Our bi weekly are every 14 days. We don't have very bi weekly (maybe 4 or 5) because we charge more for bi weekly which is the right thing to do quite frankly because 9 times out of 10 in my experience these people want their lawn scalped and it is extremely hard on the mowers and takes forever to get it to look even half way decent.
 
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