Handling Customers Who Want BiWeekly Lawn Care Service - What Do I Say?
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Let's talk about handling customers wanting biweekly lawn service. This has to be one of my biggest lawn care pet peeves. We all know the customer who wants to stretch out the mowing schedule, from 7 days, to 10, or even every 2 weeks.
These are some of my tips about how to deal with customers who always ask that dreaded question of do you offer biweekly service. Handling these objections aren't hard as long as you're prepared and firm with what your offering as a service to your clients.
What are some of the tips you guys have for dealing with this question and issue we all face in the business? Leave a comment below, love to hear your guys thoughts!
Keep Up With Us!
► Subscribe To Our Channel: tinyurl.com/jjt...
► Smash The Bell To Be Part Of #notificationsquad
► Follow Us on Instagram: tinyurl.com/jbf...
Want To Send Us A Product Or Piece Of Equipment To Review?
Email Us: BriansLawnMaintenance2007@gmail.com
Have A Specific Question From This Video? Please Comment Below!
Check out these other favorite videos from Brian’s Lawn Maintenance!!
Day In The Life Mowing Grass - NEW Vlog!
• Lawn Care Day In The L...
Mowing Super Tall Grass Commercial Property Vlog:
tinyurl.com/y75...
Epic 2017 Lawn Care Enclosed Trailer Setup Vlog:
tinyurl.com/y8v...
Epic Day In The Life Lawn Care Vlog:
tinyurl.com/y94...
________________________________________________________
Consider supporting our channel by utilizing our Amazon affiliate links! I truly hope our videos entertain and provide benefit to you guys. The best way to help us monetarily is by using our Amazon affiliates links and purchasing your gear online with us!
**Visit Our New Amazon Affiliate Store!**
www.amazon.com...
Favorite Products Available On Amazon:
Audible Free Trial+2 Free Audiobooks: amzn.to/2vWNxFU
Equipment Defender Affiliate Link (Save 5%) www.equipmentde...?aff=7
SureCan USA 5 Gallon Can: amzn.to/2mVZabC
SureCan USA 2.2 Gallon Can: amzn.to/2mDXouZ
Milwaukee 1/2” Mid-Torque Impact: amzn.to/2mDUbff
DeWALT 40V HandHeld Blower: amzn.to/2mhwhU8
DeWALT Chainsaw: amzn.to/2mhr8eR
DeWALT Hedge Trimmer: amzn.to/2lW4BSM
Echo 770T BackPack Blower: amzn.to/2mVXte7
Mechanix Gloves: amzn.to/2ncO6me
ISOTunes Pro: amzn.to/2mkw1Ft
VoltHeat Mens Vest: amzn.to/2mk9yII
VoltHeat Leather Titan Gloves: amzn.to/2lCsCTx
VoltHeat Glove Liners: amzn.to/2mk1F5M
Toro 721QZR Blower: amzn.to/2mkcZ1R
Proven Industries 2 5/16 Trailer Lock: amzn.to/2mjYbk2
Proven Industries Utility Trailer Lock: amzn.to/2nbQME1
DeWALT Heated Jacket: amzn.to/2mhhtEM
Milwaukee Heated Jacket: amzn.to/2mkfvoL
Milwaukee Heated Hoodie: amzn.to/2mhgOmL
RZ Mask: amzn.to/2mkgXHR
Our Video Equipment We Use:
Macbook Pro 15” 2.6ghz (we use iMovie) amzn.to/2t5Rget
Main Camera: amzn.to/2mVOnhE
Wide Angle Lens: amzn.to/2ncCGiD
Vlogging Gorilla Pod: amzn.to/2ncFVq9
Go Pro: amzn.to/2mVP1vr
Saramonic GoPro Stereo Mic: amzn.to/2mh79wQ
______________________________________________
Our Favorite Brands/Partners:
www.Exmark.com
www.Sure-Trac.com
www.DeWalt.com
www.MilwaukeeTool.com
www.Redmax.com
www.StihlUSA.com
www.Echo-USA.com
www.SureCanUSA.com
www.Mechanix.com
www.RedMagicPerformance.com
www.VoltHeat.com
www.ProvenLocks.com
www.ISOTunesaudio.com
www.EquipmentDefender.com
www.TieDownStore.com
______________________________________________
Thank you for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please shoot it a big Thumbs UP and LIKE! If you haven’t done it already, make sure you SUBSCRIBE! That way you can get the latest and greatest when our newest videos release! *Brian's Lawn Maintenance is powered by Yardbook.com* **Visit the Lawntrepreneur Academy for Training Programs To Start A Lawn Care Business Of Your Own!**
bit.ly/2GAhAbM
I had a woman yesterday call and ask how much for mowing bi weekly in a house she was moving into. She gave me the address and it was the biggest house in the subdivision at the end of a cul de sac. The front lawn was small and half dead, the rear was fairly big and completely dead. I told her she didn't need mowing but reseeding and fertilizer! She acted like I was trying to con her, and kept asking for a price for mowing. I finally told her 50 bucks and she said "I used to get my old lawn done for 35 and it was bigger"! I told her she needs to call her old yard man and see if he's willing to commute! LOL
lol nice!
Don’t listen to that know your worth and also it could be a sale strategy trying to get your prices lower!!
I do the same with those types.
Same. Mow it yourself if you're so poor.
Mowing is a luxury service, this ain't red cross relief for lazy cheapskates.
50 is my bare minimum to unload. I'm not running a charity.
You didn't mention the biggest problem with bi weekly mowing, which is the fact that due to rainy conditions all bi weekly's eventually gravitate to the same week and every other week your schedule is overwhelming.
I love bi-weekly accounts. I use my lawn customers to sell more profitable work like mulch installs, hedge trimming, aerations, etc. so the more customers I have to more I can up sell. It doesn't effect my schedule too much if you set up your schedule correctly. But I also do charge 20% more for bi-weekly accounts.
I do my bi weekly accts on Mon and Tues... the ladder half of the week are for my once a week lawns ...
Just started implementing the 20% added amount for bi weekly. I think I'll only do that in the peak growing season.
@@daryldettmer9160 any reason for doing biweekly at the beginning of the week or just preference?
@@cashen7384 Most people want their lawn looking good over the weekend... thurs/ fri should be your prime price customers since the lawn looks best.
That’s a solid point man! More clients more opportunities! Plus It’s not too hard to get more customers if you are marketing right. Also I think 20% more than covers the extra time.
Love this topic Brian, happy you brought it up because when I first start out my company I also disliked the bi-weekly customer. Until I realized the actual value of a bi weekly customer. You can dramatically grow your company quicker by having these customers for the following reasons. But first let me make it clear that this applies to turf has to actually only need a biweekly cut, I will not offer biweekly maintenance on a healthy turf that demands a weekly mowing. So with that being said here is why i now love bi weekly customers
1- First I determine what the weekly rate would be for that lawn, I then add a minimum of 10.00 more for a biweekly cut. in most cases is go with 50% on top of a weekly rate for that lawn.being that our company already determined that it was a true biweekly lawn based on growth. we just made 50% more for the same work and time that it would take as a weekly cut.
2- let's say your company is able to cut 100 lawns a week, if they are weekly cuts you have 100 customers. But if you have 100 biweekly lawns each week you have 200 customers. Based on the 50% mark up pointed out above, your company just made 50% more profit cutting the same amount of lawns. This is pure profit. You also now have 200 customers to offer added services to.
3- you have more steady income during heat waves because they are already biweekly so you won't have to skip any customers. And we know that skipping a lawn is a loss of income you were expecting
All great points pal thanks for sharing
100% agree... Bi weekly is tge way to go. Every customer is ONLY biweekly. Double the customer base. Double the up sell. Double the exposure. Double client opportunity for window cleaning & gutter cleaning. Bi weekly is the vest kept secret in the business.
It's not really a 50% increase because you do put more wear on you equipment but you're right about the rest. Honestly for a guy like me who just started out it is better to have a little bit of both and plus I cant be too picky yet.
huh
@@caseyc2848 right
Good video Brian . I charge my customers monthly, based on a 26 week mowing season . So if the lawn was a $50 lawn I multiply that by 26 then divide by 6 (months). So the customers monthly fee is $216.65 when I first started doing that formula everybody said ok and never mentioned skipping again. By taking the cut per week out off the conversation and making it a monthly service fee, I can then hit the sales I need and my customers lawn is healthier. Win win.
Cool cool I've heard of a few folks doing it like that
dont they want credit if you dont mow because of drought time ?
That’s exactly why I do. I take their rate multiply it by 28 not 26 and then divide it by 6 months may thru October. This makes their payment the same every month. 99 percent of my customers are fine with this. So if they call and request a skip, no problem the price is the same.
@@danielcolfer4671 do you add on a cut at the end of the year if they want a skip or do they want money off?
@@glenlohane-adayinthelife7361
I take their rate times 28 weeks then divide it by 6. May through October. Then their bill is the same each of those 6 months. If they request a week to be skipped their price is still the same. I purposely skip a week or so in October to let leaves fall so when I do cut I mulch up more leaves ( hopefully) which reduces their fall cleanup bill. Many of my customers pay for the whole season up front (either half or whole). If I get behind (a day or so) due to rain they don’t care because I double cut if necessary etc. to get it back into shape. It takes more time and resources in the spring and fall to maintain the lawn so (hopefully) when it slows down during July, August and part of September etc. your profits can go up. This seems to work well with my client list but I’ve had many of them for over 20 years so they trust me based on years of consistent service and accountability. Nothing is more important in any business than trust and accountability and consistently meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
You are absolutely 100% correct I do not take any biweekly customers and when I do see a lawn that isn’t growing as quickly I will spend like 15 minutes cleaning up the beds but I never skip a cut
I was a bi-weekly customer who wanted to save some money due to budget. Ended up just buying a mower and mowing it myself to save even more money and get better results.
I would love to see a video of your awesome yard.
Mowing is a luxury service. Can't afford? Can't have. Sorry not sorry.
Brian, what we do is put everyone on a yearly plan. So we cut from April - October every week. Once October comes, we cut bi-weekly. Nov, Dec and Jan we go once per month. February can either go bi-weekly or one per month depending if spring hit us early. We, of course, have a longer season here in Florida.:)
I do same here also florida
Same here in sc
Tom, do you charge a monthly fee all year long?
@Tom E could you perhaps put your pricing method like how much you would charge them if they pay most of your clients pay is 50 dollars
My son is struggling with this right now! He asked me for advice and I suggested that if they want to go biweekly that he should go hourly. They’ll see how much that actually costs and see that cutting weekly is actually cheaper. He actually decided to start weaning them off. He’s going to finish them out for the season and just not renew them next year. He’s grown so much this year and is doing exactly what you’re saying. Trying to make transition to the higher end neighborhoods next year. He’s considering keeping some of these lower end properties and bringing a helper on to do these yards to keep the cash flow and giving him more time to target the better areas. He started off last year at 17years old and a push mower. Made enough to buy a used lawn tractor cheap and within 4 weeks this year bought his first used commercial mower. He now has a 48” and a 36” commercial mower and all new trimmers and blowers. Plus cleared enough to carry him through college until spring. Hard work but he’s making it happen. He had a great conversation with me this week about how much he’s grown and learned. Already making plans to expand next year. He said if he can do it, anybody can. You just have to be willing to put in the effort.
That’s so cool. Tell him best of luck!
Is he looking to keep the business going or just use it to get through college
We have Centipede grass in the south. It only needs to be cut biweekly. I’ve never had a weekly lawn. Most lawns start at $60 a cut, so the prices are higher than other regions. I get people that want every 3 weeks. I just tell them that it doesn’t fit in my schedule, i would have to keep an opening every week.
What he said! ^
Centipede here to and live In the panhandle.. defuniak springs, florida every 2 weeks here to.. have one yard that grow really fast and needs it every week.. I'm doing it bi-weekly but I'm about to ask her to do it every week
@@loganchaney5981 sounds about like us. My company has 58 accounts right now and only about 10-15 are weekly. And those that are weekly will go back to bi-weekly around October. But that’s why we charge a little more here in Charleston SC
So do you guys charge the same price for weekly cuts as you do bi-weekly? That is my problem.
@@gabrieldiaz9998 for the most part, I do charge the same for both.
I personally feel no respectable/ moral entrepreneur needs to apologize or explain why they have a policy or their business model to anyone. The proof is in the pudding so to speak. All respectable/ moral businesses put policies and business models including sales goals in place for a reason (ex: safety, overhead, growth, and longevity.) If customers do not understand/ comprehend that why are they someone’s customer?
Great topics and videos Brian’s Lawn Maintenance! 👍👍
I made this mistake, I started mowing two seasons ago offering biweekly. Most people were rural customers who don't care what it looks like when you're done. Cutting 6-12" of grass tore up my machines, this season I decided to email everyone with
a blended weekly switching to biweekly in July, no ones having it lost a about half of my biweekly accounts.
As a landscape contractor of twenty plus years here in beautiful sunny California,we do plenty of bi weekly lines.it's not a big deal.money is money
Agreed
Yeah I prefer bi-weekly accounts because it gives me more time to do more profitable landscaping work. On the other hand I don't offer bagging so if a bi-weekly customer complains about excessive grass clippings I refuse to give them any sympathy unless they're willing to go weekly.
One of the things that I started doing a couple years ago is I just tell my customer if you want bi-weekly it will be the price that my weekly line is times two most of the time they just have me do it every week and if it doesn't need to be done I will skip it
I like that! I usually just uncharge 50% probably should do it your way instead it takes forever to double and triple cut some of these.
I have plenty of bi-weekly customers in St. Louis. They don't bother me at all. I give them the exact same care as my weekly customers. Now an upcharge for bi-weekly laws is an idea that could work. It actually frees up time for me to do other jobs.
As a homeowner in central illinois, there are parts of the summer where we have to mow twice a week and the rest of the season at least once a week no matter what the weather is like. To me, a lawn service needs to mow anytime it is needed to maintain it properly. I have never hired a service because I assume no one does it that way or it would cost me too much. I still think the frequency should be based on the need and not a schedule.
This guy gets it!!
Yo Brain thanks for the advice . I don't have biweekly accounts. all of my accounts are yearly accounts. But your advice to say no more by blaming it on the company. Is brilliant! I never thought of that . This will help me in the future. Thank you Sir !
Jacob Moreno hope it helps man! Rock on
Hello Brian
I dropped all the bi-weekly lawns 3 years ago... It was too much wear and tear on the mowers and extra time to clean up.
The best thing I ever done. Great Video I would rather have 100 weekly customer vs 200 biweekly
I find in Michigan when the lawns are growing the grass gets long and grass clogs is not acceptable Every ten days just doesn't work . I agree with you totally .
Good insight! In central NC we actually do a ton of bi weekly yards. We have most people switching to Warm season grasses that grow out more than up so doing them bi weekly we are only taking of a inch or so per cut. With that we are working the same and making more. So a $36 dollar yard is $44 dollars so 100 yards $4400 vers $3600 now of fescue yards we are only offering weekly because they are growing high.
Where are you at in central NC! .Im in WS!
When asked about biweekly I explain the results are unfavorable 90% of the time. The lawn looks marginal at best when I leave a biweekly cut and I take pride in my work and reputation so my firm doesn't do that. Also cutting every two weeks tears up my equipment and when I use beat up equipment it shows on all my accounts. So we avoid biweekly cuts.
Great video! This will be my first full season. Reading all the comments from all experienced guys is helpful. I definitely will up charge bi-weekly customers by 30% and do them mid-week and weekly customers on Fridays to begin with. Thanks for all the insights. The Bob's don't want to pay. Just ask a server in a restaurant what he tips. 5%.
Im trying to help my 13 year old twins get started with a modest lawn care service for their first summer job, and I want them to have a good experience and not get ripped off.
Thanks for the tips!
Excellent video!! This is something I am currently struggling with. For me, I think it is a natural progression of a business. What I mean is when you first start out, you are more than likely going to take whatever business comes your way, which a lot of times is the biweekly, not fertilized and irrigated type lawns. Once you get established in more upscale neighborhoods, you start doing exactly what you said, notify customers that they'll need to switch to weekly service and/or drop off the bottom 5 to 10% - the biweekly lawns . Key is to have enough profitable accounts before you make the move, that way your company can absorb the possible loss of those customers, because some won't agree to go weekly. Thanks!
Hard Knox Lawn Care Yup that's exactly what I did / am doing.
Biweekly clients do not get their hedges/ bushes trimmed. I only do that when they ask and charge accordingly. Most "Biweekly" clients only care about the HOA not sending them a letter.
I'm liking this method. This being my first full-time season, I am offering 7 - 10 day windows on cutting. It makes scheduling tough, but trying to accommodate. It has been more difficult than I had planned. It's REALLY hard to walk it back now. Next season, I will def offer 26 week cuts. Like you say, there may be some wiggle room according to conditions, but I will appreciate the steady cash flow. Not greed by any means, just good business sense.
Totally pal
Only in the summer time when the grass is not growing. But never when it's raining 3 times a week and the grass is growing fast each week. But when the grass slow yes then I'll mow when need it.
Another point is, atleast from my clients. Bi weekly customers are the ones who want to skip to every 3 weeks or pay super late. Bi weekly has become an issue for my company. I am switching over to weekly. I am not getting as many customers now but I’d rather have the right ones than an abundance of issues.
Know your worth brother. We got bills to pay and mouths to feed too. Biweekly means they just want you want to knock it down. I would never leave clumps and bs on a Biweekly and that's about the only way to profit doing it. If it ain't striped I didn't do it. Pass on the Biweeklys it's too hot out here for that. If you do charge an automatic 50% up charge.
Good advice . I no longer take those types of customers . It’s just money out your pocket and more abuse to your equipment .
If you're in the middle of a warm rainy summer, you might find your lawn gets overgrown in as little as 2-3 days. It can be downright ridiculous sometimes. Bi weekly is fine for out of the way rural fields.
In the neighborhoods? Get that done every 5-7 days.
Bi-weekly or weekly in Florida is almost the same, both need double cutting during June through August. I charge them roughly 15 dollars/20% more per visit if going bi-weekly. So a 45 would be 60 dollars, or more if its a larger lot. Works out good for us. We also sell bi-weekly's on shrub trimming, and landscaping so they are still good customers they just done want the grass cut once a week but have money to spend on overall property maintenance.
You make great points. I had a customer that took a bi-weekly service since they were renting in the neighborhood (across the street) from regular customers. He mowed on the off weeks so lawn never went out of control. Guess I was their edger... but hey, I edge everyones yard weekly, so it wasn't a big deal. But I do like the 20% price hike mentioned in a comment below.
Most customers that do that want to save money. Been doing this more 30 years and seen it many times. It's my pet peeve as well. It means you are doing twice the work for half the money. And I give the same answer that Brian does. Lawn is growing to much to do that.
Where I’m at in Alabama unfortunately the lawns I get our biweekly, I try and get them on a weekly schedule and give them that price. If they still want biweekly then I charge almost double the weekly rate. So they tend to go weekly because it’s around the same price for 4 cuts vs 2.
70 every 2 weeks or 40 a week your choice
The areas I service are older neighborhoods with lower income customers. Budget wise, every 2 weeks is all they afford. Hope you or some of your subscribers have any good tips on how to make bi-weekly accounts more profitable without sacrificing quality.
Billy Goat Keep those customers but try to get into those higher end subs and neighborhoods!
Don't serve the poor. Mowing is a luxury service, not a charity. Maybe set up a program with a local church or something if you want to donate your time for poor people.
I mow 100$ per acre lawns. You could do 10/20 a week easy, and make real money, or you can beg for 25 dollars every other week from 4 dozen people that can't afford upsales or enhancements.
Screw the broke, I'm here to make money.
Good advice. Here in our market centipede doesn't grow very fast, so we handle clients wanting a biweekly service by creating a 20% surcharge, so a typical $45 yard is $54... Which is crazy and boosts our man hr margins tremendously. I truly don't mind bi-weekly clients as they fill our schedule most of the year. 10 day schedules would be a logistical nightmare... no way!
we do 12 month contracts in north ga. hate bi weekly customers because theyre the first to complain around here. we take care of our contract customers first, and when weather happens the bi weeklys get put on the backburner. hope all is well down there in florida. had a hell of a cleanup week after irma rolled through.
acfuller86 I agree with this 100% makes sense to me!
Florida Turf Pros Great advice
He is mowing cool season turf ie. bluegrass and fescue unlike in florida with warm season turf. Bi weekly mowing in the mid west = bailing hay.
acfuller86 That's what I do as well. I tell them upfront biweekly will be more so they see it's actually more worth it to have us come weekly.
As long as they are willing to pay the price I quote them I don't care if they only want it mowed once a season. Money is money and I'm not going to turn it down.
Exactly. I ain't turning nothing down but my shirt collar...😁😁😁
I maintain my own lawn but I really appreciate this video. When I first purchased my home my sister paid for a lawn mowing service as a house warning gift, which I needed as I didn’t yet have a lawn mower. I tried to get him to come around weekly and I’d pay the difference and he said he didn’t offer weekly cuts. I was shocked. I started to think mowing services didn’t consider the customers quality of lawn. I’m really glad your putting this information out to those ppl that have businesses. Especially sharp blades and frequent mowing.
Not sure if you have a video about this already but wanted to note another issue I had with his service. Height of the cut. I asked if he’d cut my lawn at 4” and he said sure but didn’t actually cut it at that height. He definitely broke the one third rule on my lawn.
I like what have said. Here in South Carolina where I live I have this perspective. I have a lot of bi weekly but I love it. The way I look at it the more people you have the better for word of mouth you will get. I have 67 places I take care of. Commercial-biweekly- some one a month. God has blessed me and I am not going to turn down anyone if it is the right amount of money. The more people you know the better you will be off.
We are in North East Michigan and we have a pile of bi weekly customers, Because of the sand that is around the lakes and how the limestone is just below the surface the grass does not grow fast. There is only a couple of high end subdivisions in our area and most of them don't have sprinkling systems because of the rock that won't allow them to put in irrigation. Most of the lawn care companies ours included have no choice but to cut every other week. We just set our schedules around how the grass grows. But we do have mostly weekly customers that get cut every week.
Marksmisfitworld Ya different markets do different things, makes sense up there!
I'm open to cutting bi weekly but the customer should be aware that the quality won't be up to par with a weekly account
The only thing with that, is by not giving a quality service 100% of the time will give a negative representation of your company to potential customers. Always give 100%, and just get rid of part time customers. As in this video, part time customers equals part time pay, which a full time business can't operate on. :O
It’s nice to see someone post a video about this topic. I cut overgrown weeds , grass, etc. and make anywhere from 185 to 220 a yard yet I do have customers ask afterwards if I can stop by biweekly for $40 dollars every time I stop by which for me it’s not worth it plus I don’t want to commit to something that I might not have time to do.
i did what you did Brian. Eliminated it all together after several stressful years. I was just south of you in Ohio. Same Weather. Now I live in Seattle. Very few lawns are nice enough to need it so most are biweekly. There is very little bluegrass here however so even a tall lawn cuts easy and has very little debris. This has been the biggest problem im dealing with here. Personally i hate it. People here want me customize everything i do to their liking and then some. I like bluegrass much better. A zero turn mower destroys a fescue lawn too easily. Cheers brother.
We actually had a customer named Bob who happen to be Indian lol!
Lol thats funny
He may have been called Bob.. but unless he's 2nd generation American, I'd bet that's not name on his birth certificate.
I am a solo operator that mostly cut city customers that really just want the lawn cut mostly so right now all I have is bi weekly. It also works for me because I have a full time job and I am only in my second year of operation. Plus my overhead is low
For the most part I agree with everything you said, but there's a lot of gray area to think about. You seem to be blessed with mostly little, easy to mow, sub division, cookie cutter lawns . I'm assuming with irrigation. For me, and I think for most lawn care guys, our focus is keeping the client happy. Trying the best we can to do what they want because there's no advertising like word of mouth. All of my clients are rural, out of town, where you have plenty of opportunity for upselling. Bushes, mulch, pruning, whatever. And that's where the money is.
Here's my 2 points. 1 if they're will to pay time n ahalf 2 if they live within 3 miles of my house
I Let my ppl know the more I do the yard, the cost per time is less. Plus the yard Will look better. I just started doing this full time again. It has been a side hussle for about eight years. One of my longest yards gets done once a month. It is bad,that is all she can do. But over hafe of my yards came from doing this one yard. The rest of my yards are biweekly. I have done restaurants , stores, and, a few homes weekly. I did a vacant lot the other day I wanted to turn it down. The guy owns a some rentals so I'm trying to get in good with him. I once worked for a company that did a ten day schedule. The yards were not bad, it seems it would be hard to keep up with.
Excellent topic. I Needed to hear this. I I have been trying to figure out how to veer away from bi-weekly. I want to say about 25-30% of the lawns I cut are bi-weekly. Some half million to million dollar homes. I get it, come August, sometimes July, you feel like your ripping them off by cutting it so you skip it. All in all I love this concept of weekly only and listening to you I now can explain why I am not willing to go bi weekly. My business is about 50% install and 50% lawn maintenance. Every year I have one week where I cut 3.5 days a week and the next week only 2 days a week. It gets hard scheduling larger install jobs that take more than 2 days to complete due to the wacky lawn maintenance schedule. I, like you, am an owner operator type business. Only have one or 2 helpers most years. Thanks for all your videos. I will be purchasing the sure-trac landscape pro once I know this Corona Virus thing is over.
I have a few bi weekly and yes I prefer the weekly schedule. I have dropped a few bi weekly that take longer to travel to. On the tight pocket customers I try to offer a them every 10 days. But being my first season cutting I maintained about 30 yards after my full time job. Weekly keeps less stress on the lawn also I tell them.
I have had a customer for 14 or 15 years that has from day 1 insisted that I mow 3 times a month from March to Oct and twice a month from Nov through Feb. His lawn is one of my fasted growing yards. I do it, charge him a buck or 2 extra and cut him when my schedule allows. any where from 8 to 12 days...when ever I can get to it. Once or twice he has asked, and I suggested he go to a monthly instead of a per cut. That shuts him up. By the way he's Indian.
I charge a standars mow rate, however if the propertey takes over 2 1/2 hours, i charge my hory rate. All my costumers have loved this method so far, & its worked really well for me.
I don't cut lawns for a living, but enjoy the information you provide. I've watched a lot of your videos. You're a great CZcams personality and seem to have a solid business. Keep it up!
Thanks pal! Hope they help and inspire anyone who happens to stumble upon them.
I know someone who had a guy mowing every week for $45 and he said it should be mowed twice a week, when they didnt want to do it he said he would not mow for them any longer. He lives right down the street also, I guess he has plenty of work.
I have weekly and bi weekly customer! The weekly customers get a small discount, so I can cut it scent they grow really fast, and manageable! Bi weekly I charge about 10- 20 dollar more! Scent it is high and taller grass. Have to do more work. So I can still make the same amount as I do with my weekly customers
another selling point to cutting grass more often is that the grass is healthier.you are taking less of grass blade off.that is as good for the grass as fertilizing
I usually have no problem doing bi-weekly accounts as long as I can schedule it without issue.
As long as the lawn doesn't grow too much, however to discourage it I will charge anywhere between $10-$15 more per cut if they want bi-weekly service.
I will not do 10 day cuts. That messes up my schedule way too much.
Say its a $40 yard... i quote them $40 weekly, $50 bi weekly, $60 monthly (overgrown fees will still apply regardless). But here in SA bi-weekly is regular vs. Weeklys
I live in Florida and I mostly do bi-weekly even during the growing season. I have several hundred clients and at $50-175 per cut I don’t need to come back anymore than that but I also do that year round so my income stays the same every month plus I offer other services to the clients that I have like mulching beds, weed&feed, pest control and weed control in beds. I also offer soft washing and tree limbing and tree removal with a bucket truck that I purchased a few years ago. It saves me from a lot of running around and also my clients don’t need 2-3 different services coming to their house and I keep all that money in house. With the amount of storms we get here, I can get all my clients taken care of first before helping out one timers whom I just consider side pocket money. I couldn’t imagine servicing several hundred clients every week, I’d have to hire more man power and more equipment for just maintenance and I don’t see the profit margin being high enough to do all that. I do have enough equipment to run a full third crew but I juts use all of that as back up for stuff that goes down or just to swap out to give equipment down tome for general servicing that I can do myself. I usually keep 3-4 zero turns at the shop and usually 1-2 walk behinds at the shop and just rotate that stuff out with the two lawn crews that head out everyday. I know everyone runs theirs differently but this is how I’ve done it and the lawns have helped start up the soft washing and the tree business in the last couple of years and I started the lawns about 8 years ago so it’s been pretty profitable if u don’t allow urself to get screwed or under bid urself to much. Always great to see others out there getting their hustle on.
mostly bi-weekly in Florida? If you skipped some of the lawns I mow for a week you'd have a jungle. To each his own.
Rob Basich I have a few I do weekly like businesses or a few really rich people that what it done every week every every month year round even in the winter but most of mine are every other week and some wind up getting done 3 times a week due to the way the month is. If I tried every week doing 150 lawns I’d be screwed especially since it rains almost every afternoon here during the summer. But yea of ur able to get them every week then go for it but I have many that are several acres or more.
As I read through the comments I noticed that mostly everyone is on the other east coast.. and lawn care there is another ball game. . I’m in the Central Valley in California and I go on a monthly service . Since winters are short and no snow . Service goes on year round . And there’s also a bonus made during October due to seeding . And it becomes really easy for a few months since you can’t mow them for a few weeks an then fall is pretty much over .. yet since it’s a monthly service it’s the same dependent income year round .
Im hooked on your videos man. Last year a friend and I bought a $100 trailer, $275 walk behind 48 inch snapper, and a ryobi expand it weedwacker. I used my personal push mower and we had like 5 houses a week for the whole season. Just as a side gig. The equipment we had was less than $1000 total and it paid itself off quick. We primarily worked in lower to lower middle class neighborhoods and did pretty well. This year I spent about $1500 between a trailer, another walk behind snapper, echo trimmer and blower. I just did 6 houses today for about $290 total. I took my time lol. Long story short, I feel like anyone can do this, get customers and practice, get good, and grow. Dont feel goofy for watching 20 minute videos of people just cutting grass. Its addicting!
I love it! Keep up the hustle buddy!
The other bugbear not mentioned here is the application of specialist lawn feeds, this can boost the growth phenomenally.
You end up mowing half the width so the mower can cope or cut high, then cut low.
UK side, we get Green Thumb, Lawn Master and Lawn Doctor who do these feeds but create a lot of extra work for the local
mowerman like me! If it gets too tough, I prefer to drop these customers; the job is too strenuous and too costly.
Hi there, I mow in the uk too. Your comment struck me as an opportunity to upsell from fortnightly to weekly, as those who pay for lawn treatments (which I would sell them organic feeds instead) are definitely more likely to pay to maintain that treated lawn. I would tell them the best is to cut less than a third of the grass blade each cut and time the cuts accordingly, you might be there on rolling Monday, Fridays and Wednesdays doing the best you can for that customer!
Great video! And great topic! I'm part time and I really can't afford to take biweekly accounts. I do still have I think 2 and I wish I didn't. They get alternated so my mow count is the same every week. For me its time and biweekly just isn't worth my time which also means they are not profitable enough for the company.
I always get a chuckle when i hear some lawn guy say "Yeah i cut about a hundred lawns a week" i or at least my company cut that many a day but then i remember 20 years ago when i first started i was lucky to get that many in a month. Now we cut yards across 6 counties with an average of over 1500 give or take properties a week. I even have a crew that does nothing but H.O.A'S and commercial lots all day every week.
A-State Lawn Service Awesome pal good for you!!
A-State Lawn Care, where are you located?
All of my customers are bi weekly. I live in North Central NC and most of them don't want weekly mowing. From what I see, only commercial customers get the weekly. I'm know there are weekly residential cuts, but I don't know of any!
My customers save about $10 every mow when doing BI-Weekly.. Not very much so it tends to keep them on a weekly schedule.. Say one yard is $35 weekly which would be $140 a month, if they do bi-weekly I charge them $120. I can still knock out a $35 yard in 10-20 min so $60 for 20 minutes isn't bad. Pay my guys like $20 and pocket $40 in twenty minutes.
This is so strange to hear for someone like me in Australia and I don’t say that in a disrespectful way. We obviously live in very different climates and countries so our business models will always be different. I’m not working at the moment because of a lot of health problems but was running my previous business for 7 years doing everything from regular mows and hedge trimming to complete garden makeovers as well as things life retaining walls, turf jobs and everything in between. I would say that out of my roughly 80 regular clients only 1 would have been a weekly mow and everything else was bi weekly. Having that cycle of one group of clients one week and the other group of clients another week not only gave me lots of regular work but also doubled the amount of clients I had that I could upsell other services to.
The term season is also a strange concept for me to hear. We don’t have a season here where it’s sunny half the year, then snowing half the year due to our climate. Our grass grows all year round and even when it slows down through winter it usually means that’s more weeds start growing and gives me a chance to swap from mowing to weed spraying.
I love your vids and have actually learned a few things that I will apply to my own business if my health improves and I’m able to get back into the mowing and landscaping industry.
Keep doing what you’re doing and all the best from Australia 👍
I say this, listen you're not saving any money cutting it bi weekly. I give a price comparison of what they could be paying weekly and bi weekly then show them hey this is what you are paying and could have it nice and manicured every week compared to only two weeks each month. There will be no service bundles or freebies when you get bi weekly service, you will pay for everything in bi weekly service. Great video man! Hope u had a great season!
With no disrespect to you guys up north, our St. Augustine grass im sure is thicker and harder to edge and I don't like to double cut even my bi weeklies, I raise the mower deck high and also tell them that. Bi weeklies won't ever be mowed under 3.5"-4" like any regular weekly customer also unless they are dry and not irrigated and can take it like Bermuda lawns here in the south that can take more stress in droughts. For those I wouldn't cut lower than 2.5" on a bi weekly account only.
Good advice. I think for a guy with 100 accounts it's easy to drop the bi weekly but for those with 10, 20, 30 accounts another 10 bi weekly may be hard to walk away from. I'm at 45 accounts after year 2 and I'm slowly weeding them out but instead of dropping them altogether I just tell a $40 weekly it will be $50 bi weekly and only on lawns where the growth is slow enough to allow it.
All mine are bi-Weekly.
Down in Texas the Heat is a Scorcher. Doesn't grow much in 1 week without watering.
Great video Friend. What I do with biweekly customers I cut the grass low so by the next visit the grass is not crazy high. Cut height 2.75 or 3.
I suggest as you do. It is important to sell yourself and expertise. I consider most of my customers friends after a year.
Brian, I've had customers that agreed to me charging for the 1/2 week. Say, if the weekly is 40, the biweekly would be 60. Believe it or not. On another subject I mow a client that waters every day I've tried to advice them on that to no avail. My point is for them when it rains their lawn sometimes is 9-10 inches. Double cutting every time is getting old!
Vaughn Westerby Drop em!
Vaughn Westerby Got a few of those myself. I drop them quickly!
my own personal lawn in middle georgia,centipede grass,needs to be cut just about every 5 days.i couldnt imagine cutting it every 2 weeks.good video and advice
Good stuff. I personally have majority of Bi Weekly clients. I had a weekly that dropped off and just picked up a weekly today. I dont mind bi weekly, really doesn't take us much longer. Could be way grass grows here. But I agree about getting into these sub divisions. I'm not doing much marketing other than Thumbtack and we get a lot of bussiness from that.
Just my thoughts, if a customer wants to save money by cutting less you can offer a t&m service or increase the the price by 50% to cover the extra time needed. If they are more concerned about the health of the turf one could still come every week and trim and weed the beds for lesser cost. Of course it would be much easier to sell this upfront than to offer it to existing clients. A company can charge a little more and market it as being a premium service to offset the cost of traveling to the location and billing less for the trip. A company can maintain its margins, keep employees working (no work=no money=new job) and making the client feel like they are gaining value by employing the company over the next. I could be wrong, I am in landscape maintenance aspiring to start my own company with a little education and a lot of experience. Love the videos and I use them as an educational resource and I wanted to try and give a little back.
For the 2021 mowing season, I am going to mow every week April through June, then go to bi-weekly July through September for some customers. This year October will be a good mowing month for mowing. I found, here in Central Illinois, that charging $45 for a mow, some customers want a bi-weekly just for the cost. I get it, I mow some bi-weekly customers and get the hey field affect and then spend more time blowing around the clippings to make the yard look great.
Charging by the month helps with that, that way you get paid weather it needs cut or not.
Great video Brian I’m 7 years in my business and I was offering bi weekly, this year I’m not offering it anymore for those reasons you mentioned. what I’ve been doing since last season was if a client ask for bi weekly, I tell them sure but I charge double so in my market I’m averaging 30-35 per cut so if they want bi weekly I’m charging 60 or 70
ya bingo
Just do 110% more on the bi-weekly. Say it is because of wear and tear and much more work as you have to double cut and have more maintenance on the equipment. They will soon answer weekly
😶
I live in the Metro Detroit Area
Most people I know cut their or have their lawns cut bi weekly.
I always cut my own lawn
bi weekly. Overgrowth has never been a problem, even with water and fertilizers.
Lol good luck with that
Brian. I’m a Michigan business as well in the suburbs of Detroit. Here’s what I started to do. So we will cut bi weekly at a starting monthly minimum of $100 bucks. Normal lots monthly are $120 a month. So if they want to save $20 bucks a month, they can choose the bi weekly option.
Look me up. Pride Property Maintenance on FB. I’d love to chat sometime and ask you some questions about a few things.
I have been charging double to triple my normal rates for biweekly. With a few of my clients that are biweekly we have the discussion that it is tougher to do it this way. Good source of money though. But I’m mowing from February to November/December in California. 👍🏻
LOL, i went biweekly bc my new landscaper on my new house asked me if I want it cut every other week. Since my grass was crap at the time I said sure. I had always thought weekly was only thing offered. This season I regret this decision as my grass gets way too long and he has too many lawns and not enough staff so he's not even trying to cutt it weekly. I am Indian but born in US so I get it, Indians want to feel like they got a deal but you just tell them a higher price first and if they feel they got 5-10 bucks off they are happy customers lol
great tips! you can not cut every other week lawns that have irr and fertilized, without tripling your time spent there.
if you don't clean up the excess grass it will look bad and get worse every week making you look bad.
I say I cut weekly until grass slows. We use our discretion when to cut but you should anticipate it will be weekly up until September
Hey Bryan...greatest topic man...I am new to the business....and I was wondering why I can't do enough yards for the day...now all my costomer are biweekly....when it rained the grass is too high....now I understand....thanks for this video I greatly appreciate it
For sure pal!
I do every other week lawns and I charge them more to do so. Most are ok with that and I make sure I make good money off them. I like hearing how others do things, there will always be room for everybody to mow how they want. I picked up a lot of work by doing every other week lawns too, and they are not as picky lol I waste less time on the phone with those customers.
How I handle it is if they tell me anytime before July that they only want me every other wk I tell them I'm not intrested in doing that because the grass is still growing at a pretty good rate so I say "your more thank well come to find another company to do every other wk if they want then I remind them that after the first wk in July we normally switch over then to every other week because nobody here waters so Everybody dries out and grass burns up , I've never lost a customer for giving them my honestly they actually are very appreciative......
I decided to pick up a few bi weekly to add some extra revenue. I'm realizing i should of not done any bi weekly and should of planned for more landscape work instead. I'm starting to like a mixture of mowing and landscaping. Mowing gets boring.
My neighbor has a lawn company cutting on a weekly basis even though her lawn absolutely does not need cutting that often. While I’m cutting my lawn every two weeks, I watch them drop equipment, skim a mower across her yard in 10 minutes and load up and go. She is totally getting ripped off.
Well I don’t go condone that type of service. They shouldn’t do that.
I'm a solo operator/owner, I work in DC and the close in MD suburbs. Out of the 62 accounts I have, 100% of them are Biweekly mows.
At this point I don't even want weekly clients as it would throw off my routing a little bit.
It doesn't bother me at all, people in my area just don't want weekly mows. I also use older belt drive Toro Proline mowers, that are excellent units that I buy for dirt cheap, so wear and tear isn't really that huge of an issue.
If a customer requests biweekly cuts I charge 20% for a double cut and usually 35% more if I have to triple cut so if they do proceed to do biweekly then fuck it I’m making enough to balance it out
Brian because of your video I dropped my bi-weekly accounts this year. It was the best decision I made. I had more order in my life. I no longer had an easy week followed by a crazy week. I have also brought my route decently closer to my town. I operate within about a 10 mile radius of my house. Given my location 10 miles is reasonable and I have accounts all over so I do the account in a region. I will sometimes go to the town that is 15-20 miles north of me on occasions for property investors that I am associated with for big jobs. They know I don't do weekly mows north of me but I will do big jobs, property clean up or house clean up were there is money to be made. I did have a customer tell me that they could not afford $35/we but there was a Rolls Royce in the neighbor's driveway and a porche and Ferrari down the street. Lol
I did biweekly but I've given that up because I can't leave a yard looking like crap bottom line! 👍
Yea im gonna start advertising and get new lawn customers. All the ones i have need weekly cutting but arent willing to pay for more than bi weekly
Just today seeing this video. You have changed the way I operate from this day forward. Thank you thank you!
I live in Houston and we a lot of rain. My grass is high after 5 days so bi-weekly is not an option. Weekly it is except two summers in a row we had a drought and HOA had restrictions on watering the grass and it was burning. So my guy made exceptions for our subdivision to fit the water restrictions.
I have about a days work of every other week customers...long as they understand it can be messy and they don't get premium days....they are cut on Mondays....mine are weedy yards and non fertilized so.....they actually do pretty good.......now from the description you gave....your situation sounded different on this customer than mine
I don't have one policy... because I don't have one type of customer.
Here in central Fl, it's definitely a mix. Don't get so wrapped up in your policies that you forget to do business.
And always figure out what motivates your customers, and put things in those terms. Typically they do not care whether it's harder on your equipment or takes more of your time.
I stay away from 10 day accounts because that would interfere with how I run my routes. If I see a lawn isn't growing I will skip it for a week. Other than that I only have one customer who wants to get cut bi weekly around August. I tell people that once the leaves start falling if they let me keep mowing every week it will benefit them when it comes to fall cleanups and I can keep mowing a full list into November.