Lawn Care Guide

TeamGopher asked:

www.gopherforum.com Back in the days when you were starting your lawn care business, did you encounter the Why would I hire you if youre so new? dilemma? Id like to have some way of spinning that question into a positive if and when that should arise. Thats the question asked to us by Scott, a new lawn care business owner on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. Without a doubt some lawn care customers, if they sense you are new, will try and screw with you. They will try and push you around on a lot of things such as price and how much work they want you to do. Just be wary of this. How do you spin it? Well I would say two things off the top of my head. Reliability and affordability. You would be amazed at how many start up lawn care businesses are just not reliable. Show them you are reliable and you will win their trust. Believe in yourself. You can do this. Andy shared that he never had a lawn care customer ask. The key to starting out is to look and act big. If you do this, you will actually believe you are big and everything will fall into place. It does take some cash to get there however it pays off big time to have professional looking shirts & pants as well as lettered vehicles and trailers. If something needs a little paint to look great then personally we do it. All the equipment is washed at the end of the day, no exception, even the mowers, they always look new and clients like that. Keith added I think everyones been in that situation. Many newbie lawn care …

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Lowes asked:

Lowe’s home improvement expert, Mike Kraft, gives helpful tips on how to prepare your lawn for overseeding. Learn how to clear debris, dethatch and aerate your lawn. For additional videos on spring lawn maintenance, visit www.Lowes.com

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RC Landscaping R asked:


I know that you have to take a class for owners of lawn care to fertilize and use chemicals on lawns if it is for profit. I just cannot find the website or any information about where to do this in indiana. Please someone that has taken this class or who has the certification help me out?

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TeamGopher asked:

www.gopherforum.com When most landscapers start up their business, they tend to start with a truck only. Then later they may add an open trailer. At a certain point you may be asking yourself whats better to have, an open or enclosed trailer and why? Thats the question one of our new forum members asked and he quite a few responses I think will help you make up your mind as well. Brandon Hi everyone my name is Brandon and I am the president of my own landscape & maintenance corp. I have been in business for 9 years and hope to find continued success long into the future. I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some positive and negative attributes of an enclosed trailer as opposed to an open utility trailer to move lawn care equipment from job to job? I have an open trailer now and I am thinking of making the switch over to an enclosed one. Keith: I can think of a few pros and cons of the top of my head. Pros: - Ability to lock. - Protection from rain. - Larger area to put name/logo/phone number. - Looks more professional. - Possible increased slipstreaming giving better gas milage (offset by weight, Im sure). - Ability to put shelves/storage areas. - Protects cargo from rocks kicked up by your truck. - Winter storage. Cons: - Increased cost. - Increased axle and tongue weight. - Inability to load from top (leaves, mulch, dirt). This is the biggest negative I can think of. - Doesnt air out well when mower has wet grass or fuel fumes. - Reduced freedom of movement …

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Julie asked:


They just came and sprayed my lawn. They claim they phoned before and got an “OK”, and they claim they sent a confirmation letter first. I don’t have any records of either of these things.

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bradysawyer15 asked:


Should I charge per hour or per job. I have my own equipment and there are two of us so I was thinking about charging about 50$ an hour, from there I would charge the same amount per week for weekly mowing.

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TeamGopher asked:

www.gopherforum.com How often have you had questions about business insurance but just didnt get around to asking your insurance agent. Its possible you are just starting out and dont have lawn care business insurance yet. As we have found through our investigation on this topic, no one knows better what your insurance needs are than your local insurance agent. Each companys needs are as unique as the services they provide. Each state will also have different insurance requirements of you. Since these questions come up quite often, we decided to compile a list of the most common insurance questions asked by lawn care business owners and found a friendly insurance agent to give us answers. 1. Q How does an LCO determine which liability policy should be purchased? What percentage of LCOs have the following coverage? $500000.00, $1000000.00 or $2000000.00 Answer: Most all carry $2000000 the difference in premium is minimal between 1 & 2 million worth of coverage. 2. Q: What is a reasonable rate for a $500000.00 / $1000000 / $2000000 liability insurance policy? Answer: Rates are based either on number of employees or sales. For an operation with 4 employees an approximate premium would be $2500. 3. Q: How much more on average is a $10 million or $20 million dollar liability policy, what percentage of LCOs have this coverage? Answer: Most lawn care companies dont carry these high limits. 4. Q: What is the average LCO deductible for liability and theft? Answer: I recommend …

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Sean asked:


Green lawn care takes a lot more effort and attention to detail. This should start right from the lawn formation, where the home owner should select his seeds depending on their horticultural and functional requirements. As such, the homeowner should consider the use of the lawn, watering requirements, sun exposure, winter color and the overall surface appearance. Usually, the lawn is naturally green during spring. As such, all the home owner needs to do is ensure that the lawn is mowed frequently and to the ideal height. In other seasons like fall and summer, a lot more work is needed to ensure that the homeowner maintains a green lawn.

Considering that green lawn care today accounts for a huge percentage of domestic water usage, it is apparent that lawn maintenance is a chore that drains not only water, but the owner’s money in water bills. To minimize this, the homeowner should try to position his lawn on places where the lawn can benefit from direct rainfall. During seed selection, one should also go for the drought-resistant types to minimize water use. Mulch also helps in green lawn care since the rate of direct sunshine hitting the ground is minimal thus reducing the rate of soil moisture evaporation.

Mowing is a vital exercise in green lawn care. Grass cycling is especially useful in ensuring that the turf is not only green, but tougher too. This is achieved by using mulching blades on the mower as opposed to the standard mower blade. Grass cycling also eliminates the need to use chemical fertilizers on the lawn since it provides sufficient nitrogen for the lawn. In addition, the mulch covers the earth and therefore helps cut the water requirements of the lawn considerably. More on Spring lawn care.

Effective green lawn care involves understanding the right lawn watering methods. Having noted that lawns account for a huge percentage of domestic water use, it is also worthy noting that most of this water goes to waste. This happens because of raid water application or watering the lawn too often. Rapid water application means that the ground does not get sufficient time to absorb the water. As such, a large amount of the water is wasted as runoff. Watering at the wrong time, especially when the sun is overhead means that the water moisture is lost to evaporation without benefiting the lawn much. As opposed to this type of watering, the homeowner should learn to water the lawn early in the morning or late in the evening to allow the earth to absorb as much water.  

Green lawn care also involves controlling pests that may affect the healthy growth of the turf. The first step towards this is ensuring that the soil in the lawn is healthy. The healthy soil will be able to withstand lawn diseases and insect infestation. It also encourages beneficial insects such as ground beetles, green lacewings and praying mantis on the lawn. Such keep the harmful insects that damage lawns away. Caring for a green lawn also requires one to de-thatch. A thatch higher than ½ inches is a nemesis to any homeowner’s effort at keeping the lawn green. As such, the homeowner needs to rake the lawn to remove the excess thatch. When all is done, the reward of all the effort one puts into caring for the green lawn is that he or she will have a beautiful lawn, which will probably be the envy of many.

More lawn care tips.



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mycredit wealth,com asked:


I have tryed and tryed to master my flower bed with now luck is there any help full websites or should I just pay someone? Everything I plant dies, looks bad, or just look good. Any helpfull sugestions?

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kylew21366 asked:


I Own A Lawn Care Company And Need Some Software That Will Track Clients, Bill Them, And All That Good Stuff.

Anyone Know Where I Can Find Some Cheap Software, If Not Free?

Thanks In Advance.

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