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At least you know where you are specializing in one area when it comes to organising your kit and organising your round, Has it just worked out this way or was it a deliberate choice ?
I had a couple of seasons where i was not required to cut grass . Customers or Lawn guys did the lawns .
I am more multi tasking and project focused but lately seem to be getting a run of lawns to cut .
When i started out it seemed to be all challenging overgrown lawns , I wasn't really focused and just went with the flow and it seemed to go in cycles .
Hi John
I got fed up with weeding and doing the other jobs i didnt enjoy so i choose to stick to 3 areas i enjoy doing have built a good grass cutting run of around 200 fortnightly i do on my own between 20 to 30 per day Monday to Friday each week i charge an avg price of 15 but have some 20 25 30 35 customers too
I enjoy the variation with garden maintenance........... every garden is different with different things to do. The thought of just cutting grass endlessly sounds very mind-numbing even if it does look lucrative.............. also like to feel there's a reasonable amount of skill and expertise involved..... from my days with the council, we found we could train someone up to do a reasonably good job on grasscutting in a day. Still, the main thing is that you enjoy doing it which I can completely understand. .
Yes did full garden maintenance work for years i didnt enjoy it . I enjoy cutting grass bit of hedge trimming and power washing thats just me .
You've made the right decision then............ do what you enjoy doing
I do mainly grass cutting and some hedge cutting. I am almost all ride on and mainly do the larger type of work.
I don’t want or need to work full time. I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn and neither do I have to work long hours. On Friday I worked for five hours including travel. I did three jobs. A council cemetery, a small grassed area for the council and a very large private garden. All three were right next to each other and in a delightful rural area here in Derbyshire with lovely views. I earned £390. What could be better than that?
I have done the normal garden maintenance over the years, bedding plants in May, winter flowering pansies, looking after large rose beds with all the relevant pruning at different times of the year. Turning over borders every week, trimming formal box hedges, dead heading, planting trees and shrubs, scarifying and aerating lawns and applying fertilisers etc. All of that is fine, but I much prefer and enjoy mowing [with a ride on] and can earn far more doing it. I don’t want to be on my knees with 200 bedding plants and earning very little for it.
In my opinion mowing is neither boring nor something that can be taught in a day. Excellence has two components, firstly, skills gained over many years and secondly, having the right attitude which means the desire to achieve a perfect finish.
The intuitive nature of really being able to use machinery properly cannot be taught in one day.
I was similar, Jim. Started off with a bit of everything but have steered the job to what I prefer now. I focus on grasscutting as I enjoy it. I do leaves in the Autumn and hedges in the winter. It isnt actually that simple, I kept a few general maintenance calls as they are all year round and useful in summer droughts when grass hasnt grown. By and large, I'm happy with what I do and as I like working on my own, I tend to avoid large landscape projects and any hardscaping.
I'm along the same lines as Graham, whole garden maintenance / management. Mainly larger gardens, I probably average only 2 gardens day. All weekly, and all year round. The business is my wife and I, but we only work together on a couple of gardens as we have our own rounds. She tends to take on a bit of design and consultancy over the winter.
I mainly do grass at least its a constant earner for months unlike other garden related jobs . Also hedges when they are due, I try to push them to the winter months. I do like some variety but to many just don't want to pay for stuff like weeding, I don't know why but it seem to them an unskilled job, I wouldn't let anyone loose in my own garden weeding without very good plant knowlege.
I like working in the grave yards just cutting away wish I had more jobs like that . I also like planting up borders I rarely get paid anything or nowhere near enough for the amount of time planning - sourcing and getting the plants etc I don't mind for the most part but I do wonder why I bother doing various jobs , I am turning weeding jobs down especially if they is no grass involved .
So I stick to grass which is an easier earner even though I don't say enough for grass cutting either.
A good point about the weeding some customers must see it as a lowly job as they often apolologise for allowing their garden to get into such a state .
I find weeding one of my most rewarding tasks , The tricky bit is dealing with those weeds which border on weed / wild flower such as toad flax , welsh poppies , aqua , distinguishing geums from wood avens before they flower , foxgloves , forget me nots etc as some customers like them , others dont and get upset if you pull them up or leave them in .
Can be a killer on the hand and knee joints though , very physically demanding task as with most garden tasks .
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