Looking back on 2008 and getting ready for the start of the new season

I was looking at my rear garden this afternoon and wished the snow hasn’t melted – my lawn was my pride and joy but nearly two years of having a GSD puppy and my two other dogs have sadly taken their toll. I have promised myself that I will restore the lawn back to its formal glory this year. I may even be tempted to call upon the services of one of the many talented landscape designers that reside in this neck of the woods and start from scratch.To be fair to the pack of dogs, it wasn’t all their fault as 2008 has been one of the most challenging and, in some respects, the most disappointing year I have known. We had another difficult time weather-wise, with snow and rain in March, unusually low summer temperatures followed by monsoon type rains bringing floods. The start of 2009 doesn’t look a lot better but hopefully we will be back to more normal seasonal temperatures within the next few weeks.Because of the wet summer we introduced our non rear roller mowers – whilst not all of our clients appreciated the lack of stripes the Etesia Pro mowers offered a sharper cut and caused less damage to the grass sward.However the Hayter mowers (and the stripes) will soon be back!At the start of the 2008 season, we took the painful decision to reduce the number of residential clients in particular those from areas just outside our main operational base. As a result we retired two of the Ford Transit vans and focused on our core activities within a 20 mile radius. This was taken in part to ensure that we delivered a truly superior service and try to recover our operational costs.Whilst our prices have historically been very competitive for many years in fact probably some of the lowest in the area for at least lawn cutting we were forced to introduce a fairly modest increase to help offset the every rising fuel prices. Unfortunately we will again have to increase our prices this year but we will still be competitive and offer an affordable superior service.We aim to cost each service from a position of quality and sustainability by offering an appropriate and fair balance between cost, quality, and timeliness thus ensuring that our clients receive the service for which they have paid, at a standard which they deserve. We have seen too many companies and single operations under cut their prices to win contracts only to default on service so that they can at least cover their costs!Over Christmas we always like to make the most of the winter months to get organised for the upcoming season. It gives us the opportunity to evaluate our business and find ways to improve our service.We received a fabulous response from our clients and our confirmed bookings are up by over 40% on last year. In fact we are confident that we will increase our turn over by at least 60%.The commercial arm of the operational looks just as promising, we have been approached by a number of potential clients requesting quotations for 2 – 3 year contracts.By advance planning has allowed us to ensure that we will have sufficient resources in place to met the demand and increase our capital expenditure. We just hope that the banks share our belief!Yes 2009 will be a testing and exciting time, we know very well without our customers it would be impossible for us to exist. I am very serious about making certain that every single client we have is satisfied with our service and believe that the development of a strong relationship with our clients is crucial to the success and continued growth of our company.I just wonder if I will ever get the time to sort my lawn out this year!

"Throttle screws and move the governor spring across a hole.Takes less than five minutes. Can't say I have had any complaints about noise but then again I have customers I have worked for for years and never even met!"

Hi AllWhat are member's experiences of magnetic signage gor vans. I appreciate that the name and nature of the business will be free advertising but the flip side of this is advertising a cache of gardening tools available to plunder. Will this…

"Thanks Adam, an interesting counter-argument! 2 questions- 1) is this just the throttle-stop screw, and 2) are they then very noisy? We do seem to have some very noise-averse customers!"

Comments

Graeme @ BGS February 10, 2009 at 10:30am

If business is as good as it looks, I will seriously consider getting the whole garden redesigned. Don't think decking would work just yet as the GSD has a liking for anything wood.
PRO

Phil Voice February 10, 2009 at 10:43am

By Coincidence I was cleaning up my hard drive and sorting a few things out this morning.
I cam across a couple of photos of my old lawn in Oakhanger.

Considering there were twenty two workers feet, a Labrador dog and a couple of young children (not to mention their friends) walking and playing on it, it always looked good.
Graeme @ BGS February 10, 2009 at 11:00am

What a fabulous garden. When the GSD stops digging and eating everything I will start with earnest.
Ofelia Harrington February 10, 2009 at 12:19pm

WOW that is absolutely beautiful!
Graeme @ BGS February 10, 2009 at 5:34pm

Here is a picture of the culprit – The other two will never get too close to get a photo of all three together! Having seen the damage to my garden I fully understand why.
Jackson's Landscape Design April 13, 2009 at 9:04am

And washing line contents
Graeme @ BGS April 13, 2009 at 9:39am

I have no idea where he got that from - Not mine I can assure you! :-)