From a consumer stand-point. I cut mine bi-weekly for years and the lawn done great. No double cuts, no clumping or raking. With my business taking all of my time, I called a lawn company. They mowed it bi-weekly like I had been doing with the same result. This was 2.5 acres of yard and I mowed the other acreage with large mower and tractor. Then they insisted weekly only, so I let them do it weekly for a few weeks to see that they were clipping about 1/4" off the top. Of course they wanted the same price each cut as bi-weekly. I told them to stop service, I purchased a 61" zero-turn and done it myself. I purchased property at the coast with centipede grass that rarely needs cutting bi-weekly, have had guys stop and offer a weekly only service, nonsense! I am not going to pay someone $100+ a week for my yard to look the same as it did when they arrived.
Biweekly customers I tell them if I show up and the grass is taller then 6 inches I charge double. Might sound crazy but I make more money cause most times it’s tall.
@@zackgarrett5113 especially thick lawns after two weeks of growth, it is harder on the engines and many other moving parts. You will have to mow it taller to have less clippings all over. Most of times you may have to mow it 2 to 3 times to make it look good. Lawn care businesses kinda get screwed with bi-weekly accounts. Hope this helps my friend!
Last year I switched all of my residentials to a contract for mowing and It was the best thing i ever did. I lost a few customers but it just thinned out the ones that weren't fit for me anyways. Whither the contracts it allowed me to mow weekly instead of whenever they thought it needed it. Biweekly or "part time" customers just take up a slot they always argue well just get another biweekly to keep busy every week but then when spring and fall clean ups come around I'd have 100 clean ups to do instead of 50. And early summer they all need to be mowed weekly. I had to think of it as each customer is taking up a slot and I only have so many slots available. I want to provide a better service for fewer customers.
I tell clients weekly only, but if we go through a drought or the lawn has no growth that I will skip their property. Clients like that. Most clients just are sometimes hesitant on weekly because they don’t want to pay when the lawn has no growth. I don’t blame them. As long as the clients are treated well and feel like they are getting a fair deal they will buy not only maintenance but even landscaping from you if you offer it.
I’m a beginner started this year. I have 4 weekly and 1 bi-weekly. I live in a part of town where the attitude is “ if I can do my self then why pay someone” working class community. I find that the people that are willing to pay your price and not talk you down are the better paying Customers and nicer. The low balling Customers want anybody cheap not matter the quality of work. And simply don’t care about you or your business. Thanks to brain and his videos I’m able to say I may not have a lot of clients yet but I am thankful to have nice people and good paying ones that respect me & my business. than if I didn’t stand my ground on my pricing.
Sounds like you're doing great! I had about 4 recurring weekly clients or so by the end of my first season and I lost out on a few bids. I didn't feel bad at all since I know my worth and what I would need to charge. I have one property who the client said I'm "on the high end of the price range but am thourough." To me that sounds right where I want to be! I had client which I simply dropped as a result of them sending the vibe that they don't want a weekly cut only a we'll call you when we want you there kind of deal. which is ok if starting out but I plan to scale and need more stability. I find that when you set the price where you want or need it to be and stick to it you attract a better customer and naturally weed out the ones who won't be as consistent.
I just give the customer a monthly quote and my quote is for full monthly service. If they choose not to have there lawn serviced that week then thats up to them. Professional lawn companies can't do business every other week. You need to project monthly, quarterly revenues and that does not work with half ass customers. As a example from other service businesses ---day care, if your child gets sick and doesn't go a given day you still owe for the day, thats how professional businesses work. Lawn customers are to quick to discredit lawn professionals and think we can absorb nonsense. Just my 2 cents after 27 years in business.
D cain You might be leaving money on the table. I prefer to keep it weekly because just about every month has a 5 mow day(s). May had 5 Fridays for example
"Our business" charges a flat monthly rate for our customers here in Louisiana . Some are 12 month full service clients. Some have a 9 month agreement (March-November) It works out to 32 services for the 9 month plan and 52 services for the 12 month. We have warm season grass so, for us it's by-weekly in the spring and fall but,weekly in the summer! It works well for our company 👍
Darryl Ore because if I have 50 weekly customers I can only do 50 hedge trimmings and 50 mulch jobs. If I have 100 “bi-weekly” customers then I have 100 hedge trimmings and 100 mulch jobs and I can charge more for “bi weekly” mowing...
Got to love people who are needing help that have second homes and multiple vehicles typically same people who are having a difficult time committing to weekly lawn mowing. Typically same people who do not mind imposing having some company provide services for 30 or 40 dollars per cut and could careless when the lawn care provider has equipment to maintain and person s who are doing the work for a living.
My buddy and I both have full time jobs and then have our small business on the side. Tuesday-Thursday are our main cutting days and with all the rain we get in MD in the early season bi-weekly cutting is a staple in our business and it works for us. We have 50-60 clients so doing 25-30 per week is perfect for us instead of running ourselves ragged trying to do 50-60 cuts per week. Financially it works for us. All of our customers know and understand that we reserve the right to charge an additional fee for double cutting and clean up if needed. We love cutting so we do this for fun (and to get away from the girlfriends for a while) but we always make sure that we are being properly compensated for our time and hitting our per hour goal that we set when we first started the business. May not work for all but works for us! Thanks for the vid Brian!
I gave up my biweekly accounts because of you. I was spending to much time to make the yard look good and not getting paid for it. Now I don't even give a quote if they say biweekly. I only offer weekly service. I have found that the biweekly customer wants something for nothing and it isn't worth my time. It was one of the best moves I made. Also my route density is very much tighter. I operate within 6 square miles of my house. Given my city 6 miles is reasonable. I do have 1 account 12 miles from me but they are an original customer and I am in their area all the time personally and in 45 minutes I clear $65 so it is worth it. I dropped 4 customers this year and have picked up 3 customers and I am already making more than with the 4 I dropped. Things have been good for me this year.
I just saw this video. I'm in NC and have been in business for 21 years. The majority of my customers save 2 are bi-weekly. Only my pickiest customers want the lawn mowed every week. My mother in law being one of them. NO ONE in this area does solid weekly service, even for commercial accounts. I charge $65-$100. Per service for 2 cuts. That's $130.-$200. per month per client. My average monthly take after expenses is $3-5,000 a month depending on fuel costs.
Bi-Weekly here in Oz 👍 Double the price, more time for acreage works, hedging, mulching, Handyman works, rental/strata works and general yard maintenance etc. More time up my sleeve in case of bad weather etc 👍 Your videos however, have helped shape my own business plan and mindset 🙌 Cheers Brian 🙂
I'm in Florida and offer weekly or bi-weekly. This is just my side hustle though and I will only do bi-weekly cuts on properties that I know can handle 14 days of growth without being out of control. If I were full-time, I'd specifically be looking at weekly clients.
Annual service for a monthly rate, weekly April 1-November 1. And bi weekly the opposite 6 months. That’s just how the market is here in central Florida
In the area of Western Kentucky. I’ve only been in this house since January. Still have to move my stuff from the Western part of the country. So the guy I hired to cut comes every 12-16 days. They didn’t push weekly on me. Rain can change the schedule but I’m understanding and don’t put any pressure. He understands my financial situation due to current events and still in the process of moving. I’m happy with his rate and even talk about equipment and lawnmowers. He knows eventually I’ll be doing it myself and encourages it but told him to take over when I leave town. I had called two other lawn care companies. One was booked already. Which is fine and the other mailed me a quote about 2-3 weeks later. They wanted $200 weekly to cut, trim, and blow the driveway off. I’m out in the county around farmland on 3.6 acres. My grass area is wide open and mixed kinds. So its really good quality for out here but not “City” you could say. His rate is $40 an acre and brings his wife. He’ll even go around my house and use weed killer. They both hop on their mowers and get to work. He’s a full timer and she helps every so often. They also have high paying clients.
We only do weekly and I break it down like this. Roughly 42 cuts per year (X) your price ($45) then divided by 12 months then that is your monthly bill for 12 months. I'm in Fl so weather is always a factor but we also tell customers if you can't be caught up with in 2-3 days after a storm you're skipped for that week. March-October is weekly November-February is bi-weekly
I really think the key to weekly vs biweekly is if the lawn is treated. The only lawns I have that need weekly are the ones that get fertilizer. The rest of them are biweekly and I'm cutting two to three inches of grass at the max. I also cut at 2.5 unless they have fescue which I cut at 3.5
Yea here in kansas city the grass grows too fast to do bi weekly in the spring. I have to explain the science of grass and explain that if they want a great looking lawn, bi weekly would not be the best option. I would say 9 out of 10 times they try to do bi weekly for a discount.
I do weekly and "as needed". I tell clients that I can potentially go 2 weeks in the summer if there is a drought and they have no irrigation but in the spring and if there's a lot of rain, I can't go biweekly. In fact, I just fired a lady because she kept on trying to tell me to wait another week and it ended up looking like I was bailing hay!
Just started my business. Most people in my area do bi-weekly. It’s really what they are accustomed to getting. I get all my customers because other lawn care companies don’t return phone calls.
My lawn guy cuts 3 houses in a cul-de-sac, these houses are 2nd homes. He'll do a drive by and see if it needs cutting. If not he moves on. We're now living at our 2nd home more with this pandemic as I'm working from home now. My wife said since I'm here I can mow it, I told her to let him mow since we have a verbal agreement for him to mow as needed. This lawn is mostly weeds and I don't fert it to encourage growth. My primary house, I'm mowing every 3 days now.
Bless you brother. As a landscaper I understand things are very tough right now for a lot of people. Without generosity Such as your's millions more of us would be screwed
This is a forum for lawn care professionals and your input is disrespectful to the industry people who are trying to build and maintain their business not non for profit organizations for people with second homes
I have two commercial accounts I offered a weekly service with a price. Then I offered a seasonal price, pay half season up front and half the first week of November. One of them went seasonal and the other pays me each week and it costs him more and I am good with that.
Bi-weekly accounts especially in the wet Spring equals mowers bogging down, clogging decks and a trip to the car wash. Most home owners that have the bi-weekly service have no idea the pain this causes us. And if they do know and don't care then those are the clients you do not want to have. Brian, 20 years mowing in Des Moines here and enjoy your videos and the fact that you are willing to help other small businesses with insight. Enough grass for all of us!!!
With minimal overhead and a focus on small lawns, I plan on maxing at whatever clients per day withing ~ 5 hours. Every other week i may take on a few bi-weeklys (maybe 3-4 a day, 3 days a week) @ 50% surcharge to have a light and a heavy week, then have one afternoon for maintenance after the extra load, and end on a light day.
Yes, it's very interesting to hear other's views on weekly/biweekly given their market. There's not a lot of upward growth on southern turf grasses week to week... so bi-weekly is ok on a lot of yards. We've just found you have to be flexible, because everyone's yards grow at a different pace in the south. That being said, my business is comprised of mostly bi-weekly cuts, which keeps the schedule slammed pack during the early months of spring and later into fall. Good video!
We do both here. Used to not rain as much here in Oklahoma so bi weekly was all that was needed. Now it rains al l the time. If it’s a $40 weekly law and they want bi weekly I’m at $55-$60
Both , my bi-weekly don't grow enough for weekly and if they do I'd get them moved to weekly. I come from Pest control back ground. They do weekly, monthly, trimester 3 times year, EOM every other month, quarterly and Once a year. So for me what ever service they prefer or that works best I try to persuade them as it keeps us both happy.
Hey Brian, love the Chanel and content!!! So, l’ve been running my property maintenance business for 5yrs now and at the beginning when l started l offered weekly and bi weekly services because like everyone else l want to get as many clients as possible as fast as possible!!! After 3 yrs l clients list exploded to over 100 clients now in yr 5 l had 150 clients weekly and bi weekly so l would like to have all my clients weekly but the days l don’t cut bi weekly l fill the days with softscaping jobs pruning and property cleanups and can make more money with with one of those jobs without moving the truck and equipment. And it breaks up the daily grind of cutting grass every day!! As well if we have rain day and can’t cut we have days that we can use on our bi weekly week so we don’t have to work on the weekend!!! Can’t wait to see ya in the next video!!
We offer weekly and biweekly. We charge almost twice as much for biweekly service and will convert them into weekly if the lawn grows too much in two weeks. We basically let them know that staying biweekly in fast growing lawns that their price will go up which will pay them more then weekly service. Our prices start at $25 weekly or $40-$45 biweekly. This actually works for us because we’re getting more money on less services.
U can do biweekly it’s just that u need to charge them the perfect amount on a yard like off rip. We charge $65 minimum and if they was to want it weekly. Just half the price and still have that’s same amount u want out of the month from that customer And other customers. U deserve to charge ur customers a good amount if ur work shows ur worthy 🤷🏾♂️
I'm in Texas, so weather is always a factor. I no longer offer biweekly service. It's too hard on your schedule. If it rains the week you are supposed to mow, now it turns into 3 weeks or sometimes a month in between. What I do is biweekly around March until April. Then weekly thru January. Just use common sense and treat your customers how you'd like to be treated. Communication is key, if you need to skip for emergency or honestly the yard doesn't need it, then send a text. This will build a respectable relationship.
My best client in 2022 was an older gentleman who had me call every Sunday night to see if I will need to mow for him which starting out was totally fine. But after studying your channel in regards to weekly vs bi weekly and also charge card on file video it seems best for me to try to sign everyone up going forward to charge card on file system. This will weed out potential customers who aren't confident they can have me mow more frequently and also those that want the "cheapest cut". personally in my business I am searching for consistency and customers who are willing to pay a bit more for quality. So my client was great last season and when I would call on a Sunday he usually would say sure come mow! Sometimes I would wait 3 days so it wasn't quite bi weekly and I was happy. He would walk out with a check after but agian im going to need to tighten the belt a bit as I scale to make things run faster. Hopefully he will be willing to entertain this when I call him in spring to see if he will let me mow again this year!
I have mostly weekly service 1 account that wants bi weekly lives in a high end neighborhood but I charge them double for that property planning on either having them go weekly or drop them but I cant be too picky yet because it's only my second year so trying to grow and get some decent equipment but got to plan for the future
I have zero issues with bi weekly customers provided their lawn grows at a biweekly rate. I have 6 bi weekly customers (out of 80) and their grass grows slow. I do charge a bit extra. And if the grass grows weekly, then I will let the customer know that I'll be out weekly until the growing slows. With Covid, I'm willing to work with the customer as they see fit....although I haven't been approached yet, but definitely willing to work with them. I'm in Ohio.
Where I live, its tough. I would never do a yard thats fertilized, Bi weekly. Problem is, if you want strictly weekly, you may have to travel more to get to them and nobody waters there lawns around here. I try to do my bi weekly's in the beginning of the week and weeklys towards the end. I do charge a lot more for bi weeklys. During the summer, you almost always have to skip the weeklys when it gets hot and dry.
Here in Dallas Texas area, I start off as biweekly up until about May. Then weekly service is only really good for May- June. July through the rest of the year it's too hot and not much watering so I go back to bi weekly. We have mostly Bermuda grass and unless you water constantly, it doesn't grow fast enough for a weekly service. St Augustine on the other hand, stays at a weekly service up until about October.
Hey Brian, Up in Ontario, I do have 1 day per week where I have all the biweekly clients. Most of them are cottages and their lawns do not grow much. I try to do my side jobs the next week on the same day. I make sure I ask the question, weekly lawn care moving forward, don’t want to take on any more bi-weekly. Each year I drop several lawns. Always looking for clients that wants a good service and not just the cheapest price. Hope you get back to work soon down there, right now up here they still have not made it clear if we should be working or not.
In South Carolina grass don’t grow fast only in spring. BUT I LOVE by weekly customers. I’m so full so it don’t hurt my scheduling. Brian you help my with the credit card switch. I’m over 130 customer only in my 2 season. And I have both weekly and by weekly. And. I do offer both prices up front.
We only cut our customers biweekly during the winter months ( November thru February) Tampa, we charge one price throughout the year. It is hard to fit in anything in the schedule doing that and puts a bind in servicing the full time customers. These days (knock on wood) we haven't had any issues nowadays but, if a customer is layed off or can't pay we have made contracts to continue service to keep the customers and 90% of our customers are in gated communities and require lawns to be cut. They pay what they can and pay the rest when they get back to regular payments. We had a few customers we had this happen to in the 1980's with no problems. One it took about a year and 4 months but they payed us off. That's how you take care of them in a tough spot.
I offer biweekly service here in eastern North Carolina. We typically have centipede grass which is a slow growing grass but it handles very hot weather and drought conditions very well. Some yards have a lot of weeds and the weeds would have to be taken care of or be cut weekly but for the most part on this area it's biweekly service.
Great videos I do not offer bi-weekly service because I make more money clearing overgrown grass,weeds and bagging up trash. For example I can make anywhere from $160 to $260 a yard in one day about 4-7 hours of solo work part time weekends. This past weekend I made $375 Saturday($210) & Sunday ($165) 2 houses total.
Down here in Florida in most cases bi-weekly service isn't an option due to growth. In neighborhoods "across the trax" (where I live) the counties do not provide reclaimed water pipes to allow poorer neighborhoods to have access to irrigation. This customers in these areas have to pay additional costs in their water bill to even think about watering their yards. No irrigation = stunted growth or dust bomb yards. Suggestion from knowing this is someone who's interested in providing bi-weekly service should market to areas that do not have irrigation foremost. On the contrary if you want to cut nice full yards weekly you should focus on marketing in nicer areas.
So glad i got rid those 2 biweekly cuts i had. Not a lot but i replaced them with weekly cuts that cost more per cut and then wanted all the other other services as well. Tripled my money or more.
We don't do bi-weekly mowing in Southeastern Washington. It makes no sense to us either. Very well put. I couldn't have said it better myself. We used to offer bi-weekly mowing services in our first 2 years being in business. It is now our 3rd year and we phased it out. Takes too much time, clogs our mower, and puts unnecessary wear and tear on our mower. Let's face it, new equipment isn't cheap.
I live on 5 acres. I have weeds, dandelions. I mow my own. Do I do mine by weekly? No! I would have a jungle. Some weeks I mow twice. I just cant afford the weed killers for this much land.
Great advice Brian! I did majority weekly with some bi weekly my first year. Learned that lesson. Better off doing only weekly. If a client doesn't want to pay you good there's lots that will when your established and provide skilled service and why not work on the nicer yards. With the price of fertilizer and gas constantly going up charge extra.
The scheduling nightmare with biweekly yards is not worth it for me with mowing being a side hustle. I make a point to bid jobs cheaper at a weekly rate and more than double the bid at biweekly to sway customers to a weekly service. Sometimes it works. Sometimes someone else gets the job.
Here in Upstate NY I offer bi weekly. It's not for every yard but about 10 just do not need weekly service. Everyone starts out on weekly but with some yards I was just wasting time driving there to see the lines just as crisp as the week before. I had conversations with those customers explaining that bi weekly would work but it would be more per visit. Example would be a $40 weekly yard goes to $60 biweekly. Yes I do make less off that customer per month but on their off week for mowing I can schedule other jobs they may want done like hedges or mulch and make more than I would only weekly mowing that yard. Becomes a little bit of a cluster f*** when we hey hammered with rain but I'm also not stressing about how to get every single yard done if they were all weekly cuts.
I do some biweekly here in Ontario. Simply because the grass doesn’t grow enough in a week to be worth while going to them. I do all the bi weekly in the one week then the following week I fill in the time with fertilizer, mulch, trimming etc.
You guys know I feel about the topic, so what’s yours? Biweekly? Yes or no? PS: just to clear up any confusion, if the lawns don’t need to be mowed bc of drought or it slowing down in the fall, we’re definitely skip a week or two. We always want to be fair to our clients.
It boils down to the business owners preference. Some owners may only want to work bi-weekly. In my opinion to have too much of a mixture means every other week you'll be swamped
Years ago I had a small side hustle mowing lawns with a few bi-weekly, it was always a pain due to the double cutting and dealing with clippings etc. Now, I do not offer bi-weekly, but certain times of the year I might skip a week if it hasn't grown, or sometimes only a certain section may need it, then I will do that section & knock some off the price. They appreciate the discount on their bill when this happens, but its not often i have to skip.
Is it possible for you to do a video discussing mulch pricing by region? For example south east, east coast, west coast etc. I know you have subs all over so I think the comparison between regions and methods might be interesting.
I do monthly payment from April through November and December. But I learned guickly that I was being used and not appreciated.now it's my way . Plus by weekly always screwed up my schedule
In Alabama I offer Bi weekly spring gets hot and summer is hotter with little rain. So grass grows slower in hot months which is like May - November possibly December. I have bi weekly with each week filled so it like weekly. Im solo unless the wife helps few days. Depends on financials as well i think. All my things are paid for front truck to mower to loopers. And I let them know that if they choose bi weekly the rate is more. Great video
Mowing every 3 weeks in Ohio is call like bushhogging or once a month..I wouldn't even consider it unless we had a drought. I sometimes cut bi weekly depending on growth..
If the grass doesn't grow then you can't cut it weekly. Most customers who have any sense know that their lawns don't grow at a rate that would require weekly cutting. If I don't offer the service than someone else will and I would be the one missing out on the mulch, cleanups etc. I prefer weekly and always push for it, but...
As a DIY guy I lawn rarely needs to be cut less that once a week... I don't fertilize a lot but spring and sometimes even fall it needs more than once a week
I’ve been cutting bi weekly but here’s where it starts to suck. I work a full time job as a roll off driver and cut lawns as a side gig. The weeks when they are due to be cut it seems to rain like clockwork. So then they get pushed even further back. I think I’m going to have to make it a point as you said to transition them to weekly customers.
only bi-weeklys i do are the ones where it won't matter whether or not theyre cut every week, they're also the lowest on my list of priorities and I make that clear when the customer asks for bi-weekly, most of my bi-weeklys are massive properties anyway where these people can't afford to fertilize and water 6 acres of grass or mow it every week
I do both weekly and biweekly. Customers choice. I have higher price points for biweekly compared to weekly. But 2 weeks weekly costs just little more than biweekly. But I have around 60 mowing customers but this allows me alot of side jobs to do. On non mow days I do other work that easily matched mowing 10-11 hours in just 7 or 8
If I didn't offer biweekly I'd have literally no customers lol. No one that I know of here in Australia gets their lawn mowed weekly, with maybe the odd exception of golf courses, sports grounds and similar. All of ours are biweekly, 3 weekly or monthly. I'm quite excited when I get a biweekly tbh lol
I don’t like Biweekly because right away that tells me that the client are trying to get the most for as less as possible.This year is a little different I might take on some biweekly as many cannot afford lawn care because of the Pandemic. I do add an extra $6-8.
Weekly only. I'm in Oakland County MI too. With grass already overgrown and our governor hating lawns, how are we going to charge for the engine stalling quadruple 1st cut. I'm a UA-camr too. Email me if you want to talk. 👍
my customers are told if you want by weekly your still paying for how much of a pain it is to do the job, not the weekly price as quoted,( i dont want to cut the lawn once have it burn out and not get paid till it comes back, so im ok with skipping sometimes, but at my choice) so its weekly and if the weather dictates that i can wait two weeks without causing a issue im good with it.
Every week after weekly service is an up charge I have very few biweekly when I tell them it’s gonna be more they usually go weekly even though it’s cheaper to do biweekly but at least I don’t loose my ass u have to factor in the ware and tare on equipment and maintenance of it
We prefer weekly service however if the customer is adamant on bi-weekly there is a 20% up charge. We will not charge the 20% in the case of a drought or usually in the month of August.
Brian I really like your videos I made the transition from bi weekly to weekly this year I lost a few yards but most of my customers understood I has a realtor call me last week about washing a house and maintaining the property she wanted it cut every 2wks or 10 days I told her unfortunately my company doesn't allow that service we are weekly she was great with it more money in my pocket and easier work keep up the good work sincerely Tony Baker in Tennessee
Biweekly sucks. Let's admit it. I get calls and requests and people say "our grass doesn't grow fast", which is possible but you never really know who to trust. But in Maryland - transition zone, we get warm and cool season grasses so some people have many different needs. I say weekly or 7-10 days in spring, 10-14 days in July, August, back to weekly in Fall. The only people I see ferting and watering in my area are DIY homeowners that actually care.
I will definitely do bi weekly mowing but price is definitely higher then weekly because most bi weekly’s for us are out of the way and change the density of the route. But also will not mow lawn that are going through drought or dormant stages.
Well if i was charging my customers $50 doing the lawn bi weekly, what should I adjust the price to doing it weekly without having the customer panic! $35?
If you are forcing your customers to have their lawns mowed every week are you flexible enough to switch the weekday or the time you usually come if your client has something going on that day where they can't have lawncare happening at the same time? What about customers who have grass that grows much slower than other clients? Some types of grass don't require weekly maintenance. Do you charge them half of what you charged when you were cutting their lawn every other week? Elderly people who live on a fixed income can't afford to alter their monthly budget, especially while this inflation is out of control.
Sounds like their budget is the problem, not our pricing. I fail to understand how that’s our (or any other businesses) fault. Kohls doesn’t half off their clothing bc someone is on social security. Give me a break.
Customers aren't being "forced" into weekly cuts. They either agree to it or they don't. No, you don't have flexibility to just switch time and days because you have an entire route of clients and their locations to consider. If I'm going to be working 30 minutes away all day Wednesday why should I drive that extra hour (there and back) for 1 client? If the service doesn't fit, then it's the clients responsibility to find one that will. My motto, "you don't have to kiss my ass, but i won't let you be a pain in it"
I have 30 customers and 25 are biweekly I give them the offer week or biweekly prices I’ll look at lawn and I’ll know it doesn’t need every week I’ll tell them I don’t want feel like I’m robbing them
Your analogy hits a little too close to home for me. I crushed my lower right arm last summer on a new mower I was using and my right arm was kicked up by a low branch I was navigating around and in 2 seconds pulled back and crushed both bones completely and both bones poking the skin. After rushing to the ER and 3 hours of surgery I got it with 2 plates and eight screws and 5 days later I was back mowing with a helper to trim. I lost nearly all feeling in my hand and could only barely my fingertips after 11 weeks of casts I got it back but very weak and could barely carry a 5lb weight. After doing my own rehab as I didn’t have insurance I made gradual progress. Fast forward 9 months later and my hand is nearly perfect sensation and I’m back to benching over 300 again after being unable to lift the bar after getting out of my cast. Anyways I couldn’t help myself as that literally changed my entire life and your example was spot on. Travis Rondeau owner of RONDOMOW in Stuart IA
I pinched it between the roll bar and a tree. Needless to say I don’t get near trees anymore and a word of caution. It didn’t roll over but I have popped accidental wheelies on my Deere 345 which was my first mower. I know use a 54 inch Spartan SRT HD which I love ❤️ the mower I broke my arm on was an Ariens 52 inch.
Hey Brian this is Jonathan from Windsor Ontario I am looking to start a lawn care business of my own here in Windsor and I was wondering if there is a small business grant that you can get for starting a lawn care business
Hey Brian your videos are awesome and I have been watching them and learning alot for our lawn business here in Southern Missouri !! Good video on the bi weekly stuff, down here in Missouri alot of people like the bi weekly for some reason. We have about 25 bi weekly clients and about 10 weekly and we are still growing in our 2nd year now. We have alot of older people and retired only want bi weekly probally cause it's cheaper, and just alot of people down here like that. But you make some great points for sure, I guess just based on region it will vary. Also we have some big 2 acre lots we cut that are expensive, those normally are out in the country and they also do bi weekly normally. Thanks for the great videos very informational Brian !!
i live in louisiana in an upscale area and, respectfully, you are exactly why i own lawn equipment and cut my own lawn every week. when i had a lawn guy ( twice a month) i cut,edged and trimmed the week he didn't... he gave me that same song and dance so i asked him not to come back not because of his price or schedule but because of his dishonesty.
So you correlate biweekly mowing, with all of his additional time and cost to mow, with dishonesty? Right.. respectfully you’ll be the exact customer 99% of my audience let’s go, and that’s the reason you might’ve had to buy ur own equipment, lol. 🤷♂️
@@BriansLawnMaintenance if you read... i did the lawn the week he did not... so he was not spending more time double mowing, weeding and was burning no extra gas.he should have just told me the truth. " im doing things differently" i would have been cool with that. things change. i dont do things the same as i did when i opened my businesses.
I think, to brians point. And most of the other posters points is that most of these bi-weekly lawns do not get maintained by anyone on that off week. And hence the reason some of those lawns get out of control and take twice the time and gas to make them look maintained. Maybe you didnt communicate that you maintain it on off days to your former lawncare professional? If it os taken care of on off weeks and isnt a hassle then he should have charged a weekly price if he wanted the work. But it is his perogative as the business owner if he wanted to take that job on his route.
I have a few bi weekly but I forced several yards into weekly service this year. My bi weekly are thin yards, no fertilizer no irrigation. If a new customer calls and wants bi weekly, il look at it but 9/10 I don’t take it because they are thick, fertilized and irrigated. I have a handful but no more unless they meet my requirements.
I've seen lawns get a foot long after two weeks in Minnesota in the spring. If they fertilize and/or water no bi-weekly mowing. The only time it really works out is around mid-July until sometime in August and only if they have bad soil compaction, don't water and don't fertilize. Then you got people who think they can fix the problem of their grass growing 6 inches every two weeks by having the lawn guy cut it a half inch shorter. It just makes it clump worse and it looks like crap when you are done. I swear you spend less time driving to someones house twice and cutting it every week than you do going there every other week, double cutting and trying blow out all the clumps in the yard. With cool season grasses in northern states bi-weekly is typically a no-no. It's actually bad for your lawn to wait too long between cuts. That extra debris doesn't break down fast enough and suffocates the lawn preventing proper air exchange. Then the grass starts to thin out. Then when you have a thinner lawn, the blades of grass won't shade itself as well which causes soil temperatures to be higher. Higher soil temperatures are great for growing weeds, it invites insects into the yard and various lawn diseases. This last paragraph is the canned answer I give people asking for bi-weekly service. If they respond by saying they don't care about what their yard looks like you let them know your company isn't the right one for them because you take pride in your work and therefore are not interested in doing something that will most likely damage their lawn in the long term and will leave their yard looking shabby in the short term.
Everything you use the analogy the tail wags the dog I picture it Chihuahua wagging its tail. I had Bi weekly and weekly customers. Then I also had on call Customers realtors and Property management for rental homes. The amount they paid was stupid for me having to add them to a route it was the same as if I cut the weekly the same was true for the bi weekly.
I only mow bi weekly if the lawns are shitty and they don't spend any money to get it looking good. But i tell all my customer from the get go is every week till July and then it depends how the lawn grows
Bi-Weekly isn't a big deal. Either do them or don't. I took that on a case-by-case basis. Starting out, I took everything. Then learned, routing and size of job. Larger jobs, more work & less driving = more profit. Driving around is overhead. The one exception I kept was a 10-day Tues-Thur alternating week schedule. Single mom with a cute 9 year old daughter that was stressed from the divorce and in counseling for speech therapy. Back in the 90's after losing equipment to theft, I loaded up my two black German Shepherd brothers into the back of my pickup. No more theft. 10-day customer had a long driveway that I parked in. Backed in with trailer, and little girl would usually see me as she knew the days and time we did the job. Before I got the truck in neutral and parking brake set, she'd be in the back with a bear hug on Kodi and Bart. My dogs knew which one's were ok and which one's were riff-raff. There are all kinds of customers out there with every type of account out there. You don't change the customer, you can advise the customer - some will work with you, some won't, some can't afford top tier service. It's about working up to the more select clientele - as simple as that. Sometimes, there are exceptions - doing something nice every now and then should be considered with regard to your business and it's place in the community. The goodwill from that account brought in other accounts that were not the exception.
From a consumer stand-point. I cut mine bi-weekly for years and the lawn done great. No double cuts, no clumping or raking. With my business taking all of my time, I called a lawn company. They mowed it bi-weekly like I had been doing with the same result. This was 2.5 acres of yard and I mowed the other acreage with large mower and tractor. Then they insisted weekly only, so I let them do it weekly for a few weeks to see that they were clipping about 1/4" off the top. Of course they wanted the same price each cut as bi-weekly. I told them to stop service, I purchased a 61" zero-turn and done it myself. I purchased property at the coast with centipede grass that rarely needs cutting bi-weekly, have had guys stop and offer a weekly only service, nonsense! I am not going to pay someone $100+ a week for my yard to look the same as it did when they arrived.
Biweekly customers I tell them if I show up and the grass is taller then 6 inches I charge double. Might sound crazy but I make more money cause most times it’s tall.
I only do weekly customers, I tell them it's too hard to fit them on my schedule for biweekly and it's too hard on my equipment.
Where are you located
Why is it harder on equipment? Genuinely interested
@@zackgarrett5113 taller thicker grass
I'm in Utah and our grass grows really tall and fast here it's harder on our gear boxes
@@zackgarrett5113 especially thick lawns after two weeks of growth, it is harder on the engines and many other moving parts. You will have to mow it taller to have less clippings all over. Most of times you may have to mow it 2 to 3 times to make it look good. Lawn care businesses kinda get screwed with bi-weekly accounts. Hope this helps my friend!
Last year I switched all of my residentials to a contract for mowing and It was the best thing i ever did. I lost a few customers but it just thinned out the ones that weren't fit for me anyways. Whither the contracts it allowed me to mow weekly instead of whenever they thought it needed it. Biweekly or "part time" customers just take up a slot they always argue well just get another biweekly to keep busy every week but then when spring and fall clean ups come around I'd have 100 clean ups to do instead of 50. And early summer they all need to be mowed weekly. I had to think of it as each customer is taking up a slot and I only have so many slots available. I want to provide a better service for fewer customers.
I tell clients weekly only, but if we go through a drought or the lawn has no growth that I will skip their property. Clients like that. Most clients just are sometimes hesitant on weekly because they don’t want to pay when the lawn has no growth. I don’t blame them. As long as the clients are treated well and feel like they are getting a fair deal they will buy not only maintenance but even landscaping from you if you offer it.
Yeah I totally agree, we say the same thing, we definitely try to be fair.
I’m a beginner started this year. I have 4 weekly and 1 bi-weekly. I live in a part of town where the attitude is “ if I can do my self then why pay someone” working class community. I find that the people that are willing to pay your price and not talk you down are the better paying Customers and nicer. The low balling Customers want anybody cheap not matter the quality of work. And simply don’t care about you or your business. Thanks to brain and his videos I’m able to say I may not have a lot of clients yet but I am thankful to have nice people and good paying ones that respect me & my business. than if I didn’t stand my ground on my pricing.
Awesome! You'll continue to get more customers, just takes a little time 👍
Sounds like you have a plan and your on the right path.
Sounds like you're doing great! I had about 4 recurring weekly clients or so by the end of my first season and I lost out on a few bids. I didn't feel bad at all since I know my worth and what I would need to charge. I have one property who the client said I'm "on the high end of the price range but am thourough." To me that sounds right where I want to be! I had client which I simply dropped as a result of them sending the vibe that they don't want a weekly cut only a we'll call you when we want you there kind of deal. which is ok if starting out but I plan to scale and need more stability. I find that when you set the price where you want or need it to be and stick to it you attract a better customer and naturally weed out the ones who won't be as consistent.
I just give the customer a monthly quote and my quote is for full monthly service. If they choose not to have there lawn serviced that week then thats up to them. Professional lawn companies can't do business every other week. You need to project monthly, quarterly revenues and that does not work with half ass customers. As a example from other service businesses ---day care, if your child gets sick and doesn't go a given day you still owe for the day, thats how professional businesses work. Lawn customers are to quick to discredit lawn professionals and think we can absorb nonsense. Just my 2 cents after 27 years in business.
D cain which level care are your lawns? Weeds or Grass?
Sure makes a differences mowing lawn instead of weeds.
D cain You might be leaving money on the table. I prefer to keep it weekly because just about every month has a 5 mow day(s). May had 5 Fridays for example
"Our business" charges a flat monthly rate for our customers here in Louisiana . Some are 12 month full service clients. Some have a 9 month agreement (March-November) It works out to 32 services for the 9 month plan and 52 services for the 12 month. We have warm season grass so, for us it's by-weekly in the spring and fall but,weekly in the summer! It works well for our company 👍
I ONLY do bi-weekly....I can charge more than a weekly cut, I get more customers, more mulch jobs, more hedge trimming...more money.....
robert harrison same
Why can't you upsell the same services on weekly mowing?
100% 👍
Darryl Ore if he has more customers overall there will be more customers to upsell those one off jobs.
Darryl Ore because if I have 50 weekly customers I can only do 50 hedge trimmings and 50 mulch jobs. If I have 100 “bi-weekly” customers then I have 100 hedge trimmings and 100 mulch jobs and I can charge more for “bi weekly” mowing...
Pre great depression, "I only take clients who want weekly service". In the great depression, "I will take any customer who will pay me"
I have 50+ customers who are sr. citizens. This doesn't affect them at all. It's the 20-50 yr old group.
Got to love people who are needing help that have second homes and multiple vehicles typically same people who are having a difficult time committing to weekly lawn mowing. Typically same people who do not mind imposing having some company provide services for 30 or 40 dollars per cut and could careless when the lawn care provider has equipment to maintain and person s who are doing the work for a living.
My buddy and I both have full time jobs and then have our small business on the side. Tuesday-Thursday are our main cutting days and with all the rain we get in MD in the early season bi-weekly cutting is a staple in our business and it works for us. We have 50-60 clients so doing 25-30 per week is perfect for us instead of running ourselves ragged trying to do 50-60 cuts per week. Financially it works for us. All of our customers know and understand that we reserve the right to charge an additional fee for double cutting and clean up if needed. We love cutting so we do this for fun (and to get away from the girlfriends for a while) but we always make sure that we are being properly compensated for our time and hitting our per hour goal that we set when we first started the business. May not work for all but works for us! Thanks for the vid Brian!
I gave up my biweekly accounts because of you. I was spending to much time to make the yard look good and not getting paid for it. Now I don't even give a quote if they say biweekly. I only offer weekly service. I have found that the biweekly customer wants something for nothing and it isn't worth my time. It was one of the best moves I made. Also my route density is very much tighter. I operate within 6 square miles of my house. Given my city 6 miles is reasonable. I do have 1 account 12 miles from me but they are an original customer and I am in their area all the time personally and in 45 minutes I clear $65 so it is worth it. I dropped 4 customers this year and have picked up 3 customers and I am already making more than with the 4 I dropped. Things have been good for me this year.
I just saw this video. I'm in NC and have been in business for 21 years. The majority of my customers save 2 are bi-weekly. Only my pickiest customers want the lawn mowed every week. My mother in law being one of them. NO ONE in this area does solid weekly service, even for commercial accounts. I charge $65-$100. Per service for 2 cuts. That's $130.-$200. per month per client. My average monthly take after expenses is $3-5,000 a month depending on fuel costs.
Bi-Weekly here in Oz 👍
Double the price, more time for acreage works, hedging, mulching, Handyman works, rental/strata works and general yard maintenance etc.
More time up my sleeve in case of bad weather etc 👍
Your videos however, have helped shape my own business plan and mindset 🙌
Cheers Brian 🙂
Here in central Texas I offer Bi-Weekly. It’s actually our most common schedule.
I'm in Florida and offer weekly or bi-weekly. This is just my side hustle though and I will only do bi-weekly cuts on properties that I know can handle 14 days of growth without being out of control. If I were full-time, I'd specifically be looking at weekly clients.
Annual service for a monthly rate, weekly April 1-November 1. And bi weekly the opposite 6 months. That’s just how the market is here in central Florida
In the area of Western Kentucky. I’ve only been in this house since January. Still have to move my stuff from the Western part of the country. So the guy I hired to cut comes every 12-16 days. They didn’t push weekly on me. Rain can change the schedule but I’m understanding and don’t put any pressure. He understands my financial situation due to current events and still in the process of moving. I’m happy with his rate and even talk about equipment and lawnmowers. He knows eventually I’ll be doing it myself and encourages it but told him to take over when I leave town. I had called two other lawn care companies. One was booked already. Which is fine and the other mailed me a quote about 2-3 weeks later. They wanted $200 weekly to cut, trim, and blow the driveway off. I’m out in the county around farmland on 3.6 acres. My grass area is wide open and mixed kinds. So its really good quality for out here but not “City” you could say. His rate is $40 an acre and brings his wife. He’ll even go around my house and use weed killer. They both hop on their mowers and get to work. He’s a full timer and she helps every so often. They also have high paying clients.
We only do weekly and I break it down like this. Roughly 42 cuts per year (X) your price ($45) then divided by 12 months then that is your monthly bill for 12 months. I'm in Fl so weather is always a factor but we also tell customers if you can't be caught up with in 2-3 days after a storm you're skipped for that week.
March-October is weekly November-February is bi-weekly
I really think the key to weekly vs biweekly is if the lawn is treated. The only lawns I have that need weekly are the ones that get fertilizer. The rest of them are biweekly and I'm cutting two to three inches of grass at the max. I also cut at 2.5 unless they have fescue which I cut at 3.5
Best comment so far. If lawn isn't fertilized, the grass won't grow fast enough to support weekly cuts.
Yea here in kansas city the grass grows too fast to do bi weekly in the spring. I have to explain the science of grass and explain that if they want a great looking lawn, bi weekly would not be the best option. I would say 9 out of 10 times they try to do bi weekly for a discount.
I do weekly and "as needed". I tell clients that I can potentially go 2 weeks in the summer if there is a drought and they have no irrigation but in the spring and if there's a lot of rain, I can't go biweekly. In fact, I just fired a lady because she kept on trying to tell me to wait another week and it ended up looking like I was bailing hay!
Just started my business. Most people in my area do bi-weekly. It’s really what they are accustomed to getting. I get all my customers because other lawn care companies don’t return phone calls.
My lawn guy cuts 3 houses in a cul-de-sac, these houses are 2nd homes. He'll do a drive by and see if it needs cutting. If not he moves on. We're now living at our 2nd home more with this pandemic as I'm working from home now. My wife said since I'm here I can mow it, I told her to let him mow since we have a verbal agreement for him to mow as needed. This lawn is mostly weeds and I don't fert it to encourage growth. My primary house, I'm mowing every 3 days now.
That’s very nice of you. Thank you for supporting small business
Cheapskate.
Bless you brother. As a landscaper I understand things are very tough right now for a lot of people. Without generosity Such as your's millions more of us would be screwed
@@marcyounker6379 !?! he's literally not cutting the yard he has a contract on so his lawn guy still has income? I missed the sarcasm maybe?
This is a forum for lawn care professionals and your input is disrespectful to the industry people who are trying to build and maintain their business not non for profit organizations for people with second homes
I never do biweekly because my yards would look like crap in between cuts there for being A bad reflection on me and my service.
Where are you
I have two commercial accounts I offered a weekly service with a price. Then I offered a seasonal price, pay half season up front and half the first week of November. One of them went seasonal and the other pays me each week and it costs him more and I am good with that.
Bi-weekly accounts especially in the wet Spring equals mowers bogging down, clogging decks and a trip to the car wash. Most home owners that have the bi-weekly service have no idea the pain this causes us. And if they do know and don't care then those are the clients you do not want to have. Brian, 20 years mowing in Des Moines here and enjoy your videos and the fact that you are willing to help other small businesses with insight. Enough grass for all of us!!!
With minimal overhead and a focus on small lawns, I plan on maxing at whatever clients per day withing ~ 5 hours. Every other week i may take on a few bi-weeklys (maybe 3-4 a day, 3 days a week) @ 50% surcharge to have a light and a heavy week, then have one afternoon for maintenance after the extra load, and end on a light day.
Yes, it's very interesting to hear other's views on weekly/biweekly given their market. There's not a lot of upward growth on southern turf grasses week to week... so bi-weekly is ok on a lot of yards. We've just found you have to be flexible, because everyone's yards grow at a different pace in the south. That being said, my business is comprised of mostly bi-weekly cuts, which keeps the schedule slammed pack during the early months of spring and later into fall. Good video!
Fa sho my dude! A great topic and example of “one size doesn’t fit all” in our industry.
We do both here. Used to not rain as much here in Oklahoma so bi weekly was all that was needed. Now it rains al l the time. If it’s a $40 weekly law and they want bi weekly I’m at $55-$60
Both , my bi-weekly don't grow enough for weekly and if they do I'd get them moved to weekly. I come from Pest control back ground. They do weekly, monthly, trimester 3 times year, EOM every other month, quarterly and Once a year. So for me what ever service they prefer or that works best I try to persuade them as it keeps us both happy.
Hey Brian, love the Chanel and content!!!
So, l’ve been running my property maintenance business for 5yrs now and at the beginning when l started l offered weekly and bi weekly services because like everyone else l want to get as many clients as possible as fast as possible!!!
After 3 yrs l clients list exploded to over 100 clients now in yr 5 l had 150 clients weekly and bi weekly so l would like to have all my clients weekly but the days l don’t cut
bi weekly l fill the days with softscaping jobs pruning and property cleanups and can make more money with with one of those jobs without moving the truck and equipment.
And it breaks up the daily grind of cutting grass every day!!
As well if we have rain day and can’t cut we have days that we can use on our bi weekly week so we don’t have to work on the weekend!!!
Can’t wait to see ya in the next video!!
We offer weekly and biweekly. We charge almost twice as much for biweekly service and will convert them into weekly if the lawn grows too much in two weeks. We basically let them know that staying biweekly in fast growing lawns that their price will go up which will pay them more then weekly service. Our prices start at $25 weekly or $40-$45 biweekly. This actually works for us because we’re getting more money on less services.
U can do biweekly it’s just that u need to charge them the perfect amount on a yard like off rip. We charge $65 minimum and if they was to want it weekly. Just half the price and still have that’s same amount u want out of the month from that customer And other customers. U deserve to charge ur customers a good amount if ur work shows ur worthy 🤷🏾♂️
Does that include edging?
I'm in Texas, so weather is always a factor. I no longer offer biweekly service. It's too hard on your schedule. If it rains the week you are supposed to mow, now it turns into 3 weeks or sometimes a month in between. What I do is biweekly around March until April. Then weekly thru January. Just use common sense and treat your customers how you'd like to be treated. Communication is key, if you need to skip for emergency or honestly the yard doesn't need it, then send a text. This will build a respectable relationship.
My best client in 2022 was an older gentleman who had me call every Sunday night to see if I will need to mow for him which starting out was totally fine. But after studying your channel in regards to weekly vs bi weekly and also charge card on file video it seems best for me to try to sign everyone up going forward to charge card on file system. This will weed out potential customers who aren't confident they can have me mow more frequently and also those that want the "cheapest cut". personally in my business I am searching for consistency and customers who are willing to pay a bit more for quality. So my client was great last season and when I would call on a Sunday he usually would say sure come mow! Sometimes I would wait 3 days so it wasn't quite bi weekly and I was happy. He would walk out with a check after but agian im going to need to tighten the belt a bit as I scale to make things run faster. Hopefully he will be willing to entertain this when I call him in spring to see if he will let me mow again this year!
I have mostly weekly service 1 account that wants bi weekly lives in a high end neighborhood but I charge them double for that property planning on either having them go weekly or drop them but I cant be too picky yet because it's only my second year so trying to grow and get some decent equipment but got to plan for the future
I have zero issues with bi weekly customers provided their lawn grows at a biweekly rate. I have 6 bi weekly customers (out of 80) and their grass grows slow. I do charge a bit extra. And if the grass grows weekly, then I will let the customer know that I'll be out weekly until the growing slows.
With Covid, I'm willing to work with the customer as they see fit....although I haven't been approached yet, but definitely willing to work with them. I'm in Ohio.
I do mostly bi-weekly, but some I do "as needed" because sometimes we have weeks where the grass won't grow
Where I live, its tough. I would never do a yard thats fertilized, Bi weekly. Problem is, if you want strictly weekly, you may have to travel more to get to them and nobody waters there lawns around here. I try to do my bi weekly's in the beginning of the week and weeklys towards the end. I do charge a lot more for bi weeklys. During the summer, you almost always have to skip the weeklys when it gets hot and dry.
Is edging included in your mowing price?
Never bi-weekly. I tell my clients I pay my guys weekly, not bi-weekly.
Great idea.
Here in Dallas Texas area, I start off as biweekly up until about May. Then weekly service is only really good for May- June. July through the rest of the year it's too hot and not much watering so I go back to bi weekly. We have mostly Bermuda grass and unless you water constantly, it doesn't grow fast enough for a weekly service. St Augustine on the other hand, stays at a weekly service up until about October.
Hey Brian,
Up in Ontario, I do have 1 day per week where I have all the biweekly clients. Most of them are cottages and their lawns do not grow much. I try to do my side jobs the next week on the same day.
I make sure I ask the question, weekly lawn care moving forward, don’t want to take on any more bi-weekly.
Each year I drop several lawns. Always looking for clients that wants a good service and not just the cheapest price.
Hope you get back to work soon down there, right now up here they still have not made it clear if we should be working or not.
In South Carolina grass don’t grow fast only in spring. BUT I LOVE by weekly customers. I’m so full so it don’t hurt my scheduling. Brian you help my with the credit card switch. I’m over 130 customer only in my 2 season. And I have both weekly and by weekly. And. I do offer both prices up front.
We only cut our customers biweekly during the winter months ( November thru February) Tampa, we charge one price throughout the year. It is hard to fit in anything in the schedule doing that and puts a bind in servicing the full time customers.
These days (knock on wood) we haven't had any issues nowadays but, if a customer is layed off or can't pay we have made contracts to continue service to keep the customers and 90% of our customers are in gated communities and require lawns to be cut. They pay what they can and pay the rest when they get back to regular payments. We had a few customers we had this happen to in the 1980's with no problems. One it took about a year and 4 months but they payed us off. That's how you take care of them in a tough spot.
I offer biweekly service here in eastern North Carolina. We typically have centipede grass which is a slow growing grass but it handles very hot weather and drought conditions very well. Some yards have a lot of weeds and the weeds would have to be taken care of or be cut weekly but for the most part on this area it's biweekly service.
Great videos
I do not offer bi-weekly service because I make more money clearing overgrown grass,weeds and bagging up trash. For example I can make anywhere from $160 to $260 a yard in one day about 4-7 hours of solo work part time weekends. This past weekend I made $375 Saturday($210) & Sunday ($165)
2 houses total.
I mow my OWN lawn weekly because after one week it’s pretty tall.
These bi weekly people are crazy
Have one mower that you use for biweekly and one for weekly see which one quits first !
Down here in Florida in most cases bi-weekly service isn't an option due to growth. In neighborhoods "across the trax" (where I live) the counties do not provide reclaimed water pipes to allow poorer neighborhoods to have access to irrigation. This customers in these areas have to pay additional costs in their water bill to even think about watering their yards. No irrigation = stunted growth or dust bomb yards. Suggestion from knowing this is someone who's interested in providing bi-weekly service should market to areas that do not have irrigation foremost. On the contrary if you want to cut nice full yards weekly you should focus on marketing in nicer areas.
So glad i got rid those 2 biweekly cuts i had. Not a lot but i replaced them with weekly cuts that cost more per cut and then wanted all the other other services as well. Tripled my money or more.
We don't do bi-weekly mowing in Southeastern Washington. It makes no sense to us either. Very well put. I couldn't have said it better myself. We used to offer bi-weekly mowing services in our first 2 years being in business. It is now our 3rd year and we phased it out. Takes too much time, clogs our mower, and puts unnecessary wear and tear on our mower. Let's face it, new equipment isn't cheap.
I live on 5 acres. I have weeds, dandelions. I mow my own. Do I do mine by weekly? No! I would have a jungle. Some weeks I mow twice. I just cant afford the weed killers for this much land.
Great advice Brian! I did majority weekly with some bi weekly my first year. Learned that lesson. Better off doing only weekly. If a client doesn't want to pay you good there's lots that will when your established and provide skilled service and why not work on the nicer yards. With the price of fertilizer and gas constantly going up charge extra.
The scheduling nightmare with biweekly yards is not worth it for me with mowing being a side hustle. I make a point to bid jobs cheaper at a weekly rate and more than double the bid at biweekly to sway customers to a weekly service. Sometimes it works. Sometimes someone else gets the job.
Really enjoying all of the videos you are pumping out! Nice work, Brian!
Here in Upstate NY I offer bi weekly. It's not for every yard but about 10 just do not need weekly service. Everyone starts out on weekly but with some yards I was just wasting time driving there to see the lines just as crisp as the week before. I had conversations with those customers explaining that bi weekly would work but it would be more per visit. Example would be a $40 weekly yard goes to $60 biweekly. Yes I do make less off that customer per month but on their off week for mowing I can schedule other jobs they may want done like hedges or mulch and make more than I would only weekly mowing that yard. Becomes a little bit of a cluster f*** when we hey hammered with rain but I'm also not stressing about how to get every single yard done if they were all weekly cuts.
I do some biweekly here in Ontario. Simply because the grass doesn’t grow enough in a week to be worth while going to them. I do all the bi weekly in the one week then the following week I fill in the time with fertilizer, mulch, trimming etc.
You guys know I feel about the topic, so what’s yours? Biweekly? Yes or no?
PS: just to clear up any confusion, if the lawns don’t need to be mowed bc of drought or it slowing down in the fall, we’re definitely skip a week or two. We always want to be fair to our clients.
It boils down to the business owners preference. Some owners may only want to work bi-weekly. In my opinion to have too much of a mixture means every other week you'll be swamped
Years ago I had a small side hustle mowing lawns with a few bi-weekly, it was always a pain due to the double cutting and dealing with clippings etc. Now, I do not offer bi-weekly, but certain times of the year I might skip a week if it hasn't grown, or sometimes only a certain section may need it, then I will do that section & knock some off the price. They appreciate the discount on their bill when this happens, but its not often i have to skip.
Is it possible for you to do a video discussing mulch pricing by region? For example south east, east coast, west coast etc. I know you have subs all over so I think the comparison between regions and methods might be interesting.
I do monthly payment from April through November and December. But I learned guickly that I was being used and not appreciated.now it's my way . Plus by weekly always screwed up my schedule
In Alabama I offer Bi weekly spring gets hot and summer is hotter with little rain. So grass grows slower in hot months which is like May - November possibly December. I have bi weekly with each week filled so it like weekly. Im solo unless the wife helps few days. Depends on financials as well i think. All my things are paid for front truck to mower to loopers. And I let them know that if they choose bi weekly the rate is more. Great video
Mowing every 3 weeks in Ohio is call like bushhogging or once a month..I wouldn't even consider it unless we had a drought. I sometimes cut bi weekly depending on growth..
If the grass doesn't grow then you can't cut it weekly. Most customers who have any sense know that their lawns don't grow at a rate that would require weekly cutting. If I don't offer the service than someone else will and I would be the one missing out on the mulch, cleanups etc. I prefer weekly and always push for it, but...
As a DIY guy I lawn rarely needs to be cut less that once a week... I don't fertilize a lot but spring and sometimes even fall it needs more than once a week
I’ve been cutting bi weekly but here’s where it starts to suck. I work a full time job as a roll off driver and cut lawns as a side gig. The weeks when they are due to be cut it seems to rain like clockwork. So then they get pushed even further back. I think I’m going to have to make it a point as you said to transition them to weekly customers.
only bi-weeklys i do are the ones where it won't matter whether or not theyre cut every week, they're also the lowest on my list of priorities and I make that clear when the customer asks for bi-weekly, most of my bi-weeklys are massive properties anyway where these people can't afford to fertilize and water 6 acres of grass or mow it every week
Great video Brian, Wisconsin got extended until May 26th. I do 12 bi-weekly clients and I do them on Friday or Saturday!
I penalize them by offering only in the beginning of the week
@@jonnyg44 Great idea Jonny. If they wanna skimp don't let them have a freshly cut lawn on the weekend!
Jonny G that is a good idea!
I do both weekly and biweekly. Customers choice. I have higher price points for biweekly compared to weekly. But 2 weeks weekly costs just little more than biweekly. But I have around 60 mowing customers but this allows me alot of side jobs to do. On non mow days I do other work that easily matched mowing 10-11 hours in just 7 or 8
Here in Michigan, NO no-weekly..... if none of us offer this service we all make more money. Thx Brian
yes! unfortunately alot of low baller lawn mowers out there
If I didn't offer biweekly I'd have literally no customers lol. No one that I know of here in Australia gets their lawn mowed weekly, with maybe the odd exception of golf courses, sports grounds and similar. All of ours are biweekly, 3 weekly or monthly. I'm quite excited when I get a biweekly tbh lol
The land down undah! Cool to hear how you guys operate too!
Do the blades spin in the opposite direction down there? lol jk
I prefer weekly service that being said depending on if the lawn isn't growing fast i would do buy weekly
I don’t like Biweekly because right away that tells me that the client are trying to get the most for as less as possible.This year is a little different I might take on some biweekly as many cannot afford lawn care because of the Pandemic. I do add an extra $6-8.
Weekly only. I'm in Oakland County MI too. With grass already overgrown and our governor hating lawns, how are we going to charge for the engine stalling quadruple 1st cut. I'm a UA-camr too. Email me if you want to talk. 👍
Thanks buddy. Best of luck out there!
my customers are told if you want by weekly your still paying for how much of a pain it is to do the job, not the weekly price as quoted,( i dont want to cut the lawn once have it burn out and not get paid till it comes back, so im ok with skipping sometimes, but at my choice) so its weekly and if the weather dictates that i can wait two weeks without causing a issue im good with it.
Every week after weekly service is an up charge I have very few biweekly when I tell them it’s gonna be more they usually go weekly even though it’s cheaper to do biweekly but at least I don’t loose my ass u have to factor in the ware and tare on equipment and maintenance of it
We prefer weekly service however if the customer is adamant on bi-weekly there is a 20% up charge. We will not charge the 20% in
the case of a drought or usually in the month of August.
Brian I really like your videos I made the transition from bi weekly to weekly this year I lost a few yards but most of my customers understood I has a realtor call me last week about washing a house and maintaining the property she wanted it cut every 2wks or 10 days I told her unfortunately my company doesn't allow that service we are weekly she was great with it more money in my pocket and easier work keep up the good work sincerely Tony Baker in Tennessee
I have all on a weekly basis until the dry season, then we play it by ear.
Biweekly sucks. Let's admit it.
I get calls and requests and people say "our grass doesn't grow fast", which is possible but you never really know who to trust.
But in Maryland - transition zone, we get warm and cool season grasses so some people have many different needs.
I say weekly or 7-10 days in spring, 10-14 days in July, August, back to weekly in Fall.
The only people I see ferting and watering in my area are DIY homeowners that actually care.
I will definitely do bi weekly mowing but price is definitely higher then weekly because most bi weekly’s for us are out of the way and change the density of the route. But also will not mow lawn that are going through drought or dormant stages.
Well if i was charging my customers $50 doing the lawn bi weekly, what should I adjust the price to doing it weekly without having the customer panic! $35?
I offer bi weekly on large fields that are not really lawns and more just open spaces
If you are forcing your customers to have their lawns mowed every week are you flexible enough to switch the weekday or the time you usually come if your client has something going on that day where they can't have lawncare happening at the same time? What about customers who have grass that grows much slower than other clients? Some types of grass don't require weekly maintenance. Do you charge them half of what you charged when you were cutting their lawn every other week? Elderly people who live on a fixed income can't afford to alter their monthly budget, especially while this inflation is out of control.
Sounds like their budget is the problem, not our pricing. I fail to understand how that’s our (or any other businesses) fault. Kohls doesn’t half off their clothing bc someone is on social security. Give me a break.
Customers aren't being "forced" into weekly cuts. They either agree to it or they don't.
No, you don't have flexibility to just switch time and days because you have an entire route of clients and their locations to consider. If I'm going to be working 30 minutes away all day Wednesday why should I drive that extra hour (there and back) for 1 client?
If the service doesn't fit, then it's the clients responsibility to find one that will. My motto, "you don't have to kiss my ass, but i won't let you be a pain in it"
I have 30 customers and 25 are biweekly I give them the offer week or biweekly prices I’ll look at lawn and I’ll know it doesn’t need every week I’ll tell them I don’t want feel like I’m robbing them
Your analogy hits a little too close to home for me. I crushed my lower right arm last summer on a new mower I was using and my right arm was kicked up by a low branch I was navigating around and in 2 seconds pulled back and crushed both bones completely and both bones poking the skin. After rushing to the ER and 3 hours of surgery I got it with 2 plates and eight screws and 5 days later I was back mowing with a helper to trim. I lost nearly all feeling in my hand and could only barely my fingertips after 11 weeks of casts I got it back but very weak and could barely carry a 5lb weight. After doing my own rehab as I didn’t have insurance I made gradual progress. Fast forward 9 months later and my hand is nearly perfect sensation and I’m back to benching over 300 again after being unable to lift the bar after getting out of my cast. Anyways I couldn’t help myself as that literally changed my entire life and your example was spot on. Travis Rondeau owner of RONDOMOW in Stuart IA
Glad to hear you made a full comeback buddy!
I pinched it between the roll bar and a tree. Needless to say I don’t get near trees anymore and a word of caution. It didn’t roll over but I have popped accidental wheelies on my Deere 345 which was my first mower. I know use a 54 inch Spartan SRT HD which I love ❤️ the mower I broke my arm on was an Ariens 52 inch.
Brian thank you for sharing bro very important topic. I reached 100 subs last week on my garden maintenance channel.
Hey Brian this is Jonathan from Windsor Ontario I am looking to start a lawn care business of my own here in Windsor and I was wondering if there is a small business grant that you can get for starting a lawn care business
Awesome pal
Hey Brian your videos are awesome and I have been watching them and learning alot for our lawn business here in Southern Missouri !! Good video on the bi weekly stuff, down here in Missouri alot of people like the bi weekly for some reason. We have about 25 bi weekly clients and about 10 weekly and we are still growing in our 2nd year now.
We have alot of older people and retired only want bi weekly probally cause it's cheaper, and just alot of people down here like that. But you make some great points for sure, I guess just based on region it will vary. Also we have some big 2 acre lots we cut that are expensive, those normally are out in the country and they also do bi weekly normally.
Thanks for the great videos very informational Brian !!
Hey you bet man. Thanks for watching and all the support
3:07: ...”we’re getting naked, we’re getting intimate.” I thought you were having a conversation with a guy and his side hustle. 😳
Multiple side hustles 🤣
Brian's Lawn Maintenance 🤣
i live in louisiana in an upscale area and, respectfully, you are exactly why i own lawn equipment and cut my own lawn every week. when i had a lawn guy ( twice a month) i cut,edged and trimmed the week he didn't... he gave me that same song and dance so i asked him not to come back not because of his price or schedule but because of his dishonesty.
So you correlate biweekly mowing, with all of his additional time and cost to mow, with dishonesty? Right.. respectfully you’ll be the exact customer 99% of my audience let’s go, and that’s the reason you might’ve had to buy ur own equipment, lol. 🤷♂️
@@BriansLawnMaintenance if you read... i did the lawn the week he did not... so he was not spending more time double mowing, weeding and was burning no extra gas.he should have just told me the truth. " im doing things differently" i would have been cool with that. things change. i dont do things the same as i did when i opened my businesses.
Shannon Stjulien awesome glad you found a better solution
I think, to brians point. And most of the other posters points is that most of these bi-weekly lawns do not get maintained by anyone on that off week. And hence the reason some of those lawns get out of control and take twice the time and gas to make them look maintained. Maybe you didnt communicate that you maintain it on off days to your former lawncare professional? If it os taken care of on off weeks and isnt a hassle then he should have charged a weekly price if he wanted the work. But it is his perogative as the business owner if he wanted to take that job on his route.
I have a mixture of biweekly and weekly clients all my biweekly clients own big properties out in the countryside
every yard is different I cut weekly and biweekly and then we hit a heat drought every summer we're the grass barely grows so we are versatile
My business is a more of an as needed lawn care. I dont put a day on is usually. If its every 7 days or every 10 to 14 days. Just mow as needed.
I have a few bi weekly but I forced several yards into weekly service this year. My bi weekly are thin yards, no fertilizer no irrigation. If a new customer calls and wants bi weekly, il look at it but 9/10 I don’t take it because they are thick, fertilized and irrigated. I have a handful but no more unless they meet my requirements.
I've seen lawns get a foot long after two weeks in Minnesota in the spring. If they fertilize and/or water no bi-weekly mowing. The only time it really works out is around mid-July until sometime in August and only if they have bad soil compaction, don't water and don't fertilize. Then you got people who think they can fix the problem of their grass growing 6 inches every two weeks by having the lawn guy cut it a half inch shorter. It just makes it clump worse and it looks like crap when you are done. I swear you spend less time driving to someones house twice and cutting it every week than you do going there every other week, double cutting and trying blow out all the clumps in the yard. With cool season grasses in northern states bi-weekly is typically a no-no.
It's actually bad for your lawn to wait too long between cuts. That extra debris doesn't break down fast enough and suffocates the lawn preventing proper air exchange. Then the grass starts to thin out. Then when you have a thinner lawn, the blades of grass won't shade itself as well which causes soil temperatures to be higher. Higher soil temperatures are great for growing weeds, it invites insects into the yard and various lawn diseases. This last paragraph is the canned answer I give people asking for bi-weekly service. If they respond by saying they don't care about what their yard looks like you let them know your company isn't the right one for them because you take pride in your work and therefore are not interested in doing something that will most likely damage their lawn in the long term and will leave their yard looking shabby in the short term.
Do every other week in Georgia till June then do weekly, but still charge by weekly because some times I can do by weekly bepends on the rain
I only do biweekly. My lawns start at $65 / 130 per month. I don’t want weekly clients.
Everything you use the analogy the tail wags the dog I picture it Chihuahua wagging its tail. I had Bi weekly and weekly customers. Then I also had on call Customers realtors and Property management for rental homes. The amount they paid was stupid for me having to add them to a route it was the same as if I cut the weekly the same was true for the bi weekly.
I offer both weekly and bi-weekly. It is my side hustle. Also, just went to weingartz in Clarkston site for a part on my cub cadet.
Cool man
I only mow bi weekly if the lawns are shitty and they don't spend any money to get it looking good. But i tell all my customer from the get go is every week till July and then it depends how the lawn grows
Bi-Weekly isn't a big deal. Either do them or don't. I took that on a case-by-case basis. Starting out, I took everything. Then learned, routing and size of job. Larger jobs, more work & less driving = more profit. Driving around is overhead. The one exception I kept was a 10-day Tues-Thur alternating week schedule. Single mom with a cute 9 year old daughter that was stressed from the divorce and in counseling for speech therapy. Back in the 90's after losing equipment to theft, I loaded up my two black German Shepherd brothers into the back of my pickup. No more theft. 10-day customer had a long driveway that I parked in. Backed in with trailer, and little girl would usually see me as she knew the days and time we did the job. Before I got the truck in neutral and parking brake set, she'd be in the back with a bear hug on Kodi and Bart. My dogs knew which one's were ok and which one's were riff-raff.
There are all kinds of customers out there with every type of account out there. You don't change the customer, you can advise the customer - some will work with you, some won't, some can't afford top tier service. It's about working up to the more select clientele - as simple as that. Sometimes, there are exceptions - doing something nice every now and then should be considered with regard to your business and it's place in the community. The goodwill from that account brought in other accounts that were not the exception.