Published by Ben
on October 19, 2008.
Well, the fall season is here! If you haven't already started advertising the leaf removal part of your service, now is definitely a great time! Some tips for leaf removal:
1. I HIGHLY suggest you DO NOT use one of those dinky electric leaf blowers. They can't blow larger piles of leaves. If you use them to supplement rakes, then fine. But seriously, rakes work a WHOLE TON better. 'Nuff said.
2. I don't own one of those large gas-powered backpack leaf blowers which work really well and I see all the pros use. Wish I did. However, if you DO own one of them, you can probably have the baseline of your prices be leaf blowing, but you will charge more to rake the leaves. You know, planet-friendly sort of thing. However, I doubt many teen lawn services are in possesion of one of these very useful commodities: if you do, then kudos to you.
3. When charging customers, do not say any prices to start with. To begin, offer a free estimate. Then, check out their yard. Remember take into account things like if they want leaves raked off of bushes and the volume of leaves that potentially fill up. Also, remember that bagging can take a while. Then, figure out how long it will take you to do it. Then multiply how much you want to make an hour by the number of hours you figure you will spend raking the lawn each time. Once you have figured this out and rationalized whether or not the customer will go for the price (remember: too high, you might lose a customer; too low, you aren't making minimum wage), you can give your customer the free estimate, which must be a multiple of 5.
4. Having a couple of rakes for different kinds of jobs can be helpful. For example, a big one with wide plastic prongs can be good for raking the wider expanse of the yard (fig. 1). A smaller one with thing metal needles can be good for getting corners and stuff (fig. 2).
Well, here are some of my tips for the fall season. If you have any you would like to share, please express them in the comments!
Labels: Fall, services
Get Updates Via RSS
Post a Comment