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Old 03-19-2017, 10:19 PM
 
Location: Out there somewhere...a traveling man.
44,555 posts, read 61,283,437 times
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Find a kid in the neighborhood with a car and get him to cut the grass for gas money.
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Old 03-20-2017, 07:59 AM
 
4,288 posts, read 2,043,263 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joe from dayton View Post
My parents pay a guy $30 to cut their failry typical small suburban yard. I pay a local kid $10 to cut mine.
Send him to my home please after he is finished with yours!!
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Old 03-20-2017, 08:50 AM
 
1,019 posts, read 1,036,980 times
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You can take my opinion with a grain of salt, as I admit I'm pretty cheap:

I will pay $20 to the local teen to mow my lawn. He uses my lawnmower and gas. He only mows, doesn't do trimming or anything else. Our lot is 1/3 of an acre and there's a house on it, so it's not a lot of actual ground to cover, but it is hilly and there are a fair amount of trees, play equipment, and flower beds to go around. So you do have to pay attention.

He gets it done in about 90 minutes, which is faster than I can do it myself. It takes me about 2 hours.

If I were richer I'd probably pay him more and I suspect he does get more from other people. But, if he charged me any more, I'd probably just do it myself.

I also only use his services when it's ungodly hot outside, like 95 degrees or more and the thought makes me sick to my stomach. Otherwise I don't mind doing it. Gets me out of the house.
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Old 03-20-2017, 09:21 AM
 
Location: City Data Land
17,156 posts, read 12,874,042 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kapikap View Post
there are other options for quick money. food deliveries, car service, flea market,glass cleaning. you also may want to consider bring an apprentice in another line of work.
I disagree. Here in Houston, people will do anything to get out of mowing their yards. It's way too hot and humid and Shreveport has similar weather. We have 1/3 acre and pay $45 for mow, edge, and weed-eat. We would probably do $35 for just the mow, but you really need to do the edging and weed-eating too. People will be reluctant to consistently hire you to do just the mowing. The weed-eating and edging is the icing on the grassy cake. So I suggest you get those other machines as soon as possible. It also helps a lot to have someone else work with you. You get it done much faster. Advertising is key, as you will have a LOT of competition. But you must do a good job and be reliable. Just because "it's only mowing" doesn't mean people won't fire you if you're sloppy. We have done that ourselves when a couple of companies left unmowed grass strips and piles of grass unbagged in the middle of the yard.
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Old 03-20-2017, 09:57 AM
 
Location: TN/NC
34,851 posts, read 30,941,798 times
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We have about an acre on a steep hill. You have to shift your weight on the mower to prevent rolling a rider. $60 or so seems fair.
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Old 03-20-2017, 10:05 AM
 
28,107 posts, read 63,436,291 times
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Reliable seems to be the key and having the equipment to do the job right.

Several of my friends are always having problems with yard care... ranges from no shows to clipping sprinkler heads and leaving them that way.

Yard care is not hard but it is easy to create problems...

One of my neighbors has a magnificent yard... she is 86 and until last year did all her own work except for limb pruning...

She can no longer mow but hired a professional and insists they use her mower and even bought a professional Honda $1200 mower because she didn't want weeds coming in from other places via the Gardener...

Her Gardener is 67 and Japanese... has been a gardener for 50 years... not inexpensive but does things exactly how would do them.

There was a time when all the best Gardeners were Japanese here in the SF Bay Area and it was easy to tell by the work produced... like bonsai junipers and such...
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Old 03-20-2017, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Living on the Coast in Oxnard CA
16,289 posts, read 32,219,435 times
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Almost everyone around here also wants the edge trimmed where the sidewalk, driveway and any other walkways or fence may be. I don't know anyone that pays for a cut lawn that would settle for not having the trimming done. I mean if they are going to pay someone to mow the lawn then they are also going to want everything else done. Unless you know of another company that would come on the same day and time to trim everything else.

Price per yard is not something that you may want to go by. Not everyone has the same size yard. You need to know how long it will take you to mow a given area and adjust depending on the yard.
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Old 03-20-2017, 12:53 PM
 
Location: Living on the Coast in Oxnard CA
16,289 posts, read 32,219,435 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kapikap View Post
there are other options for quick money. food deliveries, car service, flea market,glass cleaning. you also may want to consider bring an apprentice in another line of work.
I washed windows years ago and it takes a bit to learn how to use a squeegee. Also if you are doing houses you need different ladders, a small one, tall one, and extension. Normally you want to add adjustable feet to the extension and purchase some other attachments that help you get to hard to reach places. Extension poles also are a big help. You also need someway to get all your tools to the jobs. A small truck or van.

Also need plenty of insurance just in case. Especially if you are cleaning the inside of the windows on homes. I never did break anything but it can happen.

If you want to wash windows and build a store front route realize that during the holidays many stores have the windows painted with holiday decor and will ask you to clean that stuff off at the end of the season. It takes a while to get all that paint off, even if it does come off with water. Always hated cleaning that off of store fronts.

Rain is seldom an issue around here but when it does rain your business is out of business. Because we had the ladders we would offer to clear rain gutters on homes. Also tried to expand into pressure washing walkways in commercial areas. I left before we had that all worked out. This was for a 15 person operation that also did high rise work. But it started as a one person operation that cleaned homes and small store fronts.
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Old 03-20-2017, 12:58 PM
 
Location: Living on the Coast in Oxnard CA
16,289 posts, read 32,219,435 times
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For reference in my area: 100 x 60 lots. Front and back yard. 2,000 square feet of yard space. 5 of the people on my street use the same guy and he wanted to cut and trim our yard so I got what he charged. He wanted $30 a visit to cut and trim our yard. Minimum of 2 visits a month. Our next door neighbor has her yard cut once a week and that is what he seems to do for everyone else. Not sure if he gives a discount out for the service if you have it done each week.

I have teenagers so it cost me $20 a week as it is.
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Old 03-20-2017, 02:30 PM
 
5,455 posts, read 3,341,590 times
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There is more to mowing than an inexperienced mower might know such as not pushing the mower too fast for a clean even cut, watching out for seedlings and flower beds, height, consistent pattern, knowing when to go over a spot more than once and so on.

A simple cut job with no edging or whipper snipping or bagging would depend upon the size of the lot, if it is flat or hilly. Mine was flat pie-shaped, 33 x 144 to 59 x 144 feet and I paid a school boy $30.
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