Hello , my name is Rob from the North East of England. I run and manage a grass cutting / gardening business. My aim is to share how I started and manage my business. You can follow my journey and the work I do.
I hope to share the positives, negatives and experiences learnt along the way.
If you are thinking of starting a gardening business or improve your gardening skills, I am hopeful that my videos will help you on your journey.
Please subscribe to my channel and you will be well on your way to starting, improving your very own gardening business, as well as becoming a better all round gardener.
Totally agree with you Rob i also get customers ring me up and say the forcast for tomorrow is heavy rain so dont come and when tomorrow comes it is t raining so now i go even if its raining as you say they dont pay a y extra so i go no matter what keep up the good work 👏
Great video rob,i get customers who do that not many but a few,its annoying but i do a wide variety of work and if i lose a job i can ring somebody on my list of people that i have quoted for and bring there job forward to fill in the void.so thats works well for us.have a great week rob.
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Hi Rob. Another good question mate. I will let a customer cancel once. If it happens again they are gone. It’s hard enough running a gardening diary, with the weather, without time wasters. GONE. SEE YA.
Rob, don't put a number of cuts per year on each job.....unless it's commercial... you would be in the same situation if It was raining for multiple days in one week. If this is happening, do an assessment on the lawn 2 weeks before and say to the customer. Let me know if it needs a cut in 2 weeks.....or have a phone around!! It saves time and money....plus you can make plans to put other jobs in...so you're not losing out!! We have 100 plus lawns, and it really pays to work ahead and not assume everything is going to a normal day. Thanks
I had a customer cancel me on the day,with the words,"my son is going to do it from now on"then went back into the house,fuming I was,but what can you do.
I have a communal grass cutting job and two or three of the residents decided they wanted to save the planet with "no mow may"! I got a phonecall from one of residents that hadn't agreed to partake in this idea and she was fuming because the grass was looking awful. I explained the situation and explained I will be charging double for the next cut to account for extra time spent and extra clippings to get rid of. She agreed that was fair and her anger was aimed completely at the residents that had taken it upon themselves to implement this no mow scenario. Fingers crossed the bill gets paid!
Its their garden and if they are not contractually obliged they have every right to say no. Im sure you take holidays at some point and also can't go due to bad weather, works both ways and its part of being a self employed lawn care service. Pros and cons to every job just gotta get on with it and plan for these times better
All businesses in the service industry are suffering - restaurants and hair dressing included. Money lost that can’t be replaced and customers just don’t consider that or care. In my son’s salon they go that extra mile and some clients are just on the take. Unfortunately things got worse after Covid, see it in the way people are and in the increase aggression especially on the roads. I don’t know what the answer is except they are customers you don’t need. My son learnt a lot of lessons as initially feared the threat of bad reviews - not the case anymore as the few that do my wife follows it up as the customer is not always right. Take in on the chin, move on and get rid.
Hi Rob, we mow here in NZ year round, monthly for about 3 months on some lawns over winter. Always get a few don't mow today it doesn't need it clients,even in spring. You have to let them know it's not how you run your business or let them go. Those small amount of problem clients will run your business for you if you let them.
You’ve got your new PM voted in over there too! As a business owner, you’ll be pleased to see the incumbent ushered out - he’s done a lot of damage to the country (like we are seeing in many western countries including here in Aussie)
I’m a professional window cleaner in Australia and this is my absolute peeve - customers will sometimes cancel the night before (when I’m due to be there for about half a days job). The same type of customer will call you the day before thinking you’ll be able to book them the next day. Most are very good but 5-10% are a pain
No Rob, I tend to agree with you actually pal. There must be consistency, as much for your own peace of mind and reassurance. It's a contract, and if customers don't like the conditions then they shouldn't enter into that contract. It can't come down to their capricious natures just because their lawns haven't grown as much as they had anticipated. Like you said yourself, the grass still has to be maintained. Take care.
If it doesn't need cutting then it doesn't need cutting. Doesn't matter if you have other jobs to do in the garden. This is the thing with just mowing. If it's too wet or it's too dry,then what else can you do.
For me the customer is committed to a number of ( in my case ) unspecified visits. If they try and cancel I stress that in a month the price will probably be more due to the extra work required. I will be suggesting a ‘mulching’ service in times of drought. Something I have never tried until now.
Gotta do what works for you Rob. I don't argue when those happens (& it does occasionally), I simply operate a '3 strikes and you're out' policy! If a client 'messes me around 3 times, they're gone!! Hope that helps mate. Cheers John
dk garden maintainance now retired yippee ive had penny pinching customers like that one being my nephew who is loaded the thing to do is next time lift the lawn mower one notch and only go over once then it will be long enough next time it worked for me all the best
Ha ha Rob.........I've just had an email from a customer who is clearly a millionaire several times over. He's sent me his holiday dates for when he's at his other home in Spain.......doesn't want me to cut the grass while he's away as it "gets expensive" and "I won't be there to enjoy my garden"!! But wants me to get the garden sorted a few days before he gets back.......cheeky git! Now I have a decision to make. I drive for 45 minutes each way, one day a week to do 3 biggish gardens all in the same affluent town. The other two customers are great but it's only really viable if I do all three in the same day! If I drop smart arse, there's no point doing the other two as it's barely worth it now!! I'm about to email him to tell him I'll catch up on other stuff in the garden if I'm not cutting the grass. If he asks me to stay away until he returns home, I'm done........it'll be a pity about the other two though. Wealthy customers can be the worst for parting with their money!! I think it's wrong to jerk people about......but that's me! Best Dave (N. Yorks)
Sorry Rob, dnt agree u are employed by the customer regardless of how many cuts u quoted for, circumstances change for u and them u worry to much about what customers think about u , do the job when they wnt it and if they dnt want it dnt worry about it , u prob wnt like this advice , but its advise take it or leave it , but I still wish u all the best as u come across as a normal hard working bloke.
A lawn is a living thing, and when being messed about. I simply move onto another task. This year, im focssing on bigger tasks and doing quotations due to the eratic weather. This year was the tipping point, one regular told me not to cone as she had visitors on a week it needed doing. I cut a lawn nearby and drove up the road, it was a 30 second drive. Seen a lawn in a state, suspected same price, growled whist in the van and drove off. It was very long. Constant phonecalls afterwards. Ignored and other reguar customers followed suit. Most long termers tend to treat you like crap after a few years anyway. Rob you have to count the prep time and environmental factors like traffic. Its your time which you cannot get back. Like me, you burn out with fatigue and need rest. No choice but to carry on
I dont have a set day for any of my garden jobs ,as long as i go every 2 weeks there isnt a problem.and in hot weather i will call around and if i think the lawn doesnt need cutting just get back in my van and leave.i dont have a problem with that
I’m buying my first mower for lawn care jobs. I’ll be working on lots of posh gardens, who I imagine will like stripes 🤔. Not sure what to do. Also looking at the etesia pro 46. I probably need both machines? What do you think? Great review 👍!
I've had it in the past couple of weeks because we had that hot weather. My response is simple. "Thats fine, the next cut is an extra £10, as when I quoted i gave you 3 prices, 1 for weekly cuts, 1 for fortnightly cuts, and 1 for 3 weekly cuts. The next time I come will be 4 weeks after the last cut, so you get charged for a 4 weekly" They don't cancel again 😂 I have had 1 customer tell me not to come back, which to be honest I'm relieved about as I was planning on replacing her because of the dog landmines!
My customers don't sign up to 16 cuts. They agree to fortnightly cuts during the growing season. But grass growth isn't an exact science. If the grass hasn't grow much since my last visit I'm very happy for them to cancel. As long as it's not a frequent occurrence. It doesn't sit right with me to take hard earned ££ off my customers for work that doesn't really need doing.
Hi Rob , yes the odd time customer’s ring and say I am going on holiday for 2 weeks so can you leave the grass until we come back, the reason for that is they want to lock the side, or back gate, for security purposes,so I can’t get access to cut the back garden, it sounds reasonable to me, just as it sounds reasonable that you go on holiday and can’t cut there grass that week, and who knows it might just be that week when they have a special occasion going on and you leave them with a scruffy lawn, you can’t always have it where everything just suits you, it’s give and take surly
Hi Rob, Just a thought, would it be possible to limit your losses, by implementing a none refundable deposit system ( 24/48 hrs) prior to your visit? Im sure genuine customers would not have an issue with this?
If it doesn't need cutting as not grown then of course I wouldn't go down and do, never think of it as so many cuts have to be done each year , I start full-time from March first and go all the way to the clocks going back end October. From there it's up to the customer if they want more visits or not, but definitely if they ring and say don't come till next due date as no growth that's absolutely fine by me
Ties in with your other videos. This is the customer that will quibble over price or ask for an hourly rate. In March and April the work is hard as the grass is in full growth phase, whereas the flip side is late June and July when it slows down and the gardeners get a break. TBH though, that is the time to be factoring in hedge work.
by coincidence its happened to me for tomorrows customer who cancelled wed night. Monthly bedwork. Ive worked far to much this year so I seized the opportunity to get a much needed extra day off. I will make him wait for a replacement day once all the hedges start getting out of control though
I used to be a driving instructor and occasionally would get customers calling the night before wanting to cancel their lesson, obviously the consequences for me would be a hours money lost, as it would be too late to book anyone else in, or even worse I would drive to the customer and find that they were out, forgotten they had a lesson booked, in both circumstances the best action is to get rid of them, they are not worth it, don’t need people like that.
Two weeks notice must be given by client otherwise full invoice sent whether we carry out work or not. Harsh but we’re a business with business costs every hour ! We’re not a charity.
just let them know its not ideal(Difficult customers can be become good customers just got to train them lol) some just dont really think about it, put them on the naughty list and let them go if they do it again you could also offer tidy the border instead/ trim shrub instead cutting the lawn. Tends to be mow blow and go customers that will do this most and also cancel
I've a rigid 2 week rosta unless there's exceptional circumstances. If I make the commitment to reliably turn up I expect the same from my clients. In other words if they want me to be there for them they need to do the same. If they disagree. It's the old 'mag to grid'. I've found the grass always benefits from a cut even in the dry spells.
It's the customer's garden, simple as that (for me). If they're flexible enough to understand if we can't come due to the weather, then that works both ways. It's not an issue really though, because we have no jobs that are only grass cutting. Always something to do in a garden.
