# competing with lawn jockeys



## ccrider2240 (Jan 21, 2009)

As always its January and I'm getting frustrated. Sometimes I feel the sick feeling of starting a lawn crew. 
Reasons: 
1. These yearly contracts seem to keep them busy. Money keeps coming in.
2. Seems like they are getting 90% of the tree work on these jobs
3. I really think most commercial contract customers could care less on the quality of pruning trees, strip em up and leave a tangled up mess up top, I see this all the time and it sickens me. Hell my groundies could honestly do better work than this
3.5 Due I start lawn cuttting to get the tree job or the money im loosing.
4. I feel my certification is loosing its value around here and my energy and money in the ISA should be pointed elsewhere. I can still read articles and attend seminars of my liking.
5. Hell, I've seen time and time again, these larger lawn co. Buy a chipper and truck stumper and all,,, hire an ex asplundh climber and bam there in the tree buis.
6.Have I got lazy with my 3 to 4 man crew and got comfortable with mold we have laid for ourselves.
7. My sales have gone up 20 to 30% each year, for the past years, However 08 was a diffrent story, bout a 20 G drop. These old jobs were lost And i know its because these mow and blowers throw the tree work in to sell the contract. arhhhhhh.
8. I dont get it and im lost,,,,,,,, do i always think this way in jan?
7. Seriously ive lost a considerable amount of business lost due to these lawn jockeys.


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## ccrider2240 (Jan 21, 2009)

Those are def. good points, I'm a maintenance freak, even got rid of some trucks this winter i really wasnt using Ive got some stored energy as well, I just need to keep my 2 salaried guys busy in the off season Financially I'm fine, i just haven't paid myself in 4 weeks, except from some firewood sales Im really thinking of cutting large ads a bit back, However the lawn jockeys got the biggest ad in the book. Take this with a grain of salt, however they are wedging their way in to some of my work,,,, My work tree work that is and slipping into some of my old customers cause their doing their lawn. this does make we want to shop some ins. companies, fuel cards and so forth, Ill just ride out storm,,,,, Oh gosh i just smiled when i said that word,,, Maybe we will get one in the next month or two,,,,,,You think these larger lawn/newbie tree services have got the stored energy? iu think maybe 10 or so trucks in their yard and 2 employee trucks in parking lot, Gosh i would not want that. sorry for this long post


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## ccrider2240 (Jan 21, 2009)

*Hell i cant lie*

LMAO i have tell you i have gone to the lawn site just to see what lawn jockeys say about the tree buisness.


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## tree md (Jan 21, 2009)

I don't know if you are in the storm affected area of TX or not but when we had the big ice storm here in OK last year all of a sudden every handyman in town was a tree guy. At first there was work to go around and it didn't effect me too bad because the ladder crews can't do what I do. Then it got to where market prices were severely degraded. Add the current economic situation and it makes getting a decent sales price right now nearly impossible. I have thought about going the lawn route too but like Treeco said, I don't think it's smart to take on new debt right now or waste money on useless ads. If you want to know the truth I think the current economic situation will actually be beneficial to us. It will eventually separate the men from the boys. All the weekend warriors and hacks that have sprung up while the market was saturated with work are going to be dropping like flies. I think it is going to create a good healthy purging. I have been in the tree business 18 years now from employee to employer. I have made a living in the tree care industry my entire adult life. Trees is all I do. I have seen good times and hardscrabble lean times. Part of being a tree man is being able to weather the storms IMO. The sun will rise again. Best of luck to you.


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## dingeryote (Jan 21, 2009)

ccrider,

Hang in there man. 

With the economy in the tank, more folks are gonna start mowing thier own lawns again.

Mowing the lawn dosn't involve dangling from a rope with a running saw or the use of equipment they don't have.

Tree's are a safety issue. Lawns are just another expense that can be reduced by DIY.

They'll be calling come spring, and the Lawn guys will be laying off illegal aliens.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## OLD OAK (Jan 21, 2009)

hello all this is my first post so hope you all wont hate on me to much. anyway i am a lawn jockey as you say so i might be able to help. 1== took us 2 years in before we got out first year long contract[in year 4 now and 8 year round ] 2= the tree work we get you would not want [maybe 1 or 2 times a year and very small trees most from storm damage] 3= very true most don't care.. 3.5== 99.9% of lawn jockeys around here don't do any tree work unless It has hit the ground. 4== a smart customer will hire you because of your certification I'm sure it helps. 5== correct but they just spent like what 40k used, get into the lawn business and your comp. will be the guy with his MDT mower and pick up truck. 6== lazy? its that time of the year. 7==08 was not good for anyone, gas was very high and people were not spending $$. 8== ? 9== around here a lawn jockey is a person who has a piece of crap mower,under bids,and has no insurance or workers comp. If they are doing tree work in your area they will probably be out of business or hurt soon. hope this helps, i like what we do but it takes a few years to start making $$ so if you got the time[and money] get in and go for it.


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## PurdueJoe (Jan 23, 2009)

How about hammer jockeys? After strong winds from hurricane Ike hit the Cincinnati OH area I couldn't tell you how many times I saw so and so remolding / construction on the side of a pickup loaded down pulling into the dump. My two highlights had to be the half sheet of notebook paper stuck in a clients door when I showed up to chip their brush that said " Local handy man will stack brush out by curb for $250" We had $500 on it and the other while talking to my girlfriend's friend's husband said his nephew and nephew's buddy where so slow with construction they decided to start a tree service after the storm hit. Needless to say when I asked if his nephew had a good life insurance policy it didn't go over to well.


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## ccrider2240 (Jan 23, 2009)

well so wed. was a good day,,, Had my tree studs doing a few trim jobs and i looked at jobs for most of the day,,, landed 9 days of some top notch tree work. Today 80 freakin degrees,, wow thats winter for ya in North Texas,,, phone was ringing off the hook, A few repeats, and a handful of i know your the man for the job, get to it when you can,,, its amazing nice weather and the phone rings,,,,,spent about 400 and something on oil,fuel filters,, and oil plus my salaried guys doing the labor on MLK day, yeah we work everyday,,, got the bucket,chipper and stumper ready to roll. took down a big pecan this morning and some restructing of a butcher job my fellow competitor did about 3 years ago in the afternoon... hell i think i got sunburned today,,, felt good and so did those cold ones at the end of the day!


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## Brush Hog (Jan 23, 2009)

Lawns are reoccurring revenue. You know every month you will bill x amount and when you don't have the big installs. It's very easy to up sell work to a customer you already have and know your work. With that said you can guess what I do. I do tree work and have taken Arbormaster classes and going for my Arborist license in the spring. What I am trying to accomplish is being a full service landscape company. I've heard from a lot of people that they like dealing with one company to take care of their property. There is a big difference between a lawn jockey and a landscape company. Some day I would like to do trees alone but afraid to put all my eggs in one basket. Maybe in a better economy. Now go out and buy that mower for 10k and get to work 
Pete

P.S. try the LawnCafe.com instead of lawnsite. Much better site


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## Brush Hog (Feb 7, 2009)

No reply. I know you have checked back in or you didn't like what I posted. It's tough all around in the green industry and yes there are plenty of hacks with a crapsman riding mower and a 4x8 trailer. Trust me!!!


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