# hanging it up and keeping my day job



## Kogafortwo (Oct 1, 2008)

I've been doing freelance landscape work since last December to earn a few extra $$$ to finance my equipment habit. After several months of good hard work for loyal customers, I earned enough to:
- put up a small shed to hold my stuff
- buy a couple of pieces of equipment on my wish list
- get some safety gear (like boots for example)

Growing season is over, and my wife and kids actually miss me when I go out on lawn jobs directly from my day job and don't come home until after dark.

I am hanging up the trimmer and leaving the landscaping work to people who deserve & need the money more than I do: legit licensed lawn services and maybe some neighbor kids who are willing to push a mower for $25 bucks, which is pretty much all I charged even with string trimming, edging, and hedge trimming and clean up thrown in.

This all started with charity work where I volunteer to do something in the community 'cause I have equipment most homeowners don't. A couple of the recipients of my volunteer services were all but begging me to do it for money, I refused for a awhile but finally gave in. Since they needed the help to begin with I didn't have the heart to charge them a commercial landscaper's price.

Anyway, I feel good about what I did for other people, and earned a few bucks the hard way. I have huge respect for people who do this for a living full time, it's real hard and you won't get rich at it. I will keep up the charity work now and then just to keep the Stihls exercised.

For the record: I NEVER did tree work other than a little limbing with my pole saw. Real tree work is for people with the equipment, training, and insurance to do it right and they deserve to get paid properly for it.

You can find me in my backyard splitting wood or in the garage fixing up my chipper. Stop in for a cold one.


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## pbtree (Oct 1, 2008)

Glad you have discovered what works for you! And being with the wife and kids is a good thing, trust me!


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## AOD (Oct 1, 2008)

I do some of that kind of stuff too. I have way more equipment than the typical suburban homeowner, pole pruner, heavy duty gas trimmer, backpack blower, edger, 2 GOOD walk behind mowers, hedge trimmer, heavy-duty snow thrower, several saws and hand tools made of real STIHL instead of that box store plastic crap. Alot of my stuff is 25+ years old and some of it is cheap box store stuff but it all gets the job done. I do some tree stuff, light trimming and I would drop a tree if there wasn't anything dangerous in the way but I won't climb one or work where it could hit wires, cars or buildings. Most people that ask me to do work are elderly and can't do it themselves or lack the proper equipment. I do, however, have to beat the freeloaders off with the pole pruner sometimes. 

I have no wife/kids at home so if I work til dark I really don't care. Looks like another few weeks and people will be bugging me to clean up yards.....


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## litefoot (Oct 1, 2008)

pbtree said:


> Glad you have discovered what works for you! And being with the wife and kids is a good thing, trust me!



Yep, it's a good time to be in Charleston with the weather cooling down. Take the kids over to Isle of Palms. Go for a walk on the Battery. Watch a storm blow in on the beach. I miss it down there. My bride of 26 years is from Charleston. Our first "home" was an upstairs apartment in the old section of Mt Pleasant.


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## Kogafortwo (Oct 8, 2008)

*UPDATE: customer got Yard of the Month*

On the way to work yesterday, I drove past a place that I finished up last week and snapped this picture. They got Yard of the Month in their subdivision, partly thanks to me! The picture doesn't look as good as the real thing. Also, the brown patch of grass in front was not my responsibility. I did all their hedges, curb edging, and trim.

I plan to call them and ask if their garden club is going to send me a bonus check for making the neighborhood look so good.


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