Let me start by saying that I never intended to start a lawn service. But now I find my self pulling around $20,000 worth of lawn equipment with a schedule that on some days is hard to complete.

Lawn tractor improves efficiency!

How did I get here? Our home is on a 1.5 acre lot, which we first maintained with a push mower and could be cut in about 3 hours. To me this was entirely too much time to spend walking back and forth across the yard, so when funds became available, we purchased a Craftsman 42” cut lawn tractor. This upgrade allowed me to cut my grass in 1 hour, start to finish.

Now that I had some extra time I started helping out my aunt, who I felt was being over charged by her lawn service. I told her I could do it for less so she gave me the job. This fit right in for me, because I could never turn down an opportunity for a little extra income.

48 inch zero-turn increases my productivity.

The only problem was that now I was spending one of my days off cutting grass. So I starting looking for ways to get done faster. My answer to this was a John Deere zero-turn mower with a 48” deck. Talk about a time saver. The time required to cut my yard went down to 40 minutes and my Aunts 4 acres took only an hour and a half. This was great, from start to finish including loading, unloading, travel time and gas stops, all of my yard work was done in less than 5 hours.

Money from heaven.

All was going well. Then while stopped for fuel, I was approached by a gentleman who asked me if I would give him an estimate tor mowing his lawn. He said that he was not happy with the quality of his present lawn service. I told him that I didn’t cut grass for a living (it’s just money from heaven), but I would be glad to give him a price. As I mentioned, it’s hard for me to turn down an opportunity for a little extra income. We agreed on a price and after I finished his initial lawn-cutting, he complimented me on my work and said he just couldn’t believe how good it looked.

This process repeated it self several times at the gas station plus referrals from satisfied customers brought in even more “opportunities”, until I had more than I could do. Again I started thinking of ways to become more efficient. One area that came to my mind was staging:

• loading and unloading all my tools
• setting up ramps for mowers
• traveling back and forth with rakes, shovels, trimmers, edgers gas cans etc.
• preparing everything to fit just right into my 5×7 utility trailer

Dedicated lawn trailer provides the necessary storage efficiency.

The answer was a dedicated lawn equipment trailer, a 7×18 drop gate with racks and a tool box. This set up provides storage, security and transportation all in one. No more loading and unloading at home - you’re always ready to go. It was unbelievable the amount of time this saved.

I need a bagger.

Now with a variety of customers, I have a whole new set of circumstances to address. One of the biggest issues was grass removal. Many customers wanted the grass clippings removed which I had not prepared to do. I didn’t’ have a bagger and raking took way too much time. The answer this time was a Snapper self propelled walk behind with a bag. This turned out to be great for small yards but the bag filled to fast when in thick grass.

My next option was a bagger for my John Deere. This set up worked well for about a year when I noticed a small hole in the top of the blower housing. I thought to myself this can’t be, but it was. After only 13 months of use, the entire housing was completely worn out. I immediately called the dealer only to find out that the warranty was 1 year and it would not be covered. The cost of a new housing was too much to justify for a 1 year service life so I started researching other options.

Walker front to the rescue.

A new mower designed for grass pick up was next. I started paying close attention to what the pros were using and I noticed that the majority had 2 mowers:

• a mid-mount of varying brands
• a Walker front mount

After doing my homework I see why. The Walker is one of the finest engineered products I have ever seen. I was amazed at the attention to detail in the design and the quality of workmanship.

The first time I used my Walker was on a yard I had been cutting with my walk behind in an hour, with the Walker I was finished in 20 minutes.

As far as a mid mount, they are hard to beat in wide open areas or rough terrain, but when in tight areas or on finely manicured lawn you just can’t beat the maneuverability and quality of provided by a Walker.

That’s been my journey to the lawn care business: if any of you have any questions or comments I would love to hear them. Leave us a comment or contact us a my-toolguys@my-tool.info.