Lawn Cutting Business Productivity Tips

To be successful in the lawn cutting business it is important that you are able to maximize productivity for yourself and your crews.

As you grow into a larger company, every aspect of your work should be analyzed and broken down into steps so that you can slowly work out the best system that saves time, energy and other resources.

You would be surprised how 20 or 30 seconds saved here and there can work out to be a good number of ‘man hours’ saved over the course of a year.

Equipment should be cleaned and maintained regularly so that it is always in its optimal working condition. Staff members should be instructed to follow a schedule and to keep logs on when equipment was serviced, when parts or oil was changed and when air filters were cleaned.

Sharpen blades regularly, as often as three times a week to maintain high performance of your mowers.

Having more than one lawn mower can really increase productivity. You should have at least one 'ride on' mower that you can use to cover large, open area of reasonably flat lawn and one 'walk behind' mower for confined areas or steeper contours.

Make sure that your vehicle is organized into racks that can even be labeled so that everything gets put back in the same place and can be retrieved easily. Keep a supply of basic parts in your vehicle so that minor repairs can be carried out quickly if necessary.

Develop a system for efficiently mowing a lawn. Most operators suggest dividing a lawn into parts and looking for rectangular areas to mow. Mowing up and down is more efficient than mowing around in a square shaped area.

Trying to cut grass when it is dry is much easier than cutting wet grass so you should try to work around rain wherever your scheduling will allow.

Consider sending out small crews of two men instead of solo workers. There are times when two workers can be much more productive than one such as when it is necessary to lift heavy objects. People are usually happier working with others and customers may feel like they are getting ‘twice the value’ from having two people servicing their property.

Focus on efficient 'route planning' to minimize driving time between clients properties. This can be partly done by scheduling jobs so that you and your crews don't have to double back and can get around town avoiding peak traffic hours as much as possible. You can also set out a strategic approach with your marketing so that you develop tight 'clusters' of customers instead of having them spread all over town.

These are just some ideas. By regularly observing your workers (or yourself) in action and always asking yourself "am I doing this the best way?" you can continually improve your system and thus become a more productive lawn cutting business.

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