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Stolen Lawn Care Equipment Trailer

Mar 25

Posted by Lawn Care Business in enclosed trailer, lawn care safety, lawn equipment, start a lawn care business | No Comments

Stolen Lawn Care Equipment Trailer

Lawn Care Trailer Wheel Locks

There was an article this morning of a lawn care business owner whose equipment trailer was stolen from his property. The thieves hack-sawed a lock away from the hitch, attached the trailer to their own vehicle, and drove away in the middle of the night. Luckily, this lawn care business owner had unloaded his equipment earlier in the evening. He lost his trailer but his lawn mowers and weedeaters are safe.

Unfortunately, thieves target lawn care business owners during the spring time.

In addition to hitch locks (like the guy mentioned above had) other deterent-locks can be used on your trailer.  The picture shows you two forms of wheel locks that can deter people trying to steal your trailer and your lawn care equipment when it is stored overnight or during a lengthy lawn care or landscaping job. 

Be cautious out there and be ever vigilant in securing your trailer and lawn care equipment.

Lawn Care Companies, Secure Your Equipment.

Mar 17

Posted by Lawn Care Business in enclosed trailer, lawn care safety, lawn equipment | No Comments

Secure your Lawn Care Equipment

A tie-down rope dangles dangerously from a pickup truck.

Granted, this picture is not of a lawn care company truck or a lawn care equipment trailer.  However, I saw this truck today at a stop light and I took a quick picture to help remind us all of the importance of properly securing our lawn care equipment while in transit.

This guy was hauling a refrigerator.  Though it looked like the driver had attempted to secure the refrigerator with a thin rope, he did not secure the end of the rope.  Airflow over the truck bed blew the rope out and left it dangling behind him as he drove along in traffic.

This is a potentially dangerous situation.  If the vehicle behind him drove over the rope, that vehicle’s tire could be damaged.  Additionally, the refrigerator could be yanked out of the truck bed.  I tried to get his attention at the stop light but he seemed preoccupied as he drove off.

We are all in a hurry from time to time.  Occasionally, we load our lawn care equipment in our trucks or on our trailers without paying attention to small details that cause serious consequences as we drive to our next lawn care or landscaping job. 

Try to remind yourself that it only takes a minute or two to properly load and secure your equipment.  Before you drive away to your next jobsite, spend an extra 30 seconds walking around your vehicle to make sure everything is properly secured.

Be safe out there!!!

For more tips on operating your own successful lawn care business:

Hauling Lawn Care Equipment Trailers
http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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How to mow grass on a hillside.

Jan 21

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn care safety, lawn mowers | No Comments

After yesterday’s blog post on remote controlled slope mowers, we received a number of questions concerning the use of standard commercial lawn mowers on hillsides.

When mowing on slopes and hillsides, operators of lawn care equipment must use extreme caution.  Each individual lawn mower has  different center-of-gravity characteristics.  Though we give quite a bit of lawn mower handling procedures within the pages of our lawn care business training course, we strongly suggest you check the manufacturer’s guidelines of your particular lawn mower.

As a brief example, Scag Power Equipment has published a safe handling pamphlet outlining proper use of their Zero-Turn Radius commercial riding mowers.  Though each manufacture will have differing guidelines for their lawn mowers, Scag says that their Zero-Turn commercial mowers should never be operated on a slope greater than 15 degrees and they should never be running unattended.  There are many general guidelines telling operators to reduce speed and use care when approaching blind corners.

Government regulations on lawn mowers is becoming more strict too.  In fact, in a recent report the CDC send a strong message to lawn mower manufacturers on such things as developing Roll Over Protection Systems  for their lawn mowers.

Mowing on slopes increased the danger of operating a lawn care business.  So, we hope you will heed your equipments mfg.’s instructions.

Take care and be safe mowing slopes.

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Is your Lawn Care Business facing noise ordinances?

Jan 20

Posted by Lawn Care Business in hearing protection, lawn business strategies, lawn care pollution, lawn care safety, lawn mowers, leaf blowers | No Comments

Noise pollution is becoming a familiar topic in many towns across the United States.

Okay, let’s face it, our lawn care equipment is noisy.  Our lawn mowers emit low thunderous roars and our backpack blowers scream out high pitched shrills.  We have written many times in the Start A Lawn Care Business blog that lawn care operators must take many precautions to protect their own hearing and the hearing of their employees from the noise emitted from lawn care equipment.

In addition to the common sense precautions we must take to reduce the noise levels in our own heads, community councils are becoming bolder in their efforts to tackle the noise issues to help protect their residents from the noise problems.  We recently read about a community in East Hampton that is attempting to restrict to hours noisy lawn equipment can be operated.

What do you think about restrictions such as this?   Are there happy mediums that can be struck between home owners and landscape professionals?  Can landscape companies make concerted efforts to reduce the number of minutes leaf blowers are used on each lawn?  Can lawn mower operators develop mowing patterns that reduce the time spend on each lawn?

The answer to the last two questions is “YES.”  In fact, our lawn care business training packages shows you how to develop mowing patterns that GREATLY reduce your mowing and blowing time.  Developing these mowing pattern not only allows your lawn care company to leave your customers with great looking lawns it also helps you reduce your time an amount of noise pollution you produce.

For more information on our Lawn Care Business training package, see our main home page:

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Start A Lawn Care Business

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Sickness can affect your lawn care business.

Sep 27

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, employees, lawn business strategies, lawn care health, lawn care safety | No Comments

by: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

What happens to your 1-man lawn care business when you are sick?

Especially starting out, many small lawn care businesses operate as sole proprietorships with no employees. While the freedom to call your own shots is a great benefit in running a 1-man operation, without proper planning there are pitfalls that can cause you to lose time and money when you are sick and cannot complete your scheduled lawn care work.

Although being sick is never fun there are certain steps to take while you are well to assure your business doesn’t suffer as much as your body does when illness strikes.

1) Explain the Situation to your Customers: Lawn Care Customers normally understand when situations arise that delay their lawn care work. Afterall, weather hampers your ability to do their work on a timely basis often during the year. An illness is just as unforeseeable as a sudden and lengthy rain shower. Upon first onset of an illness, take a few minutes to call your customers. Explain that you are not well and you feel the quality of your work will suffer. Give them an explanation of your expected recovery time and let them know how (and when) you plan to catch up on your schedule.

2) Stay up-to-date (or ahead) of your schedule: If you are vigilant in completing your lawn care jobs ahead of time you will be able to buffer a few unforeseen glitches in your schedule. Customers normally don’t mind if you bump them up a day to avert delays due to inclement weather. Likewise, they normally don’t mind when you bump them up a day if you feel you are getting sick or if you have a Doctor’s appointment that might run long.

3) Let a family member or friend help you. One of the best ways to recover from unexpected delays is to have someone dependable to help you out from time to time. If you have good rapport with your family, you probably know of a family member willing to pitch in. Though they may willingly help you without requesting payment, it is a very good idea to offer them payment for their time and travel expenses. Family and friends often do not mind helping you occasionally without pay. However, they will quickly tire of helping you if you don’t compensate them.

4) Hire an as-needed worker. While a helpful friend or family member can be relied up in an emergency, a dedicated part-time or as-needed worker will have more of a vested interest in keeping your customers on the roster. An employee knows your schedule and your work habits. You customers will be familiar with your employee and will not call you on the phone complaining of some strange person mowing their grass.

As unfortunate as it may be, sickness has dismantled many lawn care businesses. Without proactive plans of action schedules are thrown off, customers lose patience and find other lawn care companies, and income is lost. A few simple steps can save your business and make your recovery much quicker.

Do you want to learn how to avoid pitfalls that can damage your lawn care business? We have been associated with the industry for over 18 years. We have taken our experience and developed the Lawn Care Business training course that shows you how to start and expand a successful lawn care business.

Learn more from our main website:

www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Start A Lawn Care Business

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Hauling Lawn Mowers Requires Special Caution

Apr 26

Posted by Lawn Care Business in enclosed trailer, equipment, lawn care safety | No Comments

Hauling lawn mowers, either on a landscaping trailer, in the back of your truck, or in an enclosed van, requires special attention from the driver.

This spring, much of the country is getting some wet weather after several warm days. Once hot weather arrives, rain causes oils on the roadway to dispurse and become treacherous. Although always dangerous, lawn care vehicles can be particularly affected by slippery roads. The added weight of the equipment, or the chance of your load shifting, coupled with slick road conditions makes for an even more dangerous job transporting lawn mowers from one job to the next.

Hauling lawn mowers is dangerous on slick streets.

I was driving in the rain today and I wanted to take a couple minutes to remind you to use the upmost caution when driving with your lawn care equipment and be extra cautious when driving in the rain.

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25% Off Landscaping and Lawn Care Safety Supplies

Apr 8

Posted by Lawn Care Business in equipment, lawn care safety, lawn care videos, lawn equipment, work boots | 1 Comment

Amazon.com contacted us this morning to let us know they are offering 25% off lawn care and landscaping safety supplies. We want to share the link they sent us. This is a great opportunity to buy all your safety equipment at a great sale price. Hearing protection, eye protection, gloves, safety boots, high-vis protective clothing, safety boots, and more are important protection in your lawn care business.

We hope you will make your own safety, as well as the safety of your employees, a top priority this year. I was speaking with someone just the other day who doesn’t believe in wearing protective footware when mowing the grass. “I’ve mowed for years in nothing but shorts and sneakers and nothing’s happened to me yet.” Our thoughts on this is that millions of people mow in shorts and tennis shoes each year without incident. However, it only takes on slip-up for a lawn mower blade to sever a foot or a weedeater line to cause a nasty gash in your shin.

Since you will be mowing hundreds or thousands of lawns this year, your chance of a slip-up increases over that of a typical homeowner. Please wear proper safety equipment during your lawn care work.

If you need safety supplies this year, please use the link above.

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