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  • Missing out on the leaf $

    I hate that I am not equiped to do leaf removal in a cost effective manner. I am a one man operation at this point referring all of my clients to other guys with leaf vacs. Most of my lawns are 1/3 acre or less so I was thinking about those walk behind leaf vacs. that suck the leaves into bags then I could dump them into my truck. Would this work for a while or would I be fighting a losing battle? Anyone ever work with one of these things?

  • #2
    Hell, I don't have one, and I've done leaf jobs for nearly 75 residential customers since the end of Oct, and I'll do at least that many more between now and Christmas. I almost bought one this year, but couldn't really justify the purchase. I've only come across several properties that I couldn't leave them at the curb for municipality pickup or dispose of one site. The one that we couldn't leave on site we mulched and bagged with the mowers, and hauled away on the trailer. It really hasn't been much of an inconvienience versus spending $3500-$5000 on a vac that could go towards a machine that can make money year round instead of two months out of the year. Around here the county and city picks leaves up at the curb. In the city they pickup several times between Nov. 1 and Jan 15. I just plan my jobs around the pickup schedule. In the county you call them and they pick them up for $30. Even if I did have a vac there's no way we could dispose of them for $30. When I pickup a new property I explain the benefits of designating a compost area for organic debris when I write the contract then we use the area all year for pruning debris, weeding, etc.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by LLee
      I hate that I am not equiped to do leaf removal in a cost effective manner. I am a one man operation at this point referring all of my clients to other guys with leaf vacs. Most of my lawns are 1/3 acre or less so I was thinking about those walk behind leaf vacs. that suck the leaves into bags then I could dump them into my truck. Would this work for a while or would I be fighting a losing battle? Anyone ever work with one of these things?
      Dude. I did the same thing until i realized actually how to go about it. I bought myself a 5 hp Blower. (nothing great but got the job done) and cleaning leaves is similar to mowing. The 2 passes around the outside you just make with the hand blower, backpack and blow them out onto the lawn. Then take the walk behind blower and blow it all down to the curb. For the back do the same thing but blow it to the middle. Take the mower, mow it low and so fourth and see what happens. (this is when i worked alone)
      good luck

      They sell blowers in HD at about 500 bucks. HAd mine for a few years now and it has really made me a lot of money.

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      • #4
        I was thinking more towards the self propelled walk behind lawn vacs (21"). Ive seen them for around $600.00 for a 6.5 hp. Its not like a mower where I have to go high end commercial grade since I'd only be using it for 6 weeks or so. I was thinking that this may eliminate the need for most of the blowing and bagging. I would have to haul away any leaves I pile up as part of the job so blowing them to the curb is not an option here.

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        • #5
          was thinking more towards the self propelled walk behind lawn vacs (21"). Ive seen them for around $600.00 for a 6.5 hp. Its not like a mower where I have to go high end commercial grade since I'd only be using it for 6 weeks or so. I was thinking that this may eliminate the need for most of the blowing and bagging. I would have to haul away any leaves I pile up as part of the job so blowing them to the curb is not an option here.
          Like a Billy Goat. Those things are terrible for everything except cleaning a fairly clear hard surface. I've tried them, and they're terrible for lawns. They fill up real quick, and they don't reduce the size of the debris. You'd be much much better off using a mower with a bagger.

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          • #6
            Thanks. Thats what I wanted to know. I knew it looked too easy when I saw the thing.

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            • #7
              Hell i have a sweet leaf rig and still about 5 calls a day coming. 5 calls aint shiit compared to what i was seeing 4 weeks ago.

              Heres the catch,,, its sat up to 5 days in a row because i cant apply any hours on leafs. I dont even take the calls anymore,i refer them straight over to a few differant guys. Ive got them slammed!

              Im getting my ass kicked over here. Hanging on for dear life to be honest.

              One things for sure,,,wont happen like this next year. We did about 30k in leaves last year. About 10k so far this year. Ya other portions of my show are up sky high,,, but still hard to phathom AT LEAST 20k of leaf removal i wasnt prepared to get. And i think there was more like 50k i didnt get. Imagine that.
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              • #8
                Damn Mike, my operation is the other way around. We're getting killed with leaf cleanups, and I'm turning down scaping work. That timber wall I was looking at, there's just no way I'd be able to do anything until after Christmas because contractual leaf removals will have us booked for another month. I'm saying the same thing though, it's gonna be a different story next year.

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                • #9
                  Ya i had 6400 on paper and took 2 other non contractural repeats from last year and thats all we've done. I was lucky i didnt have a bunch signed. But ive had some of this install and makeover work stuff signed for about a year. Some of it im lucky they waited.

                  Ive been on a 7 acre res for a month and a half,,, about 3 days a week at least. Custom out the ying yang and cash growing on trees. Got 3 going like that now actually. But still feeling horrible and unprepared about this leaf situation.

                  Thats a nice timber job you showed me,,, i hope you get around to it. But hell man,,, i bet you still remember the early days when you starved for work at times. So whats worse? Heavy question huh?
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                  • #10
                    But hell man,,, i bet you still remember the early days when you starved for work at times. So whats worse? Heavy question huh?
                    Damn right, it wasn't that long ago! I remember when Dec. 1 was the end of the year. Not anymore. We may get a little break in Jan. depending mainly on the weather, but it won't last too long. I'll take the feast any day of the week over the alternative.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by RRS
                      Damn right, it wasn't that long ago! I remember when Dec. 1 was the end of the year. Not anymore. We may get a little break in Jan. depending mainly on the weather, but it won't last too long. I'll take the feast any day of the week over the alternative.
                      Ya i agree. But ill be honest,, im hit. Id shut it down right now if it were an option. Used to be,,, not anymore. Those days are gone.

                      Heres the other side of the story. I let a great foreman go a month ago. I was tired of paying his lavish salary and he was starting his own gig next year anyhow. I sat him down,, gave him some work,, threw him some contacts and suggested he get it up this fall. He accepted.

                      So guess who got the bulk of my leaf removal? Guess who financed his start up? Guess whos kicking themself in the ass right now?

                      Plus i let another guy go about 2 weeks ago. They were just capped out man. Its ok though,, im gonna just ride these jobs out and then let these other 2 guys take the scraps that are still left in leaves. Got my brother in law lined up for february. He actually was a fulltimer back in the mid 90s. Knows his way around. He could of handled my leaf show had i asked. But i didnt. I'll be lookin guys over this winter to replace my lost foreman.
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                      • #12
                        I can sympathize. I fired my guy that has been with me for three years about two weeks ago. I had big plans for him next year, but I guess drinking and drugs were more important. It's sad really, he's almost finished with the same hort program I went through, and thought we would really have a good thing together. My other two guys are good reliable men, but they don't have much desire to have anymore responsibility than they have now. I've had a blower on my back everyday for the past few weeks now.

                        I have several ads out right now, but all I've gotten so far is idiots. Hopefully when things slow down I'll have some time to do a little more searching for a good person. I'm seriously looking for an older guy this time instead of the 20 year olds. Yeah, I'm only 27, but I feel like I'm 40! I'm not complaining though, I have more money than I've ever had, and it beats going to work at Target everyday which is what my roommate does. Oh god I couldn't imagine how shiity that would be.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by RRS
                          I have several ads out right now, but all I've gotten so far is idiots. Hopefully when things slow down I'll have some time to do a little more searching for a good person. I'm seriously looking for an older guy this time instead of the 20 year olds .
                          Im not looking forward to that process. Thats why ive actually already put the word out to a couple guys. If i have to resort to interveiw procedures out of the paper im gonna create a written test to weed out all the dumb asses.Ive also got one guy here now that im watching,, but im not sure hes gonna be able to handle this position. He said he wants it,, but i know he aint gettin it. Cause i know the main reason he wants it,, and you know how far that goes.
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                          • #14
                            I don't know what it is about them. If I could just make them see what I see we would be unstoppable. Maybe that's the answer to that guy's question about what it takes to make it, going in another thread. Getting someone else to see your vision and working towards it with as much enthusiasm as you have. I really think it's more a matter of finding the right people though. Hell, I've seen someone else's vision, and worked towards it as hard as I could, and they weren't half the leader I am. Fruck I don't know!

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                            • #15
                              Well when you figure it out be sure im the first one to know!
                              SENIOR MODERATOR LSF COMMUNITY CONTROL CORDINATOR
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