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For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
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Develop long term relationships with your clients and throughout the year identify opportunities yourself and in conjunction with your clients. The long term relationship relies on dialogue - listening and having your own ideas for an outdoor space which you 'share' with the client - and is executed in the most convenient (to the client) way possible.
To name just a few winter works from existing clients.......herbaceous bed created; 15m closeboard fencing; solar powered water feature; hedges galore; mesh animal proof 1.5m fence installed; 300sqm lawn levelled and re-seeded; 38 linear metres of EverEdge installed to create island bed;.....etc...etc...
People buy from people and people buy again from good people :->
Cheers, Eugene
Litter picking, pressure washing and algae/moss treatment, hedge and tree trimming, lawn edging, clearing up leaves, sweeping car parks, planting and creating borders, garden clearances (rarely now though as I don't need to).
Generally though in winter I spend the days doing things I enjoy such as training on the bike, fishing, walking, etc!
If you're aiming at maintenance, you should have no work in the winter!
Every garden should be put to bed when the season finishes, and apart from the odd check to clear up the occasional dead wood falling in strong winds, there should be no need to work in the winter months.
Monthly pricing so you have a steady income, work hard when the sun's shining, and take the family abroad in the winter.
To me, that's the whole reason to be in the job: we work outside all hours when it's pleasant, but not when it's wet and miserable?
Winter. It's why God gave us the Playstation..... :-)
Paul McNulty said:
Damn right!
In 'our' commercial world we work 12 months - simple.
I can see those that run 100% Resi works 'can' take the winter shut down approach, but really unless the garden is under snow, there are generally lots of work that can be done if you are offering a 'full service'.
Educating the client should have started some while ago, discussing works that can be pushed out / better scheduled in the Autumn / Winter months etc.
It's simply different strokes for different folks.....there is no right / wrong here...
My jobs include but are not exclusive to; mulching beds, creating new borders, defining edges, building pergolas from kits, cleaning and sterilising green houses, clearing out sheds, removing unwanted or incorrectly placed small trees and shrubs, logging, building compost pits, turning composts, spreading compost, digging over beds, building raised beds, laying gravel on beds, features and driveways, building rockeries, fencing, cutting and pruning small trees and shrubs, hacking down brambles and general garden clearance, bonfires, leaf collection, putting up wire frame works for climbers, trellis, clearing edges of ponds, etc etc etc. if the weather turns seriously Pete Tong I do inside jobs or snow based work.
I don't have time to use the Playstation......not that I own one....or have ever used one.....or even know what one is........
Plenty to do soooooo little time!
Maybe it's the way I was taught? It was 30 years ago, lol!
Once the last leaf is down, most of my gardens should be put to bed until the first lawn cut of the spring. Not saying there aren't extra jobs to be "sold", but new borders, fencing, a new pergola it's not part of the "maintenance".
If a path is mossy, it's slippery in the autumn! It needs dealing with there and then, people use it in the autumn but won't notice it in winter. If the climbers need new wiring, they probably needed it in the summer when they had most growth and weight on them. Winter is a lousy time to deal with weeds: whack them down in the summer when they look terrible, and then treat re-growth in the spring. Lawns shouldn't need edging in the winter, they should be done when they need it, and that's do it when people are using the garden most.
Maybe it's just me, but if your service is domestic maintenance on an annual contract, you shouldn't be putting jobs off for the winter. Get it perfect, then when it's dormant sit back and catch some winter sun, spend the Christmas holidays with the kids, do the jobs on your own house, and re-charge your own batteries.
I think it's hard to provide a total maintenance service during the growing season, working every hour, if you don't take a step back in the winter. Different if you aren't purely maintenance, of course, as the work is more spread-out.
I think it shows that you can slice this how ever you want and make it work and that's a key message to anyone looking in on this and similar threads
I'm the opposite, I'll work hard thru winter and be able to take time off in the Summer to following personal pursuits (like LM24 / N24 :-), going on hols with family and enjoying weekends off and summer BBQ's/Drinks. The guys can also take time off to be with and go on family hols.
We find by the time summer comes, we should be on top of things ( fewer grass cuts, no planting projects, no revamps etc) and I've no desire to be flaked out in the recent 28c heat trying to work a 12hr day,