Hey all, I have been out if the game for a hot minute, what is the going rate for man hours? I thought about googling it, but figured I would check here for some possible confirmation. I'm in the PNW, for what that's worth.
North Texas
I just laid this sod down. North Texas. When I bought it the guy said it just needs a few rains/waterings. Any advice?
We spent over a year talking to landscaping and lawn care crews about the same bottleneck: the walkthrough goes great, but then the estimate sits for days because of field notes and a stack of jobs ahead. By the time it goes out, someone else already quoted. So we built Atlas & Anvil's Landscaping Estimator.
Record the walkthrough on your phone (or paste notes) A few minutes later you get a priced, line-itemed proposal using your catalog and your markup, not a generic template. Tweak and send right from the truck
It’s voice-to-estimate built specifically for how we actually run jobs. One-time setup where we tune it to your pricing/divisions and link into your existing stack, then $150/mo per user.
Would love honest feedback from anyone running estimates in the field, what’s still painful in your current process?
A commercial property I take care of includes garbage pickup, I just found a spot I hadn't noticed or maybe someone just started doing it but one of their employees are spitting used nicotine pouches into one of the decorative beds. I know it has to be employees because there are no customers that come to this location
I know im probably overreacting but its disgusting, I will clean it up but I feel I should charge extra to get them to stop their employees from doing it.
Does anyone here charge extra for cleanup of things like that?
Customer wants all new growth cut back basically making it a slopping bush. I also have to cut the inside along the fence. How much should I charge?
Hi everyone. I'm in lower Westchester County, NY state, zone 7a.
I just spent many thousands of dollars putting in trees, outdoor French drain, catch basins, regrading with a layer of (manufactured topsoil) on top. Everything is great except for the manufactured topsoil. It's pure garbage. It's just sand mixed with who knows what. It dries out in a minute. To put it in terms all of us will understand - this manufactured topsoil cannot make mud when wet. I have my virgin topsoil visible in one part of the yard and it makes mud when wet. The difference between the virgin soil and the manufactured "topsoil" is black and white. One is gold, the other is garbage.
I am trying to germinate perennial rye grass. Started Monday, April 13th. So far only growth is in patches. I'm in zone 7a, which I know is better for fall germination, but I've overseeded in Spring before with my virgin soil and never had a problem. I water it multiple times a day and so far nothing.
I can't afford to pay someone to remove the top 3 inches and lay down a 3 inch layer of virgin topsoil. If I had the time I could do it myself by hand, but I don't. It's a heck of a lot of work as well. Maybe 3,000 square feet of area, which for a layer of 3 inches would be about 750 cubic feet of virgin topsoil, which would be approximately 27 yards of virgin topsoil. Plus I would have to remove the same amount of the existing bogus manufactured topsoil first, so it would be approximately 54 yards of soil - removing and laying down. There must be a better way.
I know there are amendments they use in Australia to turn their sandy soil into a more clayish soil. I'm a little afraid of that only because I don't know of anyone doing this so I don't have any examples to follow. I've thought of sprinkling virgin soil on top and using a scarifying attachment that I have for my de-thatcher. Both of these remedies would potentially mess up the grading the landscaper's worker did, which was done beautifully.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Hey everyone, I recently started doing my own lawn care to save some money, and edging has been the hardest part so far. I tried using a string trimmer, but it takes forever and doesn’t give me that clean line I’m looking for.
Now I’m trying to decide between getting a powered edger or sticking with a manual hand edger. I don’t mind putting in some effort, but I also don’t want something that feels like a chore every single time.
I’ve got about 150 feet of edging to maintain, and my grass is pretty thick. From what I’ve seen, hand edgers seem reliable and simple, and there are tons of variations out there, including the kind of designs you see in supplier listings like online marketplaces.
At the same time, I’m worried I’ll get lazy if it takes too long and just stop doing it altogether.
If you’ve used both, how do they compare in real life? Is the manual route manageable long term or does powered make a big difference
Recently turned my lawncare side hustle to a full time job. LLC formed and banking end of it being set up. I have traditionally used Venmo since every customer I have uses it. I am trying to get more organized.
I have heard about Yardbook. I know I can send invoices but I am curious if I can also use it to log my expenses/receipts for tax purposes? Is it a one-stop-shop for a small lawncare outfit? Is there anything else I would need to supplement Yardbook with if thats the software I used?
Thanks!
Unlike residential grade equipment where there is usually an abundance of reviews on products, commercial equipment tends not to get a lot of reviews. I have bought a handful of items from Ballard Inc, and most of them have been a complete headache. I want to like this company since they are also based in Iowa, but I've been so disappointed with some of their products.
- Ballard Hex Chute Blocker: Terrible assembly and installation experience. Their instructions and instruction video are complete garbage. Once in operation, the chute does not open and close smoothly, and is it easily broken or severely bent if bumped, which is easy to do since it sticks straight out. Overall, this product is too flimsy to be commercial grade. A silver lining is that they sell replacement parts for when something breaks.
- Ballard Super Jack V2: Stay away. Bent the mower deck on my Toro Grandstand mower so that the blades hit the deck. I was able to hammer the deck back close to the original form but wow what a pain. I will be switching to a more traditional lift moving forward. Also, it takes a good amount of strength to lift a mower with this jack. It's not a problem for me, but for many employees it would be too heavy.
- Catch Pro bagger: Came with machining errors, so I had to drill wider holes to assemble. Assembly otherwise wasn't terrible with this one. In operation, the chute consistently clogs when the bagger is at about 50% capacity, so expect to be emptying it constantly. To empty it, you have to remove it from the mower and take the door off. The door doesn't operate very smoothly, so it's not a great experience. The bagger adds a lot of width to the mower, and I'm very nervous it'll break if it ever gets bumped on an obstacle because, like their chute blocker, it doesn't seem particularly well built. I haven't used it long enough to encounter any durability issues yet though.
- Blades: These seem to hold up pretty well. I think most of their modified blades are gimmicks. Just buy the regular ones. The ripper blades work a little bit better at mulching than a standard blade (as one would hope), but it's not enough to justify the noticeably worse cut quality. I wouldn't recommend the X blade set up unless you want to wear out your mower faster.
Overall, this company sells gimmick products at a premium price. I'd recommend you look elsewhere for these type of accessories, except maybe mower blades.
Hello Everyone!
I wanted to ask y'all a quick question...
My buddy and I are building a landscaping SaaS company together! It automates the admin work completely. We are keeping it real simple - no bloated menus and no per user fees.
We have room for about 10 more guys to jump in as a Founding Member Beta Testers of our software. It's completely free! The only thing we want in return is for you to give us your feedback... what you like, what you don't like, maybe something you want to add, etc.
Comment if you want to mess around with it and I'll reach out to you!
Thank you guys. My best friend and I are excited.
Hey r/LawnCarePros
I've been working on a side project called Lawn.Smart — a free web app that gives you a monthly lawn care checklist tailored to your specific USDA hardiness zone and state.
The idea started because generic "mow in spring, fertilize in fall" advice doesn't really cut it when you're in Zone 4b dealing with a short growing season vs. someone in Zone 9a with bermudagrass year-round. So I built something that adapts the task list, timing, and alerts to where you actually live.
Just shipped v2.0 — a full ground-up redesign with:
It's completely free and works in the browser — no account needed, all data stays on your device.
👉 https://www.lawnsmartapp.com
I'd genuinely love feedback on two fronts:
🌱 Lawn care side: Is the task timing accurate for your zone? Anything missing, wrong, or that doesn't match your real-world experience? The zone data is my biggest area of uncertainty and real-world input from people who actually maintain lawns would be invaluable.
💻 Tech side: PWA feel, performance, UX — anything that feels off or could be cleaner?
Happy to answer questions about either. Thanks for taking a look!
App is free, no login, no ads. There are Amazon affiliate links in the product recommendations — just disclosing upfront.