As we begin the new year, it’s already time to look ahead to the next growing season and ask one very important question. Is your green industry company ready for the summer season?
There often isn’t a whole lot to do in the winter, but your company can take on winter yard tasks, such as installing holiday lights, winter weed removal, and tree pruning. You can also use the slower season of the year to get ready for a busy spring, summer, and fall.
1) Offer Winter Landscape Services
If you want to offer landscaping services during the winter, then there’s a good chance you’ll need to educate clients about the importance of winter lawn and landscaping care. Some might not be aware there are landscaping tasks you can do during the winter or know how helpful winter yard care can be.
There are a variety of winter yard care services you can offer commercial and residential clients. Many trees and shrubs do well when pruned during the winter, while they’re dormant. Winter is also a good time to clean weeds, dead plants, and old mulch out of landscape beds. You can also apply mulch in the winter, to help keep down the spring weeds.
As the weather starts to warm up, let clients know you can apply preemergent herbicides to get ahead of annual weeds like crabgrass. You can also offer lawn and landscaping repair services in late winter and early spring to replant grass or repair landscaping damaged over winter.
2) Consider Winter Marketing
If your company works with commercial clients (i.e. lawn cutting for apartment complexes) or offers yearly contracts to residential clients, then you’ll want to make sure you’re marketing in the winter months. Companies and individuals often make plans for next year during the winter and early spring.
You’ll want to get commercial clients thinking of your company as they’re planning their yearly budgets for lawn care and landscaping. You’ll also want to remind repeat customers to renew their contracts and market to potential new clients. If they can sign up for lawn care now, they won’t need to worry about it in the spring and you’ll have a better idea of how many clients to plan for as the weather warms up.
If you’re offering new services, make sure to include them in your winter marketing. For example, if you’ve started offering organic lawn care services or if you’re using environmentally friendly battery-powered equipment, letting customers know can help attract them to your lawn care company.
3) Catch Up on Maintenance
Winter is a great time to catch up on maintenance that you might have put off during the busier months of the year. Many lawn and landscaping companies replace their power equipment each year, but with rising inflation and supply chain issues that might not have been an option in 2022.
For any equipment you’re carrying over from the previous year, make sure you use the winter to get caught up on important maintenance. The earlier you start replacing spark plugs, air filters, and other worn parts the more time you’ll have to make sure you can get the parts you need before spring. Also, remember to sharpen mower blades and stock up on supplies like string-line for trimmers.
4) Plan for Landscaping Trends
Despite inflation, customers across the country continued updating their outdoor spaces in 2022. This looks like it will continue through 2023 as well. Some of the trends to be aware of include installing or updating
- Outdoor living areas such as fire pits, outdoor kitchens, and structures like pergolas and arbors.
- Lighting and audio systems in the yard. Even televisions are starting to show up in outdoor designs.
- Environmentally friendly and water-efficient landscaping.
Many clients, including corporate clients, may also be looking for water management services. With water conservation a hot topic right now, people are interested in hiring a lawn and landscaping company that can help make water use more efficient. For example, your company might offer services to update and monitor irrigation systems.
5) Reevaluate Pricing
LandOPT, a company that works with landscape contractors to support their businesses, recommends raising prices in 2023. It’s not an easy thing to raise pricing in the lawn and landscaping industry, but you also need to consider increased operating costs and inflation.
The choice of whether to raise prices and how much will depend on your individual situation, but LandOPT offers some guidelines. Specifically, they recommend “a minimum 4.4% rate increase to offset higher operating costs.” If feasible in your market, they also add that “an 8.8% hike” would “return margins to pre-inflationary levels” and a 10% increase would “hedge against unpredictable cost increases.”
Quality, Commercial Power Equipment
As one of the largest multi-line dealers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we know how important quality equipment is to green industry professionals. That’s why we carry only the most trusted brands of commercial and residential lawn care equipment. Five of our employees are certified outdoor power equipment technicians, and we always service what we sell.
Here, you’ll find eXmark, Honda, Scag, and Toro mowers to keep your clients’ lawns perfectly trimmed. We also carry handheld equipment like blowers, chainsaws, trimmers, and edgers from STIHL, Echo, RedMax, and Shindaiwa. Along with premium lawn care equipment, we also carry a complete line of arborist equipment.
As you’re getting ready for spring, stop by Richardson Saw & Lawnmower for all your commercial lawncare equipment needs. We’ll be happy to help you find equipment that’s just right for you and answer any questions you have. Stop by our location in Richardson, Texas, or check out our website to see some of the products we carry.
