The lawn care and garden maintenance year
| When | |
|---|---|
| Busiest | spring to early autumn, the whole growing season |
| Quietest | late autumn through winter |
Grass stops growing and customers pause the service, so income can drop sharply for several months.
How to smooth it out
- Offer a year-round monthly payment so customers pay the same amount all twelve months
- Sell autumn clear-ups, leaf collection, hedge cutting and winter tidy-ups
- Plan jobs like pruning, fencing, patio washing and planting for the slower months
- Book next season's customers in winter, with a first-visit date in March
The buffer you'd need
Add your running costs to the bills you must cover personally, then hold two to three months of that in a separate account.
- Running costs: £365 a month (from the example in how to price lawn care and garden maintenance)
- Personal bills: £1,400 a month
- One month: £1,765
Three months: £5,295
Make the quiet weeks useful
- Review prices and raise the ones that are too low
- Ask for reviews and update your photos
- Leaflet a new street, ready for the busy season
- Service and replace your kit
- Do the admin: records, receipts and insurance renewal
Regular customers on an agreed monthly price keep your income steady through the quiet weeks. The general guide has more: surviving the quiet months.
Run your lawn care and garden maintenance in WorkWise
A repeating diary: Each customer has how often you go and a next visit, so fortnightly gardens repeat across the week without rebuilding it.