The grass can be greener for you too.

Using a lawn mower may seem straight forward but using it well and getting neat clean cut can be a little more involved than what meets the eye. A lawn mowing contractor can find their services in high demand if they know more about lawn care, and the equipment. In suburbs and towns across Australia, there’s a big demand for quality lawn mowing and turf care. You don’t need to have done an apprenticeship or years of training to do this work, but you do need to know the basics and be motivated to do a quality job.

People of any age from teens and up, can learn the basics in less than a month with the right course, and start up a lawn care business with little more than a mower and a car to move from job to job. Some even start up using mowers owned by their clients while they are still at school; then move on to a more substantial business later.

Turf contractors may command fees of $35-40+ per hour when starting up; and as they build skills and a reputation, that rate can easily go beyond $50 per hour. Start-up costs for this type of small business can be quite low as only a mower, trailer, strimmer/whipper snipper, fuel and transport are necessary to get started.

This type of business may lead to all sorts of bigger and better possibilities. We’re seeing this more and more, when someone starts in one role or one job and moves forward in career their careers.

For some, this can be a starting point for working in other areas of gardening. A business might expand into landscaping, or eventually employ others to do mowing as the clientele list grows.

With success and experience that comes from running a mowing business, some may find opportunities to apply and get jobs working for a golf course, sports ground, parks department or other area of the horticulture industry

Anyone who develops a passion for gardening and demonstrates some degree of organisational and business success will be an attractive candidate anywhere for a job in the garden industry.

Get the Training Online

ACS Distance Education developed a course specifically to train people to work in turf and lawn care. This is a self-paced, online course that can be completed within a few weeks of starting if you have the passion and motivation to give it a try. 

MORE TO MOWING THAN MEETS THE EYE

For most of us lawn mowing is a pretty straightforward process – a simple matter of pushing the mower up and down, back, and forth, until all the grass is cut. There’s more to it than that though. Good mowing techniques will improve the long-term health of the lawn.
 
When mown correctly and at the right time, cut at the correct height and direction, a grassed area can retain its health, functionality and aesthetics.
 
There are different types of grasses in lawns. Some can be cut short for a very fine even surface, but others cannot. You need to know what grass you are dealing with and how high it can be cut. That can change from one client’s property to the next.
 
When to mow can also be important. Grass doesn’t cut cleanly if cut when wet, which may be a problem for fine, high-quality lawns early in the morning or after rain. For some clients though, particularly on acreage, this may not matter.  There are lots of small issues to know about with lawns, such as diseases that can damage it and how to manage the soil it grows in.
 
There are many lawn mowing contractors who either don’t pay attention to detail, or simply don’t know what they are doing. It’s common for people to mow their own lawns because they simply can’t find a contractor who can do a good job. This situation provides a fantastic opportunity for young people seeking to forge a career.
 
When running a mowing business you should aim for quality work – this applies to mowing any type of turfed areas. Knowing the right techniques and being able to apply them does set a professional mowing contractor apart from those just offering a quick mowing job. It may bring business opportunities that those without the background knowledge, may miss out on.
 
Most mowing is done using petrol motorised mowing machines. Machines for commercial use are varied and range from simple ride-on mowers through to expensive large equipment used by sporting facilities such as golf courses. For domestic applications or for people running a domestic mowing service - ride-on mowers and petrol driven push mowers are still the preferred equipment.  Alternative technology has introduced other options though with the introduction of battery and solar powered machines, although these are usually restricted in time usage to around 45 minutes - having two batteries can help to extend potential mowing time.