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Soil and Water

Growing plants, flowers, vegtables successfully in the Phoenix area is about understanding the soil and water. The fact that both are highly alkaline and saline. Knowing what to do to offset this problem makes growing things easier and saves water. Acidification is the key (lowering the pH). Most people recommend gypsum, but this takes 3-5 years to begin to work and adds calcium the soil doesn't need. High calcium is part of what makes the soil so dense. We found that water soluble sulfur works much better and more rapidly and doesn't affect the overall nutrient balance of the soil. If you have any gardening, planting questions, contact us here.
 

What are weeds?

Weeds are plants that grow where you don't want them to be. There are several types of weeds dividing into two distinct groups: Grasses and Broadleft weeds. Each group has its own characteristics. Among Grasses group, there are mainly two types: Crabgrass and Bermudagrass (not to confuse with your bermuda lawn grass). Grasses groups' veins in the leaves don't cross over each other meaning their veins are parallel. The leaves of grass groups are long and narrow.

Weeds mainly come from wind or carried by birds. In some cases, seeds of weed get carried by lawn, yard equipments, or even by pets fur, shoes. If the weeds are not controlled properly, they steal away water and nutrients from other plants and grass. Not to mention they look awful on your existing landscape. Some weeds sprout from seeds and grow flowers. Some weeds die within one season, which are referred to as Annual weeds. Some weeds live for several years. These types of weeds are called Perennial weeds.

How to control weeds?

Weeds can be manually removed in a relatively small area. Hand tools such as hoes, shovels, or hand pulling tools often do the work. Herbicides that target weeds types and groups is also an option. Be careful that if you use weed-controlled herbicides, your lawn and other plants should not be affected by it. However, if you use grass killer (Broad-spectrum herbicide), it will kill the weeds and the grass, so be extra cautious.

In the lawn areas, the best option to control weeds is have a healthy lawn that outgrows the weeds. A lawn expert is your best bet to make sure you have a healthy lawn.

In gravel, rock areas, weeds can be controlled by post-emergent herbicide. The best technique is to apply post-emergent herbicide to young growing weeds. Remember this type of weed-controlled product kill any growing plants, and grass. Extra precaution is advised. A yard lawn care professional is your best bet to make sure weed control is done right. For more information, contact us here.

Solving the Landscaping Industry Problems with Technology

Why we founded House of Yards? We're tired of not finding good quality lawn/yard care workers. We’re frustrated when calling them, waiting for them to show up, some did, many didn’t. For those who did, the price wasn’t right. The ones we hired, the quality was terrible. We fired them then the entire process starts all over again. It’s time-wasting, painful, it should be a lot easier, and simpler.

What's HouseofYards.com? Homeowners can book a lawn care, yard clean up appointment in less than a minute. Simply enter an address. HouseofYards.com developed a proprietary pricing system. It calculates the yard size, followed by a few simple clicks, you instantly see the price, like it? Choose a date, book it online. It’s that simple. All done in the 60s.

What’s in it for our customers/clients?  We made finding good quality lawn/yard care workers easy, fast, and convenient. We give all our lawn/yard care clients free accounts to manage their appointments online from viewing current, upcoming appointments, invoices, to updating profile, and payment information. Unlike other lawn care apps that only focus on the lawn, we're a full-service yard, lawn care company.  We recognize lawn/yard care is a personal business, we offer great support and hired in-house lawn/yard care professionals who are highly trained and experienced.

What's our growth? Phoenix alone enjoys 60x revenue annual growth. 23k appointments served.

5 ways to grow your landscaping business today!

Pick Up the Phone, Will ya

How many times you’ve heard people saying “I called and called all these landscapers, no one answer” or, “They said they’d be here, but no one showed up”? The day we started our yard care business 5 years ago in Phoenix. We’ve grown consistently year or year not because we offer the lowest price, it’s because we respond to clients. We answer calls. If we’re not available, we text them back or call back within hours, NOT days. If you want new business, don’t let clients feel frustrated. The fact is that by the time they call you, they probably have called 5 other lawn care companies. And, no one had bothered to talk to them. The chances of you getting their business are rather high if you simply pick up the call and talk to them.

Just Do it, by Showing Up

New leads are happy they spoke with you. They’re happy to set up a visit with you to see their yard. Now it’s time to seize the opportunity. Be sure to show up on time, this is your first “date”. Be sure to give them the best impression possible to show that you’re a reliable, and dependable landscaper. If you do what you say and show up, it’s very likely they will sign up with you, oftentimes becoming a long-term landscaping client.

Be Patient

People are paying a lot (~$800 spent per household annually on lawn care in 2019) these days on yard care. Spend the time to understand what clients need. They deserve to be listened to. Everyone has their own special landscaping needs and requirements. Maybe they want to trim this bush differently than the others. We had a client who wants to hand-trim the front bush that looks like a quail in memory of her mother who likes quail. We listened and deliver to that promise. Offer your professional lawn yard care opinion. It’s time to show off your expertise. If you offer any additional services, e.g. irrigation repair, planting, or trees trimming, mention them to the clients. This helps add-on services down the road.

Provide Excellent Client Service

We built our own website for our landscaping business with a ton of business features to automate the workflow. Our landscape software sends out service reminders automatically the day before the yard service. We provide a client login feature so they can view all their services and update payment information if they want. Have a system or use software to offer excellent client services. Have your contact info clearly stated on your websites and on your social media handles. These show you’re on the top of customer service and ready to serve your clients at any time. During the yard service, check the irrigation system, help clients set up irrigation timers. Look out for leaks, broken sprinklers (more potential add-on revenue), report to clients if you see any. They will appreciate your attention to details. Clients will have special requests, how much to remove this bush, how much to trim this tree. Get the quote out to the clients asap, it’s best to do that on the same day of maintenance. Crews may miss things. Forget to trim a shrub, left the debris at the corner. You need to be ready to fix the mistake, put out the “fire”. Maintain good communications, always with everyone.

New leads will call to ask you to come out to see the yard. We direct them to our website that has an instant quote or have them send us the most recent photos if they want an accurate quote. If mowing only, you can ask how tall the grass is in inches, go to findlotsize.com to measure the area. You can give them some rough estimates that way.

Have a System that Automates the Process

The nature of acquiring landscaping clients can be tedious. You get a call, get the leads info, set up a visit, give out a quote, then wait for it to close the deal. Until then you set up the actual service appointment. It could take a long time. When we started our lawn care business, we wanted to make the process of hiring a landscaper easier. Our website lets people book lawn service online. They search their address, see the instant quote, and can book the service. We can change the pricing anytime with a click. The day we launched we had our first online booking. Automation is your friend. Try to automate the booking process. You will spend less time chasing clients, and more time better serving your existing ones.