What has your mower done for you lately? That's a fair question for any contractor. The answer for Ruth and Gordon Ewerks, owners of KK Enterprises, Lady Lake, Florida, is, plain and simple, "doubled our business." After purchasing their two Walkers, the couple went from mowing 50 residential accounts to 95. They saved time on jobs, doubled their income and even had some extra time left over, enough so they no longer had to work on Saturdays.
ls the story too good to be true? Not really. The Ewerks had been observing Walker mowers for years. They knew they could cut faster with them, but they didn't know just how fast. The first Walker they purchased in 1992 replaced one of their two garden tractors. With Gordon in the seat, the mower cut his lawns and even encroached on Ruth's properties to do her trim work.
"We couldn't believe how much time we saved just by having one Walker," tells Ruth. "We would mow the straight areas with our regular mower and use the Walker for trim work." They bought their second Walker the following year, and now their only challenge is knowing when to say no.
To be sure, Lady Lake is located about an hour north of Orlando. Although the Ewerks live on 10 acres of land that resembles an island paradise, three miles down the road is a huge retirement village. Called the Villages, properties in this development range from all shapes and sizes, with sub developments seemly popping up in all directions. Although lawn maintenance trailers appear to be a "dime a dozen," news of good work travels fast among residents. So fast, in fact, K & K does 16 lawns on one street. You can't beat that for efficiency.
How many lawns can two people handle? The Ewerks say they've peaked out. A regimen that starts at 6:00 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m. with an hour for lunch, is enough work for any two people. The team averages a little over 18 lawns a day, edging, trimming, mowing and blowing in that order. They don't apply chemicals, but they keep customers informed about any developing pest problems and will call applicators in for needed treatments. They also do special projects, e.g., hedging and other yard cleanup work.
Summer Fun
The fun, a.k.a. hard work, begins in March for the Ewerks. Last summer, an especially long, hot and wet growing season kept them on their toes and on their Walkers for weeks on end. An untimely rain would force them to work 'til 6:00, extended rain would require a Saturday stint. But in most cases, notes Gordon, they could still get their work done on time, despite the elements. Having a maintenance routine that saves time really pays off when the "heat's" on.
Walkers with 42-inch mulching decks are at the heart of the system. "When we first started to mow, everyone bagged their grass," explains Gordon. "Today, none of our accounts bag." The mowers mulch even during the height of the growing season and even a heavy dew doesn't stop them. "It took a while to educate our customers about the benefits or mulching," adds Ruth. "But it paid off."
A quick glance at their trailer gives away another part of their system. They have two of everything. Two mowers, blowers, trimmers, edgers. They attack the properties as a team, Ruth going one way off the trailer and Gordon the other. In most instances, they start and finish adjacent properties at the same time, then quickly move to the next. That's one reason why it's so important to keep properties in proximity. By the time they load and move the trailer, even to an area a few blocks away, they could have finished one, maybe two properties. Forget a house that stands alone. There's no time ... and no money.
Hence, the Ewerks are learning to say no, especially when one new property in one new area could lead to several more. Not to say they won't take on new properties. They will, but only"if the lawns are in their line of cut. Even then, there is a limit. Ruth and Gordon didn’t want the headaches associated with hiring and managing employees and they've learned to enjoy their off time, on the weekends.
New Life
Ruth and Gordon moved to Florida in 1986. They left their Sheldon, Illinois, home where Gordon had been a farmer and later an employee for a school district. Ruth was an office employee; spending time with an insurance agency and a seed company. When their two sons finished school, mom and dad took the opportunity to change venue.
'We left having no idea what we were going to do," recalls Ruth. Her husband landed a job quickly - as a maintenance supervisor for a mobile home park. She found work in another office. When Gordon "walked'' from the job two years later, giving lawn maintenance a try seemed only natural. He picked up some trimming work at the park where he was previously employed and with a garden tractor found a couple of mowing jobs.
The family has always mowed lawns, starting in the '70s mowing commercially in Illinois. Their two sons mowed to earn spending money, and mom and dad supplemented their income the same way. With this background, it didn't take Gordon long to build accounts. Ruth quit her job the following spring to work full time in the newly formed business. K & K, which are the initials for sons Kevin and Keith, also referred to Kustom Kutting and Kustom Kleaning. Gordon headed up the former while Ruth started an interior cleaning business, which mowing quickly forced-her to abandon.
The rest is history or, in Ruth's words, "Once we got started, it just took off.'' The Ewerks say there really are no secrets to their success. Just plenty of hard work and using the right equipment. "Not all contractors down here use Walkers, but if they plan to stay in this business, they will buy one," explains Gordon. His brother-in-law came down for a visit and was so impressed he bought one just to mow the lawn around his farmstead.
Yet there are some other caveats to the way they do business. Take, for example, their accounts receivables. The Ewerks don't sign yearly contracts with customers. They charge by the cut, foregoing the "easier money'' many Florida contractors depend on in the slow growing winter months to counteract the oftentimes horribly costly summer growing season.
"We charge a fee for every time we mow, mow as needed, and bill once a month," explains Gordon. "We don't want customers paying us when we're not doing anything. Furthermore, when you're on contract, customers expect to see you even if there's nothing to do. Which is a Catch-22 in Florida because the only time retirement customers will every see you is in the winter months. To the Ewerks, charging per mow seems less complicated and more forthright. One drawback? You have to have the discipline to save money for the winter when, for a couple of months, lawns might go three to four weeks without a manicure.
What's down the wad? Maybe a slight dichotomy... fewer accounts and one more Walker, this time one with a grass handling system to pick up the leaves in the spring.
Who says you can't have the best of all worlds. In the Ewerks case, if they can do more with less and have enough money leftover to make their life easier still, then why not do it.
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