Spring lawn care checklist for professionals

The first cut of the year usually lands in March or early April, whenever the grass starts growing and the ground is firm enough to take a mower. Everything below is easier to do in February, while the phone is quiet, than in April with a full round and a mower that won't start.

Machinery

Get the mowers serviced first, because a dealer's workshop is quiet in January and February and booked solid by April. If you service them yourself, this is the list:

• Change the oil (and the filter, if it has one)
• Sharpen or replace the blades, and balance them
• Replace the air filter and spark plug
• Drain old fuel and check the fuel lines for cracks
• Check the drive belt, cables and wheel bearings
• Test the blade brake and the safety bail
• Clean the deck and the grass box
• Strimmers and hedge cutters: new line, sharp blades, clean filters, guards in place
• Blower: clean the intake, check it runs at every throttle setting
• Trailer: lights, tyres, straps and the ramp
• Van: first aid kit, fuel cans, spare line and a spare blade

Buy the parts you always end up needing in May (blades, belts, line, plugs) now, while the dealer has them in stock.

Customers

Your existing customers are the easiest spring work you'll get, and they will book with whoever asks first. Message them in February rather than waiting for them to ring.

When you tell customers the new price, give them the new figure and the date it starts. People take a short, plain message better than a long apology.

Also update your Google Business Profile before the first cut: opening hours, the services you offer this year, and a few photos from last season.

Prices and services

Put your prices up before the round starts, not halfway through it. Fuel, insurance, parts and your own time all cost more than last year, so work out what an hour of your time has to earn:

Then look at the jobs that were hardest last year: the lawn behind a narrow side gate, the one where you carry the mower up steps, the garden forty minutes from the rest of your round. Either price them for the time they take or let them go.

Spring is also the time to decide what you'll offer beyond mowing. Spring lawn work (moss treatment, a first feed, a light scarify), hedge cutting from late summer, and autumn renovation (scarifying, hollow-tine aeration, overseeding) all fit around a round. If you'll be applying weedkiller or moss killer, check your PA1 and PA6 certificates are in order; the HSE's pesticides guidance says what you need.

To price a one-off job such as a spring tidy-up:

Paperwork before the first cut

• Public liability insurance renewed, with the certificate saved on your phone
• Employers' liability insurance, if anyone works for you this year
• Van insured for business use
• Waste carrier registration still valid, if you take green waste away (register or renew on gov.uk)
• Green waste tip permit or trade account sorted
• Customer list up to date: new addresses, gate codes, dogs, who has left

That last one is where most spring mistakes come from: the gate code changed over winter, or a customer moved and the new owner doesn't know who you are. Go through the list once and fix it.

We built TradeSender for this. Each customer has their properties with access notes and gate codes, their visits repeat on the round you set, and the iPhone app opens them without signal. How repeating rounds work is on the scheduling page; they need the Pro plan, and what each plan includes is on the pricing page. If you do more general garden maintenance than lawns, see TradeSender for gardening businesses.