Equipment is easier to acquire than quality labor, and it can even retain the good people you have by giving them the torque and tools to complete potentially back-breaking jobs efficiently. “Any time a piece of equipment can cut down labor, it’s worth buying,” says Joe Swett, CEO, Sunrise Irrigation, Palm Harbor, Fla.

Swett operates a mostly residential irrigation business, and because of fence gates, property sizes and topography –tree roots and such – his team relies on trenchers as the “labor” that can cut through tough ground while keeping jobs on time and on budget.

“Everything we put on a crew is based on efficiency, and whatever we can do to save labor and get a quality job done faster,” Swett says. “For us, open trench has been the way to go.”

Trenchers and vibratory plows (v-plows) are irrigation service staples, and each serves its purpose. Paired with essential hand tools, along with crew training and ongoing maintenance, an operation can leverage equipment to support its team and provide the service clients expect.

V-plow or trencher?

Sunrise Irrigation’s utility trailers house pedestrian trenchers because Swett explains, “we don’t need massive equipment” since residential properties tend to be close together and allow somewhat limited access to where his team will need to lay pipe or perform repairs.

From underground utilities to roots and rocks, “we can open up the ground and see what we’ve got, so it’s easier,” Swett says of using a trencher. His fleet includes three trenchers, two for service and one for installation since 90% of the business is residential irrigation maintenance.

“We can use these and get though a 36-inch fence gate,” he points out.

When selecting which trenchers to add to the fleet, he says it has required a bit of “trial and error” to learn what horsepower, torque and boom height is best for their jobs. “We started with less expensive machines that had lower horsepower, and we finally started tweaking that and finding out what worked for us.”

Swett says digging 2- and 3-feet deep is not necessary for the properties his team services. “So, I don’t need a large boom and I go with a shorter one,” he says. “I also look at horsepower as it relates to the torque I can get to the teeth. If I need to go through rocks, roots or really thick soil, I’ll opt for a higher horsepower and shorter boom so I can get more torque to the teeth to rip through the ground vs. a longer boom and lower horsepower, which will give you less torque in the ground to tear through material.”

John Newlin, owner, Quality Services, North Ridgeville, Ohio, says, “Trenchers have their place based on the application and size of pipe and project.” His key equipment includes a pipe puller with trencher attachment, and he prefers to use v-plows for installation because there is less settling of the yard.

“We hire some with agricultural backgrounds and they usually know how to run the equipment.” Randy Hunsicker, project manager at Commercial Irrigation & Turf

Commercial Irrigation & Turf also leans toward v-plow for most installation projects, and the Peoria, Ill.-based company serves golf courses and large commercial grounds, along with residential properties. Versatile equipment is the key for this firm.

“As for heavy equipment, we run vibratory plows, trenchers and small boring rigs, so we have different sizes for different applications, and most of our machines are all-in-one,” says Randy Hunsicker, project manager.

On light commercial and residential jobs, Commercial Irrigation & Turf dispatches its 36-inch, diesel-powered walk-beside machine that is center pivot and has a trencher plow on front, v-plow on the back and a rotor borer attachment. “That way you can get underneath sidewalks and driveways,” Hunsicker explains.

With this equipment, the company can install ¾-inch pipe to 2-inch pipe with a v-plow. “With spacers, you can go all the way up to 4-inch pipe with the trencher, as well,” he says, noting that the company mostly uses 1- to 1¼-inch pipe for residential projects and 1- to 4-inch pipe for commercial jobs. The company owns five of these multi-use machines.

For large commercial projects, the company uses larger equipment with a small backhoe on front for excavation. “We have two of those with v-plows and one that is a trencher,” he says of the combo package.

When breaking ground, Commercial Turf & Irrigation tries to use a v-plow in most circumstances. “It’s your best bet for cleanup,” Hunsicker says. “When you trench, you have to backfill and there is settling that can happen over time, while a v-plow lifts the ground up a little and you hardly see any settling.”

He also prefers a v-plow for pulling in pipe.

“The only time trench vs. using a v-plow is if we are putting wire and multiple pipes in a ditch,” Hunsicker says. “Then, we want an open ditch so there is more access for laying multiple products.”

Trenching provides more access for repairs in some cases. “You can trench and work more easily without digging up pipe to glue on fittings – you can do everything in the ditch and lay multiple pipes, which is harder with a v-plow and not really recommended,” Hunsicker says.

Going back to labor savings, Hunsicker emphasizes how unnecessary cleanup after installation can stall a crew’s efficiency. “Cleanup time takes away from the actual work,” he says, explaining why he prefers to assign v-plows to projects whenever possible. “We want to make sure the property looks great after installation, and for minimal cleanup, we try to use the smallest piece of equipment possible that is still very capable of doing what is required,” he says. “We want the smallest footprint machine that will not tear up the ground too much and take away from the main part of the job.”

Essential hand tools.

A selection of shovels and rakes are essential hand tools for performing irrigation work. As Swett points out, “It’s the basics.” His crews are equipped with pony shovels, flat shovels for cleanup, rock rakes and chainsaws for tearing through roots, if necessary.

Newlin’s team uses a German-made pneumatic hand shovel. “It is great when dealing with compacted soils,” he says, adding that other basic hand tools “are the norm” and include steel shovels, hard racks and tampers.

Smaller staples. While trenchers and v-plows make short work of a job, smaller hand tools are also needed.

“You want a trenching shovel that is comfortable to use,” Hunsicker adds. “It used to be a flat spade and you had to chip away the ground, where now there are more curved trenching shovels that help dig a ditch no wider than you need.” These trenching shovels are available in 4-, 5- and 6-inch widths, he says.

“If you were to Google, the most common shovel would be a round-point,” Hunsicker says, noting that he thinks these typically 8-inch shovels dig up more ground than necessary for most jobs.

“You’re excavating more than you need to run irrigation pipe,” he says. “So, the trenching shovel is more efficient because you are not digging such a wide area, and most of the time, we are digging 5 inches wide vs. 8 to 9 inches like you’d do with a round-point shovel.”

Training & maintaining.

Equipment is only as good as the crewmember who’s running the machine – how they use it and maintain it. Training is essential for safe, efficient operation and for equipment longevity. Swett starts his people with learning projects on the company’s own property.

“We do a test section in our yard and shop and operate the equipment, digging trenches in a controlled environment to learn how to properly use the equipment and not tear up grass with the tracks,” he says, noting that pivoting track-wheel equipment can disrupt the turf and result in a frustrated customer and more “repair work” for the crew.

Hands-on training comes after team members learn safety and basic machine anatomy in a classroom environment. “We discuss how to operate it and the depths we trench,” Swett says.

Training at Sunrise Irrigation happens weekly, and sometimes more frequently. During this time, they also discuss maintenance. “We tighten chains every day and stay on top of the preventive maintenance cycle,” Swett says. “The biggest things are changing oil, which we do religiously, and we do our 100-hour service at around 65 to 75 hours because of the type of environment the equipment is in.”

“It’s cheaper to change oil than a piece of machinery,” Swett says.

Training at Commercial Irrigation & Turf is also hands-on and customized to the team member’s skill level. “We hire some with agricultural backgrounds and they usually know how to run the equipment,” Hunsicker says. “Some never want to run the equipment and prefer to do the labor or plumbing side of the job.”

On most jobs, the foreman runs heavy equipment and teaches crewmembers as they gain more experience. Operating equipment begins with basics. Hunsicker says, “We start simple with flat ground.”

Equipment is greased daily, oil is checked before starting equipment each day, and the company adheres to service intervals for oil change and hydraulic fluid flushes. Also important, Commercial Irrigation & Turf relies on its nearby commercial dealer to service heavier, complex equipment.

At the end of the day, the right equipment, trained crewmembers and attention to maintenance are the key ingredients to completing irrigation jobs efficiently and up to quality standards. And finding the right combination of tools for the job to avoid too much cleanup. As Hunsicker says, “We are irrigation installers – we want to put pipe in the ground, sprinkler heads and put water to it.”

Dressing up was never a problem for Tony Nasrallah.

From a full suit for Sunday church to the ties he wore for every school picture between kindergarten and high school, Nasrallah says he saw the value in looking good early on in life. So, when he started his company, Ground Works Land Design, in 2009, he immediately implemented uniforms that have evolved from a basic T-shirt to slick polos and button-down shirts.

When he brings new potential hires into his office in Cleveland, Nasrallah stresses the importance of a first impression. Fair or not, he says people follow the cliché of judging books by their covers — and those impressions stick for time to come.

“Years later, I’d see teachers who said I looked sharp wearing my shirt and ties,” he says. “I believe when you look good, you feel good, you act good.”

Today, Ground Works doesn’t simply hand its employees a T-shirt and call it a day with their uniforms: Their set of apparel is sophisticated, as they have partnerships with L.L. Bean and Adidas and have uniforms with primary and secondary colors. They even design T-shirts with local artists for employees to wear on weekends or when they’re off the clock, or for big company events like their annual cookout.

“We’ve always kind of approached the industry with a different eye,” said Joseph Stark, the company’s marketing director. “Tony wasn’t grandfathered into the industry or anything like that, so he had no preexisting ideas of a red truck landscaping perception or anything like that, so we were able to do it our own way.”

BUCKING THE TREND.

Nasrallah says Ground Works aims for clients who will pay big money for landscaping, so it’s important to dress the part. Showing up in ratty T-shirts and ripped jeans to bid on jobs won’t get you any work, he says. He also says landscapers are not only bidding against other companies in the industry, but the industry stigmas themselves. There’s this prevailing idea that landscaping is a dirty job done by slobs, he says, and he wants to help buck that trend.

“I want to bring class to this industry. People look down on landscapers,” he says. “When you go to high-end restaurants, people are wearing bow ties. Those are the type of clients that we want. We want people who are going to appreciate and respect landscapers who are dressed well.”

To pull it off, the Ground Works team budgeted somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000 for new uniforms. Stark admits the investment is large, but he says they’ve valued the uniforms greatly enough to justify the expenditure.

Bill Smith, a branch manager at Grassmaster Plus in Massachusetts, acknowledges landscaping is a dirty job. They provide their employees six T-shirts on rotation, so they have a clean shirt to wear each day they work, while giving them the opportunity to wash the clothes on Sundays. In total, it costs them about $2,000 annually.

“You open up your closet and you see your work stuff and the stuff you’re going to wear on the weekend. Why can’t we intersect the two things and be really proud of (your company)?” Joseph Stark, marketing director, Ground Works Land Design

“It’s not a business that you stay clean in, but if you start the day clean… the attitude of the technician is better,” he says. “They identify with the colors, with the uniform itself. And customers have a higher comfort level because they see the truck pull up and the guy get out in full uniform as opposed to the ripped jeans, the hood up, etc.”

Smith estimates Grassmaster does 80% commercial work, so he also reiterates the importance of appearance. In some cases, they actually need to follow state guidelines with their uniforms, as technicians handling chemicals need to wear long sleeves. They wear a moisture-wicking pullover with the logo placed on the breast and on the back, plus some dark green hoodies with the logo on the front and back as well.

When his employees show up for work in the morning, Smith says there’s “definitely a look” he gives them, glancing over each to ensure the uniform is straightened out and looks sharp.

“I look at every employee as they come in,” he says. “They’re not allowed to go out without a belt. They have to have the hat on straight forward. There’s no cutting sleeves or opening up the necklines. (The uniform) has to be as given to them.”

For Smith, it all ties into Nasrallah’s principle belief: If you feel good, you’ll act good, which means the clients will pay good. This year, the average project earned $160,000 at Ground Works, and Nasrallah says part of it had to do with the company’s appearance.

“We want people to look at us as professionals, treat us like professionals and pay us like professionals,” Nasrallah says.

A SEAMLESS START.

Rachel Kukhahn has owned her company, Premier Landcare in the state of Washington, for just over two years, but at previous companies, uniforms were important there, too. She doesn’t want any clients wondering who’s creeping around on their porch or standing in their yards – uniforms bring a sense of identity for the employees.

“I like the clean look of it,” she says. “I like that all of my guys are identifiable on site.”

Kukhahn says she’s a small enough company that she can afford to pay for all of her team’s uniforms, which includes five shirts, five pairs of pants, a hat and a coat. Meanwhile, Nasrallah provides all of their team’s uniforms as well, and he says it costs more to recruit and retain employees than it would be buying uniforms, so he wants to keep all of his roughly 25 employees happy. Smith says he purchases all but the pants for the employees.

“It’s not a business that you stay clean in, but if you start the day clean… the attitude of the technician is better.” Bill Smith, branch manager, Grassmaster Plus in Massachusetts

Smith adds that he understands why some companies have their employees purchase their own uniforms – it can bring an emphasis on keeping those uniforms spotless, for example. But he wants to ensure starting at his company is as seamless as possible.

“It’s no money out of their pocket. A lot of times when we get a new hire and they’re starting on the entry level, they may not have the cash to go out and buy something that we’re pretty much dictating what they’re going to be able to get,” Smith says. “It takes some pressure off of them. They view it as a benefit.”

Replacing the uniforms is something else employers need to consider, as the uniforms go through plenty of wear and tear out in the field. Smith says it’s pretty common that he’ll walk past an employee, take off his beat-up, worn hat, and hand him a new one. Kukhahn says even sun exposure is something to consider, as she replaces a T-shirt or two each year from each employee because the sun washes out their “Seahawks-ish” colors of dark blue and green.

But she doesn’t let ripping uniforms become a reason why employees don’t wear them. She says she’s had to talk with her employees several times over the last two years about making sure the uniform looks good before they head out into the field.

“Trying to enforce the uniform is a challenge at times as well,” Kukhahn says. “I’ve heard a lot of excuses as to why they didn’t wear their uniforms, like the buttons fell off all of his pants, or the seams ripped out of all of his pants. It just gets creative. You name it, it’s been used.”

TAKING IT PERSONALLY.

Stark says uniforms have always been important at Ground Works, but now that they’ve implemented the marketing department, they can make it a focus. He’s been on the staff for less than a year, but he’s noticed in previous pictures that the company has made uniforms a “walking advertisement” for several years prior.

“You open up your closet and you see your work stuff and the stuff you’re going to wear on the weekend,” he says. “Why can’t we intersect the two things and be really proud of (your company)? It comes from this idea of blending work and play.”

Nasrallah says uniforms matter so much to him and the Ground Works team because they take it personally – in a good way.

“They’re representing Ground Works when they’re out there, and their representation is a reflection of who I am and the company culture,” Nasrallah says.

For Smith, uniforms are also about having his team buy in to the company culture. It’s somewhat like an athlete wearing his or her team’s uniform for the first time: Though it’s probably a little less exciting than that, it is fulfilling, especially when the employees are proud to don that company apparel.

“I think when we present that as part of our interview that we supply the uniforms, there’s not a big reaction at the interview process,” Smith says. “Once they’re in and we hand them their uniforms though, it just makes you feel like you’re part of the team.”

In today’s world, business owners are looking to technology to solve their everyday problems and help streamline operations.

Nate Moses, CEO of Precision Landscape Management, in Greenville, S.C., says good labor management software can be one of the most essential tools for a landscaping company.

“Like the CRM that you use for your business, it’s very involved and the more involved you are in it, the more you get out of it,” he says. “You have to utilize it almost on a daily basis to get the most out of it.”

Taking the plunge.

Moses admits he didn’t go looking for a labor management software, and it took him awhile to commit to the investment.

“The product came to us. The salesperson who taught us about it is someone we knew from their previous job,” he says. “He knew the business we were in and knew that labor management was a key part of what we do. We did a lot of our own research, too. It was probably three to four months since he first told us about it before we decided to pull the trigger.”

Daniel Henks, owner of the Missouri-based Earth Effects Outdoor Living, was turned on to his software by a local colleague. After getting the referral, Henks says he made sure to test it with a few members of his team before committing to it.

“We started using (the software) three years ago and had used a few basic types of software before but decided through another local company to give it a try,” he says. “I came to love it pretty quick just because of the efficiency and how things tie together from being out in the field and then coming back to the office and it’s all tied in.”

One of the things Moses says he likes most about his software choice is how tech-forward it is.

“It’s a technology company that handles HR and payroll rather than a HR company trying to use technology,” he says. “We feel like it gives us a lot of advantages on the reporting and predicting side that traditional payroll and HR software has not.”

Getting it together.

Moses and Henks both say the process of implementing the new software was time-consuming but well worth it.

“Obviously, there’s a huge learning curve,” Henks says. “I still say I’m not using it to its full potential because there’s so much you can integrate and automate, and I just haven’t had the time to fully use it. But, even at using it to 35 to 50% of its capacity, I still find it to be a huge value.”

Onboarding the new software took Moses’ company about two months to complete.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into it,” he says. “The process for us started with our office manager really spearheading the project. When you’re implementing something new, I think it’s really important that one person owns the project.”

After getting it set up, the next step is introducing it to the masses.

“When we rolled it out to the company, it was a tiered rollout,” Moses says. “There were three or four weeks where we rolled out specific things. And that went very, very well since it was planned intentionally.”

Henks says his software came with a convenient way for his crews to learn it on their own time.

“There were training videos galore, so you could have your staff watch videos on their phones even to see how it works,” he says. “That saved a lot of time.”

And after training the staff, the next step was encouraging employees to utilize it. Henks says he let employees practice using the new technology for a few weeks before they officially went “live” with it. This way they felt more confident using it when the time came.

“The biggest challenges were getting it set up the right way…and then training both the office and guys in the field. There’s different levels in people’s ability when it comes to technology,” Henks says. “Young people gravitate to it really quick and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner, and the older generation says, ‘I don’t want this new thing. And how in the world am I supposed to learn this?’”

When it came to those older employees, Henks says he allowed more time for training and knew some hiccups might occur during the early stages. But, he says they continued working with those employees.

Moses says the software was well received at Precision.

“I’d give the reception an eight out of 10,” he says. “People are typically resistant to change, but there was enough frustration with our previous software that they were a little more open to the change.”

Reaping the benefits.

Moses says the advantages of labor management software are endless.

“We’ve been using it now for about six months,” he says. “It’s made our payroll process shorter. It has made reporting for our team members better, and it’s made our team members more involved in the process.”

Communication is always key, and Moses says the software has made it a breeze.

“It allows us to do things like make company announcements and schedule company events,” he says. “Some other features it has is that you can survey your staff on different things…and you can also link it with Indeed and other job-tracking software.”

But Moses says there’s one special feature that really sold him.

“The technology, once you’ve used it for a while, can help predict what employees may not be satisfied in their position based on your turnover trends and other common things,” he says. “It has GPS and looks at where people are driving from, how long they’ve been in the company, how long they’ve been in this role and who their supervisor is. It looks at all these different factors and tries to predict that employee’s long-term success at the company and prompts you to proactively have a chat with that person.”

For Henks, the labor management software is all about saving time.

“It’s a lot more efficient. It takes care of a lot of the things that you’d have to bring paper into the office for and enter,” he says. “I also use it for marketing some and could use that heavier.”

Henks says other perks include a customer portal for online payments and he’s able to keep an eye on crews out in the field.

Embracing the times.

The pair believe that the software, and technology in general, is necessary to keep their companies moving forward.

“Like anything in life, you have to keep up with changes or you get left behind,” Henks says. “One of the reasons I like technology is because I like things to be seamless. I’m not a huge company, there’s 15 of us on average, we don’t have the time to do lots of extra things. Anything I can do to push the processes through faster is important.”

Moses says he recognizes that some may be hesitant of the expense but staying stagnant in business could be even more costly.

“When you’re analyzing software you really have to not think about what the expense is but what additional efficiencies you can get out of your business when you do implement it,” he says.

Lawn maintenance contractors have numerous mower attachments at their disposal, but a few stand out for their potential to drive both productivity and sales.

Dethatching during spring cleanup.

In Fort Atkinson, Wis., Rob Amadon of Rock River Lawn Care has been using an easy-to-install dethatcher on his front-mount zero-turn mower. This attachment simply hangs on the front of the deck.

“The way it is set up, I dethatch and mow at the same time,” Amadon says. “For the first pass over a lawn, I set the deck to around 3.5 inches with the dethatcher attached. Then I lift the dethatcher off, drop the deck a half-inch, and go over the lawn one more time. The mower’s integrated grass-catching system sucks everything up.”

Spring dethatching is a natural service add-on for existing maintenance customers. Amadon approaches it differently, though. Almost all of his spring dethatching customers are people he does not mow for.

Since Amadon catches his grass clippings, the properties he mows do not have heavy thatch buildup. So Amadon tends to pick up dethatching customers who use mowing contractors that do not bag. That’s an entirely new income stream to help kick off the season.

Up in the Northeast, spring dethatching is also a great opportunity for lawn maintenance contractors. Manny Carlino, owner of M&R Landscape & Design in Westfield, N.J., never had much luck with manufacturer-supplied dethatching units, though. So, he created his own.

“We’ve never found a more efficient way to clean up a lawn in the spring.” Manny Carlino, owner of M&R Landscape & Design

“I found that the dethatching unit that hangs on the front of the mower deck had really stiff tines,” Carlino says. “It did a good job of raking the lawn maybe too good. When we used them, they really scratched into the soil and kicked up a lot of dirt. A lot of that dirt got ingested into the blower fan on the mower which caused all kinds of problems.”

Carlino rigged up an alternative roughly 10 years ago. His crews have been using it ever since. The homemade dethatching attachment consists of six 24-inch leaf rake heads mounted to a frame made of square stock metal.

That frame attaches to a bracket that mounts on the front of the mower deck. The rake heads are positioned so that the shaft would be pointing away from the front of the mower. This allows the rake heads to rake the lawn while the mower drives forward.

“This does an excellent job of raking without kicking up so much dirt,” Carlino says. “The dethatcher can be easily raised and lowered as needed by a rope from the operator’s seat.”

To be precise, Carlino says his creation really can’t be referred to as a dethatcher. It is just a highly efficient, mower-propelled rake.

“We perform this service for all of our customers during spring cleanups,” Carlino says. “The attachment rakes up all the little gumballs and sticks that the mower won’t suck up. The tiny sticks get stuck in the tines. So, when the mower operator gets to one end of the lawn, he lifts the rake with the rope and gives it a little shake, so the sticks fall out.

“When the raking is completed, another employee goes out and manually rakes up those two windrows of sticks. We’ve never found a more efficient way to clean up a lawn in the spring.”

Fall leaves and aeration.

Rick Roulo, owner of Lawn Beautician in Hopewell, Va., says he could never find a bagging attachment that worked well with a riding mower. The wet leaves he needed to clean up in the fall kept clogging the chutes. A highly skilled mechanic, Roulo even tried rigging up some contraptions of his own. After a couple years of repeated trial and error, he gave up on the idea of bagging leaves with a mid-mount zero-turn.

“I decided that the most efficient way to do leaf cleanup was to get them into piles and suck them up with a big leaf vac,” Roulo says. Roulo’s crews tried walk-behind blowers, which worked very well. A better method proved to be a mower-mounted blade. “It was important that the blade was heavy-duty and could spring back a little, just like a snowplow,” Roulo says.

Roulo looks to one other mower attachment to help deliver fall services. Once again, after a lot of trial and error with different styles, he settled on a pull-behind drum aerator.

“We provide aeration services to the majority of our customers,” Roulo says. “By pulling a drum aerator behind a mower, we actually mow and aerate at the same time. So, we don’t really have any additional labor involved with aeration, at least on our large-acreage properties where we use the pull-behind.”

Additionally, Roulo says his pull-behind drum aerators are low-cost.

More opportunities. Having a variety of attachments at your disposal can help you increase your client base.

“They are just big barrels filled with water,” Roulo says. “The tines themselves are core-type spikes. These aerators run and run and don’t seem to break. Other aerator attachments I’ve tried only lasted a few years.

“But these aerator barrels we use now will last until you’re dead. The design is just really simple. The only moving parts are two bearings. If a spike happens to break off, which is pretty rare, you can just weld it right back on.”

Snow removal.

Back up in Wisconsin, Amadon gets additional mileage out of his mower during the winter. He mounts a snowblower to his front-mount mower to make faster work of residential driveways.

“To make this work, it was really important to find a snowblower that was just the right size,” Amadon says. “With many of my residential accounts, quite a bit of sidewalk goes with the driveway. A lot of commercial-grade snowblower attachments are at least 60 inches. The one I use is only 42 inches, which is perfect for sidewalks.”

Weighing attachment alternatives.

Josh Doebert, owner of Atlantic Landscape Management in Chesapeake, Va., had used various mower attachments earlier in his career. But as of late, he just uses dedicated machines to dethatch, aerate and seed.

“We are performing those types of services for a lot of clients now,” Doebert says. “We prefer the convenience of just loading a dedicated machine onto a trailer. Taking attachments on and off all of the time can be a hassle.”

In the event that add-on services are performed intermittently, Doebert says renting could be a good option. Attachments require storage space, which a landscape contractor may not have. Renting a durable, dedicated machine could prove to be the most productive and cost-effective solution.

Productivity and cost-effectiveness are what it all comes down to. Sometimes a mower attachment is the answer – especially if it lets you put a mower back into production during “off” times of year.

More importantly, if an attachment helps you deliver services better, faster and more efficiently, there is no stronger argument to be made for having it.

The author is a freelance writer based in Wisconsin.