← Profits with Pajak
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Question. How much revenue does your equipment generate in a season? $5,000? $20,000? $50,000? I mean, for some of you listening, a single mower or a spreader sprayer might be responsible for producing well over six figures in revenue every year. Now let me ask you something else. How's your maintenance going? Because if we're honest, many business owners will spend $20,000 on equipment and then neglect the $5 worth of maintenance that keeps it alive. So today we're going to be talking about one of the simplest ways to maximize your return on investment and keep your equipment making money instead of sitting in a repair shop.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Yardbook, the all in one CRM for your lawn care business. And as an exclusive partner of this podcast, you can get started today and begin simplifying your business and maximizing your profits. Sign up now@yardbook.com the link is in. The show notes Time now for Profits with Paycheck, an essential podcast for you in the green industry who are looking to unlock the full potential of your business. Hosted by John Pajac, your certified financial coach, the show features in depth discussions with successful entrepreneurs, thought leaders and industry experts providing practical advice and proven strategies on financial planning, operations, marketing and sales. Profits with Paycheck has valuable insights and action steps that you can implement today for creating long term success. Now here's John Paj.
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Welcome to Profits with Paycheck, the podcast where we dive into business strategies and financial insights for the green industry. I'm your host, John Pajak and today we're going to bring back a technical Tuesday episode. It's an oldie but a goodie. The reason for it is right now. You know, we were in spring, but we're in the transition time to going into summer. Equipment is running longer hours, the temperatures are starting to climb, dust is everywhere, grass is thick, and you know, production demands are high. And your equipment is being asked to perform under some of the harshest conditions it's going to see all year. And the difference between a machine that lasts 1500 hours and one that lasts 3000 hours comes down to maintenance habits. So today I want to share some simple practices that can really improve your equipment reliability, reduce your downtime, and help you squeeze every ounce of profit out of your investment. So let's get into it. First thing, we gotta understand what your equipment is going through right now. Before we even talk about maintenance, let's just talk about these machine what these machines are actually dealing with. Because most commercial lawn equipment uses air cooled Machines. Unlike your truck, which has coolant, a radiator, a thermostat, and fans that help regulate the temperature, most lawn equipment relies on airflow moving across the cooling fins. Now, I know there's gonna be some reason, like, hey, I got a machine that's, you know, liquid cooled engine and. Or I got a diesel engine on it. It's like a liquid coolant. Yeah, I get it. I totally understand. Those are options, but for a large majority of operators out there, we're dealing with air cooled engines. So, you know, hold your pants on there, smokey. Okay, so now you got to think about where these engines operate. You know, they're in direct sunlight, they're surrounded by dust and debris and the grass clippings and things like that. Right. You know, we're talking, we're talking about mowers. We're definitely talking about, like some of the dirtiest, most severe conditions you could put an engine through and not on. On top of that, they're running like 8 or 10 or sometimes 12 hours a day. You know, the air temperature might be 90 degrees, but the engine compartment or the engine area can be significantly higher. You know, it used to be mower engines were very well exposed, and now things are getting. They're still exposed to the elements. They're not encased in anything really. They don't have a hood. But at the same time, there's all these other things that are being surrounded and they help generate heat, they help keep the heat in there, which is not a good thing for an engine. And everything inside that engine is under stress. You know, the oil is working harder. The bearings and the seals, they're all working harder. The hydraulic systems are getting pushed to their limits. You know, if you understand the environment these machines operate in, it becomes obvious why maintenance matters. And I'll say this over and over again. Engine oil is cheap, engines aren't. If there's one thing I wish every operator understood is the engine oil is not simply lubrication. The engine oil is also cooling. It's cleaning. The engine oil is protecting everything. Every hour your machine runs, contaminants are building up inside that crankcase. Heat is breaking down that oil. The additive package is being depleted, and the viscosity of that oil begins to change. And the crazy thing is, I still hear, I just. The other. Just at the gas station, I was just filling up one of the trucks and these two guys are just bragging about how long they've gone without changing the oil. And they just kept saying, yeah, I'm just Topping it off. It's, it's, it's fine. It's got oil in it. It's good. It's like, yeah, if it's got oil in it, it's better than no oil. But that's not something to brag about. You know, a commercial engine that is, are on these mowers or on these spreader sprayer machines, they could easily cost thousands of dollars. You know, an oil change, it costs a fraction of that. So I mean, obviously before you fire anything up, change, you know, just check the oil levels daily, you know, and then change the oil according to the manufacturer recommendations. I'm sure if you've, you've ever bought a brand new machine, not only do you get the operator's manual for the machine itself, it doesn't matter what color it is. Could be orange, red, blue, yellow, I don't care. Any of them. You know, it doesn't. You'll also get the specific engine owner's manual because the same line of equipment can have multiple options. You know, dealer or, you know, manufacturer a might have two or three different engine options. And it's not worth them putting it into their owner's manual. They say, hey, just refer to the engine owner's manual because things change, you know, Anyway, look at that manual. Read that one. Whatever oil they suggest in that or whatever maintenance, I would, I would go with that one. And honestly, if you're operating in severe conditions, which most of us are, I would consider shortening those intervals because that oil you change today might save an engine tomorrow. Another thing, and this is the silent killer, it's dirty cooling systems. Like I said, we don't have thermostats and radiators and liquid cooled engines for most of this stuff. One of the most overlooked maintenance items is cleaning those engine cooling systems now. Grass clippings and dust and debris, they build up around like the cooling fins and the screens and the flywheel, the flywheel shroud. You know, most of these engines, they have access ports around the flywheel. There are these little plates, and they're not just there for cosmetics or anything. They're literally there so that you could. It helps you blow out all that debris that kind of gets sucked in on that top spinny part. Okay, I'm just gonna. That's the flywheel area. Okay. That not only helps cool the engine because it is constantly spinning around, but that area that surrounds it, that black Pratt or the plastic shroud that's around there has air flow through it, right? But a lot of times, grass clippings get caught up in there and you got to clean them out. Otherwise, if you get a bird's nest up in there, man, you know, the engine might, the engine is still going to run. It still might sound normal. But the temperatures start climbing, man, and that, and the heat is the enemy of longevity. Every degree of excess heat accelerates the wear. So I encourage you to just spend a few minutes a day just blowing off the equipment. I mean, you've already got, probably got a backpack blower strapped on your back, one you're done with mowing. Before you start cleaning off the property, why don't you just knock off all the debris that's building up on, on the deck or in the engine area, hydraulic area, because, you know, if you could just take a couple seconds just to, you know, hit those cooling screens, you know, hit those fins, that five minute, not even five minute, but that, that little routine could add years of life to an engine. So before we continue, let me take a quick break and we'll be right back. Back when I was getting my lawn care business off the ground, I was juggling routes, invoices and customer notes with paper and prayers. It was chaos until I found Yardbook. Yardbook gave me the structure. It helped me track chemicals, route efficiently, invoice faster, and most importantly, it helped me grow a profitable business. If you're tired of duct taping your systems Together, go to yardbook.com and sign up for free. And if you're ready to go premium, use promo code PAYJACK to get your first 30 days on me.
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Are you mowing lawns, running crews, and still wondering where all the money went? You're not alone. Naylor Taliaferro of LCR Media has been there. And that's exactly why he created Profit Accelerator Live. Join Naylor and expert speakers John Pajak and Eric Triplett for two powerful days of hands on workshops designed specifically for lawn care and landscaping business owners in Richmond, Virginia, June 26th and 27th. This isn't a conference where you'll sit in the back and take notes. You'll leave with an actual business plan in hand, knowing exactly what to charge, how to manage your time, and how to attract better customers. Tickets are just $299, but right now you can bring a partner or a fellow business owner free with our two for one special. Tickets are just $299, but right now you can bring a partner or fellow business owner free with our 2 for 1 special. Only 75 spots are available and they will fill up fast. Use the link in the show description or go to profitacceleratorlive.com to secure your spot today. Today. Put more money in the bank and more time in your schedule with profit Accelerator Live.
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Man, I'll tell you, you know, here, you know, I start thinking about what I used to go through with when we had our mowing division. And again, your equipment doesn't care how many lawns are on the schedule. It doesn't care that you're behind because of rain. It doesn't care that you got 10 more stops to make. Machines will eventually demand maintenance, and you could either schedule it on your own terms or they're going to schedule it for you. So that just reminds me of, you know, like your, your air filters, right? Those are the lungs of your equipment. Because if, if oil is the blood of your engine, the air filter are its lungs. And an engine breathes an enormous amount of air. And every bit of t, Every bit of dust that gets past that filter becomes an abrasive contaminant. And I've seen operators spend thousands of dollars rebuilding engines that were getting slowly destroyed by, like, dirt and sand. And this is why it's so important to inspect your filters regularly. Most commercial, most commercial mowers, if you notice, they have these dual canister filters nowadays. You know, they're not like the old school single pleat kind of like how a car filter is. They literally have an outer canister and an internal canister. Now, the outside one, that's the one that is going to get replaced more often, while that middle one or the central one, that one doesn't need to be replaced as much. But you just got to, you know, clean them according to the manufacturer guidelines. And then when it's necessary, go ahead and replace them. And never assume that they're just fine because the machine is still running. Or you, you pick them up and you look, oh, yeah, that looks fine a lot of times over. You know what happens over time is that media, even if you try to blow them out and everything, it still has stuff just ingrained in it. And you can't necessarily blow it out completely. So you could try to extend the life of like, say, the outer filter by doing that. But the second you start to notice I don't really listen to music or anything. I have my earplugs in. I know what my engines sound like when I'm running them. And the thing is, it's like if I, I could tell when the filter's starting to get clogged up or not running Optimally. And the thing is, it's like you just, just never assume that it, just because the engine's running, it's fine. You gotta like listen for it sometimes, you know, because when, you know, whatever it happens, whenever your performance actually starts to drop, you feel like the controls are a little sluggish or the engine's not idling where it should be or you know, operating where it should, that damage has already probably occurred. You know, it doesn't take much for sand to get through, you know, a gap or an old filter that might have actually have a perforation in it. And then next thing you know, you know, your engine, your cylinder heads start getting scores in them or you know, just wear and tear things. Valves aren't closing properly. That's, that's the whole reason, you know, we want to protect that valve train and that piston right there. But anyway, moving on to hydraulics. You know, a lot of us, we pay attention to that engine oil but we completely ignore the hydraulics. And on most modern commercial mowers that hydraulic system is often the most expensive part on that machine because I mean, it consists of wheel motors, you got hydro pumps, you got hydraulic reservoirs, you've got the hoses and the fittings, you got the filters. That system is pretty expensive to repair and it's a closed system. So you know, it's not like things are going to get into it. But you do have to check it because the caps have vents on them and they do have, you know, they need to vent. You know, that's an area where the hydraulics can get contaminated. Another thing is with overheating we're going back to, you know, make sure you blow off the machines. There's a friend of mine, local, you know, friend pettitor here, he had a machine that his guys weren't cleaning off and literally it was a sit down ztr. And the fans that blow on the, on the hydro pumps were so caked that the like, it was just like a column of grass clippings and the hydraulics were overheating. The fans got jammed up because they couldn't move because of all the clippings and everything had huge issues. You know, not only did it have issues with the hydraulic system, but the engine itself was overheating and it was a big deal. It was really expensive repair for him. So I mean the thing is these systems are very expensive to repair. So check your hydraulic oil levels, your, inspect for leaks, you know, check, change the filters when you need to. And then really the biggest thing is Follow those service intervals, because even if you're, you know, you're perfect with it, okay? If you hear an unusual, like, sound, a whine, or, you know, there's a bit of sluggish performance, those are signs that something's probably wrong with your hydraulic system. And those failures rarely appear out of nowhere. There's almost always warning signs first. So if you start hearing, you know, like, you know, when you hit on the. That lever, you know, you're pushing on the sticks or, you know, you say you got a spreader, sprayer, same thing, you know, you start hearing the. The hydraulics, wine. Might be time to check that fluid, make sure you got no leaks hanging around. Make sure those fluids are topped off. Because I'll tell you what, that is one system that's very, very expensive to replace. Now, here's a little tip. If you really want to maximize the ROI from your equipment, grease it. Oh, my goodness, what a shock. You mean that's what all those little grease zerks are all over my machines? That's what those are for. Yeah. I'm telling you, Greece is one of the cheapest insurance policies you'll ever buy. Seriously. Because one, it's super affordable. You know, it's. You buy a tube of grease, and even if you use it on a daily basis, it will. You get a lot of. You get a lot of. Get a little mileage out of that grease. Okay? The thing is that grease protects some of the most expensive wear points on your machine. You know, think of the. The caster pivots where your wheels are on articulated machines. I've got several articulated machines where that central pivot point, if you don't grease that up, it wears out. And then the. The connection gets loose. And guess what? After a while, you're going to have to replace that. That pivot point. Look at your deck spindles, you know, your lift mechanisms. If, you know, with your. Say it's. Your deck raising lower, you know, you're using that a lot. You know, you're getting on and off the machine. You're getting on and off the trailer. You know, you pull. You pull that back, you don't even think about it, right? But that, that joint needs to be greased. Your. Think of your linkages, your. Your wheel bearings, just all these things a few pumps of grease can prevent. Thousands of dollars in repairs, and you're like, what? Pay jack? I mean, come on, it's not that much. I'm like, well, if you're running one machine, hey, it might be a couple hundred bucks. You add another couple machines to it, you have a fleet of machines, then we're talking some big bucks. So just develop a routine and make it part of, you know, the weekly schedule. And I'll tell you what is just being consistent is just, it's much, it's sexier than having to rebuild the, the bearings in your casters and stuff like that. I mean, honestly, I know it's like, oh, this is a cool job. You know, maybe, maybe you're not a gearhead or something. But the thing is, it's just, it's boring, it's mundane. But I'm telling you what, just a couple pumps squirt couple squirts of grease into a zerk here and there, it just, it saves you so much time, saves you so much headache down the road. Now, here's something that is more of a modern problem for us. Modern fuel creates a challenge that our dads and our granddads didn't face. And I'm talking about all equipment, especially small equipment, but we have ethanol in our fuel. Ethanol attracts moisture, and then the fuel can degrade. Then you get carburetors that come up or you got fuel systems that get contaminated. So whenever you, you know, always use fresh fuel. But I know a lot of us have to store it, and here's the key thing, you got to store it properly. A lot of times we'll fill up a tank and we'll leave it, and it's like, oh, yeah, that's our backup. And we never end up, you know, using the backup fuel. And you know, especially in the summer, you know, it gets hot, the tank might, if it's not vented properly, the tank might, you know, expand quite a bit. And at that same night, you know, the cool temperature gets so cool, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, you know, the fuel tank, the five gallon fuel tank, like, sucks in on itself, you know, you know what I'm talking about? That means, you know, one of two things. It's probably not properly ventilated and it's probably in a place that's gonna accelerate how bad, how quick it goes bad. So, you know, make sure that those things are sealed. I prefer not to use them. But, you know, a lot of times people will say, you know, use fuel stabilize, stabilizers to extend how long you could sit there. But in the perfect world, I would try to find ethanol free fuel. It costs a little bit more, but it runs way nicer in your equipment. It. You have very little problems with it. You don't get things gummed up with it as much, you'd have to let it sit there for a very, very long time compared to, like, ethanol fuel. But anyway, the crazy thing is, you know, a lot of equipment problems blamed. Blamed on bad engines are actually just fuel problems. So, you know, with that being said, you know, one thing I've learned over the years is that maintenance is never convenient. You know, nobody wakes up excited to grease fittings or change oil or cleaning the cooling fins or whatever. But I've also learned something else. Downtime is far more inconvenient. When a machine breaks down in the middle of a production production day, you lose production, you lose revenue, you lose momentum, Sometimes you lose customers. And the operators that consistently get the most life out of their equipment are usually not the lucky ones. You know, they're the disciplined ones. They treat lawn maintenance or, excuse me, they treat their engine maintenance and equipment maintenance as part of production, not something separate of it, you know. So here are a couple takeaways that you could use to get the best return on your investment. 1. Just inspect your equipment before you operate it. Spend five minutes every morning checking the fluids, looking at, you know, your air filter, look for leaks, and just the overall machine condition. Okay, simple. Doesn't take long. Keep it cool and keep it clean. You know, blow off your equipment daily. You know, especially all those, you know, anything that's around the engine and around the hydraulic components, get. Keep that stuff clear and then just follow the maintenance schedule. The oil changes, hydraulic services, the filter replacement in greasings, they should be planned events, not like emergency reactions. So, you know, when we think about it, you spend a ton of money on equipment. It's not just one piece that you have to take care of. I mean, I understand it's a whole fleet of things that you have to take care of. You've got your, you know, your, Your stick equipment, your. Your trimmers, your blowers, your mowers, the. All these things, you know, but you spent. It's one of the largest investments in your business, and it generates revenue every single day. So treat it like the asset it is that. So just take some time this week. Spend an extra like 30 minutes performing maintenance on your equipment. Just check the oil, inspect the fittings, clean the cooling systems, look for leaks. Because the goal isn't just getting through the season. The goal is getting many profitable seasons out of every single machine that you own. So until next time, I hope you enjoyed this. God bless. Keep pushing through and we'll catch you on the next one. Thank you once again for listening. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with fellow business owners. Your support means the world to me and helps keep the show going strong. I want to give a special shout out to our friends at Yardbook. Their continued support has been instrumental in bringing this podcast to you week after week. If you haven't checked them out yet, visit yardbook.com and see how they can give you the tools to streamline and manage your lawn care business. Also, don't forget to explore the resources and upcoming events that I've collected just for you in the show Notes. These are curated to help you stay ahead in your business with the latest tips, tools and networking opportunities. Whether it's a new tool, an insightful article, or an event you don't want to miss, I've got you covered. Until next time, keep pushing through and God bless.
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Sam.