Upgrading my fall leaf removal

13obrienjo · Jun 6, 2014

I know this is a little early but im already thinking about this falls leaf removal.
In the past it hasn't been a very big part of my business but this year im looking to make some more money in the fall. Normally I just blow all of the leafs into a pile and then use a pitchfork to throw them into a trailer. This isn't very effective.
Im considering buying a leaf vacumm, it looks like billy goat is the big company in this market. I have a 1 ton dump truck that im planning to use. I was thinking about putting the vacumm into a small trailer so i can unhook it when dumping and not having to worry about mounting and unmounting it. Also i could throw all of my rakes and blowers and gas into the trailer and not have to worry about having a second truck with me.
I have found quite a few for sale on Craigslist between 1000$-1500$ for 16 to 18 horse power. Is this a good size or is it like wood chippers were bigger is generally better and you need bigger to be very effiecent. I watched several videos on youtube and the ones on C.L. looked just like what the "pros" were using to clean up huge piles in like 10 minutes. I just don't want to be spending all of this money then have it take just as long as it did before.
Also how much are you guys charging roughly for leaf removal and how long should each yard take me from start to finish, I mostly work in under 1 acre lots in residential/suburban areas. I know it verys by location (I work outside of Lansing Michigan). Also there will be two of us and maybe a third if I end up with lots of work.
Any help would be appriciated, thanks

Howdy Doody · Sep 16, 2014

13obrienjo said:
I know this is a little early but im already thinking about this falls leaf removal.
In the past it hasn't been a very big part of my business but this year im looking to make some more money in the fall. Normally I just blow all of the leafs into a pile and then use a pitchfork to throw them into a trailer. This isn't very effective.
Im considering buying a leaf vacumm, it looks like billy goat is the big company in this market. I have a 1 ton dump truck that im planning to use. I was thinking about putting the vacumm into a small trailer so i can unhook it when dumping and not having to worry about mounting and unmounting it. Also i could throw all of my rakes and blowers and gas into the trailer and not have to worry about having a second truck with me.
I have found quite a few for sale on Craigslist between 1000$-1500$ for 16 to 18 horse power. Is this a good size or is it like wood chippers were bigger is generally better and you need bigger to be very effiecent. I watched several videos on youtube and the ones on C.L. looked just like what the "pros" were using to clean up huge piles in like 10 minutes. I just don't want to be spending all of this money then have it take just as long as it did before.
Also how much are you guys charging roughly for leaf removal and how long should each yard take me from start to finish, I mostly work in under 1 acre lots in residential/suburban areas. I know it verys by location (I work outside of Lansing Michigan). Also there will be two of us and maybe a third if I end up with lots of work.
Any help would be appriciated, thanks

I am not a professional lawn guy and only have to take care of 1/2 acre of residential lawn. My property has an assortment of trees and I tend to get lots of leaves in the fall. What I used to do it blow all of the leaves into piles, then I hook up the vac on my electric blower with a long shop vac hose and blow the mulched bits into the woods in the back part of my property. Kind of slow, but it did a fairly good job as long as twigs and sweet gum balls did not jam the blower or hose. This was just something I came up with on my own since I hate raking leaves. This year I am going to install a bagger and high lift blades on my JD rider, hope this will work better.

Nwcat74 · Sep 16, 2014

I'm not a lawn pro either but do take care of several yards with hard wood trees. My progression on leaf removal is as follows.
Rake leaves into a pile on a large sheet of poly,plastic, then dump into the back of pickup truck to haul off.
The next procedure was to use a gas powered blower/vac. The vac chopped the leaves so I could get more in the truck. This worked good but was time consuming and pretty dusty.
Wanting something faster, I found a pull type Cub Cadet lawn vac with a gas powered blower to use with my Craftsman LT1000 mower.. A very good unit but there are a few things to consider. You need to use this set up in a very large lot, I wasn't able to turn very sharp so a lot of raking was required around buildings, trees, fences etc. Though it did have a dump I still had to handle the leaves again getting them into the truck. It was a fairly big unit so storage was an issue the 50 weeks of the year it wasn't used.
What I've used the past three years is a bagging system with hard baskets for my Craftsman LT1000 riding mower and a flat bed trailer with side boards. Mine has a 42 inch deck and uses a 2 bag system. This works good for me, it's easier to maneuver around trees, I handle the leaves once, faster, my yard gets mowed one last time and most of the time I'm sitting down. A bagging system with more bags/ buckets would cut down time between dumps.

spanky324 · Sep 16, 2014

I got a free used pickup bed liner- rake them into it and pull to the back of my yard (woods)with my quad or tractor!!Works great!!

Parkmower · Sep 16, 2014

We use a tail gate mounted billy goat vac on the back of a 1 ton dump. It has a twin cylinder briggs on it, not sure of hp. We built a box for the truck out of wood. It does a very good job. Only clogs when leaves are soaked. Hose is about 16" diameter. It does shred the leaves up well. But when it's time to dump its a pain. After removing back of the box you have to push the leaves in so you can undo the large wing nuts holding it onto the tailgate. Then it takes two people to lift it off while standing on a table or cart.
Other than the dump part the system works fantastic. And it is very dusty/dirty.

TaskForceLawnCare · Sep 16, 2014

I'm using clamshell baggers, billy goat VAC's, backpack blowers and the dump trailer. only real upgrade is the clamshell baggers.

DWTools · Sep 22, 2014

TaskForceLawnCare said:
I'm using clamshell baggers, billy goat VAC's, backpack blowers and the dump trailer. only real upgrade is the clamshell baggers.

Added a power lift to dump a Leaf Vac trailer. Worker with cerebral palsy (CP) can only use one arm, and it is wearing out from dumping the leaf trailer 50 times per day.

deroguer · Sep 23, 2014

We began by bagging leaves for large yards and leaving the clear bags for the City to pick up. No fun at all! Think 55 - 121 litre bags, phew!
We had a utility trailer 5X7, so we bought a Little Wonder 18 HP Vanguard twin. We mounted it slightly forward of the axle, with a 10 inch 10 foot hose coming out in the front between trailer and the rear of the truck. It has some room at the rear for rolling up a couple mowers and a power rake.
The truck we used was a 3/4 ton GMC with a plywood box with screens to allow air to flow through. Really good but too small, had to be taken to the dump by 1:30, and then unloaded by hand for 30 minutes of dusty work.
Last winter we bought a used Ford F350 SD truck that had an 11 cu ft steel box and dump with 2500 lb capacity. It had been used by an arborist to blow wood chips from the chipper. Now it can take a couple days worth of leaves before going to the compost at the dump to be recycled. We drop the trailer at home base and go to the dump with the truck. The dump hoist takes about 30 seconds, the maximum we unloaded was 1950 lbs of leaves and debris.

We typically blow the leaves into a portable doggie pen stretched out like a fence, near the truck & trailer connection, then when all leaves are there, including those brought from far in/on a tarp, then start the Little Wonder. The mountain of leaves the size of a truck is sucked up in 3 minutes. Sticks can cause a problem. I would opt for larger engine and hose length and diameter. Four out of five for the Little Wonder.

That is the ultimate leaf set up.

johnstern · Sep 27, 2014

I am just a home owner, not a commercial landscaper.

I have an older 25hp Walker mower with the GHS. I just drive the Walker across the lawn as if I were mowing and the Walker sucks up all the leaves and chops them so they take up less space. I then dump the Walker in our compost.

My wife and I also clean up our flower and vegetable gardens by removing annual plants and cutting off perennials. We then take what we have removed and make long low piles. I drive the Walker over these piles and it sucks up everything-sometimes a couple of passes are needed. Then it's off to the compost for more dumps.

The Walker has totally changed my life. No more raking and no more carting wheel barrow loads of Fall garden debris to the compost.

Lawnboy18 · Sep 27, 2014

Depends on the yard.

If there arent too many leaves, I blow them onto the lawn. Then, I just mow with the bagger to collect them all.
If there a lot I just blow them in a corner and put them in paper yard waste bags. The city collects all organic material (grass, leaves, branches, weeds...) every week.

Upgrading my fall leaf removal

More options

13obrienjo

Forum Newbie

Howdy Doody

Active Member

Nwcat74

Forum Newbie

spanky324

Member

Parkmower

Well-Known Member

TaskForceLawnCare

Well-Known Member

DWTools

Forum Newbie

deroguer

Forum Newbie

johnstern

Forum Newbie

Lawnboy18

Lawn Addict

Footer Links 1

Footer Links 2