JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) – With the price of fuel higher than it’s been in years, even lawn care comes at a higher cost these days.
Leap of Faith Lawn Care owner Brian Coggins is based in Jonesborough. He’s having to figure out how to cope with those high prices just as the busiest season of the year kicks off for him.
“When gas prices are high, and parts are high, and mowers are higher, your profit just goes way down,” Coggins said. “Already, profit margin wasn’t real, real high.”‘
Coggins said last year around the same time of year he could fill his truck up for about $74, but Friday it took $113.
“When you have to mow for a living, you pay for your vehicle to get the mowers from place to place,” Coggins said. “Then you have to pay on top of that to pay for the gas in it, and that’s just not your mowers, that’s your two-cycle equipment, you know, weed eaters, blowers and things like that.”
One way Coggins saves on gas is by keeping his customers within a 30 mile radius. He said charging his customers more is not something he wants to do, but he will have to if there’s no relief soon.
Travis Hunt with Absolute Lawn Care based in Johnson City said he simply can’t ask for more money from some of his customers.
“Some of my customers are they’re on a fixed income, and they are literally paying me you know all they can afford,” Hunt said. “I either have to mow it at that price or drop them, and I don’t want to do that because of lot of my customers have been loyal to me.”
Hunt and his crew service around 50 lawns a week plus a few commercial properties. He said getting through the last time gas prices spiked was difficult.
“It almost put me out of business,” Hunt said. “So, I’m hoping that with the customers that I can rely upon then maybe we can get through this until you know things get better.”