FEATURE: Cutting Edge Mowers

Student lawn mowing businesses boom during beginning of spring

Taylor Stone

Sophomore Jeremiah Jones works hard while mowing lawns to make money for the summer. “Mowing lawns is a great and easy summer job for high school students,” Jones said.

Maeve Nichols

As summer is starting and classes are coming to an end, students are searching for ways to make some cash. For sophomore Spencer Wheat, mowing lawns has been a big part of his life for eight years now. Wheat was young when he started mowing, and now independently runs his own business. 

“I started from nothing, taught myself everything I know,” Wheat said. 

His business, All City Lawn & Landscape, has been an official business for two years in the state of Kansas. Wheat expressed how transforming as a young business man going from nothing to having loyal clients is quite an advance. He has been networking with his workers and clients for years now, and building that up was major progress for him.

For sophomore Jeremiah Jones, he has been mowing lawns for three years now, volunteering for his fathers company: Jones Mowing. 

When first starting a business, getting clients to start coming to your business may be a big task. 

“This summer is going to get pretty busy, I doubled my client load by taking on a commercial subcontracting job,” Wheat said. 

Making this step for Wheat is a big step for his smaller business. There are many seasons in Kansas ranging for lawn care. The busiest times of the year for these businesses are the fall and summer. 

“I am super busy in the fall but in the summer we have about thirty yards to cover,” Jones said. 

With the summer coming up, these businesses have goals they want to reach. Both Wheat and Jones said they hope to benefit themselves, their business and the clients they have. 

“I always want to keep growing my business and continue making my clients satisfied,” Wheat said. 

Settling into these swamped seasons of working, it may be difficult to get into the flow. Going from not much work in the winter months to 10 hour days can be a big jump according to Wheat and Jones. 

“Definitely the first month or so of mowing season, it’s hard to get settled into working close to full time,” Jones said. 

To get these services, there are lots of different tasks to be done and equipment to be used. The cost of these services differs from each yard and workers on the job. 

“I have one full time employee who works circles around me, and some other college kids who help on big time jobs,” Wheat said. 

This upcoming spring, these two students are working hard to make their summer full of mowing lawns.