What's Changed at ReedMow: The Last 45 Days

Where it started

This business was started with almost nothing, with my growth as a person being the driver of its growth. I started this after the death of my mom years ago and a lack of traditional support. I didn't have a truck, and I didn't have a fallback.

Why this update exists

Most people only hear from their lawn care company when the price goes up. Equipment breaks, schedules slip, and nobody explains why.

When you pay for service, part of that goes back into the business. Here's where it went over the past 45 days.

What affects your property

I've replaced or upgraded all equipment.

1. New weed eater, Echo SRM 225This is one of the lightest commercial weed eaters available. It handles extreme heat and rough sections of yards very well.
2. A new blade edger, Echo PE 225A sturdy, easy-to-use blade edger that makes light work of overgrown edges at the front of the property.
3. A new leaf blower, also an Echo.
4. New parts and upgrades for the Toro TimeMasterIncluding full metal pulleys to reduce belt stress, preventative maintenance, and tools that cut repair time.

All of these improvements were long overdue and necessary as ReedMow continues to grow. I took the last few months to prioritize improving service quality without time loss or additional expense to any of you.

What this means for you: cleaner edges, fewer delays, and no change to your price.

Website User Experience

You may have noticed some changes.

Full Site Improvement

The site size tripled in March, and little was done to improve it. It was due for an update. What followed over the past two months has been every page on the site getting long-overdue improvements.

The changes that you can see are a cleaner UX, easier access to reviews, and additional service offerings. Articles that were initially written by AI were stripped and rewritten by real people qualified to speak on the subject matter.

All of this is done to make ReedMow an easy provider to recommend to friends and family, and to make it so people can look around at everything at their own pace without needing to call if they don't want to.

Visually Impaired Accessibility

I put the site through an accessibility audit, using a tool called WAVE, which stands for Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools. Initially, the site performed pretty poorly due to a lack of alt text on images, misaligned headers, and poor word and background contrast.

From there, I spent a full day making improvements to the entire site based on the extensive audit. Every page was worked on, bringing the page average to a 9/10 for accessibility.

If you are a customer covering the service for a family member who uses a screen reader to navigate the web, our site now works much better with screen readers.

Sitewide Text Reader

This is more of a quality-of-life feature on the site. Double tap any text on the site to have it read aloud, section by section. Scroll away or tap the stop button in the bottom right to stop it.

Mowing Frequency Quiz

This is something I'm pretty excited about. Know someone deciding between weekly and biweekly service? This 9-question quiz asks direct questions to figure out what their yard actually needs. Work is being done to ensure that this quiz keeps its recommendations correct all year.

What affects the business

• As of Wednesday, October 21, ReedMow has joined the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, now named Fort Bend Regional Partnership.
• I've written for sections of The Spruce, a lawn care/home & garden publisher owned by People Inc., to get the business featured. We have been featured twice, in articles about sod installation and overseeding.
• I've also been on some podcasts. One is currently available on Local Trades, a new podcast mostly about running the business day to day. You're welcome to check it out if you like.
• I've also spoken with the Workforce Commission about connecting qualified applicants with work as the team grows.

Future Plans

The most immediate plans are built around trust, brand awareness, and local community support. The first is a plan to support the Sugar Land Little League as a company sponsor. Other sponsorships and trust signals are being considered as well.

ReedMow is small, but the standard doesn't have to be. Supporting local kids, creating work for qualified people, and building a site everyone can use are all part of raising the bar for what a local lawn care company can be.

Final word

What this business is today is thanks to all of you having faith in what is being built with every service. I don't think I say it enough, but I appreciate all of you.

And while the work never stops, I do want to say thank you to everyone who has trusted the team and me with their property. This year was not an easy one, but I haven't quit, and we're not going anywhere. This industry needs serious operators in it, and that's why ReedMow is here.

Trav Reed

Owner, ReedMow