Field Up-keep
 

Our local club has a grass only field. We are concidering different methosds of field care. One of the options was hiring a service to mow the grass on a weekly basis. We currently have a few club members that volunteer to do it. What are you guys doing? Anyone using a service? If so, What are the details of the deal?




Cliff

field mowing
 

Cliff:

We have a 10 acre site in the country with both a grass (40 x 600) and asphalt (40x400) runway. Of the 10 acres, we mow about 7. For some time we had it professionally mowed weekly from mid-April thru September (pretty much grass growing season here in Oklahoma). Our costs were running $4.,200 to $4,700 per year. Two years ago we bit the bullet and bought a commercial Kubota Zero-Turn diesel mower for $9,000. Best investement we ever made.

Commercial mowing is OK but the companies we used all had a specific mowing day in the contract. They mowed rain or shine (yes, they would mow wet grass). If we had an event and wanted the field mowed closer to the event we usually could not get it done. Our contracts were annual and some years the current company would not re-bid the mowing contract. We could not find a company that would enter a multi-year mowing contract - even with price escalators.

Mowing results were very good however; and they did pick up and clean up grass and clippings.

It was hard to get them to mow the grass runway as close as we like (1 to 1/1/2 inch). The reason most often given was that their mowers really didn't cut that low or were not made for close cutting. We think the real reason was more along the lines that in order to mow short they had to slow down too much and time is money.

If you get commercial mowing make VERY sure that whoever is going to mow visits your field, understands totally what is needed and wanted and get references. In addition, the commercial mowers we used demanded that the field be closed to all flying while they had men and equipment on it - even if they were mowing away from the runways.

If you can get the to commit to a specific day and time (which you should); then you can post notices about field closing on those dates. If you don't get a day/time committment you could well have your mower coming out on a Saturday or Sunday.


Our experience.

Dan

Field Mowing.
 

Cliff, Like you we have a grass only field. We own our own mower and up till last year relied on a few of us "retired folk" to do the mowing. Age takes care of a lot of things and we found that the few of us retired folk got to be less of us retired folks that were able to get out on Friday to mow. It just got to be too much for a few members.

Now, it is a membership requirement of all able bodied members that they must mow the field. We divided up the membership into teams and assigned a weekend to each team. If a team can't make it their assigned week, they are responsible to notify the president, who then get others to fill in. Thus far it has worked well enough that each team only has to mow once per mowing season.

Works for us anyway. Good luck !

Bob

Mowing
 

Our field is about 15 acres with a 45x600 ft asphalt runway. We own 2 Farmall's and a Kabota with 5 ft wide mowers plus a couple riding mowers. We formed 5 mowing teams with 5 members each and start mowing every Sat morning (weather permitting) @ 8:am and finish about 10:am. No flying during mowing. The club selects a grounds keeper who organizes schedules and arranges for repairs. Our tractors are old and all in all it is a very time consumming effort. IMOP I would prefer it contracted out however as long as we have retirees in our club who love that kind of work mixed in with the hobby then so be it.

Field Up-keep
 

An idea would be to offer what we call "palomar dollars" (our club is the Palomar RC flyers) for people who want to pitch in. They could earn money off of dues by mowing, picking weeds, whatever?

Let's say your dues are $100 a year. Let people earn up to $50 by working.

Mike

Field Up-keep
 

what we used to do at my old club.. is we totally eliminated the membership dues in exchange for everyone in the club helping out to keep it running.. maintenance etc..

how we got around the treasury issue is that if we needed anything built or done, everyone in the club would pitch in equally at the time it needed to be done.. worked out great.

the club is closed now.. unfortunately.. but not because of the way we were running it.. but because the city reclaimed the land (we were using it under permission of the city.)

anyways.. i wish more clubs were run like ours was.. it worked out GREAT.. everyone was friendly and helpfull and EVERYONE appreciated being there and pitched in to keep it clean and well kept up.

Field Up-keep
 

Our club field is new - 75x600+feet of new runway, taxiways, staging area. A LOT of the initial grading was done by club members, but the final grading by the paving contractor.

The 20x260 foot pit area is going in this month, and again, a LOT of the work will be done this week by the club members, including moving shade structure, chairs, tables etc.

All this is done in addition to the dues because its the only way we can afford it, but also to show that the members are participative members. Gives you a good feeling to know you've taken part in a major project.

We debated a grass field - it was definetly cheaper, but the experienced club members agreed that it would never be maintained well over the long haul unless someone was paid to do it. Plus there was an issue about water (we're in the desert).

If and when we do a grass field, those that want it bad enough will probably wind up doing the work on it to include grading, irrigation, seeding, fertilizing and mowing it. With those requirements, few will want it.

Woodland Hills credits "working" members up to 1/2 of their dues for participation in mall shows, field work, etc. and I think that's a great idea, especially for kids and fixed-income people.

Field Up-keep
 

The club I was with in New Jersey had their own mower and put it out to bid to the membership. The winner mowed the grass, took care of the mower and emptied the trash. For this he got paid cold hard cash just as if he was a contractor. Worked great and the field was always ready for the weekend because he was a flyer and new the clubs schedule. The field was 400 x 600 grass with grass pits and grass parking area.