Arie and Joyce Vink have been maintaining lawns in Pella since 1982. They've mowed and maintained properties with steep hills, newly constructed landscapes, low lying areas and just about anything a mowing contractor can encounter. On any given day their trailer can be seen on commercial accounts in Pella including a restaurant, auto dealer, cemetery, church, motel and apartment complex, or on high-end residential properties, or on the golf course community nearby.
To be sure, if variety is the spice of life, the Vinks are living with plenty of spice. Yet it wasn't until six years ago that they bought their first new mower, a 16-hp Walker with a sidedischarge deck. Before then, they operated with a collection of used, albeit, well-maintained riding and walk-behind equipment. The Walker was their first outfront mower.
Arie, a one-time farmer and now a custodian at Central College in downtown Pella, says the Walker has really changed the way they do business. Trimmer use has gone down dramatically since they purchased the Walker. So has their use of trim mowers. Even relatively steep hills that used to require a walk mower can be maintained with a Walker. As Arie puts it, "With a low center of gravity, the Walker really hugs the ground."
He also pays special tribute to the flexible deck that doesn't scalp the undulating terrain, and the machine's maneuverability, something that comes in real handy when doing trim work. His Walker is especially productive mowing around head stones in the cemetery.
Like Precision's Cook, Arie was especially attracted to the ease of serviceability of the Walker mower. As he puts it, when you have 57 properties to maintain and only a small window of time in which to get the mowing done, you can't be spending time repairing or maintaining equipment.
Arie's partner is his wife Joyce who is also employed at the college. They do their maintenance work after school hours which means a lot of long lawn hours in the spring and fall, usually mowing until dark. Summers are a little more relaxed.
The couple moved to Pella about 20 years ago, after selling their farm. They bought their current home - the only two-story structure on the street- because it had enough room to accommodate a family with six children. In fact, one of their daughters started the lawn business and then found full-time employment elsewhere. Arie started to mow (with a garden tractor and push mower) to help those first customers out. Fourteen years later, he and Joyce are still mowing and enjoying it. Their business is strictly lawn maintenance; they farm out the chemical side. During the winter they remove snow for approximately 10 of their customers.
According to Arie, Pella's mowing and maintenance season extends from the first week in April to sometime in the middle of December. The Vinks do no advertising; it's all word of mouth. And strangely enough, they hardly know their customers. "We read in the trade magazines about how you should always stop by to talk with customers. Our customers don't really want to talk. They want their lawns maintained and that's about it," remarks Arie. "They don't want to be bothered." Their only communication is once a month when the bills go out.
"When we were on the farm, we both liked to chop grass (haylage) for the cows," explains Arie, adding they milked about 40 cows at their peak. Mowing grass brings back some of the nostalgia, but not all of the hard work.
"This is about as close to farming as I want to get again," he adds. That's one reason their next new mower will be another Walker, this time with a 20-hp engine and a 54- inch deck. Bigger means faster which means... getting the job done well before the cows come home.
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