Job: Owner, Kindest Cut Lawn Care, Atlanta
What I do: Steve Kilbride is doing his part to battle global warming, even when it's 90 degrees outside and he's mowing lawns.
As owner and sole lawn cutter for Kindest Cut Lawn Care, Kilbride uses only human-
powered equipment: a reel-type push mower, rakes, brooms and trimmers.
"My only concession is an electric edger," said Kilbride, 48.
A well-manicured lawn needn't come at the expense of the ozone layer, Steve Kilbride says. By using emission-free equipment such as rakes and push mowers, he does his part for the environment.
He sees his methods of lawn care as a win-win-win for him, the homeowner and the environment. He stays trim and upholds his environmentalist ideals; homeowners' lawns are clipped gently by the reel mowers, rather than scalped by power mowers; and the environment has fewer emissions and noise pollution from gasoline-powered equipment.
"The manual mower has no motor and burns only calories and eliminates noise pollution as well," he notes in his brochure.
"What I hear is how much people hate leaf blowers," he said about people who work at home during the day. "It's like living next to an airport."
In addition to keeping lawns nicely manicured, Kilbride and his wife, Charlotte, design flower beds.
Most of his business, which he started about four months ago, is on small lawns inside the Perimeter for "people who are concerned about the environment," he said. "I guess you'd call them 'green' people."
Kilbride's customers are savvy about plants, he added, and care about their lawns. Most jobs take one-and-a-half to two hours — more time than the usual "mow, blow and go companies," he said.
What got me interested in this: "I've always been a person who asks, 'why?' Why use a machine to do this, when the old way works?" Kilbride said.
He describes himself as a lifelong "green" person who always has used a manual mower on his own lawn.
Best part of my job: "The satisfaction that comes from seeing people embrace a new concept," he said. "People are surprised how good it makes their lawn look."
An additional benefit, he said, is that there is "one less lawn mower chugging away."
Most challenging part: "The extremes of weather," Kilbride said. "That's something everyone who works outdoors has to deal with."
While the ongoing drought means that grass grows more slowly, it also means that trees shed their leaves prematurely. That means more cleanup jobs, he said.
What people don't know about my job: While his lawn care is more labor-intensive than traditional services, it costs about the same for customers.
"I don't have to buy gas, and the mower always starts," he said.
What keeps me going: "It's a kind of environmental evangelism," Kilbride said. "It's a way to get people to a greener way of doing things."
Besides running a green business, Kilbride said he also practices conservation by recycling religiously, using a car only when necessary (he'll take his bicycle when he goes to homes for estimates), being involved in community garden projects and living in a house with no air conditioning.
Preparation needed for this job: You need exceptional customer-service skills, he said, including the ability to listen to people.
You also have to be in good physical condition and enjoy being outdoors.
"Being a little bit hyper helps, too," he said.
Kilbride said his skills are self-taught, but there are trade organizations that offer various certification programs for lawn-care professionals.
Originally from Massachusetts, Kilbride has been in the Atlanta area about 20 years.
He was a pastry chef for catering companies, bakeries, restaurants and hotels for more than 20 years.
He has a bachelor's degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, where he also did lawn care as a side job.
- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.