Whether you're writing a scope for a bid, renewing an insurance policy, or answering to a board that just asked why the hill behind the clubhouse looks like that, the same questions apply. These are the seven we'd ask if we were hiring somebody to mow our own property.
1. What is the maximum slope, in writing?
Not "we handle steep stuff." A number, and the machine it applies to. Published ratings exist for a reason: most zero-turns top out around 15 degrees, tracked remote units go to 50. If the answer is a shrug, the method is a guess.
2. Who is insured, for what, and can I see the certificate?
General liability is the floor. Ask whether the policy covers the equipment being operated on a slope, and ask for the certificate naming your entity as additionally insured if the job is large enough to warrant it. A contractor who hesitates on this question is telling you something useful.
3. Is the operator on the machine or behind it?
This is the whole ballgame on a steep bank. A ride-on machine puts a human being at the top of a rollover risk. A remote-controlled machine puts the operator on flat ground a hundred feet back with a controller in their hands. If the answer is "on it," ask what happens at the point where it tips.
4. What stops it if it slips, loses signal, or the operator goes down?
Good remote equipment has three fail-safes: it shuts down when it tilts past a set angle, when it loses radio contact with the controller, and when the controller itself is dropped or released. Ask for all three specifically. "It's remote" is not the same as "it fails safe."
5. How does it come off the hill if it breaks?
A dead machine halfway up a 35-degree bank is a recovery problem, not a mowing problem. There should be a plan that doesn't involve somebody walking up there with a strap and hoping. On our jobs that means a winch point, a second machine, or a decision made before the first pass about where a failure is recoverable.
6. What does the finished cut look like, and who checks it?
Slope work is judged from a distance, which means the person judging it is often a board member driving past. Ask what height the finish is, whether the clippings are windrowed or dispersed, and whether you get photos. Date-stamped photos before and after are the difference between a maintenance record and a phone argument.
7. What happens on the day the ground is wet?
The right answer is that the job gets moved, and that the schedule has room for it. Wet clay is slicker than it looks and tracks pack it into a glaze. Any contractor who promises a fixed date regardless of weather is promising to either damage your slope or skip it quietly.
We're happy to be asked all seven. Request a free site assessment and we'll walk the slope with you, put the grade in writing, and tell you what the machine can and can't do on your property.
Written by
Blue Ridge Slope Goat · State Road, North Carolina
We run remote-controlled REAPER mowers on the banks, ditches, and overgrown hillsides crews shouldn't walk. Fully insured, working across Western North Carolina.