The 10-minute morning briefing for a mowing crew, in Spanish
The briefing at the trailer is the cheapest ten minutes of your day. Every instruction you give at 6:45 is one you do not have to phone in at stop six, over the blower. If your crew speaks Spanish and you do not, the huddle is also where a misunderstanding costs the least: a question at the trailer is free, a scalped lawn or a chewed sprinkler head is not.
Here is the briefing in order, with the Spanish for each piece. The words are the ones in the ChambaTalk glossary, free at https://app.chambatalk.com/glossary — say them, or hand over the phone.
1. The route (one minute)
Start with the count and the exceptions: how many stops, which ones are skipped, which ones have a note.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| Thursday’s route has 22 stops — no long lunches. | La ruta del jueves trae 22 paradas — nada de lonches largos. |
| Skip the Hendersons, they asked to hold service this week. | Salta la de los Henderson, pidieron pausar el servicio esta semana. |
| Text me when you arrive. | Mándame mensaje cuando llegues. |
2. The properties that are different (two minutes)
Most stops are the same as last week. Say only what changed: who gets bagged, who wants stripes, who complained.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| Bag this one, the customer complains about clippings. | Este córtalo con bolsa, el cliente se queja de los recortes. |
| Run it mulching unless the grass is wet and tall. | Pásala triturando el recorte, a menos que el pasto esté mojado y alto. |
| This account wants stripes, run it north-south this week. | Este cliente quiere el rayado, pásala de norte a sur esta semana. |
3. Cut height (one minute)
Height is the instruction that gets lost most often, because it is a number plus a grass type. Say the number in inches and name the grass.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| Summer cut height is 3.5 inches on all the fescue lawns. | La altura de corte en verano es de 3.5 pulgadas en todos los céspedes de festuca. |
| This is fescue — don’t cut it under three inches. | Este es festuca — no lo cortes a menos de tres pulgadas. |
| It’s six inches tall — one third rule, take it to four this week. | Está a seis pulgadas — regla del tercio, déjalo a cuatro esta semana. |
The deck is plato de la podadora; “raise the deck a notch” is súbele una raya al plato. Scalping is pelar el pasto — “you’re scalping it” is lo estás pelando.
4. The order: mow, trim, edge, blow (one minute)
Every crew has an order. State it once as a rule so the new hire learns it from you.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| Mow the back first, the sprinklers ran out front this morning. | Corta el pasto de atrás primero, los aspersores regaron el frente en la mañana. |
| Trim around the mailboxes and the AC units. | Desbroza alrededor de los buzones y los aires acondicionados. |
| Edge the driveway and both sides of the walk. | Orilla la entrada y los dos lados de la banqueta. |
| Blow off the drive, walks, and patio before we roll. | Sopla la entrada, las banquetas y el patio antes de irnos. |
Mow is cortar el pasto or podar el pasto. The string trimmer is desbrozadora — or just weedeater — and the edger is orilladora. Nobody on a US crew says recortadora de hilo.
5. Warnings (two minutes)
This is the part worth slowing down for. Gates, dogs, and sprinkler heads cost money at a residential stop; wet grass on a slope and the discharge chute hurt people.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| Gate check before the truck moves — every gate, every stop. | Revisa los portones antes de mover el camión — cada portón, en cada parada. |
| Lock the gate. | Cierra el portón con candado. |
| There’s a dog at this one — knock first. | Hay perro en esta — toca primero. |
| Walk the property first — last week we ate a sprinkler head. | Recorre el terreno primero — la semana pasada nos comimos un aspersor. |
| Start on the sunny side and let the shade dry — no mowing wet grass on that hill. | Empieza por el lado soleado y deja secar la sombra — no se corta pasto mojado en esa loma. |
| Point the discharge chute away from the parking lot. | Apunta la salida de la podadora lejos del estacionamiento. |
“Watch out!” is ¡Aguas! That one is worth learning to say yourself, because you will need it faster than you can find a phone.
6. Equipment (two minutes)
Fuel, line, straps. Assign each check to a person, not to “everybody.”
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| Don’t put straight gas in the trimmer — use the mixed can. | No le eches gasolina sola a la desbrozadora — usa el bidón de mezcla. |
| We’re almost out of trimmer line — grab two spools at the shop. | Ya casi no hay cuerda para la desbrozadora — agarra dos rollos en la bodega. |
| Strap the mowers down before you close the trailer. | Amarra las podadoras antes de cerrar el tráiler. |
| Eye protection on before you crank that trimmer. | Ponte la protección para los ojos antes de arrancar esa desbrozadora. |
7. What “done” looks like (one minute)
Close with the standard. The crew meets the standard you describe, not the one in your head.
| English | Español |
|---|---|
| A crisp curb line sells the whole job. | Una línea de banqueta bien marcada vende todo el trabajo. |
| Finish every property with the blower — walks, drive, and patio. | Termina cada propiedad con la sopladora — banquetas, entrada y patio. |
| Is it done? | ¿Ya está? |
| Nice job today, guys — see you at six. | Buen jale hoy, muchachos — nos vemos a las seis. |
Then ask ¿Me entiendes? — “do you understand?” — and wait for a real answer. A nod is not one. If you get a blank look, hand over the phone: every term above is in the glossary with a jobsite example, and the app will say the sentence out loud. More on the lawn and tree side of the app at /landscaping.