On a hot summer day, mowing the lawn is the last thing anyone wants to do — even when temps are cooler, it isn’t exactly an exciting activity. But for people with physical limitations, financial constraints, or mental health struggles, yard work can go beyond being just a tiresome chore and instead become a virtual impossibility.
Armed with a stand-on mower, pressure washer, and more high-powered landscaping tools, one Kansas man has made it his business to help those who need it most. Spencer B., who asked that we use his first name and last initial only, films himself tackling out-of-control lawns and grimy driveways for free and posts the time-lapse footage to his social media accounts, SB Mowing and SB Pressure Washing.
An astounding number of people religiously tune in to his channels — he has over 16 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, and millions more on Facebook and YouTube. Spencer chalks up his popularity to the fact that he melds together two crowd-pleasing internet “genres”: feel-good stories and satisfying videos.
“People like to see good being put out into the world,” the 25-year-old told Nice News in an email. “There are so many bad things on the news nowadays that it’s just really refreshing. The other reason [the posts go viral] is that people love to watch the transformations and find it really satisfying watching a crazy overgrown lawn turn into one of the best looking yards in the neighborhood!”
Spencer started mowing lawns at age 11, eventually recruiting his younger brother to help run his burgeoning business, the original SB Mowing. After attending Kansas State University — during which he’d drive back to his hometown of Wichita on weekends during mowing season to keep up with clients — he had the idea to start a YouTube channel and do some community service at the same time. Just a few years later, he’s a full-time content creator and his brother has taken over the company.
Per his website, Spencer has become the largest lawn care/pressing washing social media page across all platforms, with around 40 million total followers and 3 billion annual views.
His followers are a loyal bunch, commenting things like “rule #1: never skip an SB Mowing video” and “It’s not a proper morning without a therapeutic SB Mowing video,” but getting from before to after is no easy feat for Spencer. The yards can take him up to 24 hours of labor to complete. He and his wife also spend four to eight hours a week driving around the area looking for future projects, and another eight to 15 editing the footage.
As touching as the videos are to watch, his biggest impact is, of course, on his recipients. “I’ve had so many rewarding transformations,” Spencer shared, “but the ones that always come back to my mind are the people that are so caught up in life that their lawn gets to the state where they can’t mow it and can’t afford to pay a company to come do it.”
“Their lawn is the first thing they see when they leave their house every day, so it’s a bad way to start the day,” he continued. “When I knock on their door and offer to do it for free, it takes them by complete surprise. Sometimes they will start crying and sometimes they just don’t know what to say. But a little bit of help like that can really turn someone’s life around.”
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