Anyone ever started a lawn care company?
 

I'm getting tired of workin for the man, I'd like to work for myself. I Have a truck/trailer/mower ( although i have been eyeing a zero turn) yadda yadda. I used to mow a few yards around the neighborhood when i was a kid. I had a push mower i paid 40$ for, it paid for itself MANY times over ( still have it too). so the equipment is not a problem, What i'm not sure of , is rates? how much is fair, I don't want to undercut the other guys, but i don't want to charge out the ass either, And how to find the work? Advertising? word of mouth?

Throw me some ideas here fellas! ( I'll put a diesel Bombers decal on my mower/trailer if this thing flies!)

Jayme

I don't know what it is but a buddy of mine started one and when he was starting out found a forum on lawn care business, he said the people on there were really helpful.


Just found a couple for ya.

http://www.lawnsite.com/

Lawn care and landscape forums powered by lawn care and landscaping professionals!

Thanks , I'll check them out. Went and looked at a couple ZD kubotas tonight.

Look for teh big $$$ guys, the dude making 50k a year aint gonna pay you to cut his grass, get in some of teh "gated" developments. Be ready thoughbecause some of them make you show an example of your work before your approved to cut grass in there development.

let me tell you what.....I make 90K a year and would pay someone to cut my grass if my dad didnt do it......i hate mowing.....

no se jose

I had my own small land and yard buisness about 8 years ago.I enjoyed it.I did it for 12 years when i was younger.You can make a killing sometimes.I did it for older people to, so i didn't charge to much.I retired from it because i was getting burned out with a full time job,that on saturdays and working for a friend on sundays.OH,and the zero turn mowers are nice.

xmark? seem to be the zero turn of choice

X mark, Hustler, and Dixie choppers are all good mowers, probably better priced than a Kubota

The ExMark brand is built tough. I have a 60" zero turn for my properties.

It seems like everyone in my area that gets laid off, starts their own lawn cutting biz and has messed up the billable rates. This is right from my friends in the trade.
Did you ever think of getting into spraying the lawn and tree chemicals?
Most states require an applicators license for all chemical sprayers and this seems to weed out the riff raff. You can make a good chunk of change selling mostly water with a small controlled amount of high dollar chemical.
That's my two cents.

I'm already licensed for pesticide app. thorough the farm ( I did take the whole course so i can do res. pesticide app. also, but a lot of municipalities here are moving towards banning pesticides within municipal boundries.... :argh::argh:

I might have a few leads on a few bigger jobs already ( estates , grave yards :humm: and a few commercial properties), going to check into it more on monday, a lot of it would be sub contractor work , for a local ( but large) landscape supply company, they do supplies only , NO services, so there is potential for more than just lawn mowing there.

As far as equipment , I have a 25hp diesel kubota garden tractor now, I could use it to get me off the ground. my choices for dealers are kubota, case ih, and JD. Hustler, exmark, dixie choppers etc are not readily available here. even if i brought one in , in the event of a breakdown , parts would not be readily available.


I am still unsure of what to do about rates, I don't want to under/over charge. I read a lot on the forums linked above , but no one really commented on how they arrived at the prices quotes they came up with.

Jayme.

Shouldn't the title of this thread be "Anyone Ever Bombed A 25hp diesel kubota garden tractor?"


:D

I'm not sure if it's possible :argh:, service manual doesn't say anything anywhere about a way to adjust power output. can't find a screw to turn anywhere :w2:

Im running two john deere 757 zero turners and they have been nice this is the 4th year on them and both have 1600-1800 hours havent been on them this season sence got hurt. The rest of teh crew is taking care of it had to hire a part timer till i get better but tryed a dixie and was disapointed. The thing was fast but the slight lil hill and couldent cut it. the thing slid to bad sideways the deeres lay right on the slops like a dream wouldent change. A yard that takes about a hour for 2 mowers and 1 weedeater to do i charge $95-125 for all depends on how much weedeater use there is. A small 1/4 acre in and out no time $65 ish. Hope it helps

ill buy your kubota diesel off of you so you can go buy a zero turn, has to be cheap tho :D

i use to do this with a friend but i got it easy i bought the stuff and he weedeated i mowed with a push mower i charged bout $20 for small yard and $50 for a huge one and inbetween was well inbetween but i did charge $100 for one one thime bug it was freakin huge and she even let us use her 2 riding mowers but yea there is lots of money in that if you can find ppl who can afford it with the economy

Went for a drive tonight , checked out some used equipment, and checked out a few of the places I know are looking for someone to do their yard maintenance. I have a couple days off of work next week , going to see if i can drum up some business.

i was cuttin about 6 yards last year but i cut back to 3 because a couple were tryin to screw me...im mowin with a small snapper...about a 30 inch....ive got one yard that takes about 30 min at the most and im chargin 25 for it and my biggest yard takes about an hour and a half and im makin 70 on it....just depends on the location as to what your chargin...might talk to some guys who do it full time around you and see what their chargin.....the nicest mower ive seen is a walker...might wanna look into them....bout the same price as a kubota and you can buy multiple decks for the same unit

Don't base your fees off what someone else is charging, that's flying blind. Know what your cost are, variable being based on hour or yardage however you want to do it, and what your fixed cost are ie; salary, insurance, taxes, advertising, any payments.

Then add what you want to profit, divide into the amount of work you expect to do and you have your rate. This will constantly change when first starting, so start out higher than you expect and readjust after a while if you need to. It's better to start high than to get a bunch of accounts and lose them if/when you have to up your price with your overhead.

The biggest thing to remember is, salary is not profit. You will have money invested in this, look at what that dollar amount could be doing for you collecting interest, you should at the very least profit more than that.

I agreee with matt94 it's variable for everyone i think I have 4 lawns I do on the side on the weekends and I charge $25-30 but i do everything by hand and there's some pretty big ones I do too and it's fun to me so that's another reason why I do it.

I agree, but disagree you have to be competetive or yo will have no bussiness, finding out what your would be competitors is need to make your company legit. Bottom line if you go in there charging 30 bucks more for the same residential account than the guy that already does it, you will not be taken seriously. Bottom line you have to stay compettitive to grow, this is even more true on commercial. Commercial accounts are hard to count on year after year and there is a high turn over in the commercial field. Keep in mind the little things when you do get accounts, blow the grass away from pools and beds( we had a guy that put quite a bit of grass in a pool, we did not make any money on that cut and had a very unhappy homeowner) Been thinking of doing this myself, just not the best year for a start up. You said you have your pesticide cert, some customers will go with companies that can take care of all of there landscape needs.Good luck

right now i am doing the neigbors yard for 30 dollars you could also do gutter cleaning i got paid 40 for that and all im using is a 6.75 horsepower pushmower and my dad does the trimming

No doubt it would be tough if you were double the other guy. However, if the other guy has no clue what his real costs are (very likely) and is actually losing money in the long run, why would you want to build your business on the same foundation?

Also, what is the point of growing a business if it is not hitting the numbers you want? Why add the stress of expanding if your margins aren't where they need to be.

Make value the selling point of your company instead of price, and you will have a different class of customers. Customers that won't bail on you when Joe blow starts out of his pickup for $5 less than you.

My main point is, make sure you understand how the cash is moving, what numbers you need to hit, and how to adjust if they aren't. You will be in business longer than the guy down the street that is not tracking anything other than if he has enough money to fill his tank up.

I agree with the 94Matt and the other guys above. Figure out what you need to make. If your rates don't support that, why do it?

I started a lawn care business in 2000. Back then, I was able to pay all my equipment off the first year. The two Scag zero turns are still running great. The trailer looks brand new. I've been through several high end trimmers, so I buy the home depot special. If it lasts a season, it's paid for itself. My back pack blowers are both three years old and still going strong.

If you need the motivation, buy a bunch of equipment and you will have to pay it off. If you don't need the motivation buy what you can afford, assuming the few jobs you have now, come through.

The market is getting very satiated with guys cutting a regular lawn for $10 to $25. I cut my jobs by almost half this year, because I know what I need to make and if I'm not making that, I'm better off sitting home, of traveling around to the dealerships selling Adams products.

Above all, get the General Liability Insurance. Many customers insist on seeing a copy, before hiring you. :c:

I agree, makes good sense, my point is you have to stay in the close proximity as the guy across the road. In no way was I trying to talk the fella out of starting, or starting off making know money. Around here most of the ones that are doing it for nothing are the undocumented workers from down south of the border. Good luck hope you have good success.