What are some general facts I should know when opening a lawncare company?

Answer 1

Location! LOCATION! Location!
It is assumed you know something about lawn care, so we needed waste time on that point.
What market?
Fast, low cost, basic service? Mow, blow and go.

Personal quality, high end service?
in addition to mow, blow & go, install & maintain color / change out annual flowers, spraying when needed of Roses, other special plants, regular feeding of landscape, irrigation repairs & controller settings.

Different neighborhoods require different services. Mow, blow & go, you bang out as many clients a day as traffic allows. You'll have pleanty of competition trying to under cut you. Every unemployed Joe with a pick up truck & a mower calls themself a gardener & trys to grab with a lower price. Dog eat Dog.

High End Personal Service. You spend extra time so the place looks great when Mr & Mrs Jones gets home at the end of the day. You make your money on these jobs with the cost of the addons or optional service. Time to feed the lawn again. extra charge for materials, time to change out the bedding plants with fresh color, add on the cost of plants, extra hours, etc.
Unlike the mow, blow & go, the upper end clients are looking for good service, not a cheaper price.
This is where your client base is happy and seldom changes. You have your regular clients year around.

with mow, blow & go you'll get winter cool season calls telling to come every other week. You don't need that.

Great neighborhood, outstanding service, beautiful work gtood steady income with seasonal spikes of special services.

Sharp looking, clean equiptment. Clean truck, clean clothes or uniform so everybody matches. Look professional, get treated as such.

I know several gardeners who make as much as $60,000.00 per year. They earn it through personal service & extra effort.

Outstanding work means good, steady income.
Mow, blow & go & half the time your looking for new clients.

It's your choice.

Answer 2

Some of the things I have learned from my business...

You can not please all the customers all the time, no matter how careful or meticulous you are with their yards someone will find a problem with the job you have done.

If you have set a budget for your equipment you can throw it out the window because you have definately figured it too low or will eventually run into problems you cannot fix yourself.

The cost of fuel has nearly trippled since I started my business and I eventually have to pass the cost onto the customer.

Customers do not like their grass cut before 9 AM or after 5 PM because they are either asleep, on their way out or want to relax in their own yards after work and do not want you there.

Do not count on always having a helper... No matter who you hire, they will at some point leave you hanging by yourself on your biggest jobs.

Do not stay in the sun and get dehydrated when there is no one to help you if you do get in that condition.

Always be honest with your customers. If you inadvertently break something, tell the customer about it. Also give a call back later that evening to check on the job satisfaction with the customer, as you may have broken something and not even realized it. I accidently broke a water fitting one time and the water ran for more than three hours before it was discovered ( I covered the cost of repairs and part of the water bill).

There is a lot more to the job than just hopping on a riding mower and away we go. You will have to get off the mower to move limbs, toys, yard items, signs, other yard ornaments they may have.

Always mow with the discharge shoot facing away from the house and vehicles that may be in the area. This will almost avoid a wash job on the house and vehicle as well as may keep you away from broken windows.

Remember bugs love sweat and the wind likes to blow free falling grass clippings and free falling grass clippings floating in the wind like to cling to sweaty bodies.

There is probably a lot more I could write but you get the idea.

Good Luck with the business!!!

Answer 3

The most important thing you should know about opening a lawncare company... you should probably know how to take care of grass! If you have the most beautiful lawns in the neighborhood, your customers will talk, and you'll get more business. (Word of mouth... it's free advertising.) You have to 'wow' your customers, new customers and old customers.

So, that is my advice. I worked in the lawncare industry, and believe me, there are some people out there that you will never be able to please. One weed in an entire acre may cause you to get fired. Then again, if you bring a weed infested lawn back to a whole yard of lawn, you are the man. Just some things to keep in mind.

Answer 4

The first fact you need to know is that opinions are like...
****
...well, you get the gist.

Secondly, you need to make a business plan. This plan should take into account every single thing you can think of that might cost you money. Be ready & willing to revise your plan as you learn more about the biz.

Here is a site to help you with your business plan:

http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html

Here is a site to help with all your questions on the subject of lawn company startups:

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=37380

Good luck!

Answer 5

they do exactly not like the theory that a organization can make investments in the way ahead for means and make any income in any respect. it really is in common words stupid. the money Exxon cellular has considered this year replaced right into a undertaking that all started over 10 years in the past.

Answer 6

The very, very most important thing to learn is to learn to speak Spanish. Otherwise your employees will talk behind your back.

Answer 7

Do lots of marketing. Passout or mail flyers. Show pictures of houses that you have worked on.