thinking about starting a lawn care business

[blackhawk0718]

who all pays to get there grass cut. I am thinking about starting this up to get a lil side money.
what do yall pay or maybe even who needs some one to cut there grass.

[Buckwabit]

You trying to save up for a wedding or something?

[blackhawk0718]

No just need a second job.

[quack_a_tack]

There are so many dang people doing that now its actually tough to build a customer base. I do landscaping and lawn care myself and its tough, I was out and about one day doing follow ups on some lawns, and counted 78 different trucks and rigs in a 4 hour period.

[MudHog]

not saying this is the case here, but you can see the amount of trailers with mowers start up in the spring. Slowly as the summer comes they start dropping out. If your serious about it, then it can happen. As a second job, then you more need to look at maybe a bushhogging service of some sort. I don't know what your first job is, but you can get busy doing lawn service.

I have a cousin who owns a lawn service and they have more work than they can shake a stick at and pray that other people start their own biz just to help out and spread the work load.

[outlaw josey wales]

i do it as a second job also in cleveland ,ms and the mowers on trailers i see everyday is unreal. too many undercutters around here that have no clue about costs and how to accurately bid a job cause most of them got a cheap rider or a piece of crap mower and dont cost em nothing to operate. i watch several businesses in town every year and they jump from one to the next cause someone always under cutting the next guy. there a re alot of people in the business now and you cant base what you do this year on the next cause you gonna get beat out of some every year and lose to the lil guys who aint got crap for costs. too much competition in this area

[4dawgma]

preach on my brotha!

[deltadukman]

But is the competition necessarily a bad thing? Who cares if he doesnt have an Exmark or a Scag, as long as he does a good job and the homeowner is satisfied, who cares? Is it because you have alot more costs than he does? Seems to me, the guy who is doing it on the cheap is the better business man. Sure you may fit the bill and look like a real lawn care guy, but I know a many of old black fellas that can cut some mean grass. Free market ='s competition....without it, you "pros" could charge whatever you wanted to...

just a thought from a guy who started cutting yards when I would pull my mower with my bike, and throw my weedeater across the handlebars...at times I had 15-20 yards a week....with a cheap piece of junk push mower...customers said it cut better than the commercial mowers...i've ran them all and tend to agree

[the doctor]

my opinion...which I have found dont mean much at all...is there are alot of daddy's out there that dropped a few grand on a mowing rig to teach junior how to earn a buck, not necessarily all bad but not teaching the whole picture when startup capital and assets are purchased for you and it does make it competittve for those that have higher costs either because of fancier equipment or just equipment period

oh and I mow my own yard to answer the original post, probably will till I physically cant, I like to do it

the doc

[blackhawk0718]

i am not trying to get rich on this gig just trying to make some extra spending money for the end othe the week. I am a fireman so i have some spare time. i would just like to cut 10 to twenty yards a week.

[deltadukman]

[4dawgma]

I don't mind competition and blackhawk, I wish you the best of luck. But deltaduck, what line of work are you in?

Let me tell you about the "competition". In most cases they carry no insurance, do not belong to any professional organization, and have no idea what in takes to run a business. That's why they are here today and gone tomorrow, but there is always someone else willing to step up and try it. That's what drives the price down to the point professionals have trouble making ends meet. Maintenance is what balances any operation like this which allows to cover things like electric bill, phone bill and yes payroll.

The construction side of our company(which I oversee) is booming now, while the maintenance is lacking in part due to the "2nd jobbers". Firemen and students get much of the business around here and is evident by the number of trucks with mowers at the fire station. Most of these people have no idea the true cost of the service they provide and along as they make some beer money or a boat payment they think they've got it made. Anybody can mow grass right.

Then they start "fixing" or "installing" irrigation or better yet installing plantings around houses or commercial properties. That's great! Then I start getting calls almost immediately after to fix whatever it is that they put in. Why? Because they have moved on or better yet will not answer a phone. And you can't go to their office because they do not have one. So all I get is a service call to wire up some valves or set the timer on some POS clock that they bought at Lowe's or try to explain to the homeowner why the shrubs don't live around here, yeah the look great in that magazine but ain't going to cut it down here. Yeah, I'll make a few hundred dollars, meanwhile joe blow made off with thousands never to be heard from again. That sounds real professional to me.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I don't mind competition but get really tired of cleaning up their $#!+.

[the doctor]

agreed...quality is a true competitive advantage, as is startup capital, but personally I will take quality over the cheaper guy

for my money, if I paid for this type of service, it wouldnt be the cheapest guy, but the guy that went the extra mile to make my yard look nice and did a quality job

the doc

[4dawgma]

I'm not trying to fault a man for making some extra money, hail I could use a second job. I'm here at 6am and after meeting with clients after work, I don't get home til 5 or 6pm. What can I do, "@#$%#" Lowe's, McDonalds, maybe a convenience store is hiring . Maybe I should have never gone to school in Landscape Architecture and put in 15 years worth of construction experience to get to were I am now. I should have just been a fireman, then I could have a real landscape company.

[skywalker]

Well, let me ask this. If someone is truly a 'professional' as they claim, how can they get beat by amateur's year after year........I mean if the work is so 'excellent' why would someone want it done cheaper?