Thread: Starting out

Mike,
Best advice I can give, is ALWAYS give quality work, quality service, be on time or a little early, always do something a little extra, look like a professional, and make sure your invoices/bills look professional, and your business will soon explode. I have not advertised but once, 95% of my work has come by word of mouth. I am still doing all the estimates and work, in a county of 15,000. I have to work against low ballers, and kids who start out cheap and then quit when school starts. All this aside, I make sure I have top notch equipment, (in the past I bought used from a reputable dealer), and make a very good living.
You need a good dealer to buy equipment from and to maintain it is a must. Zero turns have many advantages, a blower, weedeater, rake, broom, garbage can, hedge trimmer, small limb trimmer is a must.
Work by yourself at first, make a business plan, revise it as you go, learn from mistakes, read everything you can on lawn care, learn to look people in the eye, always be honest with your customers, and do not take on more than you can handle job wise.
I restarted in the lawn business 4 1/2 years ago after retiring at 48 (corporate cutbacks) and have not looked back. Some times it slows some, for a lot of reasons, but even last summer with gas at $3.00 plus, I still had a lot of work. Profits hurt a lot, but I kept all my customers/added several, and paid off all my equipment. Good luck, keep smiling, it will work, if you will.

Danny Morgan
An Old Man With A Lawn Mower
Pikeville, Tn

I cannot agree more with what has already been said. Treat your customers with respect and courtesy because they are your lifeline.

Don't buy more than you can afford to pay cash for. Credit will bite you inth a** your first few years. Don't quit your day job until the income is there from your business. Don't do work without insurance, if you can't afford insurance then wait until you can. Know local laws, codes, regulations, and restrictions before you get started. Know what "FAIR" pricing is in your area, stay competative - don't lowball (if you don't know what this means browse this and other forums you will learn) Know your expenses - this is the most important group of numbers that you will ever look at - be sure to include everything you could possibly think of (and a few you can't) into this number or you will never know how much money you are truly making. This is a common mistake people don't know what all their expenses are - some are losing money and don't know until it is too late. Start small, stay proffessional, educate yourself in as many areas of lawn and landscape as you can (continue to educate yourself even after you are started) Set policies, guidlines, and goals and stick to them. Be respectful but stick to your prices and policies even if customer doesn't like them (don't take s**t from customers they will push you out of business if it means less money for them) Good Luck!!

P.S. The lawncare/landscape portion of my business started by mistake last year. I had an customer that needed sprinkler repairs, he asked if I could mow his lawn for the summer (he was having knee surgery and couldn't do it). I picked it up as a "side job" from my irrigation business. Later in the season a few other customers caught wind that I would do lawn care and were soon added to that list. At the end of last summer I had only 3 "side mowings", I am currently at 30 residental properties ($25-$75 ea. per week), 8 rental properties (will triple next season, I got in pretty good with another realtor last week), 4 small -medium commercial (less than 2 acres), and one large apartment complex (about 4 acres, but will probably drop after this season I think I end up making more from this place in late fees and service reinstatement fees than i do actually mowing)

10-4 good word of mouth goes a long way always listen to what your customers exspect and some will invite new suggestions. I got started by contracting home service and repair most houses i worked on where for sale/vacant so i would mention i also cut grass. Eventually i was having to turn away yards. You can post locally make a good first inpression and the work will come. Are you wanting to do commercial, residential. landscaping what degree service would you like to offer?

Thanks S.I. These are great tips!

Nice post S.I.!

Originally Posted by mikecarrauthers

I would like to start a lawncare business. I live in an area that is growing rapidly. The population is currently 75,000 and is expacted to rise to 100,000
within 6 years. It is an area with lots of new construction and many residents have homes sitting on 1/3 of an acre or more. Any tips on equipements lists, buying new or used equipment, numbers of workers to start out, etc.., would be greatly appreciated. I would like to eventually do this full time.

mikecarrauthers

What up! Have you worked in the service industry before? I've found it useful to have had worked for someone else while tuning my abilities to run my own business. Making mistake and watching them unfold has help tremendously in that I keep from making the same mistakes twice. I started out with a simple rider, push mower and a simple weedeater. Worked hard too keep what customer I had at the time happy, while figuring out what to charge. 3 years later, I have upgraded to a ztr. 44" cut Snapper, Shils weedeaters and industrial blowers. But, still using a simple push mower.
The difference today than then, is I had intergraded Fertilizing and Weed control to our program. On the off season we install Christmas lights. Solo op, with one helper. Steady growth but, not to fast as to be unable to service my existing customer base. Being in the industry for 13years dosen't hurt also! I would say if your starting out start slow. Know what the market will bare in pay. Have insurance, pay your taxes. Keep good records. And use a big calander to write on as a templete for coming years so you will know what to expect the next year! Good Luck!

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