14 yr old starting residential lawn business

[Twolff]

I am 14 years old and want to start a lawn business, I already have a 2.5 acre lot I get paid to cut, but I want to get some more yards to cut to earn money over this summer. There is two neighborhoods within lawn mower driving distance of my house(can't drive yet). I use my dads toro timecutter with a 50" deck and have my own weed eater and blower. The yards in the neighborhood are pretty small so i'm not sure if the 50" mower will be too big or not? I'm also trying to figure out what to charge, I would cut weed eat edge and blow, so I need to make enough to pay for gas still have a profit and be able to pay for anything that breaks on my equimpment. I was thinking of buying a small trailer to pull with the lawnmower and put all my stuff in and a pushmower, then I would cut everything I could with the zero turn, use the pushmower for the smaller spaces then just weedeat, blow, and edge everything else. What do ya'll think? I'm just looking for opinions for what I should change or I could do better. Also How should I advertise?
Thanks.

 

[X-man]

I am 14 years old and want to start a lawn business, I already have a 2.5 acre lot I get paid to cut, but I want to get some more yards to cut to earn money over this summer. There is two neighborhoods within lawn mower driving distance of my house(can't drive yet). I use my dads toro timecutter with a 50" deck and have my own weed eater and blower. The yards in the neighborhood are pretty small so i'm not sure if the 50" mower will be too big or not? I'm also trying to figure out what to charge, I would cut weed eat edge and blow, so I need to make enough to pay for gas still have a profit and be able to pay for anything that breaks on my equimpment. I was thinking of buying a small trailer to pull with the lawnmower and put all my stuff in and a pushmower, then I would cut everything I could with the zero turn, use the pushmower for the smaller spaces then just weedeat, blow, and edge everything else. What do ya'll think? I'm just looking for opinions for what I should change or I could do better. Also How should I advertise?
Thanks.

Hello Twolff, and Welcome to LawnWorld!

I mow grass in my trailer park, and what I do is I have a trailer on the back of my lawn tractor, and I haul my equipment around the trailer park to the customer's house. I have a push mower that's rear bagged and most of my other stuff is electric, but they all fit in my trailer.

In my trailer park, I usually do $10/hr. I can easily afford gasoline, and I can afford maintenance on my equipment. If you are doing all that stuff in a sub-division plus using a z-turn, then I would suggest doing about $20/hr.

For starters, I would print up some flyers and post them around the neighborhood. Also when you see a lawn with tall grass, knock on their door and ask them if they would like their lawn mowed for XX dollars. That's how I started. This is my 3rd year cutting grass, and what I do is I have flyers posted in the main office, and I have business cards that I usually give to the residents.

It's fun cutting grass. I enjoy doing it. You'll love it too. It gives you something to do and it makes sure you have $$$$ in your pocket.