Getting started.. One man lawn care business. Needing tips

[jack8fire]

I'm sure there are lots of shortcuts to keeping my cost down like buying blades an 2stroke oil in bulk. What's some more things in this area yal have learned over the years? Thanks

 

[mechanic mark]

Cub Cadet Professional Shop Manuals scroll down to commercial series, probably not your year but much information on Tank.

 

[Ric]

I'm sure there are lots of shortcuts to keeping my cost down like buying blades an 2stroke oil in bulk. What's some more things in this area yal have learned over the years? Thanks

You say sure there are lots of shortcuts to keeping the cost down but if you start the business properly there are no shortcuts. When you're talking about buying things in bulk a gallon of oil at a time is all you need unless your a really large business and servicing multiple mowers, that will last a long time. Edger blades bulk at 79 cents ea. for a box of 50 blades a long with oil filters by the dozen are good things to keep on hand.

The biggest reason that the newbies in the business go under in the first year or so is because they underestimate the cost involved in starting the business and they didn't have the proper start up funding to do it properly and they can't create a proper cash flow to keep the business running.

 

[southfreedon]

In my third year as a "Lawn Care Professional" and the biggest tip I can give you is this: Save at least 15% of your weekly gross earnings for equipment replacement & repairs.

I didn't do this the first two years and one week into my third year, the engine on my primary (and newest) mower blew. Luckily, I have a fleet of six older mowers that I've refused to get rid of.

Good luck!

Donnie B

 

[Ric]

In my third year as a "Lawn Care Professional" and the biggest tip I can give you is this: Save at least 15% of your weekly gross earnings for equipment replacement & repairs.

I didn't do this the first two years and one week into my third year, the engine on my primary (and newest) mower blew. Luckily, I have a fleet of six older mowers that I've refused to get rid of.

Good luck!

Donnie B

If you can save 15% of your weekly gross earnings your doing better than anyone else I've seen in the business, especially starting out. The problem with start up businesses is they can't compete with the guy that has all the equipment in the world and is ready to do any job that the client wants done at a fair price.

 

[rvalandscapes]

I agree with Ric, the key to getting past your first year is maintain a VERY high standard and quality to your final product, as well as offer cheeper prices than your more seasoned competitor. Pride yourself on your work and DONT skimp on crappy equipment...it will fail and then force you out of business. If your serious enough, and you have faith in yourself, then get a loan and get good equipment to start. Use software like Jobber or Lawn pro to schedule and maintain your clients, offer amenities like accepting credit cards and maintain a very good profile with lots of positive reviews.

It's not easy putting together a quality lawn care company, some of us may make it look easy, but it takes an absurd amount of hard work!

 

[Ric]

I agree with Ric, the key to getting past your first year is maintain a VERY high standard and quality to your final product, as well as offer cheeper prices than your more seasoned competitor. Pride yourself on your work and DONT skimp on crappy equipment...it will fail and then force you out of business. If your serious enough, and you have faith in yourself, then get a loan and get good equipment to start. Use software like Jobber or Lawn pro to schedule and maintain your clients, offer amenities like accepting credit cards and maintain a very good profile with lots of positive reviews.

It's not easy putting together a quality lawn care company, some of us may make it look easy, but it takes an absurd amount of hard work!

With today's options for 0% financing you can afford to buy good commercial equipment. Trying to to use consumer grade lawn care equipment that was designed for home owner you just leave yourself open to to constant breakdowns, which means unhappy clients that end up switching service. If you want to be able to compete with other businesses in today's market I wouldn't try and start a business with anything less than 10K and that would be a decent start on equipment alone. We wont even talk about cost involved in licensing, insurance and marketing just to start.

 

[rvalandscapes]

Also, cutting grass doesn't cut it! Most startup lawn care companies try to make money with just lawn care, and figure out pretty quickly that it doesn't pay. Then they try to raise there price and then "don't put down the gate for less than $40", this type of attitude is absolutely destined to fail! You cannot make money cutting grass because as you expand to pick up more jobs, your overall cost to run the company becomes cost prohibitive. Meaning, you can only make money cutting grass if you are a single man operation cutting a few lawns per week.

Solution, you cut grass to gain access to quality clients that might want more, like landscaping, hardscaping, powerwashing ect...these other services produce a higher profit margin and enable you to make money with your sell up services. This also enables you to charge LESS for lawn care, not more. Quality customers will eventually have you do everything from mulching to fertilization. If you won't drop the gate for less than $40, you have already failed as a lawn care business, you just don't know it yet.

Mark

RVA Landscapes LLC RVA Landscapes LLC