Export thread

Starting perfessional landscaping

#1

L

Landscaper2

An starting a professional landscaping business and need help with some pricing of lawns And propert maintenance! Anyone that can help it would help me out greatly


#2

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

If it is a mid-sized yard, I would say charge $40. That's very competitive if you do mowing, trimming, and all that.


#3

Ric

Ric

Landscaper2 said:
An starting a professional landscaping business and need help with some pricing of lawns And property maintenance! Anyone that can help it would help me out greatly
Click to expand...

If you want to be competitive check out the pricing of other firms in your area. Prices are going to vary with location, they can also vary with the size of the business you're dealing with.


#4

S

ScagRider03

I charge 25 mow trim blow at a normal 1/4 acre lot, now my boss on the other hand charges 40 for 1/4 acre lots he says they are a waste of his time I am very small and trying to get my own business rocking he said I need to up the ante but it all depends on how big you are and what equipment you are running to make the job go by fast or Long


#5

MSlandscaping

MSlandscaping

I guess it all depends where you live, here in Northern CA residential yards are done for about $100 and can go all the way up to $500


#6

L

Lawnranger

MSlandscaping said:
I guess it all depends where you live, here in Northern CA residential yards are done for about $100 and can go all the way up to $500
Click to expand...

The old "location, location, location" thing. I walk the property with the owner and discuss everything. Together we agree on exactly what will and will not be done. From there I estimate how long in minutes it will take to complete what the owner wants and start at one dollar a minute and go up from there.


#7

MSlandscaping

MSlandscaping

Lawnranger said:
The old "location, location, location" thing. I walk the property with the owner and discuss everything. Together we agree on exactly what will and will not be done. From there I estimate how long in minutes it will take to complete what the owner wants and start at one dollar a minute and go up from there.
Click to expand...

Location has a lot to do with it. There are areas saturated with low ballers. You hve to know your area and what the rest of your competitors are charging. If you say you charge one dollar a minute and the next guy that comes can do the exact same job for .75 cents a minute chances are you will not get the job.

I dont encourage low balling to ensure jobs. You win some you lose some, you just have to pick your battles and hope that the client does appreciate your knowledge and is willing to pay more for that.

We are all trying to start up a business to make good money. If we wanted to make peanuts we would just go work for our previous employer.


#8

Carscw

Carscw

Location is everything
Say you go into a neighborhood there is 100 houses and 15 lawn crews cutting grass that tells you that none of them stand out. under bid a couple yards make them stand out.
Time is money but take your time show some pride. Cutting grass is a art. Anyone can ride over the yard cutting the grass but it takes skill to make it look good. A mow and go guy has to cut 100 yards a week as fast and crappy as he can to make less money than a skilled yard man who only cuts 25 yards a week. If you want to pay your self $1000 a week and both your workers $500 a week each then stay away from the cheap mow and go yards

Sent from my iPhone using LMF


#9

L

Lawnranger

MSlandscaping said:
Location has a lot to do with it. There are areas saturated with low ballers. You hve to know your area and what the rest of your competitors are charging. If you say you charge one dollar a minute and the next guy that comes can do the exact same job for .75 cents a minute chances are you will not get the job.

I dont encourage low balling to ensure jobs. You win some you lose some, you just have to pick your battles and hope that the client does appreciate your knowledge and is willing to pay more for that.

We are all trying to start up a business to make good money. If we wanted to make peanuts we would just go work for our previous employer.
Click to expand...

I have found that the relationship I've built with my clients has protected my base by 95%. I have had a few people switch to the low baller but after seeing what the low baller did to their yard I realized that the customer really didn't care how his yard looked, he just wanted the lowest price and there will always be those kind of people but I gratefully thank my competition for taking those kind of clients as I'm not in this to loose money. If a client doesn't want to pay my price I simply move on. There are way too many prospects out there to have to deal with the cheapskates. I do get referrals on a somewhat regular basis and have all the work I want. If you give it some thought, you drive past more business than you have so if you lack work, time to do some form of cold calling/advertising/referral requests/etc.

In another thread I elaborated on some of the topics that set me above my competition, "raise the bar" if you will, and by doing this I build the relationship with my clients and they appreciate what I do for them. If you are losing clients to your competition you better do a check up from the neck up and figure out what is missing. Most people will say they want the lowest price but what they are really saying is they want value. The art of selling plays a large role and it turns out that most people in business aren't good salespeople. They don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. I've read some threads on this forum that talk about how people get started in this business and then grow to the point that they need more equipment, workers, space, etc. and they go out and get all that overhead not realizing (or planning) for what is ahead.

There are those who will disagree with my methods and your experience may differ but I'm not going to argue with success.


#10

MSlandscaping

MSlandscaping

Lawnranger said:
I have found that the relationship I've built with my clients has protected my base by 95%. I have had a few people switch to the low baller but after seeing what the low baller did to their yard I realized that the customer really didn't care how his yard looked, he just wanted the lowest price and there will always be those kind of people but I gratefully thank my competition for taking those kind of clients as I'm not in this to loose money. If a client doesn't want to pay my price I simply move on. There are way too many prospects out there to have to deal with the cheapskates. I do get referrals on a somewhat regular basis and have all the work I want. If you give it some thought, you drive past more business than you have so if you lack work, time to do some form of cold calling/advertising/referral requests/etc.

In another thread I elaborated on some of the topics that set me above my competition, "raise the bar" if you will, and by doing this I build the relationship with my clients and they appreciate what I do for them. If you are losing clients to your competition you better do a check up from the neck up and figure out what is missing. Most people will say they want the lowest price but what they are really saying is they want value. The art of selling plays a large role and it turns out that most people in business aren't good salespeople. They don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. I've read some threads on this forum that talk about how people get started in this business and then grow to the point that they need more equipment, workers, space, etc. and they go out and get all that overhead not realizing (or planning) for what is ahead.

There are those who will disagree with my methods and your experience may differ but I'm not going to argue with success.
Click to expand...



I agree, client relationships are very important. Doing great work and communicating with your clients will keep them loyal to you. I cant remember the last time we lost a client to a "cheaper" competitor.
A good relationship lets them know that you care, and arent just there to get paid.


#11

Ric

Ric

MSlandscaping said:
I agree, client relationships are very important. Doing great work and communicating with your clients will keep them loyal to you. I cant remember the last time we lost a client to a "cheaper" competitor.
A good relationship lets them know that you care, and aren't just there to get paid.
Click to expand...

Agreed, client relationship is important and it's funny you said doing great work and communicating with your clients keeps them loyal.
Communication or the lack of seems to be the number one complaint from most of my new clientele whose lawns I take on. I can't count the number of times I've heard I can't get get the guy on the phone or I leave messages and they wont return my calls and I haven't seen the guy in a month. You should always respond to your clients.


#12

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

Ric said:
You should always respond to your clients.
Click to expand...

And then the people probably wonder why the customer chose another company to mow their lawn. Duh! Maybe if you returned their calls, you would still have them as a customer!:cool:


#13

Ric

Ric

lawn mower fanatic said:
And then the people probably wonder why the customer chose another company to mow their lawn. Duh! Maybe if you returned their calls, you would still have them as a customer!:cool:
Click to expand...

I think that's the problem with to many lawn-care businesses today. To much of what they care about is there bottom line and the almighty dollar instead of the job. :frown:


#14

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

Ric said:
I think that's the problem with to many lawn-care businesses today. To much of what they care about is there bottom line and the almighty dollar instead of the job. :frown:
Click to expand...

I agree! :smile:


#15

Carscw

Carscw

I guess I deal with a different clientele I have home owners that did not like that company always called and said we will be out tomorrow is there any thing you would like us to do.
They pay me to take care of the property they should never have to call and tell me they want something done. When it's time to change out flowers I just do it. People just want a good job and they don't mind paying good money.
If they have to call you to ask you to trim a bush or remove a weed then you are not doing your job

Sent from my iPhone using LMF


#16

Ric

Ric

landscaper2 said he needed help with some pricing of lawns and property maintenance. I was looking at some of the Craigslist ads last night and the going rate for this area for a start up businesses are people doing Lawn-care that includes mowing, trimming, edging and clean up/blower for between $10 and $15 a cut, some are trying for $20.
Over the last year there have been a number of good size businesses fold up in the surrounding area and with the number of start up company's available to call with the cheaper prices I can see the bigger company's really starting to to have some problems. So anyone considering a start up lawn-care business better be prepared to cater to there clientele or they may not keep them long.


#17

Carscw

Carscw

Wow $10 to $15 a cut?
The low ballers here get $30 to $40 to cut trim blow. To edge the drive is extra for them

Sent from my iPhone using LMF


#18

L

Lawnranger

Carscw said:
Wow $10 to $15 a cut?
The low ballers here get $30 to $40 to cut trim blow. To edge the drive is extra for them

Sent from my iPhone using LMF
Click to expand...

Location, location, location. Just like real estate.


#19

Ric

Ric

Lawnranger said:
Location, location, location. Just like real estate.
Click to expand...

I agree, location can have a lot to do with your pricing structure but so can the economy and more people seem to be looking to the smaller type businesses with lesser prices than the bigger outfits.
I think there are more and more start up company's today than ever before and there not interested in the bottom line, they're people trying to pay there bills every month and survive, that's there bottom line.


#20

Ric

Ric

Carscw said:
I guess I deal with a different clientele I have home owners that did not like that company always called and said we will be out tomorrow is there any thing you would like us to do.
They pay me to take care of the property they should never have to call and tell me they want something done. When it's time to change out flowers I just do it. People just want a good job and they don't mind paying good money.
If they have to call you to ask you to trim a bush or remove a weed then you are not doing your job

Sent from my iPhone using LMF
Click to expand...

I don't differentiate between clients, I treat everybody as equals. From the owner of the single wide trailer to the big homeowners I treat everyone the same and the cuts are priced according to the size of the property and what they asked to be done.


#21

Carscw

Carscw

My point was that not every homeowner wants to talk all the time. The most I hear from most of them are when they change they gate code or going to be out of town and need to water the inside plants

Sent from my iPhone using LMF


#22

Ric

Ric

Carscw said:
My point was that not every homeowner wants to talk all the time. The most I hear from most of them are when they change they gate code or going to be out of town and need to water the inside plants

Sent from my iPhone using LMF
Click to expand...

You can have a client relationship without talking to homeowners all the time. The relationship is made by listening to the client/ homeowner about there wants and needs and being there when you say your going to be there and taking care of and doing the job you're supposed to do.

I have clients that bring there monthly payments by the house and slide them through the door or place them in the mailbox they even knock on the door and we talk a few minutes about them being out of town and ask about paying for upcoming services and I just say no not to worry about it until they get time or get back it's no big deal. I never pressed anyone for a payment and never will and I would never have anything to do with the inside of anyone's home that's just trouble looking to happen IMO. I think having a relationship with clients is a lot more than talk.


#23

MSlandscaping

MSlandscaping

Ric said:
You can have a client relationship without talking to homeowners all the time. The relationship is made by listening to the client/ homeowner about there wants and needs and being there when you say your going to be there and taking care of and doing the job you're supposed to do.

I have clients that bring there monthly payments by the house and slide them through the door or place them in the mailbox they even knock on the door and we talk a few minutes about them being out of town and ask about paying for upcoming services and I just say no not to worry about it until they get time or get back it's no big deal. I never pressed anyone for a payment and never will and I would never have anything to do with the inside of anyone's home that's just trouble looking to happen IMO. I think having a relationship with clients is a lot more than talk.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on this one Ric


#24

A

Acculawnsystems.com

I think that most of our clients over the past 16 years liked the way we did not hassle the homeowner. However, we set up a plan from the beginning and stuck to it. We even had the majority of our customers signing up online for our services without much conversation. We developed a system that gave instant online quotes through our website and it worked incredibly well at getting new business. Acculawnsystems.com is the system that can help you with this method.


#25

Ric

Ric

Carscw said:
Wow $10 to $15 a cut?
The low ballers here get $30 to $40 to cut trim blow. To edge the drive is extra for them

Sent from my iPhone using LMF
Click to expand...

To edge the drive is extra for them? There in is the problem. Why should part of the job be extra? Those guys IMO that charge by the foot or by the minute are only interested in the money and don't care about the job or the people they're working for. If you want to charge a little extra for hedge trimming, tree trimming or flower bed work something that's in that type of category fine.


#26

Carscw

Carscw

Ric said:
To edge the drive is extra for them? There in is the problem. Why should part of the job be extra? Those guys IMO that charge by the foot or by the minute are only interested in the money and don't care about the job or the people they're working for. If you want to charge a little extra for hedge trimming, tree trimming or flower bed work something that's in that type of category fine.
Click to expand...

Ok don't have a heart attack
I agree with you 100%.

We saw a guy cut a yard the other day did not pick up any trash (paper ) just mowed right over it left little white paper all over the yard and Bermuda sprigs hanging over the curb.
I wanted to go talk to the homeowner.
I would cut that yard for gas money just so this guy could not

Sent from my iPhone using LMF


#27

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

Carscw said:
Ok don't have a heart attack
I agree with you 100%.

We saw a guy cut a yard the other day did not pick up any trash (paper ) just mowed right over it left little white paper all over the yard and Bermuda sprigs hanging over the curb.
I wanted to go talk to the homeowner.
I would cut that yard for gas money just so this guy could not

Sent from my iPhone using LMF
Click to expand...

I know, I hate when I see people who don't do a good job, and probably are just in it for the money, and don't take pride in their work.


Footer Links 1

Top