Starting a lawncare business this summer.

[Jakec]

Hello, I am new to these forums, and am seeking advice for my first, and very small and low risk business. I am only 16 years old so this is more of a test my father is setting up for me, before I join the real business world. Success from my lawncare business is important to me, because I am pretty certain my father is testing me to see if financing a larger business after high school for me would be successful. He is a successful Businessman in our town.


What he is supplying me with:
Truck
Lawn Mower
Whipper Snipper
Various lawncare tools
5 properties to start with (4 his, 1 family)

He said I will be able to pick up 5 more properties before summer starts, and be making about $250 a week, $50 towards gasoline. I realize this extremely small business is probably a joke to many of you, but I need to do something quite impressive with it. My question is, with those profits, what are some good ideas for growing the business? Should I try to buy new mowers and hire friends to go do more lawns? Should I buy a plow to continue a business into the winter? I want advice on the best way to grow this business, I realize it will be small.

Thanks for any help, it is very appreciated.
Jake

[JLeezer]

First off, don't think about how small your business is...plan on it being much bigger!

I commend you for taking on the fun filled task of starting a business from scratch. I know it might seem small, but if you plan correctly, it will allow for an incredible amount of growth to occur without you necessarily doing much additional work.

Before thinking about getting more equipment and then hiring more friends, first figure out what your process for getting each property done. Figure out approximately how long it takes to mow the yard, trim the excess grass/weeds, sweep sidewalks/driveways/roads/etc, meet with the customer to ensure satisfaction, etc. There's no reason you can't hire a friend to help out with some of that stuff to get the whole thing done faster. I'd suggest that you either mow or weed whack and have your friend do the other. Then, while your friend is sweeping up and putting the equipment back in the truck, walk through the property with your father (and soon to be slew of non-related customers) to ensure that you've attended to all of the details important to him. Be sure to write these things down in a binder with the property address clearly at the top. Include the amount of time spent on each activity for each property.

After a few times doing each lawn, you'll have a nice amount of data to figure out where your money should be spent. If you find that it take 1 hour to mow but only 30 minutes to whack and sweep, consider getting a second mower. Figure out the answer to this question: if I could only buy 1 piece of new (or used) equipment, which piece would most substantially minimize the amount of time the crew spends at each property?

You may find that this question has a different answer depending on the property's details. If so, figure out which would benefit you the most as far as time goes. Your primary goal should be to be in and out of a property as quickly as possible while not overworking your crew nor shortcutting on any of the details.

As for expanding into the plow business, it would be nice to have a seasonal business to compliment the lawn care. However, you are likely going to be chasing after two different markets, unless your lawncare company handles retail/office/warehouse properties and not residential as I am assuming.

If you take nothing else away from this response...take this: document as much as possible in a way that will help you make better decisions in the future. You don't have to spend a ton of time doing it, just get the information organized.

Hope this helps some. I'd love to hear how it goes over the summer.

[oam]

First off don't worry about the fact that the business isn't talking huge numbers, you got to start somewhere and there is no shame in that. The way I see this business becoming a real success and not just a successful seasonal job is by hiring other employee's to do the work.

First you need to have a process and be able to guarantee profitability from that. Once you've gotten a handle of what needs to be done & just how it can be done, you can potentially hire friends/employee's to do future lawns.

I say potentially because I don't know if you'll be able to get them enough work to justify it. You'll need to check out the competition and see what kind of market is out there. This will help you figure out how much you can charge, and what services are in demand.

Only web resource I can think of off the top of my head is a company here in Canada called Greendrop (greendrop.ca)

Good luck!

[Jakec]

Thanks for both of those replies. Both of them help me out, and Jleezer I feel stupid for not thinking of that on my own. Thats a great idea, to monitor time spent on each part of the properties, and then decide what equipment to buy.

Also Jleezer, I will be doing both residential and retail locations, so far two of the properties are retail locations, both on the most busy street in town, very close to the highway. The other 3 are residential, and my father thinks I will probably pick up some of the retail properties on the street.

[malahverdian]

In the retail areas, maybe put a sign out by your truck near the road you are doing with your company name and number. In residential areas, introduce yourself to the neighbors and hand out flyers, having multiple lawns in one area will help reduce your costs and time travelling...

just some ideas off the top of my head

[CIsaac]

Jake,

All the advice you've gotten so far is great! Yes, if I were you, I'd try to start off alone until you figure out timing and a method (because you'll find a quick method). I would also see what the neighbors are getting charged, and fix a sales price for the first 6 months that will be less than what your competition is charging.

When you get to the point of needing help, I would test them first. Ask them to come along on a job to help you (tell them you'll pay them a little something from your cut) and watch how they work and teach them too. Then hire them after a run or two if you're satisfied.

After or before you're done with each house, I would walk to the nearest house, ring their bell, them them you're just starting your business and you're trying to learn and prove yourself so could they try you out at least once for half the price of what they pay? If they do and they like your job, then I would establish better pricing with them later.

I agree with your logic on expanding to plowing in the future! Wish you the best.

-Cheryl Isaac-
IBS - Isaac Business Services

[jhig INC]

I also owned a lawn care business. What I would do would tell all the customers that you currently have that you would cut their lawn for free, every time they got you a new customer. I built it up that way to start. Another promotion I ran was the fifth mow was free on, one to get you into the door and two to keep you there so you put it a little farther out, like fifth or sixth cut. And run a ad saying free mowing. The biggest is find ways to advertise the cheaper the better when you are starting out.

Good luck.

[Jakec]

Thanks everybody I'm going to consider all of these suggestions.

[Sandgroper]

The biggest mistake is working to cheap, if the average lawn is $35 in your area stick with that, dont try and attract people with a cheaper price you will get the worst possible customers that god ever breathed life into, they are known as P.I.T.A.S in the industry (pain in the arses), they will refer you to their deadbeat friends as well,,,with all the costs of running and in maintaining trucks ,machinery,insurance etc you will not make a profit, very few get past the first year, main reason is underpricing.

Visit lawnsite.com and lawncafe.com for 1000's of threads on lawncare.

p.s being doing lawncare since 1983,,good luck.

[Jakec]

The biggest mistake is working to cheap, if the average lawn is $35 in your area stick with that, dont try and attract people with a cheaper price you will get the worst possible customers that god ever breathed life into, they are known as P.I.T.A.S in the industry (pain in the arses), they will refer you to their deadbeat friends as well,,,with all the costs of running and in maintaining trucks ,machinery,insurance etc you will not make a profit, very few get past the first year, main reason is underpricing.

Visit lawnsite.com and lawncafe.com for 1000's of threads on lawncare.

p.s being doing lawncare since 1983,,good luck.

Thanks thats some good advice, I was wondering about pricing and what you say makes sense.

[Sandgroper]

One sneaky way of getting an idea of the prices is ring a couple of well known business's and ask for quotes for yours and friends propertys and get an idea of theprices for different size lots,, you will learn how to quote and deal with the public as well