# Tips on starting a lawn care business



## ChiefOsceola (Oct 2, 2009)

A friend of mine has recently decided he wants to start a lawn care business next Spring.  I've already told him he'll need liability insurance to cover his tail...but I was wondering if y'all could offer up any other start-up tips?

He's starting from scratch, meaning he'll be buying all the equipment up front...have to get all his customers lined up...etc.  From scratch.

What tips can you give?  Brands of equipment?  Expected expenditures?  Ways to recruit new business?

I don't want him to dive in over his head into something that won't be what he thinks.  He's planning on leaving a job that pays him around $40K/year to start this.  Realistically, can he expect to generate this in his first year?

Also...how do lawn care companies survive in the winter months?  Do they normally make enough in the warm months to get them through?

He's down here in south Georgia where his nearest town is about 15,000 people.  

Thanks!


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## rjcruiser (Oct 2, 2009)

tell him not to quit his day job and just do lawn care on the side until he can get established.

also, the fall is a great time to pick up used equipment.  You see it all the time...guys buy all new equipment in the spring...last the summer and then try and sell in the fall.

I'd recommend getting a good walk-behind as a first mower.  Hydro is much easier to manuever than belt drive.  36inch for inside gates 48inch or bigger for open fields.  Stihl or echo on the string trimmer and blower.  Stay all 2 cycle on the small stuff.  the 4 cycle stuff is garbage.

Also, if he is going to go with a zero turn, spend the money and get commercial grade.  the homeowner grade is junk and the deck will wear out quickly along with the hydros.

As far as making money in the winter, commercial accounts are usually year-round.  ie...monthly fee no matter what you do.  you can structure your residential accounts like this (say $100 per month rather than $150 in the summer and nothing in the winter), but make them pay usually up front by the quarter so that you don't work hard in the summer and then not get paid in the winter.

As far as what to expect in revenues...that really depends. Lots of people are starting to cut their own grass now that the economy isn't so great.  Lots of locals are trying to undercut the competition with $25 deals.  Good luck with it.


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## jimbo4116 (Oct 2, 2009)

ChiefOsceola said:


> A friend of mine has recently decided he wants to start a lawn care business next Spring.  I've already told him he'll need liability insurance to cover his tail...but I was wondering if y'all could offer up any other start-up tips?
> 
> He's starting from scratch, meaning he'll be buying all the equipment up front...have to get all his customers lined up...etc.  From scratch.
> 
> ...



If he has a job paying him 40k with any benefits you better talk him out of it.

He will need about $20K minimum to start up.  He will be selling an unknown product to potential customers mostly satisfied with the product they are currently using.

Building up a business is hard when you are spending most of your time in the seat of a mower.

Most Lawncare services I know try to sell a year round service contract with a set monthly fee.  Residential contracts vary with the size of the yard and services desired.  Then get all the pick up business they can to fill in.

Winter months they put out pinestraw, fertilizer, trim shrubs & trees and most will do repairs on irrigation. systems.


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## bow_hunter125 (Oct 2, 2009)

Definitely doesn't need to quit his day job.  A lawn care business is something that can be ran on the side which a lot of people do.  A lot of people don't have the extra cash right now to spend on a luxury like lawn care.  Plus, there are TONS of other lawn care companies/people out there.  He needs to do some market research in his target area.  He also needs to think about if this doesn't work out, how hard it would be to find a new job in this economy.  Even if it does start to improve, it's going to take awhile of economic improvement before companies start to rehire.


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## ChiefOsceola (Oct 2, 2009)

Good advise guys.  Thanks!

I wouldn't think of leaving my job right now either.  He says that all he's read says that the lawn care market is expanding right now.  ????  I'm like y'all...I figured it'd be a luxury that a lot of homeowners are cutting out and doing themselves.


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## Cornelia_Hiker (Oct 2, 2009)

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Have used them for years. Great service and always perfect cards. Have hundreds of ready-made designs including relating to lawn care.

Just pick a design and fill in the blanks with the desired text. Full color designs.

How do they do it? As you go to check out they offer you extras and upgrades ect... You do not have to go for any of them. Just keep clicking by and pay at the end. They take paypal too for easy pay.

Pass & post the cards around everywhere in your local area, to friends ect...


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## FLdeerHunter25 (Oct 2, 2009)

I had a succesful lawncare business, I would say pretty much the same thing as others have said and thats this...

1. start small..on weekends as side job.
2. Search for equipment and dont go overboard right at the start.
3. advertise! I spent $500 on those 2x3 plastic signs to stick out on the side of the road and with proper placement they will bring in alot of biz.
4. Keep it simple, establish a contract that covers winter months as well. In winter you can rake leaves or trim trees or misc stuff like that around your customers place.

these are just some things that made my business succesful when it was open. Due to EX wife had to suddenly "go out of business"


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## 91xjgawes (Oct 2, 2009)

way too many people doing it now a day...


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## jason4445 (Oct 2, 2009)

Yeah you can drive around my large subdivision any hot summer day and there are a dozen beat up pickup trucks with wire mesh trailers parked all around.  Every off duty fireman, weekend mill worker, and social security person out there does lawns.

After I sort of retired I picked up a half dozen widow woman I knew lawns with my Murry mower, gas week eater and plug in blower.  Then started thinking about making a business out of it.  I hoofed it all over the area knocking on doors, cheap pricing, handing out cards and the big excuse I got was "well old Mr. So and So has been doing my yard for 10 years, I just could not let him go."  

I found out the new jobs were long in coming and mostly resulted from word of mouth and neighbors seeing you do a yard and walking over wanting you to do theirs.

I would not go into it with large commercial equipment, or going into any sort of debt.  Start out small with Wal Mart equipment cause it is probably going to take five years at least to obtain enough customers to keep a viable business running.  Also to keep ten customers running full time you will need twenty accounts.  People die, move away, their son in law is getting into the business that kind of thing. 

So start small, put your profits only back into commercial grade equipment and grow that way.


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## Sargent (Oct 2, 2009)

Over the top customer service- differntiate himself in a sea of look-alikes.  Offer a free cut for every X paid, maybe.


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## ChiefOsceola (Oct 2, 2009)

Thanks for all the replies.  I'm forwarding him the link.


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## jbird1 (Oct 2, 2009)

I highly recommend pre-paid service only!! The yard guy is ALWAYS the last person to get paid...


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## Mossy (Oct 2, 2009)

My advice would be DON'T do it!!!


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## truckman (Oct 2, 2009)

*lawn care*

I did this for a while as a side job. It did what it was supposed to, which was to make a little extra and to pay for the commercial grade mower I needed for my own yard. I think looking for $40K his first year is pretty aggressive thinking especially if you live in a rural area and have to drive for business. You have to have a lot of commercial accounts to come close to that. As for equipment, I had an X-Mark zero turn 52 inch cut with a Kohler motor and loved it. I agree with the recommendation of Echo for weed eater. I hope he is a success, but thinks long and hard before quitting his job. Anyway, good luck to him.


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## Todd E (Oct 2, 2009)

I have been doing it "on the side" for  several years now. It is a side biz for me and is reported to IRS as such.  

I would not walk away from a 40K ft job to start up a lawn care biz. But.......if he is ready for a change in his life and the savings acct is stacked.........go for it. 

Due to the economy and layoffs, I see many new grass guys in my area. Trying to get by in life any way they can. Tremendous amount of lowball prices out there right now. 

First......biz lic, liability policy, and ins on equipment. Don't do it w/o it !!!!  I had all my equip stolen this year. If it were not ins'd, I'd been out of biz.

All my customers have been by word of mouth. If you do great work and take pride in it.........customers will come. I hand biz cards with bills and offer 15% discount on next cut with referrals. If he wants to set himself apart from others, he needs to take the test and carry a commercial applicators lic for herbicides.


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## Rip Steele (Oct 2, 2009)

A friend of mine went out and bought the zero turn mower with trailer and all the blowers and weedeaters and etc..... The pricing out there is to cheap and you can't make a profit at it unless you have a established customer base to keep you busy all year.


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## Skipper (Oct 2, 2009)

If he's got a computer with Excel on it run some numbers of what you think you can do, then do the same with the cost side.

My yard would take about 2 hours to mow.  Someone would mow it for $50, maybe less.  In 8 hours you could theoretically mow 4 of my yards if you didn't have to drive too far between them.  If you could do that 6 days a week 32 weeks per year (April through November) that would be around $38,000 gross per year.

At that rate you are going to have to have about 36 clients figuring you'll visit each one every 10 days.  

What happens on rain out days?  What if it turns off bone dry from June till October?  

Skag mowers run between $5000 for the walk behinds and $10,000 for the z-turns.  You could easily tie up $20,000 in equipment fast.  Maybe it turns 4 yards a day into 6 or 7, maybe it doesn't.  If it does can you come up with 60 clients v's 30 some odd?  

If you try to do commercial, insurance is mandatory.  Liability will cost you at least $800/yr, more likely $1200 to $1500.  Workers comp is bad high.  You can about figure 80 cents on the dollar of payroll.  

I think the guys that suggested starting out small and keeping the day job are right.  Use equipment you already have such as your home push mower, riding mower, and weedeater.  Keep it simple, keep costs down.  Maybe start out mowing a lawn or 2 after work or a few on weekends and see how it goes.  

I started mowing for people when I was about 12 years old.  Started out with neighbors and soon ended up mowing the reserve center and a local ball park.  I made decent money for a kid at it.  Back then I never told someone what I'd charge, I told them to pay me what they thought it was worth.  Most of the time I was surprised and if someone stiffed me, they needn't ask again.  I'm not sure if it would work that way today.  

Oh, I had a Snapper rider, a Lawnboy, and a Stihl weedeater.  Dad still uses the Lawnboy, I still use the Stihl Weedeater, and my father in law still has the Snapper.

Skipper


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## Strych9 (Oct 4, 2009)

I've been doing lawn care part time for the last 3 years, ontop of my full time job.  The lawn care industry is SLOW!  Jumping into it full time right now would be a horrible decision.  People just don't have the money to pay someone to cut their grass these days.

-Don't quit your day job..
-Start small.  Get a walk behind mower, trailer, weed eater, edger, blower some hand tools and a sprayer.  This will be enough to get you started.
-Get insurance
-Keep your word to customers
-Check out LawnProCafe.com, and spend a lot of time at this site.


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## Miguel Cervantes (Oct 4, 2009)

Strych9 said:


> I've been doing lawn care part time for the last 3 years, ontop of my full time job. The lawn care industry is SLOW! Jumping into it full time right now would be a horrible decision. People just don't have the money to pay someone to cut their grass these days.
> 
> -Don't quit your day job..
> -Start small. Get a walk behind mower, trailer, weed eater, edger, blower some hand tools and a sprayer. This will be enough to get you started.
> ...


 
All sound advice and I would echo that sentiment x2 and add; in downturned economy's when layoffs are high the lawn care business becomes saturated with folks out of work trying to earn a buck.

Now would definitely not be the time to attempt busting into this market.

Also, some of the downsides to a lawn care business, customers do not care that it rained three of the five days of the week, so he will be expected to work whatever day it takes to ensure their lawn is taken care of. Customers do not care that gas went up $1.00 a gallon, they expect that their rates will never change. Customers do not care that you blew all of the leaves off of their lawn yesterday, today the lawn is covered up. Customers do not believe in their lawn service taking holidays or vacations, they believe in their lawn looking like Callaway Gardens, even though they are only paying Waffle House rates.

If he want's to sell a service tell him to get a Master Gardener Certificate and then sell a Personal Gardener service to high end residences. A service that does not include lawn care.
That is a niche that has yet to be capitolized on.


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## Strych9 (Oct 6, 2009)

scooter1 said:


> If he want's to sell a service tell him to get a Master Gardener Certificate and then sell a Personal Gardener service to high end residences. A service that does not include lawn care.
> That is a niche that has yet to be capitolized on.



I was a personal gardner before getting my job at the fire department.  The money is HUGE, but you've got to know whats going on, and those customers are picky picky picky!  It was a great job though.


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## jbird1 (Oct 6, 2009)

It's helps to have the right physique to really make the big bucks in personal gardening...if you know what I mean.


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