6 yards per day x 4 days per week is 24 yards per week.
24 yards at $50 (average) per week is $1200 per week or about $4800 per month.

I'd say that would be a tough amount to live on if you have to pay a mortgage out of it.

Would think you'll need to do 12 to 15 yards per day minimum to make the kind of money your wanting to make. As a poster above said, best bet is to get several yards in a neighborhood so you dont have to load up and spend time traveling from site to site.

Crusaders41 said:

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6 yards per day x 4 days per week is 24 yards per week.
24 yards at $50 (average) per week is $1200 per week or about $4800 per month.

I'd say that would be a tough amount to live on if you have to pay a mortgage out of it.

Would think you'll need to do 12 to 15 yards per day minimum to make the kind of money your wanting to make. As a poster above said, best bet is to get several yards in a neighborhood so you dont have to load up and spend time traveling from site to site.

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Actually, that is just about what I want. I expect the house to be in the neighborhood of $250,000, so the mortgage will be around $18-1900, utilities around $300-350, and food a couple hundred, so using the high amount, that is $2450. That leaves a tad over $2300 for gas, cell phones, insurance, etc..... I could always add to the number of jobs I want if the income is not sufficient, or divert some of the wifes pay.

I will leave the Army debt free with a good amount of guns, a new atv and camper, so will not need to put a lot of money toward toys. I think this job will give me the freedom to make decent money, and still have time to hunt, golf, fish, shoot, whatever.

Thanks to all for the ideas, they are truly helpful.

If you aren't doing landscaping how are you paying the bills 6 months of the year when no grass to mow regularly?

Believe it or not but your margin will be in applying fertilizers and pesticides.

If you want a self employment job look at pest control as a component of the business. There is a barrier of entry (license) and you have more contact with customer which will prevent Juan down the road from undercutting your established business.

As Dave Ramsey would say "your budget is just asking Murphy to move into the spare bedroom." Could always rent while you establish the business until it's stable.

I don't have the knowledge base that these fellows do, but I wish you well with your retirement and thank you for your service.

Now, onto my thoughts re your prospective business:
Except for when I was undergoing cancer treatment, I've mowed and weedwhacked our lawn as it is a standard CS lot. Where we have difficulty is the type of work that requires extra time (husband works long days), strength (I try, but just not as strong as I used to be), or special equipment that we don't necessarily want to buy or store (like a tiller). I have attempted to modify our clay soil with a tall pitchfork, but it is pretty hard for me. Same with trying to place flagstone for walkways. Those are jobs where I have an idea of what I want and where, but just can't quite manage to perform the task. I can see where that would be as time consuming for a lawn guy as it is for me, but the difference is they get $$. So, if you need work outside of growing season, that might be an area you could consider.

There seems to be a rapidly growing market in the business of washing out people's trash cans, you could add that service.

I'll throw something out there as a business if you don't mind the work...moving. I ran a side business from Facebook where my niche was picking up and delivering people's garage sale and Facebook purchases. Couches, tables, rugs, dressers, beds....you name it. I have a 5x10 trailer w/ ramp and I either worked solo or had a friend help. In 6-7 months, I had grossed $25k with only gas and plastic wrap as expenses....and gas wasn't that much as living in the dense area of Frisco my deliveries were a couple miles max. I got really good at it and I knew what it was worth to me and the the customer to move something. I never worked for less than 25/hr and that included all drive time. All deliveries were evenings weekends. If you don't want to start from scratch, there are franchises you can buy in to.

Neighbors' pay $125 each time to mow and weedeat 1 to 2 acres with trees.

Thank you all for the advice and suggestions, they are going in my notebook for further analysis. I have a year before I need to really make up my mind, but I plan to have a sound business plan well before that. Thank you all again.

not to derail, but you could always try being a lyft/uber driver. And it would keep you outta the heat! My buddy does it after work and seems to make pretty good money just off cash tips

Frisco said:

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not to derail, but you could always try being a lyft/uber driver. And it would keep you outta the heat! My buddy does it after work and seems to make pretty good money just off cash tips

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Good Lord, no. Thanks for the idea, but there is no way I could do that. I dont see making any money in my 3/4 ton Duramax anyway.

Don't forget about the government wanting their 37% cut of the money you make here.

clarythedrill said:

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TMfrisco said:

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Yard mowing is like oil changes for car service places - a way to get you in the door and keep the lights on. You will find there is so much competition for just yard mowing that the price is dictated by the market. Landscape companies make their money on installs/renovations.

A one man gang will max out the amount of money you can make in a week pretty quickly based on how many yards you can do in a day - and it won't be near what you think.

Buy commercial equipment:
Toro walk behind - new, about $1400
Stihl Blower - $400-$500 varies on CFM
Stihl Edgers and weedeaters - $300-$350/each

Get your Chemical Applicators Lic and Irrigators Lic and apply fert, preemerge, kill weeds, and fix irrigation. If you do that one day/week you can probably make as much or more net as you do mowing yards for 3 or 4 days.

It is a lot harder business than most people think. That being said, I have a small side business with one guy that does all the mowing, etc and I do the chemical apps and small irrigation jobs and we could have as much business as we want, but labor is the issue. My guy has worked for me for 20 years and I don't have to even check up on his work - but, I also give him most of the money for the mowing services. I won't take on any more business because I don't think I could find somebody to trust like him.

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Do you have your own trailer with a water tank attached? If so, what size of tank would you recommend?

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A 50-100gal skid sprayer would be fine - new about $2500. Sometimes you can find them on Craigslist.

Quote:

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Invest in high quality, commercial equipment!

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Can not stress this enough! I did this when I mowed yards commercially in high school. 20 years later and the only thing I've had to replace was my blower after I dropped it off my roof. My Honda weed eater had had zero issues and my walk behind 36" snapper has only had belt changes/adjustments, spark plugs and blade sharpening. Never even had to crack the carb open. Added a used snapper commercial 21" walk behind with a Wisconsin Robin two cycle motor a few years ago and it is trouble free as well.

A 36" walk behind is a great size to fit through gates.

We pay $80 a week on a 1 acre lot. This includes maintenance of flower beds, etc. it was mentioned above but we only get our yard mowed weekly about 5 months of the year. The other 7 months it goes to just once every two or three weeks.

I used to sell commercial lawn equipment, and most of my customers got into Christmas Light install during the off season. Typically start installing around Nov 1 and typically hang lights the whole month of Nov. Start taking down beginning of Jan. Some guys would store them for the customers, others would put them in a bin in the customers attic and show back up the following year. The tree guys were the ones really into it. They already have the equipment to get up high (ladders, tree climbing stuff). It might be difficult as a one man operation, but it may be an opportunity to make a little in the offseason.

Do the math on self employment tax & build that in to your estimates.

We pay $100 for mowing, trimming, and cleaning the pool after
This is 1.2 acres and includes trimming along 600 linear feet of wood fence

Astrobo said:

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Don't forget about the government wanting their 37% cut of the money you make here.

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I agree as a self-employed man, this part sucks. That $4800 a month gross, becomes around $3000 net after income and SE taxes (assuming you are in Texas, where we don't lose even more to a state income tax). Uncle sugar really likes to screw us when we work for ourselves. I would imagine you have $250 or so in fuel costs a month (see below)?

You could at least write off mileage and equipment costs and maintenance costs, I believe. But still, if most Americans tried working for themselves, we would all be up in arms against the tax laws!!!

Other things to consider:

Don't forget the fuel tax refund from Texas Comptroller for fuels not used in a motor vehicle:
Also, save all those gas receipts from your mower/blower/weedeater fuel, and file the state of Texas 06-106 form that refunds the state portion of fuel taxes paid at the pump. At minimum, just write mower or blower on the receipt, and save it. Looks like you may want to submit that monthly or quarterly, if you burn sufficient fuel. Either way, you have roughly up to a year to send it in. I think currently we pay 18.4 cents a gallon in state fuel tax. It could add up, depending on how much fuel you burn. https://comptroller.texas.gov/forms/06-106.pdf

Location and downtime due to traffic:
I would recommend trying to find most of your work local to where you live. One buddy that has an arborist business in Austin, won't work in certain parts of town anymore, because it takes too much windshield time to get there. He's paying a 4 man crew to sit in the AC in the traffic, instead of trim trees. In your case, anytime you are not mowing is wasted time, so you would do best to try and schedule multiple jobs close by one another when you can, and try to get all of your work on the Northern side of town if you live North, etc.