Business & Investing
Sponsored by

Lawn Business

3,290 Views | 21 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by EvenPar
Tex_Ag_2017
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I have started mowing lawns after I get off work in the evenings and I have gotten quite a few customers. Probably not this season but at the beginning of next season, I may have more than I can handle. Does anyone have experience with this? I was wanting to know if anyone is able to keep their salary paying job and handle their lawn business as an owner with having someone to take calls, etc. and a crew. At what point, will this be able to make you money? I am currently making about $400 a week so I figured I would need to be making at least $600 a week to pay for 1 employee at $12 an hour for 40 hours a week. Any help would be appreciated. Maybe some of you have advice on side businesses in general.
The Debt
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Idk how familiar you are with payroll taxes.

So theres fica which is withholding from your employees paycheck. which is straightforward. Then there is "payroll taxes" which is social security Medicare etc. Roughly 6.5% gets held back for those.

Now heres the kicker: as an employer you have to match that 6.5%. So while you think "$12/hour is reasonable" realize you are really budgeting for $13/hr.
diehard03
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Quote:

At what point, will this be able to make you money?

Between paying for labor, outlaying cash for equipment and the competition, I would say that you have to scale it up fairly large before you're "making money".

Around me, I notice that there aren't any "lawn mowing companies". there are landscaping companies that also mow lawns. I figure the landscaping is the lucrative side of the business and the lawn mowing is more of the "maintenance" side of the business (keep people working, get name out, etc)

it seems like you're structuring yourself to miss out on the high margin business and might get steamrolled by the other guys.
Tex_Ag_2017
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I have done landscaping jobs in my neighborhood now. I meant to clarify that it is landscaping and not just mowing. It would be both sides of it.
wcb
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
What's the end goal? Keep it small / side job or something bigger?

Sounds like you have a good ballpark of revenue / customer. From there drop it in Excel. Add in expenses and see if / how well it scales.

A buddy of mine started pushing a lawnmower in high school. Then started hiring our friends to mow for him. Ten years down the road he has a milti-million dollar landscaping business. In a small town.

If you choose to go that route the next few years will be the hardest.
Tex_Ag_2017
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Ideally my goal is to be able to keep working because I love my job but I do like the extra income from the lawn services. My goal would be to be able to take it on a big scale by having crews do the work and I manage the customer relations and be a business owners and not so much a manager. Maybe this isn't feasible. If it went really big, I would do that full time but for now, I like where I am.
Diggity
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I think managing the crews is a full-time job. My buddy does it up in the Woodlands and during the busy season he is totally swamped...and he sure as hell isn't pushing the mower.

Your clients are going to want to talk to you about these larger landscaping jobs, which will take a lot of your time. You're also trying to attract new customers, while dealing with logistical issues. You need several trucks to scale the thing and you'll want to have a home base to store your trucks, equipment, and inventory.
TwoMarksHand
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I'd raise your prices until the demand slows down to how you like it.
diehard03
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Quote:

you'll want to have a home base to store your trucks, equipment, and inventory.

Around me, many of the smaller outfits just use storage places. I had my house packed into one lately and I got see the "great morning exodus" one day. Quite a sight.
AgBank
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Diggity said:

I think managing the crews is a full-time job. My buddy does it up in the Woodlands and during the busy season he is totally swamped...and he sure as hell isn't pushing the mower.

Your clients are going to want to talk to you about these larger landscaping jobs, which will take a lot of your time. You're also trying to attract new customers, while dealing with logistical issues. You need several trucks to scale the thing and you'll want to have a home base to store your trucks, equipment, and inventory.
This, and managing that caliber employees will be as much work as dealing with customers. You may get lucky, but it takes time to find the right people.
hillcountryag86
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
AgBank said:

Diggity said:

I think managing the crews is a full-time job. My buddy does it up in the Woodlands and during the busy season he is totally swamped...and he sure as hell isn't pushing the mower.

Your clients are going to want to talk to you about these larger landscaping jobs, which will take a lot of your time. You're also trying to attract new customers, while dealing with logistical issues. You need several trucks to scale the thing and you'll want to have a home base to store your trucks, equipment, and inventory.
This, and managing that caliber employees will be as much work as dealing with customers. You may get lucky, but it takes time to find the right people.
Can't stress what Diggiy and AgBank are saying enough.

Just based on the industry, the people you hire will be your number one problem. And they will consume the majority of your time. Diggity is right. When people don't show to a job, when they do a half ass job, when they leave ruts in the yard or tire marks on the driveway, those owners will want to talk to you immediately.

You will have theft. You will have equipment failures due to abuse.

In business, issues have to resolved immediately and I don't see how you can manage everything while holding down a full time job.
ag009
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
My husband and I have had a lawn care business for nearly 10 years. Never advertised a day and have far more work than we can ever want. But the major problem is LABOR. Finding anyone is hard, but someone who can actually run a crew? Nearly impossible. The good guys have jobs and the ones avaliable are that way for a reason. You'd think mowing is simple, but a new guy on a weed eater will scalp so fast. New guy on a mower can rut it up. Getting a 3-4 person crew to work efficiently is almost an art. One new guy can screw it up. One guy doesn't show up, screwed.


You can look into H2B Visa program for seasonal labor. Those guys are excellent. Cost you ~10K with no promises of even getting guys because there is a federal cap. But, anyone thats been doing for awhile uses H2B. But its a gamble.
LOYAL AG
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Several thoughts:

1. Lawn maintenance is a taxable service in Texas with one caveat. If you are working by yourself and generate less than $5000 in annual revenue you do not have to collect and remit sales taxes. If you have a crew or you're over $5000 you must collect and remit sales tax. Comptroller Website on Lawn Care Services. Please pay attention to this. A lot of people assume this is not taxable because it is a service but that is incorrect. The Comptroller is extremely unforgiving and would rather close you down than not get their pound of flesh.

2. The barriers to entry are low. What does that mean? It means that if you hire a crew, teach them what and how and turn them loose there's not a lot to stand between them and going out on their own. A truck which they already have, a trailer, push mower and a weed eater. That's it and it's not much. This isn't meant to dissuade just to make sure you realize you'll have to be consistently hiring.

3. Like someone else said mowing isn't a money maker. It churns a lot of cash and gets your name out there for more profitable landscaping work but there's not a lot of money in $40/yard mowing. What profit can be squeezed from it comes from efficiency. My mowing company does about six houses a trip of lawns that are all 2-5 acres. We pay $80/trip so do the math and that's good revenue for three guys in one day with no driving between jobs.

That's all I got for now. If I think of more I'll revisit this. Good luck!
dlp3719
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
For a lot of the residential business, it's a race to the bottom. Some people want to pay for better quality but a lot just want their grass cut at the lowest cost.

Only people I see do well are bigger and work the commercial side of it. Office parks and the like.

Good luck
BenTheGoodAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I had a similar arrangement as you, except I was aerating yards instead of mowing. I liked it because it was pretty profitable for my time and not quite as demanding schedule-wise. I could aerate a yard for $80-120 and since my customers only needed it done 1-2 times a year, I could work around different weekends/evenings. Also, I enjoyed it because I was doing something physical to balance out my office life and it was seasonal so I wasn't always worrying about maintaining customer relationships. And I could put more effort to get new business and usually it was successful, and likewise slow down if I wasn't looking to do as much work or was in a busy season with my office job.

Also, the customers usually did their own yard work, everything except aerating, and I was very competitive price-wise with some of the commercial firms for aerating. Aerating is pretty cheap if you pay for full lawn service, but it's not if you do your own yard work. I tried to get to know most of my regular customers pretty well. I'd take notes about them and enjoyed seeing them every year and tried to keep it pretty personable.

I did it for several years and really enjoyed it, but two things really slowed it down: I got a couple of big raises at work that were greater than my aerating revenue and our kids were getting to an age that made it harder to spend free time away from home. Honestly, I just lost interest and felt like the energy spent was getting a better return at my office job. I feel like aerating was easier to slow down than mowing yards. For aerating, you've got to call customers every season if you want the work. For mowing, you're committed for the season if you want to keep your name in good standing. I keep a few customers (mainly the ones who reach out to me every year) and I want to try to ramp it back up as my son gets older and I can eventually transition the business to him and let him take ownership of it and learn to work hard and earn money.

Not necessarily trying to convince you you're wrong or that aerating is better for your situation, but I would caution that you're going to have periods where you run out of steam and that can be hard on your mowing business if it's at the beginning or middle of a season. Or your responsibility at your office job is going to grow/change and it's harder to balance the two jobs. Something about the business, whether you're pushing the mower or the employees, is going to compete with your professional life. That's not a bad thing, but just be prepared and think through how you want to handle that when it happens so you don't destroy the customer base you have now.

Best of luck.
O'Doyle Rules
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I got a headache just from reading this thread and imagining the idea of running a lawn business full time
Picard
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Just keep doing it yourself. Use the extra income to pay off your mortgage early and invest. Retire early and enjoy life!

TennAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
How's your spanish?
Silky Johnston
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I had a lawn mowing business when I was in middle school to high school. Called it "Bushwhackers, Inc.". I made $100 in two days one time. That's pretty good money when you are 12.
JSKolache
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
LOYAL AG said:

3. Like someone else said mowing isn't a money maker. It churns a lot of cash and gets your name out there for more profitable landscaping work but there's not a lot of money in $40/yard mowing. What profit can be squeezed from it comes from efficiency. My mowing company does about six houses a trip of lawns that are all 2-5 acres. We pay $80/trip so do the math and that's good revenue for three guys in one day with no driving between jobs.

That's all I got for now. If I think of more I'll revisit this. Good luck!
I wish this would happen in the my neighborhood. I pass 3-4 landscaping truck/trailer rigs EVERY mornign when I leave for work. Someone needs to organize this industry, cut half the trucks, and make $$$.
94chem
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Quote:

I had a similar arrangement as you, except I was aerating yards
I'll have you out as soon as I finish cleaning my AC ducts.
LOYAL AG
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
JSKolache said:

LOYAL AG said:

3. Like someone else said mowing isn't a money maker. It churns a lot of cash and gets your name out there for more profitable landscaping work but there's not a lot of money in $40/yard mowing. What profit can be squeezed from it comes from efficiency. My mowing company does about six houses a trip of lawns that are all 2-5 acres. We pay $80/trip so do the math and that's good revenue for three guys in one day with no driving between jobs.

That's all I got for now. If I think of more I'll revisit this. Good luck!
I wish this would happen in the my neighborhood. I pass 3-4 landscaping truck/trailer rigs EVERY mornign when I leave for work. Someone needs to organize this industry, cut half the trucks, and make $$$.
Yeah but my second point is why it'll never happen. Too easy to go out on your own. That's also what keeps prices down, by the way.
EvenPar
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I'm in BCS with Bermuda. Can't find one company that uses real mowers and could mow every 5-6 days. Would be willing to pay for it if so. Perhaps there is opportunity for high-end jobs. Perhaps not.

Edit: Reel mowers, not real mowers.
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.