Question for those who pay for lawn service

In reply to Hasbro:

All good insights. Don't feel like you are going to hurt my feelings or anything, I am open to all info you may wish to share. I think to start the yards will be residential. Once I get things going and get a feel for what I can do in a certain amount of time I will consider commercial properties. I can haul clippings and stuff to my house and compost or burn them here.

Right now I think I will offer mowing, string trimming, blowing, shrub and minor tree trimming, leaf raking, roundup spraying and seeding. I don't have an aerator yet, and I ain't climbing no trees. I may consider chemicals other than roundup at a later time, based on demand for it.

Definitely going to try to get jobs that are close together and try to schedule them for the same day.

Good info to think about, thanks for the ideas and please feel free to post more!

EastCoastMojo wrote: Right now I think I will offer mowing, string trimming, leaf-blowing, shrub and minor tree trimming, leaf raking, roundup spraying and seeding.

A slight clarification is probably necessary to help manage customer expectations.

I'd have you out here to fill a bouncy house just for the entertainment value :)

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

You're going to make a joke about blowing and not mention bj's? I'm shocked, and quite frankly, a little disappointed.

Hah, nothing to hurt your feelings. I just got too wordy and involved. Lots of good info here from Derrick et al.

I had a fairly large design/build and nursury/greenhouse biz but also did yard care (better word than maintenance) from two man crews to just myself, my 1980 320i, and a Harbour Freight trailer (how cool is that!). 40-80 jobs a week down to a couple. I now care for my brother and do one or three yards a week here in the desert so no turf. Everything fits in the back of my Civic hatch and I use the clients trash cans for dumping, which keeps things so simple. I charge $35-45 an hour plus parts, which is pretty good as I don't have to venture out past my neighborhood or require big equipment. I receive payment while on property or email the bill. So, by specializing I have a pretty good little niche.

The nice thing about yard care is you can grow to a pretty good size with very little risk until you do commercial or need specialty equipment such as spray trucks, etc. And you can transition into yearly contracts if desired, which can be pretty lucrative and easy on the bookkeeping.

EastCoastMojo wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: You're going to make a joke about blowing and not mention bj's? I'm shocked, and quite frankly, a little disappointed.

I was trying to keep it PG rated.

Just kidding... Bouncy House is what I call my (radio edit).

Damn. Some of you guys get super cheap lawn service. Makes me wonder if I should get a quote.

I'd really like to find some trustworthy HS kid in the neighborhood to give $20 to come mow my lawn for extra $. $50/hr gets to the point where I'd better do it myself... just like most other work around my house :(

In reply to ProDarwin:

That's pretty much why I mow my grass now, buying the almost cheapest mower I could get at Home Depot and doing next-to-nothing to if over the past 4 years. Next Spring I'll probably have to tear apart and clean the carb again, but that's about all I do (no new parts - just take apart, clean the crud out, reassemble). I don't even change the oil in it.

Back when I was mowing 25 yards a week my rate was $10/hr plus 10x gas used to cover machine maintenance. Gas was $.70/gal then, and using that as a gauge for inflation my rate was just at or below Derick's rate.

I seldom mowed the same lawn more than half a dozen times though; almost all my business was the initial clean up and a couple of maintaining mows on empty houses for realtors.

Right now I would give one of my damn Oldsmobiles for someone to come take care of my yard. I have had zero time for yard care in the last month and back in the dog yard there are weeds that are 4 feet tall

ECM -- Would you guys consider coming to Garner? My mower is down now and "the guy that I used's son" has gone up on his fees. I have .5acre, maybe a handful of trees, but long, gradual slopes.

Work it backwards...

What is your overhead and what do you want as a percentage of that for a profit? Divide that number in to the number of clients that you think you can service (Don't forget rain days and break-down days) and you will have your answer as to how much to charge.

The equation gets a bit more complicated when you add staff, but really they are n more than a line item in the overhead and your percentage of profit on overhead is still the same deal.

Guessing at what to charge and then diving in is no longer how I approach business opportunities.

Man, what some of you spend makes me wonder if I should start my own little operation- could be somewhat lucrative in this modern day? I do like cutting grass, it's how I payed most of my own way through jr college. A lawn mower, headphones and a cold beverage, and get paid to do that? Awesome.

I can understand for those that have allergies or physical limitations.