I want to start too!!!

[Salt nut]

My uncle and I are kicking around the idea of starting a lawn mowing biz. He was done this kind of work and know a little about what we need, however...<br>I have many questions.<p>1. We were thinking of getting 2 new toro walking mowers, (he says they are the best) and one used but working mower, just-in-case. We also need one gas powered weed eater. We will only be doing small to mid sized lawns and need to know what model mowers/weed eaters would be best.<p>2. What do we charge?<p>3. How do you contract a client?<p>4. Who do I talk to to get licenced?<p>We have limited ventrure capital and will only be in the biz for 2 summers.<p>Any advice will help.<p>Lance<br>

[Richard Martin]

I recommend getting a job at McDonalds. By the time you actually learn how to do a lawn servicing you will be quiting the business and going into the military or whatever it is you plan to do with your life. Established lawn companies wether they be one man operations or large companies do not need another guy running around eroding what little bit of money we already make for the sake of putting some extra cash in your pocket. I am not trying to be mean, just honest.

[DMC300]

As soon as your done with those hardly used mowers(in two years)give me a call. If there are many other lco's in your area i would listen to what Richard said.<p>----------<br>DON<br>LIANNES' MOWING

[MOW ED]

Why are you thinking of going into business for 2 summers?<br>Read thru some of the older posts in this forum. Use the search feature or just change the pulldown to show all discussions. <br>Spend a few hours reading the topics that may interest you. <br>You should try working for a Professional Lawn maintenance company for the 2 years. You will get a very good look at what it takes to run one. After that 2 years if you want to quit - no problem, you didn't spend any cash. If you like it you can start your own. Bottom line is that you learned something. Good Luck.

[southside]

In two years you probably won't have gotten <br>a decent return on your investment.Unless<br>you are planning on not paying tax,not having<br>insurance,ect.I agree with Richard,try<br>flipping burgers at Mcdonalds,you'll probably<br>make better dollars in 2 years.Even better,<br>join the Army.(Infantry,it proves your <br>man hood ! :) )<p>Karl<br>

[cutntrim]

Don't bother starting your own company. Established companies are always looking for new employees, hook up with one of them and you can make $8-$10 and have no expenses and no worries.<p>----------<br>Dave in S.Ontario<br>www.cutntrim.com

[yardsmith]

Dittos on the above posts.<br>2 years isn't enough to bother with; it takes 3-5 years to get your head above water, esp. if you go full time; some less than others.<br>Best suggestion would be to work for one of the more reputable lawn care co's. in your town; you will get 1st hand exp. on most of what you'll need to know, & find out what works & what doesn't. In some respects I wish I could've done that just to get a jump start on my biz, but I've more than made up for lost time. Good luck.<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>

[Salt nut]

I may have not been clear.<p>I was not asking if I should I was asking how.

[southside]

I'm sure the other contractors in your area<br>do not need yet another mow/blow/go guy in<br>your area. If you must go with this then<br>talk to your local/state government body<br>for licensing.As for mowers,we dont use the<br>small stuff.<br>As for line trimmers,I would suggest Stihl,<br>but if your only going to be around for 2<br>years you probably don't want to spend the<br>money so go for cheap and nasty gear.<br>What do you charge? Dunno.<br>I wait with interest for news of your<br>enlistment into the army.(preferably infantry).<p>Karl<br>

[Charles]

YOu were clear in your post. And the above post are clear in their response. No need for you to invest in a lawn service business if you are going to spend just 2 years at it. No sense in us wasting our time telling you how to waste you time booting up a short term business. If you want to waste your on time read all the previous post.

[lawrence stone]

Salt nutz why do you want to become a Govt.<br>mule? The pay sucks, plus all that marching and other crap.<p>With the business climate so good you would<br>be better working for wages for a private company.<p>But on second thought Fargo ND is no boom town. Maybe the military is a viable option<br>in your case.

[Toroguy]

Karl,<br>You really like the infantry. In the U.S. they call infantrymen &quot;Legs&quot;. If a &quot;leg&quot; at least be a paratrooper. I guess a twelve mile road march is similar to 8 hours operating a walk behind.<p>Salt Nut,<br>Use equipment that you can afford, and plan to use in your own yard when biz is complete. Otherwise investment is lost. Use the search function above with the word &quot;charge&quot; for pricing. Think about the previous advice before you start.

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

Salt,<br>I wouldn't purchase any equiptment if I were<br>you. The investment is not worth it if you plan to be in the biz for two years. It sounds like you would be better doing it with any mowers you own already. I wouldn't do it full time if I were you. (Not as a biz) Your best having a full time job and doing it on the weekends for extra cash.<br>I have been in business for 7 years and have 13 years experience. The first 3 years are tough. Then you start to make pretty good money. You have to have some knowledge in order to make it as a business. You also have to have a love for it. Its not easy when its raining,windy,hot etc. As the other guys said try working for a landscaper 1st.<br>After all your not going to get rich quick.<br>You have to put lots of time and sweat into this business. (lots of head aches too) Like I said before you have to have a love for it!!! Good Luck :) <br>Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance

[Salt nut]

Thank you to those with advice.<br>I do understand why you do not want me to crowd established lawn bis here however, the existing lawn care places simply can not keep up with the population. Fargo is actualy growing very very rapidly. (two people moved here last year :P).<p>I have worked out the numbers and I think that we will do ok.<p>$35 per lawn<br>6 lawns a day<br>5 days a week =$1050- 25% taxes = about $800 per week<p>I think all of these are modest projections and the tax estimate high.<br>start up cost:<br>Mower 400<br>trimmer 150<br>blower 150<br>edger 250<br>insurance 350<br>grinder 50<br>licence 0 ( checked already)<br>misc. 200<p>total= $1,550<br>so, in less that 2 weeks of full operation I we will have payed for all of the equipment.<p>If any of this is faulty of optimistic please let me know.<p>I do intend to contact the existing lawn care companys and tell them what I want to do. I want to know what they are charging so I do not undercut their business and also find out where they would not mind me operating. I do not want to step on any established toes. I just want some fresh air and exersise with the added bonus of making money.<p>Hard work, I laugh in the face of hard work. I am a farm kid turned concrete worker. I did that for 4 seasons and did high steel for 2. (well as high as it get here anyway.)<p>And, I have already served in the military, PATRIOT crewman 16T. I am proud of my service record as well as my contribution to this country. So if you have a problem with that.. Screw you! If you do not sorry for the outburst it was not directed at you.<br>

[HOMER]

You might say screw you Homer but.............$400.00 for a mower, what kind are you looking at? Your equipment prices are low to say the least, I paid $400.00 for my blower! If you contact everybody and let them know your plan they should have no problem with it, they might even give you some business. I loved the movie they made there, were you in it? Looks pretty damn cold there!<p>Homer

[Salt nut]

Homer I and all I was out of line and am sorry. I get kind of touch about the Army thing.<p>Anyway, the mower is a Toro 21 inch self propeled mower<p>The blower and weed eater are Stihl.<br>To tell the truth I do not know the make of the trimmer.<p>Ah yes the movie Fargo. Actualy I am not in it. But some people here do actualy talk like that. Oh ya! Sure ya betcha!

[Toroguy]

Salt nut,<br>Demo the self propelled mower first...alot of times you will be able to push a mower much faster than the speed of the self propelled, plus more to go wrong mechanically.

[grasscapeinc]

Lawn Care Bus.<br> A) You make alot of money!<br> B) and you work outside in nice weather<br> C)oh wait, the weather is not so nice<br> D)$10,000 for a lawn mower What!!!!!!<br> E) this job sucks, i make no money, the weather sucks, Im selling and going to work in a tanning spa.<br> F) Following spring, see points a and B<p><br>This is a continiuous cycle until you say to yourself, why didn't I listen to those guys telling me to work at Burger flipper instead? <p><br>How do know you will get enough work for 40 hours? Your numbers are not good &quot;hypothesis&quot; of the lawn business.<p>Having said this, if you go forward with , best of luck to you. <br>

[Salt nut]

See,I think so too.<p>But my partner says that they will go at a speed that optimizes the cut. I did not see a 6hp Toro that does not have the self propeled feature. He wants nothing but a Toro either as in his experience they are the best bar none.

[Toroguy]

Lawn Boy is made by Toro (Toro.com) 6.5 horse commercial mower about $600. Exmark also makes a push commercial $800. I can run with my Lawn Boy

[Charles]

Well you take your little toro and SHINE it up real good..... as the Rock says:)

[cantoo]

Salt nut, I do this part time, here are some of my numbers. <br> Mowers $18000<br> wbh mowers $850<br> trimmers $900<br> blower $600<br> insurance $1250<br> grinder $150<br> licence $900 pesticides too<br> trailers $2000<br> truck $8000<br> tools $1000 drilll press welder etc<br> I have a decent sized budget for advertising too, newspapers, flyers, business cards, truck signs etc. <br> Don't forget the gas oil repairs etc. <br> I don't even want to tell you what my barn is worth for storage.. This is not a get rich quick job. You don't need all this equipment to cut grass but it all helps. My advice for a two year plan is to work for someone else and get paid by the job and hussle your ass

[Salt nut]

See I have no intention of competing with the 7 &quot;big&quot; lawn care businesses in town. All we want to do is residential.<br>Unload one guy starts mowing the other trims edges than blows. The mowing should be done by than. Load up and go.<p>Small time stuff here. No delusions of comercial bids or even huge lawns. Small overhead slightly bigger profit.<p>I do need to know what would be a good estimate for how much you all think I could net in one week (full swing)like this. Like I said there is no lack of clients here and I do not think 30-35 clients is too high. We could get more but if it rains we do not want to get swamped as we both are black jack dealer to and need to work nights. <p>I always work at least 70 and up to 85 hours a week in the summer so this work load will not kill me.

[MRPLOW]

$35.00 for a small residental lawn seems a little on the high side. Since its your first year and you won't be getting jobs from exsiting clients you'll be mostly getting price shoppers from your ads, good luck.

[cjcland]

i say good luck to you, just make sure to do a really good job, if you havent done this before i would take your trimmer to a field and practice for a few hours(it take alot longetr than that to master but you will get the feel of it)remeber a bad reputation spreads about 10 times as fast as a good reputation also do you already have a trailer?if you can get 35 customers and keep your overhead low you will make money but i guarantee you that nothing ever goes as planned, especially when it come to financing a business, but if you work hard and do a good job and keep a good attitude than you should do good, never let anyone tell you you cant do it, after saying that i would also listen to the advise given by some of the big dogs on this site, they know what they are talking about, kep us posted on how you are doing<p>----------<br>CJC Landscape Management<br>Winter Haven, Florida

[MOW ED]

Why did you say in your initial post that you are only going to do this for 2 years?

[Salt nut]

I will be moving to points unknown in 2 years.

[grasscapeinc]

Slt charge $40-60 an acre including everything, and do a killer job. A little extra going out of the way, is the way to &quot;hook&quot; customers.

[Salt nut]

Well I have contacted a few lawn care places around here and asked for a ball park estimate for a housing development where all the yards are about the same size, fairly large. All told me they charge $20-$25 for mowing, trim, edge, and blow. I can not hope to make any money at all with such low prices. I did ask about getting hired but the starting wage is about $7 per hour, I could make more working at Petco again.<p>Oh well.<p>I plan to take on another Black Jack dealing job. I make about $10-$25 per hour doing that but will not get outside much. <p>So....... Good luck all.

[cjcland]

if you give up that easy i guess its best you didnt start your own business<p>----------<br>CJC Landscape Management<br>Winter Haven, Florida

[walkerrider]

Boy I hope all you guys feel better now. You broke this youngster's spirit and drove him back to petco. Oh well. By the way Ive been thinking about Indy car racing. I gonna go out tommorrow and pickup an chevy with a 454. Figure two years I should be up and running. Any suggestions to help me get started welcome.

[yardsmith]

better to give him reality before he refinances the farm to buy equip then go broke & lose the farm too. He should have done more homework as far as the local &quot;going rate&quot;, etc.<br>He can't be too young, either, if he's a casino dealer or whatever. We simply answered his questions about what it takes to get started; obviously it didn't take much to persuade him NOT to do it. At least he didn't invest & lose any $$ over it.<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>