need input!

[burntfescue]

I have been working as an Industrial Electrician for five years. I have decided to go back and get my degree in either Landscaping Management, turfgrass or Landscape Architecture at UGA.

I would really appreciate some feedback such as:

Career outlook
Annual expected income

Really any feedback would be appreciated. I am tired of working for the man and I am ready to hit the books again.

Oh yeah what an awesome website!

[topsites]

Expect to do hard, seasonal work. The labor is roughly equivalent to a heavy class inside Light Industrial, like someone who has to lift 20-50 pounds all day long, that kind of effort... It's not as bad as farming or tree work, but it is hard work.

Money wise I am sure you'll hear wide ranges, I'm in my fifth year and last year's total deposits were 31k (ok, 30,996 exactly) and I'm expecting this year to be closer to 34k. I am frugal thou, living on a shoestring. The income is largely dependent on the weather and the seasons, so it has its ups and downs for sure.

[GardnerLandscaping]

http://apps.caes.uga.edu/urbanag/Industry/Index.cfm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=UGA+landscape+career+outlook

If I read and remember correctly, UGA is a top school for it.

[burntfescue]

for the input. It appears after doing some research that after another two-three years of college I will probably make less than I already do. I think in the long run it will be better. Pay checks dont always equal job satsifaction.

Again any help would be great.

[martinfan06]

http://apps.caes.uga.edu/urbanag/Industry/Index.cfm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=UGA+landscape+career+outlook

If I read and remember correctly, UGA is a top school for it.

thats a record :laugh: :laugh: all in good fun

[burntfescue]

thats a record :laugh: :laugh: all in good fun



whats a record?

[PMLAWN]

whats a record?
I know the answer to that one.:laugh:

[PMLAWN]

It will be easy to get out and earn around 35- 40K or so and that is working for someone meaning that that is true income.
Landscape Architecture I believe is the way to the best career options.
As far as back breaking labor (as Toppi states) The education will put you above the gunt work or at least get you out of it fast.
Good luck

[burntfescue]

I know the answer to that one.:laugh:

I'm dumbfounded please enlighten me???

[GardnerLandscaping]

those numbers i think are when you work for someone like post properties or the government.

you're tired of working for the man and plan to do it for yourself, right, using the degree for concrete knowledge where others wing it, selling yourself as someone very serious, applying the knowledge to make a difference, and not just using the paper and associated knowledge gained to just get hired with your abilities limited by what the man wants you to do and not to do?

meet the market with something they want, affordable high quality landscape design, installation, and maintenance.

Better yet, get the degree and get hired by Post Properties so the rest of us have less competition. I've been educated enough to know when not to take the educated seriously and when to take them seriously.

[PMLAWN]

I'm dumbfounded please enlighten me???
Hang on - I believe you are about to find out

[GardnerLandscaping]

i had to put these other people on ignore. they seem to be offended by a person with an opinion that differs especially one with a lot of opinion. i usually go into detail to annoy them further, but i got bored of that. endless waste of time.

why did you leave your former career? and why do you want to enter landscaping?

[martinfan06]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[GardnerLandscaping]

i didn't put you on ignore, you're in good nature. mainly pmlawn. he doesn't know when to quit. like a stalker. too bad he doesn't do that in his career.

[GardnerLandscaping]

profit is important. to some of these people it seems to be the only thing that is important. to me it is not the most important or else i would drop everything and start begging for these contracts from coke for handheld development. i just told them i'm happy to work on 1099 from home. it is good to know have a back up...and really i started in landscaping as a backup to software, but now i think it is the other way around. software development is just to fund being able to do landscaping.

[PMLAWN]

I guess that means I can get away with this

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[burntfescue]

Heres the skinny, I make 19.50 as a union electrician. I make good money. I love the outdoors and I love to hunt and fish. I love doing farm work. It all ties into getting up in the AM and wanting to go to work. I often drive around these ritzy neighborhoods and think how much I would like to do professional landscaping and design. I dont want to cut grass I want to design. UGA has a top notch program and I already have all the core stuff done with the exception being Chemistry 1&2.

I see myself owning a tractor, bobcat and working for myself. All you have to do is go by Home Depot or Lowes and walk in the garden center to see there is a high demand. If I wanted to make big money I could suffer through a lot of Calculus and get an engineering degree.

With my current trade I have the luxury of doing side electrical work if I dont make it at first. The main reason I want out of my field is the fact that manufacturing is leaving America and at a record pace. Most commercial electricans, like a lot of landscaping crews hire Mexicans and thus price everyone out. This is how its done in Georgia.

Before you up change your career you better do some research. Hence my post:clapping:

[GardnerLandscaping]

Hard to live off 19.50. You really have to cut corners.

You should be able to beat it if you control costs, get your efficiency up, and are running labor at $8/hr. If market price is $20/hr for work and you do that work at a cost of $10/hr, you're not beating it. If you increase your efficiency to where your revenues are $30/hr on the same work whose market rate is $20/hr and you're running hired help at the same revenue rate, you're making $12/hr profit on your hired help and $20/hr profit on your own labor.

Add a third person, you make $24/hr profit on your help. Then, you can sit back and do nothing but design, making an extra $20/hr on your design work.

Half of it is controlling costs and increasing efficiency. The other half is about meeting market price with quality work so you can add customers, retain customers, and add labor.

There definitely doesn't seem to be a shortage of yards needing lawn maintenance and landscape design in the Atlanta area. The grass and weeds never stop growing, and they never seem to stop building homes that need some serious landscaping.

There is also a growing number of people who can't do their own yard work. Lots of single women who don't want to do it and lots of baby boomers who no longer can.

I took Chem 1 and 2 at the same time at a small college along with the other basic courses before I transferred into Georgia Tech. I made a higher A in Chem 2. They're called "weed out" courses at Georgia Tech. If you're concerned about core courses, take them at a smaller community college where the courses are easier than a high school class. Then, transfer into the big school and take the courses that matter in your chosen profession.

[GardnerLandscaping]

A lot of these people depend on contracts to retain customers and desperation of the customer to charge higher than market rates. They also depend on higher advertising costs. There are a lot of customers and business like this in the Atlanta market to put together a successful operation. If there wasn't, you wouldn't see the landscaping trucks everywhere. If there was no money in it, you wouldn't see everyone doing it.

[burntfescue]

great advice! I really appreciate the help!