Going Legit and need help - lots

[leavesofgrass]

Ok first, I was one of those people who did the odd quick job when I needed cash. I focused on bad lawns - people who obviously did not give a rat about their lawn and wanted it cut to a nub once every month or so. Did a few of these jobs the past year.

So, in need of cash (desperate) I decided to throw a little more weight into the job and see what I could turn up. Made 600.00 in 2 weeks or about 30 hours of work doing odd jobs (mowing, leaf removal, laying out a garden etc.)

Comes out to about 20.00 an hour. I read that to be successful one needs to make @60.00 and hour or a dollar a minute. Now I know why. My lawn mower needs a new filter, spark plug blade and a little more tender loving care, my blower is not strong enough to blow efficiently and my weed eater cord keeps catching (I think that's my fault).

Here are my problems.

1. I am cash shy - really shy.
2. I can only work weekends since my evenings are rapidly disapearing.
3. I am constantly underestimating the time a lawn will take
4. when i ask for more than an average of say .45 a minute i get laughed at essentially (arkansas people mow really cheap here). I estimate and say oh 35.00 for this lawn thinking it will take an hour at best but ends up at 2 hours. Everyone wants leaf removal gratis.
5. I bag????? have a bagger on the mower - good for leaf removal.

So here are some questions.

1. If I am not doing leaf removal, should I bag or just discharge? If I bag, should I charge extra?

2. Should I charge by the bag on leaf removal or by the hour or job? Its really hard to tell how many leaves are on the ground and how long a job will take.

3. What kind of blade should I get to optimize? I have a mulching blade.

4. Should I ugrade my equipment? I have a 625 seriescraftsman 21", cheap blower and decent weed eater.

5. As for the actual job. Do you trim first, mow first?

really lost. are any of the books (offered here or on the web) any good for beginners.

[Sweet Tater]

Ok first, I was one of those people who did the odd quick job when I needed cash. I focused on bad lawns - people who obviously did not give a rat about their lawn and wanted it cut to a nub once every month or so. Did a few of these jobs the past year.

So, in need of cash (desperate) I decided to throw a little more weight into the job and see what I could turn up. Made 600.00 in 2 weeks or about 30 hours of work doing odd jobs (mowing, leaf removal, laying out a garden etc.)

Comes out to about 20.00 an hour. I read that to be successful one needs to make @60.00 and hour or a dollar a minute. Now I know why. My lawn mower needs a new filter, spark plug blade and a little more tender loving care, my blower is not strong enough to blow efficiently and my weed eater cord keeps catching (I think that's my fault).

Here are my problems.

1. I am cash shy - really shy.
2. I can only work weekends since my evenings are rapidly disapearing.
3. I am constantly underestimating the time a lawn will take
4. when i ask for more than an average of say .45 a minute i get laughed at essentially (arkansas people mow really cheap here). I estimate and say oh 35.00 for this lawn thinking it will take an hour at best but ends up at 2 hours. Everyone wants leaf removal gratis.
5. I bag????? have a bagger on the mower - good for leaf removal.

So here are some questions.

1. If I am not doing leaf removal, should I bag or just discharge? If I bag, should I charge extra? its a preference unless the customer asks. then if you do yes its extra work, (lots)
2. Should I charge by the bag on leaf removal or by the hour or job? Its really hard to tell how many leaves are on the ground and how long a job will take. I charge by the hour, but I am getting better at estimating so I quote the a price by the job not the hour, but the figure comes from hourly
3. What kind of blade should I get to optimize? I have a mulching blade. What kind of mower do you have

4. Should I ugrade my equipment? I have a 625 seriescraftsman 21", cheap blower and decent weed eater.
If you are serious about doing this get good equipment, you not regret it.
5. As for the actual job. Do you trim first, mow first?
Thats a preference, I trim then mow, theres acutally recent thread about that here. But I know my lawns and know what will need trimmed.really lost. are any of the books (offered here or on the web) any good for beginners. This is my first year in the biz, This place is the best info I have found. LS has good input sometimes its pro sometimes its con. Read everything in here, do searches for topics you think of, then ask if ya still don't find an answer

[Crusis]

If they expect bagging gratis, then mulch. If they don't like that, then get another customer. We charge $4 per bag removed, $2 if we leave the bag with them which, in my opinion, IS gratis. You have to pay to dispose of the bag, and the bag costs money.

Don't cheat yourself and do anything that costs you money because of a crappy customer. This isn't the first business I've run, and I can tell you that a bad customer is only a money drain. Move along. As an example, we were cutting my best friends yard. His wife started whining about stuff, so we dropped him. He and I laughed about it, but man was his wife mad.

[TheChiefsLawnCare]

as to crusis, ive heard that before. i cut 4 lawns for a guy that has rental property. he bitches that he has buds from the magnolia tree, sooo he asked me 2 bag his house for him, i said ok, and then he bitched that i jus cut over paper, sooo now i pick all that **** up. lol, im not gonna be a charity for this man, imma start charging more for each thing. hes starting to wine about different things. i jus cant afford to loose him right now as he is almost half of my business, which sux and is good.

[daveintoledo]

double the price at least..... i tripple the price

[daveintoledo]

good choice, you need to file your busines name with the state, get insurance, open company bank account, check if your state requires you to collect sales tax.....chek for any local permits

dont wast money... anything you buy that is not commercial equipment is a wast, no value... wont last.... will let you down when you most need it, many have tried to go cheap and it NEVER works.... good luck

[GroundControlLawnCare]

good choice, you need to file your busines name with the state, get insurance, open company bank account, check if your state requires you to collect sales tax.....chek for any local permits

dont wast money... anything you buy that is not commercial equipment is a wast, no value... wont last.... will let you down when you most need it, many have tried to go cheap and it NEVER works.... good luck

JUST WANT TO DROP A LINE AND SAY I HAVE BEEN READING YOUR POST FOR OVER A YEAR NOW LIKE MOST OF WHAT YOU GOT TO SAY.YOUR RIGHT DOWN TO THE POINT!!!

[Southwest Lawns]

Here are my problems.

1. I am cash shy - really shy.
2. I can only work weekends since my evenings are rapidly disapearing.
3. I am constantly underestimating the time a lawn will take
4. when i ask for more than an average of say .45 a minute i get laughed at essentially (arkansas people mow really cheap here). I estimate and say oh 35.00 for this lawn thinking it will take an hour at best but ends up at 2 hours.

$35 had better be a really small postage stamp yard. People in this area will pay more.

Everyone wants leaf removal gratis. They will pay for leaf removal and I mulch them (I only bag if it is specifically requested and then I try to talk about advantage of mulching or mulch and bag the remaining small amount of leaves)

5. I bag????? have a bagger on the mower - good for leaf removal.

So here are some questions.

1. If I am not doing leaf removal, should I bag or just discharge? If I bag, should I charge extra? Yes

2. Should I charge by the bag on leaf removal or by the hour or job? Its really hard to tell how many leaves are on the ground and how long a job will take.

I would charge by the man hour... You have to know your costs and what profit you would like to make per man hour.......

3. What kind of blade should I get to optimize? I have a mulching blade.

4. Should I ugrade my equipment? I have a 625 seriescraftsman 21", cheap blower and decent weed eater.

Get commercial equipment or you will be repairing/paying equipment more than you will be working.

5. As for the actual job. Do you trim first, mow first?
I have done it both ways....
I prefer edge, trim, blow and mow...


really lost. are any of the books (offered here or on the web) any good for beginners.[/QUOTE]

[daveintoledo]

JUST WANT TO DROP A LINE AND SAY I HAVE BEEN READING YOUR POST FOR OVER A YEAR NOW LIKE MOST OF WHAT YOU GOT TO SAY.YOUR RIGHT DOWN TO THE POINT!!!

i appreciate that very much... some think im kind of gruff, but i just beleive in telling it like it is