How many employees??? Just starting w/ 50 accounts!!

[the lawnscaper]

I bought 50 accounts and wanted to know how many employees I should hire? Lawns are small to medium size. I will be mowing, edging,fertilizing and leaf clean ups. Any ideas???

[J&R Landscaping]

Maybe 1 if that. How tight is the route your going to be working and what equipment do you have?

[the lawnscaper]

All accounts are very close in proximity. I will have a brand new exmark 52" w/ 23 hp Kohler, 21" Toro self propelled mower, one PB755 Echo blower, little wonder edger, two echo line trimmers and a bedshaper. I'm looking into a truck for a leaf vaccuum system for this fall. Any suggestions for this equipment? Thanks!

[jimslawns]

1 Helper should easily handle the work load, How many square ft. per lawn average??

[the lawnscaper]

I'm just getting into the biz, but if I were to guestimate, I would say around 1/4 to 1/2 acre per account. I don't no how many s/ft that is.

[shane mapes]

did you check with the guy you bought from???? what ever it took him just add a few minutes to each home until you get up to speed. if you don't know how to man this route do you know if you can pull a profit from these accounts. i don't understand how you can buy accounts at a certain price and you don't know what it will take to stay above water. well anyways good luck.........

[2 clowns mowing]

1 good man should do it, you need a mower with leaf and grass pickup like a walker mower. if you have a truck loader you still need to bring the leaves to the truck which will take a lot of time. you should check out www.walkermowers.com you can interchange the decks use grass and leaf pickup then change decks and mow with side discharge. they have a high lift dump attachment, once hopper is loaded you can dump right into truck bed which speeds up mowing time. www.betterheadsllc.com is where you can get trimmer heads the you can trim along fences and the string will last longer. because chainlink will eat up string fast. i use john deere trimmers better warranty and service and plenty of power. i use redmax 8000 backpack blowers the most powerful blower out there. which will become much needed. why do you have a bed edger? you can do it all with the right trimmer set up. we mow 75 big and small yards a week i have 2 trucks and 3 employees we also do tree work and other lawncare jobs in the mornings at 8 am while the grass dries out. we start mowing around 11 am to 5pm

[NC Greenscaper]

Looks like you got all the equipment you need for now. Your blower and a tarp or bags should work fine for those size lots on the leaf clean ups. You just need to get busy and see how this is going to turn out. Are all your accounts weekly or biweekly. I wouldn't hire help until I was sure that I needed them.

[dwlah]

I also have about 50 accounts lot size varies a lot1/4 ac-6-7 ac
If I push myself I can do all of them but sometimes I have help(my dad) toward the end of the week to finish up if I need it

[MarcSmith]

I had a tight route in florida nothing over a 1/2 acre. depending on the day I was getting 10-15 mowed each day by myself 8-9 hours each day. In the summer is was full on cutting, in the fall and spring it was shrub trimming, mulching, fert, squirt.

Once I hit that point and I was unable to take on any more accounts is when I started hiring people.

[mag360]

1 employee can get full time hours for 8 months out of the year. Unless you want to do it yourself---a part time helper will make the week shorter if you want one.

[1cooltreeguy]

u + 1 helper..

[joesimoes2]

Are you thinking in working if yes divided by six days you should do fine by your self
In fall get one helper if you don’t want to kill your self to much

[americanlawn]

I'm guessing you plus a part-time guy. I recommend growing you're business.

[J&R Landscaping]

If you wanted to only work those lawns and not take many more, you could work by yourself. With the equipment you have listed and sizes you listed, it sounds like 3 or so days of work for 1 man. Giving you 2-3 days for landscape jobs or as back-up for inclement weather or other issues that should arise.

[topsites]

Now I'm not trying to scare you but it's not that big of a deal either.

I wouldn't even worry about hiring anyone, except don't do any more advertising this year and plan on getting up at 7am and work until dark, as was said, until you get up to speed. An employee this early on is as likely to compound your problems, if you get someone as inexperienced as yourself then it's no help, meanwhile if you hire someone experienced there's no end to the many ways in which they may try (read: will) take advantage of you... It's bad enough with the customers and the situation as it is, but I only had 20-odd and I sure wished I had had more, 50 is a tad much but so be it.

Because more than likely you will lose a few customers right off the bat, again this is normal, but before you know it you will likely be down to 45'ish and a few more will leave after that as well. Like I said don't worry about it, all that is pretty normal, it would happen to an experienced owner as well, not all customers are hip with transfers, what I'm getting at is these losses will help relieve your otherwise tight schedule.

I reckon a first year's loss of customers might be higher than in later years, I'd say expect a 5-10% initial loss and a 10-20% loss for the year, in terms of numbers.

Remember these simple rules:
Regular customers ALWAYS come first.
If push comes to shove work-wise, grass cutting takes priority ONE always.
Do it that way, no matter what, grass cutting for regular customers first, in that order, all else has to wait.
Don't worry, come May-June the temps get warmer and the grass slows way down, you'll have time then to deal with mulch and hedge trimming and what have you... Also get an early start, ask around and get out there as soon as spring hits.

Then just don't take on no more work until you got your 50 covered.
Yup, you'll be fine by yourself, take care of them and just do things one step, one lawn, and one day at a time, lalala.

Right foot... Left foot... :)

[MO LAWNCARE]

Let Me Know When You Want Out . Ill Take Some Off Your Hands
50 Yards You Will Be Hustling And Quality Counts. The Guy You Got The Accounts From I Hoped He Showed You How Its Done

[the lawnscaper]

For everybody that responded to my question...I want to say thanks for your time. It was very helpful to read all the responses. Happy New Year to all!!!

[NBI Lawn]

I cant speak for you but I service 57 accounts per week by my self. all in the .75 - 5 acre range.

I would recommend one employee at the start untill you get the hang of it. After you get the hang of mowing, blowing, wiping everything yourself have your employee start doing weeds, trimming shrubs and etc... I always thought I would "quick pull weeds" when I was done mowing :hammerhead:. There is nothing quick about it. It is nice to pay someone to do the real grunt work.

[RICHIE K]

None......