Utah or Clearwater Beach

[cpipke]

Thinking about moving to Salt Lake City, Utah or Clearwater Beach, Florida are those areas overcrowded with lawn care providers?

[BUCKEYE MOWING]

Thinking about moving to Salt Lake City, Utah or Clearwater Beach, Florida are those areas overcrowded with lawn care providers?

What ...you trying to leave this freezer we live in here in Ohio ??? LOL ....I am sure there is plenty of comp. on both areas.

[cpipke]

Just need a change, I wish we had some snow.

[tamadrummer]

I don't know about Utah but Florida in general is loaded with lawn/landscape people but we have tons of grass and the rainy season is always on its way.

If you like high property taxes and even higher homeowners premiums, come on down. There is always room for one more....:rolleyes:

If you have a good base of customers, why leave? It is not that simple to infiltrate a market where it seems like 1 out of 2 people are in the business.

[BUCKEYE MOWING]

Just need a change, I wish we had some snow.

You moving yourself or with family ??

[cpipke]

I currently solo (wife helps on weekends) with 70 weekly mowing accounts maybe your right. Have you ever lived in Ohio? there is nothing to do.

[LawnTamer]

There is a lot of competition here. I would say the market is becoming over crowded. As the economy worsens, it seems like everybody's back-up plan is to go mow lawns. Luckily a lot of the start ups are not reliable or have no idea what they are doing. I think you could make it here. You just need to be aware that any clients you have will be solicited by 10+ competitors every yr. You've gotta keep them happy, or they are gone.

Why Utah, or Florida? That seems like 2 very different places.

[cpipke]

With family, my oldest starts Collage next year and she is looking at Florida or Utah. I like the Clearwater Beach area we go every year and I ski in Deer Valley and Park City Utah every year.

[cpipke]

Thanks, I love your City I just returned from the film festival.

[WJW Lawn]

I love the Clearwater Beach area...grandparents live down there. Im sure there are alot of LCO's in Florida...but there are alot here too. Matter fact i could toss a rock right now and hit 4 of em lol Sorry I cant give you better advice, but I love me some C-Beach!

[LawnTamer]

Just need a change, I wish we had some snow.

We have plenty, I'll send you some.:laugh::laugh:

Here are 2 pics from this morning, we had about 6" on the ground, got another 3 or 4" this morning and it is still coming, though not very hard.

off my front porch
97549


From my deck
97550

I travel to Ohio every yr. I think it is very pretty. I spend a few days in the Mentor area, if you know where that is. I go to Fairport harbor and Hiram too. Very pretty in the fall.
It is pretty here too. There is a lot of diversity for this being a desert place. I have a buddy who one day went snow skiing in the morning, came home for a meeting at work, then went water skiing in the afternoon/evening. Because of the severe changes in elevation and terrain, you can have Alpine like forests just a 30-45 minute drive from red-rock desert country.

Seasons here are usually about 28 mowings, last year I got 29, I probably could have gotten 30 out of most of them, but I took a week off and went to NY, PA and OH. The weather here is usually dry, it is rare that we get rained out. It is pleasant up to about the first or second week of June, then is typically brutally hot till September, then pretty nice till Nov. Weather here can do anything though. About ten years ago we got 3" of snow on June 22. it melted very quickly and we were working the next day.
On the whole, I like living here. I do a lot of camping, fishing and atv riding and this is a good place for that.

[cpipke]

Sounds good, I like the pics and it sounds like a good place for the family.

[Az Gardener]

You can go to city data.com and find out about your respective cities from those that live there that are not in the biz. It has the same format as lawnsite so its very easy to use.

Not to start any thing here but I have a friend that opened a L/S branch in Park City, Utah obviously a smaller town than Salt Lake but he has had the worst time getting/keeping labor and the locals prejudiced against him. He is not LDS and everyone else is, he has had his deliveries bumped, can't get much cooperation from local vendors nurseries,rock suppliers and such and he can't get a job from the locals. Luckily his business is from the wealthy that are building 2nd homes and are not LDS. I do work here for LDS and have never had a problem but PHX is a much bigger city.

[LawnTamer]

You can go to city data.com and find out about your respective cities from those that live there that are not in the biz. It has the same format as lawnsite so its very easy to use.

Not to start any thing here but I have a friend that opened a L/S branch in Park City, Utah obviously a smaller town than Salt Lake but he has had the worst time getting/keeping labor and the locals prejudiced against him. He is not LDS and everyone else is, he has had his deliveries bumped, can't get much cooperation from local vendors nurseries,rock suppliers and such and he can't get a job from the locals. Luckily his business is from the wealthy that are building 2nd homes and are not LDS. I do work here for LDS and have never had a problem but PHX is a much bigger city.

Your friend is making excuses. Mormons are not remotely a majority in Park city. In fact they only represent about 20% of the Park city population. I have a friend who was a landscaper in Park city, he never experienced any discrimination because of religion. He did lose one bid because he was white.
I have been doing lawncare in the Salt lake area since 1990, I've never had a client, or potential client ask about my religion, not once. Wait, that's not true. I used to mow a baptist church, they would invite me to attend quite frequently, nice people.:laugh::laugh:
Your friend is having trouble keeping labor because kids these days are flakey and Park city has a very high avg. household income, in my experience spoiled kids don't make good employees. If he is having problems with deliveries, I would suspect that either he has been a late payer, or is not buying the volume that others are, many vendors give higher priority to their big buyers.

[Military Lawns]

Especially Sidney, Ohio because when I retired from the military I was offered a job as a V.P. at CompAir LeRoi. After flying into Dayton, Ohio and driving out to the plant, I being a city boy was impressed with the corn fields and sense of rural area. However, it would have been a wicked adjustment for my family. So, I passed on the offer and stayed in Florida.

Clearwater, Fl is a beautiful area but be warned that the area is extremely congested because of all the tourist, snowbirds and year round population. Now, that being said, there are a lot of things to do in the area because it encompasses Tampa, and St.Petersburg to name a few. As such you can count on a lot of established and start-up LCO's. Competition is the American way! :usflag:

DJ-

[Military Lawns]

"He did lose one bid because he was white".
-LawnTamer

I am just curious about this statement could you please provide some more details on this. Like I said I am just curious!

Thanks,

DJ-

[LawnTamer]

"He did lose one bid because he was white".
-LawnTamer

I am just curious about this statement could you please provide some more details on this. Like I said I am just curious!

Thanks,

DJ-


Yes, Park City is notoriously liberal, he did a bid on a landscape job and was told that they had gone with another contractor because the other company was minority owned and they believed in "affirmative action" which I believe is the liberal way of saying it's good to be a racist, so long as you hate white people.:confused:

[Wells]

We have plenty, I'll send you some.:laugh::laugh:
we had about 6" on the ground, got another 3 or 4" this morning and it is still coming, though not very hard.

That was one of the biggest single dumps we've had in SLC for a long time, I easily had over a foot of new snow on our trucks this morning.

[LawnTamer]

That was one of the biggest single dumps we've had in SLC for a long time, I easily had over a foot of new snow on our trucks this morning.

You ain't kidding, I saw like 4" on my back deck, which faces south, well, you know that, you've been to my house... anyway, I go out about 11AM, once it slowed up here expecting like 4-5". It was 10-12" deep! I bet I moved about 8 tons of snow, wish I had a plow for the 4-wheelers, I think I'll go see my chiropractor tomorrow.:laugh::laugh::laugh:

You ever been discriminated against here Wells? I've had people assume I'm Hispanic in the summertime when I get tan, but other than the, "excuse me, do you speak English?" asked slowly, I don't think I've ever had someone ask about religion, or political affiliation, anything like that.

[nriddle77]

Your friend is making excuses. Mormons are not remotely a majority in Park city. In fact they only represent about 20% of the Park city population. I have a friend who was a landscaper in Park city, he never experienced any discrimination because of religion. He did lose one bid because he was white.
I have been doing lawncare in the Salt lake area since 1990, I've never had a client, or potential client ask about my religion, not once. Wait, that's not true. I used to mow a baptist church, they would invite me to attend quite frequently, nice people.:laugh::laugh:
Your friend is having trouble keeping labor because kids these days are flakey and Park city has a very high avg. household income, in my experience spoiled kids don't make good employees. If he is having problems with deliveries, I would suspect that either he has been a late payer, or is not buying the volume that others are, many vendors give higher priority to their big buyers.

My time in Salt Lake City was the same. No one ever checked to se if I was LDS before hiring me. Salt Lake City is becoming more diversified every year. It is a beautiful city with great weather. I would go back in a heartbeat if I wasn't here caring for sick family.
The climate is very dry. According to a "Western Landscaping" book I have, SLC averages only 6.1 inches of rain from May1st-October31st. You'll never have to worry about getting rained out. If you do irrigation, there is plenty of that work to be done.
I think if you are determined, then you can operate a successful business just about anywhere. It's very possible to have a full schedule for a one man operation in a relatively short time. If you are wanting to move in an have several crews working, then that may take more time and money.

I love Utah. It's a great place to work, live, or visit. And no, I don't work to the Utah travel department.

[whoopassonthebluegrass]

Here's my two cents about Utah and lawncare:

I live up near the UT/ID border. I live in a valley with a University. This spells a bazillion lawncare guys who just undercut and undercut each other.

I swear this is true: a few years back there was a pair of college kids with a full schedule because THEY WERE DOING "ANY LAWN: $12.50"!!!!! Insane. They'd have made better money flippin' burgers at McD's...

The other valleys (Salt Lake and Utah Valley) both have universities as well, though they are bigger and more diverse than where I am. But UT is over 54% self employed (well, that was the statistic a couple years ago - I haven't seen it since) - and a lot of those folks seem to be in the green industry...

I like it here, but as LawnTamer alluded to - everyone and their dog seem to have a trailer and mowers...

[Wells]

You ever been discriminated against here Wells? I've had people assume I'm Hispanic in the summertime when I get tan, but other than the, "excuse me, do you speak English?" asked slowly, I don't think I've ever had someone ask about religion, or political affiliation, anything like that.

I've had people ask if we run any spanish crews because they've had some communication problems in the past but nobody has ever asked about our religious affiliation.

I would think the Park City area would be a great place to start a company because of the type of clients that can afford to live there. No home owner up in that area is going to let a neighbor see him out in the yard doing any sort of manual labor.

[atlcutah]

I remember that I would see some Lawn care co's out there but now its crazy! I see atleast 10 different companies or crews a day! and the thing that gets me is I lose atleast 3-5 customers every year because of some neighborhood kid or some company that knocks on their door and tells them that they can mow their lawn for 10-15 dollars! And I am charging these people $30-$40 dollars a mowing! It ticks me off! but then when I am mowing their neighbors house that decided to stay with me I usually get a good laugh cuz Ill look across the street and the people that dumped me their lawn looks like crap! My 6 year old son can mow better than whoever would mow these peoples lawn. Anyways.... I think that you could make it here! SLC is still growing and I am finding more and more people who are in the business are selling for whatever reason so maybe you could buy someone out! I always see small lawncare co's getting rid of there accounts and equipment! But you do a good job then people will stay with you thats for sure! I have 15 customers from 1987-1990 that I am mowing. and 35 customers from 90-95that I am still mowing. the other 20 I have from2000 -2002 and the rest that I have are all from 2002 - present!

[Runner]

I am moving down to Clearwater Florida, myself. I have been asked to sell all my equipment, and liquidate my assets, as they (the assets) will all be donated to the church. It is all part of the PTTD. I can hardly wait. It will be a brand new start on life, and I will be able to proceed with the TMP. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life, and I can hardly wait to SANL.

[yamadooski]

Whats the deal with all the abreviations????????
I didnt know I had to learn text messaging. Isnt that for little teenage kids?
I mean really who has time to text message anyways just pick up the dam phone and call.

[Runner]

Actually, it was a joke...There has been all the hooplah in the media lately about Tom Cruise and the "scientologist" religion. They ere hootin' on him for a speech he did, and portions of interviews he has one. There is special "code" terms they use. :rolleyes:
Clearwater Fla. is the world headquarters of this strange, even been described as "cult like" and controversial "religion".

[whoopassonthebluegrass]

Ahhhh, so really you're a cult chaser! Either the Mormons or the Scientologists!!

LOL :laugh::laugh:

(I'm Mormon, so YES I'm just kididing.)