This season

[George777]

Well with the season nearing an end I would like to hear how it went?

Did you reach your goals?

How many of you have expanded your business by adding another rig?, and if so was the profit margin what you expected?

Who expanded by adding a few employee's and was it worth it?

What will you do next year to change your structure of your business to become even more profitable?

I ask these questions because I know so many of you have a lot of good ideas to help others improve profit margin

[kutnkru]

Well I suppose that you could call this the year of expansion for me??? My brother and I had a mutual parting of the ways and I went back to being a solo op this fall.

I did not meet the numbers that I had hoped to reach, but I still broke even personally for last years figures considering ending the season as a solo op.

I hope that next year I will be able to continue to grow and possibly upgrade the clients that I have to even more profitable levels. My goal for next season is to have a bare bones minimum of $35 per cut (up to 4m/sf) and adjust the pricing structure from there upwards.

:eek: I have even contemplated a complete restructure of 100% commercial properties with high-end pricing to double my income with 1/3 the actual accounts to service weekly.

To boost my numbers even more I am hoping to be able to sign contracts withg smaller Mowing Contractors to be their exclusive Applicator.

Kris

[Mark]

This yr has been a good one for me, Kris im solo also and make a good living on 46 accounts, im still very busy with my leaf work and mulch. So this yr will be better than last season for me, Hope you get your 35dollar average, just this yr i started charging 45 per client and have had no complaints,but my yds are all large, as are my commerical cuts. Hope everyone this season shows a better profit margin. Marks Mowing Service

[Got Grass?]

This being my 1st year, I didnt know what to expect. Altho it has been a great year overall. My customers are happy and I'm getting new ones all the time. I'm a solo, so no employees yet, next year I plan on being Solo but may need help on a few projects and cleanup time.

Only took on good customers and only droped one (old crazy lady), Next year I plan to take on twice as much and get into some other things...

Spring was wet, summer was dry (6"+ drought), fall was wet, good temp, and held out pretty long, Monday is my last day of the year.... So I figure everything will go wrong.....

[TotalLawn]

This was also my 1st year full time, I ended up the season with 46 accounts. I was pleased with the overall results. I have learned ALOT!! (with the help of LS) and hope for continued growth next year!!

Plans for next season...find a better system for leaf removals!!! and more Fert apps.

[David Haggerty]

Last year I SOLD the extra rig & mower.

This year I bought a bigger mower for myself.

I'm making more money solo.

Dave

[MOW ED]

Started the season solo, ended the season with a crew of 2. My wife started in September after our youngest started school. This is the only way for me to expand as I do not want the headaches of employees. Besides, she is the boss anyway.
I added a couple of jobs and I am looking to expand more next season. Even with her as a beginner, we almost shaved 1/2 the mowing time off the current accounts and that is with relatively slow equipment.

Thinkin about a 60+ Z next season to go with the Walker and the Toro WB if things go well.

I worked alone for almost 6 years and it is nice to have the help. Its also nice to keep the money in the family.

I have a ton of number crunchin to do over the winter. Productivity, time study, profit and loss, expenses. I'm gonna get fatter sittin at the computer but it will be worth it come spring. Its been a good year.

[bubble boy]

year went good. not great. we met our "low"projection, but came up short of the "hïgh".

added a truck and hired first three employees. then fired our first:rolleyes:

for us hiring was worth it, although it is expensive. remember your extras-insurance, income taxes, workmans comp or equivilent in the US. and remember the guys wont be as productive as you are.

overall, profit went up, profit margin went down from year one. basically, the guys make me good money, but they cost me too. you must make it up in volume.

those husband wife teams, thats awesome. all the profit stays with you and you are a true team. i think there is something to be said for that.:angel:

[Kent Lawn Care]

Well, for me Ive found it to be a pretty good year. I bought CLIP and found it to be very helpful in finding out which lawns i need to raise prices. I started out running one crew with myself and another guy, the later found myself needing more help, i hired in two more guys, and started two crews, well, that lasted about two months, then fired one guy :( and another decided he was leaving for college, so it left me back to the original two of us. well, now im back to myself, cause the other guy that worked for me for about 5 years got a job working with the big three.

As far as equipment, i pulled out a loan and bought myself a used 1994 F-350 dump, a 20' Pace enclose trailer and a couple mowers. ive been using everything up to the last day! i picked up a tailgate mounted leaf blower for the dump, that worked GREAT! dont know why i didnt get one sooner.

Well, i started out with my goal at 100 accounts, starting the year at about 55, i made it to about 70 but hey, we all cant get what we want anyways. i'm hoping that i can get enough help in the spring, caus my goal is staying the same. i also enjoyed getting my first goverment account a my third commercial. ive grossed at this point in time about 75k but yet i dont really know specific profits cause of the loans, that will get figured out at the end of the year.

im also hoping to start getting into landscaping some next season, but i need to find a designer, ive tryed it, been going to school for it, but cant grasp the concept!

Phil

[yergus]

I had a goal of going from 32 customers to 55, ended up with 73.
had to hire one man full time.
made the ultamate flier, still getting calls for estimates on mulching, trimming and even mowing starting next season.
expecting to add one more crew towards the start of next season.
in other words, Life couldn't get any better

[George777]

Thank you, for all your responses. It seems to me that most have goals and that is a good thing. This season for my partner and I was awesome. Our first goal was to get our business up and running and that went rather well. We hit our our number of customers (30) and also both got our state applicators license. Even this late in the season we are getting calls for fert/weed control. At the present time my partner and I are enrolled in horticulture and have been getting so much good info and we plan on putting it into action this upcoming season.

Next season our goal is to double our numbers and add another rig with 2 workers. We are thinking about having another rig just for fert. The biggest setback this season was getting over myself. I would try to complicate things thus making something simple and turn it into a mess. If we keep this thing simple (K.I.S.S.) everything will be all right.

Try to look at your properties and see what you could do to improve your profit. (seasonal color in beds). thanx homer

[bruces]

Just got started this year. I started out because my son wanted to mow. I started helping him and found out that I would rather do lawn work than work in the office.

We bought a commercial mower and picked up several accounts to justify it.

I'm looking to go pick up more business next year with the goal of being full time within 18 months.

[walker-talker]

Good to hear others have goals like that Bruce. I have been in the biz for a couple of years. I plan on going one more and quitting my job of 10 years to go full time. I plan on working up a 5 yr. biz plan here in the next couple of weeks. my problem is that I want to put too many irons in the fire. I want to get into commercial fert., hydro seeding, stone walls and the works, too fast. I worked for a landscape outfit for 4 years (13 years ago) and have done all that, but i need to slow down and concentrate on one thing at a time, thus a business plan. Good luck.
Matt

[David Gretzmier]

This was the year of years. To get where I needed to be financially, I merged with two other lawn care operators and we more than doubled what we had been doing combined the year before. we made it, and had a banner weather year after last years rainforest then drought. most of my hair left along with my health, but things get better everyday. next year if we grow as much as we did this year, we're looking at a million in sales. employees, equipment, and personalities all had issues, and again, getting better everyday. Good year. Dave g

[Scag48]

This year has been great for me. I bought a new mower and reached my goal money wise. I've got some great customers this last year, they're all coming back. That's a good sign, seeing how I lost a couple last year and 1 this year due to their cheapness or the guy was just a complete psycho. I also hired an employee to help me when I need it, a friend of mine from school. Great worker because him and I have so much in common with school and all and he has worked a ton at a crappy job that he hated all summer. Poor guy. Ready to work for me though!

[HOMER]

I'm actually doing less this year than I did last year. I took my own advice (if you dread it shed it) and got rid of the schools that I had and some other scrub yards. Need to see where I'm at financially compared to last year cause I did go up on some of my accounts.

Leaning towards more commercial work for the coming year, seems I want to spend more time there than I do on residentials right now but enjoy timing myself on them.

I finally hooked up with another LCO and for the last few days we have been running together. I think this one is more trustworthy than the others I dealt with and the chemistry is there for us to be pretty productive. Maybe the 24' trailer isn't so bad after all since we have it full now. I don't think "partnership" is in the future since I despise that word but together we can get 8-9 lawns done in a day and that's with all the leaves. We'll just have to wait and see. Without leaves and blowing time I'm sure we can get 12-13 residentials pretty easy.

Have not changed my schedule yet like I said I was. Next year the 10 day cuts have to go...............got to be weekly or bi-weekly. Letters will be sent out in January preparing everyone for the change. Hated to do it mid-season.

Still have all the customers I wanted to keep. Wife quit me, got to be a little too much for her. Another reason for getting rid of the big stuff.

Udder than that.............still pluggin away:p

P.S. No problem George..............good luck with the biz!

[GreenQuest Lawn]

This is my second season being self employed. I doubled my income (gross) but did not double the work. Raised all prices and kept 100% of my customers from last yr. Right now I have turned down more work this yr than I have taken.

So in a word "GREAT"