How many lawns in a radious of?

[outrunjason]

Ok so everyone has there zones, districts whatever. I had 30 lawns in a 2 mile radius. Very dense population. Not a rual area. For eveyone else. In whatever radius you work in or how you break it down what is a good number of lawns to have in block range, mile range or even on one street?

Jason

[65hoss]

I don't know the actual numbers, but about 85% of my cuttin' biz is within 4 miles.

[RB]

I have 40 residential lawns and I can literally hit a golf ball from my front lawn to each customer's house.

Most customer drive past my house every day. Most customers even drop off their payments in person each month.

Ron

[walker-talker]

Dang RB,

your'e in the wrong business. With accuracy like that I would join the PGA.........just kiddin!

MATT

[65hoss]

Originally posted by RB
I have 40 residential lawns and I can literally hit a golf ball from my front lawn to each customer's house.

Most customer drive past my house every day. Most customers even drop off their payments in person each month.

Ron

Now that is awesome. Only 1 problem I see with that though. You don't get to put enough biz miles on your truck to make a good tax deduction. haha.;)

[Turfdude]

Over 200 accounts, 8 mile radius max. Up to 9 at one stop. Almost no "single stops". Most stops are for 2-3 accounts and many w/4-5. Thats the way to make $ in this biz.:D
Bob

[longslawn]

36 in a 6 mile radius

[heygrassman]

I have 40 residential lawns and I can literally hit a golf ball from my front lawn to each customer's house

Up to 9 at one stop. Almost no "single stops". Most stops are for 2-3 accounts and many w/4-5. Thats the way to make $ in this biz.

I don't know the actual numbers, but about 85% of my cuttin' biz is within 4 miles.

Mind if I ask if you are doing discounting to the neighbors to drive the additional business in the same area?

[Turfdude]

I don't do discounts. We usually start w/ 1 or 2 and then get more as the neighbors like our quaility of work and dependability. I always quote each job as if it were a single stop. That way if it ever become that, I won't really be losing any $.

Bob

[bubble boy]

were spread wide-at least 10 miles in each direction.

would like to tighten up, but i won't just drop good customers.

[jay warner]

Our accounts are spread out, 100 mile round trips 3 days a week. Mostly commercial, no real competition, three maybe four gate drops per day. Gov. housing & satellite medical offices. Spoiled by this set up, want to drop residential but they got me to where I'm at, never forget where you came from. Season is about to crank up, good luck and health.

[outrunjason]

I asked this question because my goal is to get as many lawns in this 2 mile radius as I can. I either do that by an unbeatable price or pray. The only way I guess. Because if I had 30 in a 2 mile radius last year well then this year I gain just as many making it 60 lawns in a 2 mile radius. If that works then I double the coverage area to 4 miles becuase what worked in the 2 mile radius was a success.

Jason

[RB]

No discounts here either. Start w/1 or 2 and seem to get'em in a row.

Walker-Talker. Speaking of the PGA, I'd love to ride 18 holes on a 48" GHS.

[earthandturf]

I'm not sure of the radius, but I do know all of my accounts (35) are within 10 minutes of my house. Don't want anything more than that.

[morning dew]

200 customers, 10 mile radius around shop.

Keep it tight.

Jesse
Morning Dew Inc.

[mike payne]

I have 42 customers in a 5 mile radius. 6 are single stops.

[stslawncare]

the closer together the better, the more next to each other the better. right now i got a big lawn thats about 3 miles away i think, another lawn thats a mile, a full year landscape thats under 600 feet, and a lawn thats 1/4 mile. my max is 8 miles, i try within 2.

[_GUNNER_8]

Our longest distance is around 150 miles we will go were ever the money is good !!!!we signed on with U.S. Lawns back in jan. so we travel all over.

[jay warner]

Hey Gunner, what's up with that? US Lawns. Any info, I love to travel!

[JimLewis]

Gunner is crazy!

Anyway, we do about 150 lawns all within about a 10 mile radius. 65% are within a 4 mile radius. And most of our daily routes are within a mile or less radius.

On Friday, one of my crews does about 25 houses in a quarter-mile radius (my neighborhood). That's a sweet day.

I don't give discounts per say. But I do two things as incentives

1) I will give a little bit of a discount if the new client is in a neighborhood where I already have a few dozen clients. I won't quote him any lower than any of my other clients. But I may quote him at our last-year's rate or something, like everyone else in his neighborhood.

2) We have a referral program where if someone refers a friend or neighbor, they get one month free service. That works real well. Just got one of those last week!

[jay warner]

What is an average $ charge per residential? Mine here is 30. I don't doubt residential, but damn the head ache. However, lend me some secrets, I'm willing to learn. My population is not so dense 30,000 to 50,000 in 7 mile radius. LMC's every where! That's what takes me on the road.

[Homeworks]

Okay i'm pretty new to this, but i'm kinda blown away about the fact that most of you have all your lawns within a 2- 5 miles radius. That would imply that your lawns are probably pretty small 1 - 5 thousand square feet.

Wouldn't people with lawns that small do it themselves(except the elderly).

I'm doing some advertising soon and trying to figure out which areas would be best, i just assumed the areas with larger lawns would be best.

any info on this would be great!:blob3:

[SLS]

Homeworks,

I have 31 accounts (residential) all within a 1.5 mile radius. All but 5 of them are roughly 1 acre lots in an older established neighborhood.

Of those 5 smaller lots 4 of them belong to single/divorced women who don't want to fool with a lawnmower and the 5th one is a disabled woman who's husband works all the time. Also 4 of those lots are together and get cut every friday morning at the same time.

As I can cut the smaller 'postage stamp' lawns in about 15 minutes each ($25) and the 1 acre lawns in 45 minutes to an hour ($40-$50) the smaller ones are the most profitable...especially since I use my 22" on the little ones and my Lazer 60" on the large ones. My fuel costs next to nothing with the 22"...and no wear and tear on the Lazer.

The statistics show that the divorce rate in the US hovers around 50%...and most ladies don't care for the grit, grime, and gas fumes associated with a lawnmower. I am finding that the newer developments (1500 sf homes with postage stamp lawns) are full of single/divorced ladies.

The other 25 (1 acre lots) are mostly older folks...quite a few widows in the mix.

Keep 'em tight, and close to the base. The way I see it is that I make money riding around on the ZTR...not in the truck. Every minute I spend inside my truck is costing me money.

[JimLewis]

That would imply that your lawns are probably pretty small 1 - 5 thousand square feet. That's about right for us. Most of the lawns we do fall in that range.
Wouldn't people with lawns that small do it themselves(except the elderly). Not when they are working 50+ hours per week, got soccer games to go to, baseball games, gymnastics, church activities, etc. The last thing they want to do is mow the lawn on the weekend after all of this.

I find the percentage of people who mow their own lawn goes down as house values go up. In my neighborhood ($170K-275K homes) I find that only about 30% use a service. Still, that's pretty good. But just up the hill from me, in the $400K-800K homes the percentage who use a service is at least 90%. What's another $100 or $150 to them a month? I focus on neighborhoods like the latter (new yuppie homes worth big $) although it's still worth it to put some effort into the first catagory of homes as well.
I'm doing some advertising soon and trying to figure out which areas would be best, i just assumed the areas with larger lawns would be best. That's up to you. But if you have nice, upper class sub-divisions with houses packed in tight around where you live, I'd focus on these neighborhoods first and foremost. The hourly rate is WAY better than on the large lawns.

Just think about it this way; I maintain a 2500 sq. ft. property for $120 per month. Let's say someone calls for a bid on a propterty that's 12,000 sq. ft. Well, that's 5 times the size, but there's no way in heck I can charge 5 times the amount. If I told someone they'd pay $600 per month to mow a lot that size around here, they'd laugh me off their property. So the only alternative, in order to compete, is to lower your hourly rate and bid a job like this at maybe $350 or $400 / month. But why do 5 times the work for only 3 times the money? See my point?

So we focus on the smaller lots with the smaller lawns, but in the rich neighborhoods.

[JimLewis]

By the way, the best way to get a lot of houses in a small area is to;
1) Flyer the area you want more clients in every 3-4 months
2) Be sure your trucks look as crisp and clean as possible and have your name and number on both sides and on the tailgate
3) Do a good job and act professional.
4) Be courteous to neighbors while mowing. Always wave, smile, lend a hand, etc. In other words, look at every person who drives by, walks by, stands in the yard next door, etc. as a potential client.

But the most important of these is #1.

[David Haggerty]

It's about 20x20 miles. Traffic's light.
You can be anywhere in 20 minutes.

But I get these good jobs further out.
I just tack on a little travel time and go.
But I work big jobs, so it's worthwhile.

Dave

[awm]

being a country boy ,i live kinda centered to several small towns etc. i go up to 20 miles in any direction.im after a certain pt of the market tho so my buisiness is a little different than most.
later now

[_GUNNER_8]

Originally posted by jimlewis
Gunner is crazy!

Anyway, we do about 150 lawns all within about a 10 mile radius. 65% are within a 4 mile radius. And most of our daily routes are within a mile or less radius.

On Friday, one of my crews does about 25 houses in a quarter-mile radius (my neighborhood). That's a sweet day.

I don't give discounts per say. But I do two things as incentives

1) I will give a little bit of a discount if the new client is in a neighborhood where I already have a few dozen clients. I won't quote him any lower than any of my other clients. But I may quote him at our last-year's rate or something, like everyone else in his neighborhood.

2) We have a referral program where if someone refers a friend or neighbor, they get one month free service. That works real well. Just got one of those last week!

Some people might think that Lewis but, we have total 28 branches that pay $5600 month year round and thats not counting mulching, shrubs,fertilizing, flowers,they just added snow removal, weed and feed and irrigation LOL muhahahahah We going come out smelling like a rose.Because two man crew handle these 7 months of year and then i just have to pay 1 man other 5 months,the contracts well over $100,000 !!!!!!!

[jay warner]

I ain't in your neck of the woods email me about US Lawns is it nation wide, open for bid, or the name of your company? I already do similar set up for Medical facility and gov housing. Always looking for new info. jwa3113275@aol.com

[Jason Pallas]

450 lawns - all within about a 5 mile radius. One huge account is about 12 miles away.

[CLM1103]

I have 93 lawn accounts within 3/8 mile of my house. I have lawns joining for 9 accounts, 7 accounts, 11 accounts and many 2 & 3 adjoining. I live in a retirement development and pull my Scag WB, string trimmer, stick edger and blower with my golf cart to all accounts. I am also a solo operator so no expence with truck, trailer & etc. From Nov. 1 to March 1, I pressure wash approx 100 homes also using my golf cart for transportation. I have year around contracts and have had no collection problems.

This is an ideal situation for me.