Aerating Niche?

[JeffK]

BEING RELATIVELY NEW TO LS I CAN'T BELIEVE THE WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE FROM YOU FOLKS IN THE BUSINESS. I'M NOT CURRENTLY IN THE BUSINESS BUT HAVE A STRONG DESIRE TO GET MORE INVOLVED.
I HAVE BEEN READING ALOT OF PAST POSTS ON STARTING OUT AND WAS WONDERING WHAT SOME OF YOU VETERANS FEEL ABOUT STARTING OUT BY SPECIALIZING IN AERATION?
I HAVE THE CAPITAL TO INVEST IN A DESCENT AERATOR (CLASSEN SPLIT-DRIVE) AND WAS WONDERING IF YOU THINK IT'S A VIABLE MARKET FOR JUST STARTING OUT. WHAT DO THE VETERAN LCO'S DO? DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN AERATORS? DO YOU THINK THAT I COULD SOLICIT EXISTING LCO'S TO WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH THEM FOR THEIR AERATION NEEDS? (WITHOUT THEM THINKING THAT I'M OUT TO STEAL THERE BUSINESS).
I HAVE THE 8-5 JOB THAT I REALLY ENJOY BUT THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PASSION OF MINE. I'M NOT LOOKING TO GET RICH AND I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT MY "LIVELIHOOD" BUT AT THE SAME TIME I'M NOT GOING TO BE A "SCAB" EITHER.
SORRY FOR THE LONG POST.....ANY ADVISE WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!!

JeffK :)

[David Haggerty]

They have a whole corporation based on aeration.

http://www.lawnaerating.com/frames.htm

You should check on a Plugr (cam type) aerator. I understand they're a lot easier to move from site to site because of their lighter weight.

But before you reply, please turn off your caps lock. Thanks

Dave

[NateinAtl]

It all depends on your market. How many weeks of the year can you aerate in Minn.? Is there a high enough demand for lawn aeration there? Can you make enough profit to justify spending the amount of time and energy?

I asked myself these and many more questions prior to my starting out in the business. And yes, just aerating is exactly the way I did it. In my area, warm season grasses are aerated from April through mid-July. I passed out flyers and got plenty of work. You wouldn't believe the number of customers that werebegging me to mow. They were eaither already disappointed in their current LCO,or were tired ofdoing it themselves.

What I decided to do was just stick with aeration the first year P/T, kept record of the customers that wanted me to mow, watched other LCO's to see what and when they offered maintenance services, and I learned as much as I could. The next year I went full time. My first phone calls were to those aeration customers that were begging for me to mow the previous years.

I think that is what I would suggest. If you have the means in which to do a lot of aeration business this year, do it. Watch and learn from the succesful LCO's in your area, then market full maintenance services next year.

[lbmd1]

All I can say about that guys' aeration web site is "WOW" That is the most informative (not flashy) and to the grit web site devoted to serving his clients while informing them of price, features, benefits, and competition. I just emailed the guy to find out what brand of cam aerator he uses and to compliment him on his site. This was my point the other day about the featured $45 aerator guy in Lawn and Landscape magazine. Why didn't they feature this guy instead? His prices are double what the other guy gets ($90 for 5000 sq ft, $10 each addtional 1000 sq ft) and he's done tens of thousands of them. This guy has a great niche and doesn't have to lowball. After reading his website as an LCO, it makes you want to go out and model your biz after him. Thanks for the link David!

[kutnkru]

Originally posted by lbmd1
... ($90 for 5000 sq ft, $10 each addtional 1000 sq ft) ...At this price he would be at $14 per 1,000 on a 10 m/sf property. He's only $10 cheaper than TG-CL charges for the same sized lot in our area ($15 m/sf).

I too agree that that is not only an agressive site, but a good inspiration for DRIVE!!!

[65hoss]

The guy uses the Clark aerators. Clark was a salesrep for Rocksolid Plugr's at one time. He decided to go out on his own and found someone to copy the rocksolid machine. The Clarks are not the quality of the Rocksolid machines. Clark is still using the old design, they have never made the improvements that rocksolid has. Thus the reason the Clarks are a little cheaper $$$.

[1grnlwn]

I did notice that price includes fertilizer. (concentrated) what ever that means? His price would be $90 for 6000sq ft. Ive heared a lot of people here say $10/K aeration $10/K fert That would be $120 for 6k. different strokes.

[MOW ED]

Its a nice site and a great business for a guy. It seems to me that he read Robin Pedrotti's book and put his own spin on it. Ya got to give the guy credit.

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

Hey Jeff,

In my area you can rent aerators per 4 hour, day and week.
You might want to line up some jobs and rent one first. Pass the rental fees on to each customer. I do some aerating and all my customers are fine with paying the rental fee. They understand that this isn't a machine that we have on hand. You also might want to write up some type of info on why it is good to aerate and show them pictures of before and afters. This is an easy service to sell if you inform the customers. Good luck.
Travis