Is this LCO a Lowballer?

[Hobart]

Price seems a little high.

http://www.justlawns.com/

[bubble boy]

with a wife like that i ain't knockin him:eek:

[Hobart]

Whoaaa!!!
Missed that pic!
Can I get her for $18??

[Mykster]

That price doesn't seem that high. In fact that would be considered lower than average in my area. D*MN......She's hot!

[65hoss]

Oh NO, not this website again! :(

[BigJim]

Yep,Dont ask any questions though cause you'll get no answers..

[lawrence stone]

This is typical bait and switch. You get them to call with the cheap mowing price and then you up sell them to a full lawn and landscape maintenance package.

The lawns in the area he services are tiny. With a 44 and 32 inch walk behind with sulkies he is making more $$$ after expenses than any of you ZTR cowboys.

[proline32]

Yup, and if he is doing a butt load of small lawns he probably is making good money..... Currently I am working on doing a mess of small lawns, clusters of them in neighborhoods where they are all the same size and only takes 20 minutes to mow, I charge $21.70 for those. Now what if some guy calls and he has 30,000 sq feet of yard, is it still 18 bucks? If so, I'll sub out to this guy, I 'll charge 60.00 bucks and then pay this guy 18.00.:D

[Toroguy]

Looks like the guy uses small used Imported trucks. Web site was user friendly and to the point.

I agree with Stone that he's probably making a killing. His tip is for lawn fertilizer aps, there goes the $18.

[LoneStarLawn]

Does 750-1000 yards a week
This is within a 5 mile radius

lots are around 8,200 ft²
homes are around 2,500 ft²

[Twotoros]

He is concentrating on only two areas. They are probably all under 5k foot for the most part. Looks like he is doing things right to me. Nice equpitment can't be bought if you are not making it. If someone else came in to that area for a handful of lawns they would have to charge more and may see this LCO as a lowballer. He could have a couple hundred accounts close together. That should be worth a lower price. If he charged more he would have to be all over that map and might not make much more. Just my thoughts. And wow, wouldn't we love to come home to a lady like that.



He may be a member here or a lurker and is probably getting some good laughs. I wish he would come out and let us know his story.

[lawrence stone]

Originally posted by Twotoros

He may be a member here or a lurker and is probably getting some good laughs. I wish he would come out and let us know his story.

I e-mailed Mr. $18 with the URL to this thread.

I assured him that he would not have to take the abuse he encountered in another forum.

Let's hope he will respond and please let us discuss this subject with an open mind.

[rodfather]

Their web site said they were a family-owned business. Maybe they're brother and sister??? Yea, hello......

Whatever, she's real easy on the eyes.

[kutnkru]

Originally posted by rodfather
Their web site said they were a family-owned business. Maybe they're brother and sister??? Yea, hello......Now Rod being from Jersey you mean to tell me that you dont have more Mom & Pop stores than you can count??? LOL!!! And here I always thought the many minority owned "Family Run" businesses were husband and wive teams.;)

Possibly hes just another scam artist like Wm. McKorkel(sp) who hired friends and family to portray clients that got rich off his "Program to Success" (- LOL!!!) who will probably wind up on prison for his ways. :rolleyes:

The truth of the matter is that if he's cutting 6m/sf lawns for about $20-22 a pop after the upsell, he's making a fortune - especially if hes not having to travel from block to block.

I would be willing to put money on it that even in my area if a guy was willing to cut evrything for damn near $20 and not go out of business by June, they would probably average closer to $28/cut after all was said and done.

But then again, who in their right mind wants to go out and cut 300 lawns to make up in volume what priced right you can gross from 75 lawns -LOL!!!

[rodfather]

Kris

It is "Jersey, sir"!!!

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Nice going there Casey/Hobart you got it closed on another forum so you brought it over here.

Shows your intellagance level.

Casey/Hobart, you going to mover there and under bid him on all his lawns by $5?

Stone, you have a cold or something? And out of your mouth. WOW!!!
please let us discuss this subject with an open mind.

[Ric]

Hate to tell you guys. but $18.00 a cut is not Lowball in my area each spring we get a new crop of scrubs advertising $ 12.50 to $ 15.00 a cut.

No they don't last but there is always some new scrub to take there place. My prices start at $ 25.00 a cut for year contract but I am the highest priced guy in town.

This guy is a mow blow and go operator and is more than likely making more money than any of us. 5 minute cuts and no complains because of the price. All he wants to do is cut and go. because he gives names of other services to call on his website.

Don't knock his business model. How many times have we at LS dicussed mow and blow. Cheap price, cheap work, cheap over head, and High volume add to a fair bottom line. 30 lawns a day is $ 540 gross a day. 22 working days is $11,880 a month.

This is totally different from my business model but I have friends who do the same thing. I like them because they send me Pest Control and Landscape installs. Which is where the money is for me.

Stone if he is doing big volume he is using a ZTR. Remember he is in an area where they cut most of the year. Sure he does some bait and switch on bigger lots.

[HOMER]

Things got a little out of hand on the other forum so I don't think I responded, not sure. The truth is this man is probably doing well.

Mow blow and go gets slammed a lot of times but if that's what you specialize in and get it perfected then the sky's the limit. All my residential work is mow blow and go, my commercial is a little more involved. 28 minutes is my average time and my bottom price is $35.00 a cut.........but I'm scattered all over town.

If it works for him.....................ROCK ON BIG DADDY!:cool:

Liked his Vette too!

[Hobart]

LCO's who try & bleed every last dollar out of customers can only reach a niche market & therefore hit a profit ceiling. Sky's the limit for this type of operation. Millions of lawns begging to be cut at a reasonable price. Fortunately the price gougers don't know how to make this a profitable enterprise.

[TOSLC]

I agree, I have several small (less than 5,000sq/ft) lawns that are all next to each other. $20 bucks/cut x 5 lawns = $100 in less than 45 minutes. Low baller or not, no one ever went broke making $100 per hour!

[lawrence stone]

If Mr. $18 has that many accounts he is in a very powerful position if he plans for the future.

All these people need pest control and shrub trimming etc.

These jobs with complete lawn and landscape maintenance with indoor and outdoor pest control go for $150-$175 per month for 12 months.

With a little bit of planning he could go from $500 yearly gross per account to $1800.

[TOSLC]

Excellent point Mr. Stone! Hopefully he is looking into increasing the level of involvement with current customers, as well as increasing the number of customers.

[proline32]

My business is kinda like his... Maybee a little more upscale but I understand his thinking and I have a friend who with his business partner run an operation just like Mr. $18.00 per lawn and those guys make a killing, they use 36" scags as thier main mowers and all they offer is mow and go they do about 10 grand a month just the two of them they are both under 25 yrs old and started at 17 and they really have it together, used small trucks, used trailers and they buy thier supplies in bulk once a year to save $$$ they like me go down to oregon and purchase supplies in bulk and save on the sales taxes and get good discounts. It works for them and I can't say they are lowballers, just efficient.

[KirbysLawn]

When would he have time to do extra work? 200 lawns a day with 5 crews working 10 hour days, 5 days a week would need to mow a lawn every 15 minutes with no lunch, no pee stops, nothing but non-stop work. Any rain and your really screwed. Just as stated above, no other information has been given so it's all guessing.

[LoneStarLawn]

I wonder how he deals with leaves...

[Randy Scott]

It's always stated that people do the mowing for dirt cheap to "upsell" other services. I have found that those who are tight and looking for the cheap mow don't really plan on having other services done. They are cheap as it is so getting any more money from them is difficult. Maybe that's just my experience, but it sounds like there may be something to these cheap mowing strategies. I think you definately have to find the right market for a lower standard of work though.

[Hobart]

You don't have to "upsell" other services. Volume mowing is the most profitable & consistantly stable income generating service.

[G & S LANDSCAPING SERVICE]

Originally posted by TOSLC
I agree, I have several small (less than 5,000sq/ft) lawns that are all next to each other. $20 bucks/cut x 5 lawns = $100 in less than 45 minutes. Low baller or not, no one ever went broke making $100 per hour! It only takes you 12minutes to cut,edge,trim,blow,each account?

[Ric]

Originally posted by Hobart
You don't have to "upsell" other services. Volume mowing is the most profitable & consistantly stable income generating service.

Glad some one is smart enough to understand this guy's business model. He is king of the cutters. does one thing and only one thing. You want other services? well then here is a list of people who provide those services right here on his website don't even brother to call just log on. Don't ask his employees they don't speak English. That doesn't mean they are dumb, they train the new employee. In fact that new employee is there brother, uncle or cousin. Also all those people he refers, refer back to him. He doesn't need to read LS or go to school or Buy equipment for other kinds of work. All he has to do is Market his service and count his MONEY. If you are still think this guy is a scrub then so be it, maybe you should be jealous. To me he is a business man who more than likely doesn't know the first thing about horticulture. He doesn't have to, nor do his employees. WAKE UP he is in a big market area and has carved out his share. If he is not making money he sure should. No it is not my way of business but I got to respect that it is a good business model.

[TOSLC]

Yeah, 12 minutes is about right. Heck I can mow my own yard in about 7 minutes! It's all in the landscaping, and how little you have to trim.