Getting started....... [Archive] - LawnSite.com™ - Lawn Care & Landscaping Business Forum

Dadto4

06-15-2009, 07:29 PM

Awright guys, here's the story. Obviously, I'm new here. I'm currently an active duty Marine and looking at retiring around April/May of next year. I've wanted to start my own lawn-care business for a long time but lots of travel has kept me from being able to do it. I have no dreams or aspirations of going BIG or nation wide or anything like that. Just want to make a decent living, provide for my family, spend more time with my family, and adequately supplement my retirement income. Now I have alot of questions about getting started so any help you all can provide would be much appreciated. I'd be moving back to the Oklahoma area.

1) How long does it typically take to get started to where I am making enough to live off of?

2) Should I form a corporation or LLC?

3) What do you all charge for a typical sized yard? I'm thinking $35 to start.

4) Equipment: Should I start small and grow with the business or just purchase what I want and go from there?

5) What other services do you all normally offer besides just mowing and edging? And how beneficial is it to get into landscaping and sprinkler systems?

Anything else that you all feel would be beneficial to know would be greatly appreciated.

MowHouston

06-15-2009, 08:04 PM

Welcome to the site. First things first. :laugh: You'll hear this alot: Use the search function and look back in time in this forum section and you'll get most of your answers.

But I'll give you some answers right here. I like helping the new guys, but I'm straight forward and realistic. So here we go.

1) How long does it typically take to get started to where I am making enough to live off of?

This is going to depend on where you live and pretty much how much time and money you have to sink into advertising. Myself, I just started back up here about three weeks ago and I'm nearing my 20th customer. I live in a metropolitan area and probably have a slight advantage over most with how I advertise.

Consider running an advertisement in your local paper, have some flyers printed and spend some offtime hanging out those flyers on people's doors. Others will chime in and give you their opinions on how to get customers, etc, etc.

To give you a straight answer, I would expect it would take you a half of the season or a full season to be able to live off of your profits. It just depends on how fast you grow. Also depends on if you have kids, a wife, whether or not she has a job, etc, etc.

2) Should I form a corporation or LLC?

Don't incorporate. Its just not needed. You should just get your tax id, and file yourself as a sole proprietor, get a DBA if you arent using your name as the business name.

Get insurance. Most recommend $1,000,000 general liability insurance. I bet there's a lot of guys even on this site that aren't insured, and even more in the real world that arent, but heavily consider getting insured.

Check with your county/city to see if you are required to be licensed for any of the green industry stuff you are planning on.

3) What do you all charge for a typical sized yard? I'm thinking $35 to start.

Another one of those things that no one can really answer. This will depend on your area mostly. Even then, if the going rate for a 5,000 sq ft yard is $25, you need to work for what you think your work is worth.

Once you get out there and impress the customer with your service, they will be willing to pay you for it. However, there's always going to be guys out there lowballing you, so don't get discouraged.

I'd say $30 - $35 is a good price to start with as a solo.

A "typical" sized yard is also different by area. Here, a typical yard is about 6,000 square feet before improvements. Elsewhere, it may be half an acre :)

4) Equipment: Should I start small and grow with the business or just purchase what I want and go from there?

Depends on how big the yards are that you are doing. If you're doing yards in the 5k - 10k range, you can start out with a 21 or 22 mower, trimmer, and blower easily.

Many people get their start buying equipment from Lowes or Home Depot. I did, cost me $800 to start up. But looking back, if I had the money, I would have started out with professional equipment like I have now. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Do not take out a loan or finance any expensive equipment. I bet 80% of the guys that visit this forum and start dreaming about the lawn business don't make it through a full season. I know... "That wont happen to me" but just don't make that investment. Use the money that you have now, and upgrade yourself with your profit as you go along if you have to.

In general, you need your mower, trimmer, and blower, possibly a stick edger if you feel like you need to. What brands you get are yours to decide, no one can tell you what is best. Thats like getting a chevy guy and a ford guy together and telling them to agree on which is best. You gotta hit your dealer up for some demos and see what you like.

5) What other services do you all normally offer besides just mowing and edging? And how beneficial is it to get into landscaping and sprinkler systems?

Landscaping, fertilization, hardscaping, water gardesn, pest control, pool services, irrigation.

Most of those pay better per hour than just mowing lawns. In fact, I have seen people say that the lawn mowing part of the business just pays the bills and they make most of their money from the other stuff.

I only mow, but I have a specific setup and plan for it and I do great.

Whatever you decide to add, learn it first. You have to get licensed for most of the above mentioned, and you need to know what you are doing and have the proper equipment

I hope this all helps you. Like I said, be sure to read on back in this section of the forums. Just spend a few hours a day and you'll find all sorts of good info. But feel free to ask any questions that you may have either way.

Good luck!
Ryan