Are u happy w/ your location?

[Vibe Ray]

How many here are happy w/ where they live at and why? I am talking about both as a landscaper and as a person. I have not traveled much at all, but would like to and possibly move somewhere else someday, any suggestions? Which places are simply the best places in the world to live and which are the best 4 a landscaper? You get the idea.............

[Mykster]

I love my location. It's a beautiful area. There's more work around here than you can shake a stick at but, there's also alot of LCO's as well. From where I live to Seattle (40miles away) it's nothing but suberbs. I know alot of people say 30 miles is too far to work but, it's rather normal around here.

The only thing I hate about Washington is, it's not business friendly. High taxes, high cost of living, etc. etc. Eveything is high priced here. But, I love it to much to leave.

Move to Wash. if you ever decide to up and move. You will LOVE it here.

[P&J Lawncare]

My location is HORRIBLE so all you other LCO'S stay away
J/K it's a good community

[BigJim]

Fishing is great here,when the lawns are done...:cool:

[Smartgene]

Excellent post Ray!

I'm constantly thinking about moving out of Michigan. My reasons are many and I won't get into all of them. Suffice to say, it's very flat and very cold. However, it seems like every location has it's own set of problems.
I've thought of relocating to the Northwest (Oregon or Wash), to Georgia, Tenn or FLA, I've also considered Texas and Philly. Obviously, it would be nice to have a longer cutting season than Mich has to offer.

[Brickman]

I love where I live in the summer. But the rest of the year the wind blows way too hard for way too much of the time. That makes good population control. For the short lawn season we have there is tons of work. I turn so much work down it isn't funny any more.

[AielLandscaping]

where i'm at we have no natural disasters to worry about, no poisonous critters to worry about, tons of work, and year round mowing... but the weather is either super hot or freezing cold there is no in between and the lawns are postage stamp size here most are around 2000 sqft for front and back yards combined

[Smartgene]

Modesto sounds nice. Isn't that a little NE of Oakland? What do you think of servicing Alameda and San Jose?

[johnhenry]

I org started in chicago then moved to the ozarks. Chicago was great for me but winters were bitter at times. Down here has also been great. Lots of lco's but if you do good quality work it will pay for itself. Most of my new business is referrals. But I think about moving quite a bit. Spent all of this past jan in panama city florida. I would luv to move to panama bity beach or around gulf shores alabama. seems like the farther south you go the tougher the business gets

[kris]

As far as location to work we have it mighty fine. We are on over 20 acres with 4 acres of covered greenhouses ..tons of outside retail space for soils rock mulch sod etc. A huge Landscape construction shop. This is surrounded by million dollar homes in a very rich community.
Now ... the weather can be really depressing at times ... cold long winters. We do have the rocky mountains a few hours away that tend to be my escape a few times a year.
If you ever get a chance to come to Alberta..go to Lake Louise, Banff and Jasper. Simply breathtaking.

[Dennis E.]

What more could I need? Year round work. NO SNOW! (I grew up in Wis.,been there-done that)
Lots of work. Plenty of growth. There are tons of maintenance people here but they come and go like the weather.
My creed is :Say what you do and do what you say. That makes for good income and plenty of work here.
:D

[The Lawn Choupique]

How about moving to Mandeville? Or if you just want to get out of St. Tammany you might try the 9th ward. Where ya at? Oh, I see, then you will "down in the Parish". LaCombe might be closer though.

[Randy J]

If I had my way, I'd be moving to Alaska right now. But my wife won't hear of it.

Randy

[TJLC]

What Dennis E. said. I've done the cold and snow. Fla is by no means the perfect place to live but it's a far cry better than where I came from. Some people love that cold weather, to each his own, I guess. After getting a taste of good weather year round it would be very hard to leave.

[Barkleymut]

I love it here. Between 2 and 36 inches of snow in the winter (usually around 4-8). The summers are as hot as Florida which sucks since we always have 90% humidity in the summers. But the fall and spring are perfect. The work here is soooo plentiful that I can pretty much ask any price. I will not complain.

[sunrise]

I like my location good pay, nice weather,good work. BUT I HATE THE TRAFFIC I-95
You get in a back up everyday
I would like to live and work in a beach area close to the water,I grew up on the New River miss the the water, so I plan to move to the beach area soon, if it ok with the wife?

[GreenQuest Lawn]

I love Michigan, Its nice to have a change of pace every year. We get (usually) plenty of snow (our avg. is 98") and beautiful summers. Yea its cold so far this Spring but at least we are not getting all the flooding they are elsewhere. I live just a few miles from the Shore of Lake Michigan.

As far as the business side that is great also, there are a lot of LC's but not very many good ones so work is easy to come by.

And with all this sand I never have to scrape my decks. LOL:D

[Smartgene]

So many of these places sound really nice. What county is Richmond, VA in?

[Smartgene]

Does anyone read the board from Philly? I've searched the country over and am planning a visit to Philly soon. I think suburban Philly is the place for me. I know some of you are thinking harsh weather, but Philly runs on average, 8 degrees warmer than my current Michigan location. That 8 degrees means a lot to me. The incomes are great there- and the population is large.

[Scraper]

Originally posted by Smartgene
Does anyone read the board from Philly? I've searched the country over and am planning a visit to Philly soon.

Many people on this board from the Philly area. What do you want to know? Competition is fierce and there is always someone who will do it for less. Although you get into the right niche and you can do ok.

[TGCummings]

We have more than our share of business problems here, mostly stemming from folks who'll work for nothing (and not even know it). It's a hard market to get a good rate in.

My town's a little run down, too. I drive through other cities and they look so well-kept and clean compared to Salinas. Again, I think this stems from our being essentially a farm town of primarily immigrant farm labor.

However, it has it's up sides.

Salinas is very well located. Drive one way and you're in the mountains in 30 minutes. Drive another way and you're at the beach in less time than that. Nevada casinos are only 5-6 hours away. Reservation gambling is even closer ;). We have really only one season here, 60-70 degrees all the time with a 10-15 mph sea breeze. In the winter we might dip down to 30 on occaison, and in the summer you might just get 90 for a day or two.

We're 100 miles from scenic San Francisco. There are a lot of things to do in our area, a lot to see, and a lot of history.

All in all, I take the bad for the good. I love it here. :)

[ADLAWNCUTTERS]

well i hate to say it but here in buffalo,ny its a sh..hole .food is great,people are for the most part friendly.but their are no good jobs around here,taxes are high.i have a great job & a good business . i would stay away from the rust belt.a lot of people here move down south or out west.and the buffalo bills couldn't win a super bowl if thier lives depended on it.:)

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

Love where I'm @. Temps hardly ever break 80 in the summer. Cool mountain breezes, Economy is thriving. Seasonal residents with more money to spend than they know what to do with it. Plenty of work. For each new account I pick up, I probably turn down 6 others. Spoiled rotten!!!!!!

LAWNS AND MOWER

[Smartgene]

I'm trying to decide among many places for relocation, but I'm most seriously looking at Oakland and Philly.

[TGCummings]

Originally posted by Smartgene
I'm trying to decide among many places for relocation, but I'm most seriously looking at Oakland and Philly.

Why Oakland or Philly, Smartgene? Besides the obvious attraction (high crime rates) what made you narrow down to those two? Not that there's anything wrong with either place, I've just never heard anyone mention either as their 'dream locale'. ;)

[Smartgene]

When I refer to Oakland and Philly, I'm not necessarily talking about the cities themselves, but their largly populated burbs. These burbs have all the right numbers - large per capita incomes etc.

[TGCummings]

Originally posted by Smartgene
When I refer to Oakland and Philly, I'm not necessarily talking about the cities themselves, but their largly populated burbs. These burbs have all the right numbers - large per capita incomes etc.

Sounds like you've done some research. Can't argue with that. Thanks for the response and good luck! :D

[Smartgene]

TGC informed me that 21's are the mowers primarily used on the west coast. I found this totally fascinating. In a way, I like that idea, and in a way I hate it. Small gates I guess?

[TGCummings]

Small lawns, mostly under 3000 square feet. My average is 1500-2000 square feet. Small gates, too, some as small as 28". Often, you'll find gates you could get a 36" through, but the entire walkway into the backyard is only 4 feet wide and half-cluttered with garbage cans and the usual homeowner accouterment. To get a 36" mower into some of these yards you'd have to spend 5-10 minutes moving stuff around. All to cut a 1500 or less square foot lawn!

So, you can see why 21s are all the rage. Oh, I own a 36" Exmark TTHP but many days it stays home... :rolleyes:

[cutntrim]

Interesting thread. I like where I live and think it's a great location for landscapers. We have four seasons so snowplowing is a big part of our service here. It's an affluent area (probably in the top five per capita income areas in Canada) and many people here are dual-income families with disposable income to spend on landscaping. Competition is fierce but there are a number of reputable companies around and once you're established as such, you aren't playing in the same league as the "scrubs" and don't have to worry about them.

Our crime rate is pretty non-existant and we're only a 40min drive (in traffic) from Toronto so there's lots to do here as well. We're also close to the States which is nice since I've got family down there. Worst thing about here is that taxes are high, and so is our cost of living. Tough to find a detached home here for under $220,000 right now, and that's for a postage stamp sized lot with your neighbour right on top of you. But, here's where the money is, so here's where I work. Plus I grew up here and my closest relatives are all here too.

[Randy J]

I see that there's several people from SC. Anybody from the Columbia area? I have a friend that is considering a move with his company there, and just wondering what it's like. Looks like the cost of living isn't too bad. And it does look pretty.

Randy

[ADMowing]

Florida -- Yes we are happy with our location. Nice weather -- bit hot in summer, but we hang for a few months a year. Nice lawns and good customers (for the most part). No major complaints here!:p

We could use more rain and a few more customers (always)!:D

[proline32]

I personally love washington state ( western washington) the weather is really quite good most of the year and never to hot during the summer, the only drawback in my area is there are tons of scrubs out here and they always come and go but they do muck things some especially in maintenance. I used to live in Charlston, sc but boy it was hot there during the summer and the bugs geez. The one bad thing is the taxes here in western washington and this isn't the most friendly place for business ( especially this county I live in) and the seattle area has horrible traffic issues and it seems that nobody in state government can get anything done. Lots of business have left here and went to friendlier climes as far as regulations and taxes go, the cost of living is constantly going up and it's getting to a point where I can't afford to purchase a home.

[Grasshog]

Ive been in the Charlotte NC area now for 11 years. When I first moved here I thought I'd stay a little while then blow off to another place. Charlotte grew on me. I get all four seasons ( most years). Its a large city but the people have a small town frame of mind. Real nice folkes here. I"m 2.5 hours from the beach and 2 hours from the mountains. Both can be day trips.
Its a great place to be. Work is easy to come by.

So, when does your plane come in???????

[Smartgene]

I'm probably not relocating anytime really soon. I'll be in the research phase for a few years. Charlotte does sound nice. As for Florida, it's a big state and often folks don't mention where in FLA they are. I tend to favor Ft Myers/Naples. Anyone from there?

[ADMowing]

Smartgene -- we're in the Tampa Florida area -- have family living in Bradenton area (and a lawn service brother in law and wife down there). Heard that Fort Meyers/Naples is a very ritsy and nice area! Had Aunt living in LaBelle -- which is an agricultural community way out there. Lots of 3-5 acre lots, etc.... Florida is nice. We have lots of mobile home parks in this area and retirees -- working couples who don't want to do their lawns etc.... We do a few larger propertys 1 to 5 acres. Nice variety!

A & D

[Holloway Lawns]

Wichita Falls, Texas .NOT

I was raised here but when I was in the Army and went to Colorado Springs, CO I loved it. There is lots to do. The water is way better, the montains are great. I just loved it there. I would love to go back but my wife does not want to::cry:

[dan35]

SWEET HOME ALABAMA!