Number of accounts

[MGMII]

Just to get a feel for everyone and to see where we stand, I'm just wondering how many lawn accounts your company has and how many crews you run and how many days per week.
Us, well we have around 85 accounts(is this low?), and we run 2 crews Mondays and 1 crew Tuesdays and Wednesdays and usually half day on Thursday. Also, how many hours per day does everyone work? We're only out for 8. Is there a benefit to working 10 or even12 hrs?
How about everyone else?

[dirt biker 54]

i have 20 weekly and 5 call to call so your doing good and i am going to buy a bizz out that have 50 weekly and 15 call to call so i will have about the same

[BOSS MAN]

i run two crews, working from about six thirty til five or six. both crews take care of 20 accounts a day. then we have ten commercial accounts. the commercial accounts are done on saturdays, and i pay everyone overtime for their work. i think there is alot to benefit from working twelve hour days. more work is done therefore more money in my pocket!!!

[tiedeman]

the number of acccounts doesn't mean anything at all. It is the amount of services that these customers want.

For example, you can have 85 acccounts that are strictly mowing, or you can have 40 accounts where total maintenance of the property is done (landscaping, aeration, lawn care, fertilization,etc.)

[MGMII]

Excellent point tiedeman! We do have some accounts that are the complete package, but not enough. We're definately trying to get more of them to be this way.
And Good Luck with the new company takeover dirt biker:)
And thanks to everyone for your input.

[tiedeman]

where are you located at MGM?

[MGMII]

Well I'm from Wyandotte myself, but we currently work mostly out of Dearborn Heights, Dearborn, and Livonia. Next year we'll be attempting to expand though. And you?

[tiedeman]

located in Clare. We cut back of service radius for next year. We were servicing in a 30 mile radius, but we did a major thing and cut it back to only 12 miles. Our road time killed us this year. So I thought that one of the best things that we could do is cut back on drive time which in turn cuts back on wasted time, use of fuel, and wasted time of paying employees

[MGMII]

I agree with you 100% Yeah, a 30 mile radius is quite a large area to service considering all of the drive time you guys must of had. Did you notice a big difference in dropping it down to 12 miles? We really only cover about a 10 mile radius ourselves so we don't have too much drive time. Luckily for us, we have 30 houses in one subdivision. No drive time at all there. :D
What I'd like to do next year is set up another crew Downriver and store the equipment at a garage closer to Downriver. That way we can basically run in two different areas about 30 minutes apart and not suffer with all the driving. We'll see how that goes though. Still gotta work out all of the kinks.

[tiedeman]

actually, noticed a huge difference this past fall from dripping down to 12 miles. Gas alone I think we saved around $300 a month for the trucks.

[mikeg8575]

my company does 325 residential lawns per week. I have one, 3-man crew and one 4-man crew. each crew has 3 mowers. On a week with now problems(which everyone here knows is rare) they finish tues-fri. All accounts are close, within a 7 mile radius. Planning a good route is the key!

[MGMII]

Hey Mike, Thanks for the input. Wow, you got 325 accounts in a 7 mile radius, good for you! And I agree planning a good route is key. Just wondering, how many hours per day do your guys work?

[IRRITECH]

Look at it from a different perspective. We look for about $70K per employee. The fewer accounts you can do that with the better.