Multi-Location Grounds Maintenance

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

A friend of mine does alot of multi grounds maintenance on Banks, Office site,Estates, Condominiuns,Apartment complexs and Corporate parks. I dare not to ask him any advice. I was thinking about tring to get a multi grounds contract with a company like Mcdonalds but since its a franchise I don't know if it's possible. Is anyone doing work for multi-location franchises if so how is it? We have tons of Mcdonalds restaurants it this area. I looked up on the Mcdonalds web site for locations within a 20 mile radius of my house it gave me more then 50. I need some feed back!!! I,ve been in the mostly residential market for 13 years now.<br>Thanks in advance Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: AGG Lawn Maintenance

[thelawnguy]

In my area the McDonalds are all individually owned, but there is one guy who has maybe a half-dozen franchises in the area. I would speak to a manager (during the slow time, not lunch hour!) and offer your services. Same with banks etc. Worse that could happen, they tell you its not their decision and refer you to someone who has the authority.<p>Bill

[Lazer]

Most of our commercial work is multi-site locations. No retail, though. Mostly office complexes and industrial sites.

[bob]

I've got a contract with a developer. I cut all of their model homes. The only down side is that you know you wont have the same model hone more than a year or two. I've also got 3 Bob Evans restaurants. Each one is independent from the other.

[OBRYANMAINT]

I DO SOME WALGREEN DRUG STORES NOW(5) AND DID A FLEET OF TACO BELL STORES FOR A FEW YEARS WHAT I SEE MORE OF IS THAT MANY OF THESE MORE NATIONAL CHAINS WILL HAVE A GROUP OF 30 OR 40 SITES PUT TOGETHER OVER A WIDE AREA AND WILL HAVE ONE COMPANY DO THEM ALL I DONT WANT TO DRIVE THAT MUCH AND THEY ALWAYS GO TO THE LOWEST BIDDER ANY WAY AND THEN MANY TIMES DO A DIRTBALL JOB, VERY FEW OF THESE IN MY AREA WANT TO SPEND MONEY TO HAVE GOOD LOOKING GROUNDS

[KirbysLawn]

Bill's right, same around here. Just make sure you keep a good mix, residential and commercial. Most fast food restaurants around here change with the low bid or when a new manager comes in and the contract expires. A friend of mine mowed the Charlotte-Monroe area Arby's, lost them all at one time, almost put him out of business trying to recover! Good luck.<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: KirbysLawn

[richard2]

meet a property manager and you'll have new places all the time...turnover is high but the volume is where it's at.

[SLC1]

We just started doing work for Dent Co. Enterprises they are a nationwide management company and so far we have had a lot of luck with them. They manage all the CVS drug stores, Rite-Aid drug stores and a few other chains around the entire country. We do five CVS stores for them and they wanted us to do triple that amount but since we never delt with them before we wanted to get our feet wet before we started doing a lot of work for them, but so far they pay fairly quickly and do not seem to be to picky about little things. The company is out of Lansing MI. I could get the phone number for you if you want let me know. <p>----------<br>JasonSchmidt<br>

[Runner]

It's been our experience that doing fast fod places are a pain. All I've ever heard is that thay are slow on pay, especially Arby's and they always want ALL their stores done on a particular day. By the time you drive to, drop a trailer and drive away, you've earned about enough to go in and grab a burger. I would be interested in the Rite Aid thing though since there are probably about a dozen right around here (Flint, Mich.) Then we could lookat Arbor drugs too since there's always one of those right across the street. All of these locations all need help with workmanship, that's why we've been considering the issue.<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: Runner

[Rufur]

all the mcdonalds around here always look very well tended Micky-d's has a focus on image as they are constantly cleaning the lots sweeping tables and floors in my opinion it is the cleanest of all the fast food guys I can only guess that they treat thir contractors well too some retail stores are leased from a real estate co sometimes billing can get held up retail and especially people who advertise alot on tv and want to maintain a good image are gold mines for add-ons repair the fence powerwash paint spills parking lot striping remove grafitti litter sweeps dead shrubs tow abandoned cars repair roof leaks alot of management

[Hardy Enterprises]

I currently have the contracts for Burger Kings and McDonalds resturants in my town. It has work out good for me. Both francise want there resturants cut every week plus they also want mulching, pruning, irrigation mantenance and etc. Cut then all on the same day and makes a nice loop route. Both contracts I got by talking to the local managers. The McDonalds are owned by a local francise while the Burger Kings are owned by a francise out of California. I will say that although both pay there bills the McDonalds with the local francise pays them faster.<p>Jay

[southside]

Jay, Are they good to deal with? Over here<br>all the Mcdonalds stores are the same so I <br>would assume they would have a uniform policy<br>for dealing with contractors.<br>Are the dollars worth it?<p>Karl<br>

[Hardy Enterprises]

Hey Southside,<p>All my local managers are great people. I have no real complaints from from either company. Like I said the McDonalds francise here is owned by a local company so I get paid faster from them. The Burger King francises the invoices go through the manager, district manager and then the home office. With so many people handling the invoices it takes a little longer to get paid and there is the occasional lost invoice that has to be resent but all in all I have no complaints. As far as the money goes it not like a gold mine but they are above the average residental accounts.<p>Jay