Value of lawn business

[Stephen]

how would u value a lawn/snowplowing biz if your could buy out someone? guy i know has approx`16 lawn accounts and 40 snowplowing. he keeps a guy busy 40 hrs a wk doing all lawn work and extrawork in the summer, he has a seperate job and does all snow removal himself and sands by hand. has 5 by 8 trailer, bobcat walkbehind and chevy 1-ton pickup with plow along with misc. tools and supplies. he wanted 20k for equip and 25k for accounts and i told him he was nuts. i would pay 20-25k for everything but this guy thinks he's got a goldmine. On the books he bills 700/week and his laborer doing all the work runs him approx. 300/week how would u value a lawn business. in another scenario i am thinking about selling my biz here in NY and going back to school to finish my bachelors, but that's another discussion.<p>----------<br>Stephen<br>

[Eric ELM]

Stephen, The accounts is way to high. If you kept the guy to do the extra accounts, you would take in about $1000 a month after paying the help and that's not deduction for gas, depreciation or anything. Figuring 7 months of mowing a year, it would take over 4 years just to pay the 25K off. I would not pay more than a 10th of that. I have heard of guys that buy accounts and I think they gave the previous owner 1 months mowing for it. <br>About the equipment, you didn't mention the age of the truck or mower, so it's hard to give you any help on that. <p>----------<br>Eric@ELM<br>http://pages.prodigy.net/eric.erickson/index.html

[Lazer]

700.00/week <br>40 hours labor<br>17.50/hour<p>Gold Mine?

[Stephen]

sorry forgot to add pickup was 94 and mower was about 4 years old.<p>----------<br>Stephen<br>

[KUTTERS]

the going rate is some time hard to determine. Let the seller put his money where his pride is, consider paying him a percentage per month for a set period of time or as long as the clients remain yours whatever comes first.

[HOMER]

Hi, I will answer a question with a question, andd maybe somebody can help me as well. How do you buy a lawn mowing account from another when most of the time (around here anyway) it is such a personal thing with the homeowners. If another guy showed up at my customers and started mowing their yard they would have a problem with it. If it ain't on paper, and you ain't buying an iron clad contract, then you ain't buying nuttin brother. Those people could bail on you in a minute and then you would be stuck with a big debt and no way to pay for it. I don't see this as a business you could sell like a restaurant or gas station! If I sell mine I will ask for my eqipment and thats all. I know some around here that sold a business for $100,000.00. He bought accounts, trucks, 10 year old mowers and started losing customers, I picked up some of them and others picked up more. Looking at figures may be deceiving, looking at your new customers may be reality when they say see ya!

[sunrise]

i have payed only 1 to 2 time the cut for accounts, the mower up to you on the price for it . truck is a 94 with plow so it may have seen so hard time plowing <br>just my 2 cents

[accuratelawn]

I bought a business from another person. Before any money changed hands I worked with the guy for a week, met about 80% of the customers face to face and explained what was happening. He carried 70% of the asking prices and our contract had stipuations built in for customers changing to another lawn service. In other words if the customer list dried up, I did not have to pay. How can 16 lawn accounts keep a guy busy 40 hours per week? I worked alone and could do 60 residential per 5 day week. Not bragging.. Hope this helps <br>PS without the seller having something to lose, he could sell you a list of names...

[accuratelawn]

Sorry..rambled<br>I paid 3 weeks income for the accounts and fair market value for the equipment.

[CGS]

I have paid luckly about 1.5 times per cut, when most companies...well actually the going rate in Northern California sell/buy at 3 times per cut (account).<p>I think here in Northern California 3 times per cut (account)is just right and fair for both parties. Equipment...don't know really.