Route's full. Need to expand.

[crichardson]

once u get anything better than a push mower you will see production increase.....upgrade gear, then hire people.....

[lawnkingforever]

Originally Posted by crichardson

once u get anything better than a push mower you will see production increase.....upgrade gear, then hire people.....

Yes. Not hard to max out a route using a pushmower. Buy a more productive mower and you will have more slots open to new customers.
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[ReddensLawnCare]

In curious as to why a certain person has to be present when mowing a yard. Have you considered raising prices or would that make the phone stop? If it continues to ring and you continue to sell jobs, then your quality is selling itself not your price. Then if your still at max, upgrade, expand, or whatever you need to do. Realize that your cost will go up. Significantly per hour if you hire more people. WC, payroll, ect
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[MTenterprises]

Originally Posted by crichardson

once u get anything better than a push mower you will see production increase.....upgrade gear, then hire people.....

This. Are you going to hire someone to trim while you push mow a 22" mower? Are you going to buy another 22"?

I'm not being insulting here, but if I'm guessing correctly, you are probably a teen or barely 20 and off to a great start at your business. Take it slow. One step at a time. If you hire another hand, you just lost some of your profit and you are not ready for that yet. Get yourself a used 36 or 48 walk behind and see how your efficiency increases. You can probably almost do 2 yards in the same time you are currently doing 1. Again, don't get the cart ahead of the horse man. Believe me, I've made mistakes and I want others to benefit from them. Good luck to you and if you want it, go get it! Don't take no for an answer.

[zechstoker]

Originally Posted by MTenterprises

This. Are you going to hire someone to trim while you push mow a 22" mower? Are you going to buy another 22"?

I'm not being insulting here, but if I'm guessing correctly, you are probably a teen or barely 20 and off to a great start at your business. Take it slow. One step at a time. If you hire another hand, you just lost some of your profit and you are not ready for that yet. Get yourself a used 36 or 48 walk behind and see how your efficiency increases. You can probably almost do 2 yards in the same time you are currently doing 1. Again, don't get the cart ahead of the horse man. Believe me, I've made mistakes and I want others to benefit from them. Good luck to you and if you want it, go get it! Don't take no for an answer.

I know what ya mean, though your "guess" is a bit off. I'm 28 years old, and have worked in this industry for a total of 3 and a half years. I worked for a company with my brother from 2000 to 2002, and I've been with this current company since February of last year. Not quite as seasoned as most "veterans" here, but working on it.
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[Patriot Services]

Originally Posted by johnnybow

How about raising the prices of the cleanups to slow it down?

This is flawed thinking. All it means is you will not get the account and have wasted your time.
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[yardguy28]

Originally Posted by zechstoker

There's been talk about hiring someone else or another 2-man crew to handle cleanup/install jobs. Another thought was to upgrade to a bigger/faster mower to speed up production. One can only work so fast with a 22" push mower. We have a trailer readily available if we were to get a WB or ZTR of some sort. Still eyeballing a Wright Stander for an upgrade.
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well to upgrade to a larger mower is a no brainer to me. a 48" or 52".

after that if you still can't keep you need to decide. do you want to keep expanding, next step would be to hire employees, or are you happy where you are.

for me, once my schedule is at its max, it's at it's max. I turn away any and all business after that and stop all advertising.

[MTenterprises]

Originally Posted by zechstoker

I know what ya mean, though your "guess" is a bit off. I'm 28 years old, and have worked in this industry for a total of 3 and a half years. I worked for a company with my brother from 2000 to 2002, and I've been with this current company since February of last year. Not quite as seasoned as most "veterans" here, but working on it.
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Like I said, no disrespect. I'm 10 years older than you, but by no means an expert. Good luck!

[yardguy28]

Originally Posted by Patriot Services

This is flawed thinking. All it means is you will not get the account and have wasted your time.
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I don't see it as flawed thinking at all.

I use this method all time. if I really don't want a job or can't fit it in, which I don't know until I see. I price it EXTREMELY high to discourage the person from hiring me.

if hired all that extra money makes it worth it. but I have yet to be hired when I price things EXTREMELY high. it has so far worked in my favor. that way I don't get a wrap for being to busy or turning away work.

[Weekend cut easymoney]

Originally Posted by Patriot Services

This is flawed thinking. All it means is you will not get the account and have wasted your time.
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Consistency is good...you would not want people saying that you are taking advantage of them (which would not be the case, but people look at it this way all the time)
...however, if you have way too much work, raise prices-
cleanups are good work, but unless they are tied to regular lawn maintenace, why cut them a deal?--
I'd raise the price and then give a discount if they sign up for regular yearly maintenace-

what you want, is regular work thjat you can count on each week-throughout the year, each year and so on--
this allows you to plan for equipment and employees needed-

some guys can always do 'one off' type work, but I'd argue that their schdules are much more difficult and growing the company is not going to be easy unless you can plan-