How much time do you plan on recovery

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by RSK Property Maintenance

yes, I have days doing fall clean ups where I can gross 1000-1200, no way do my expenses for the day come close to half that even, probably not even a 1/4 of that including taxes. even on a bad day of fall clean ups i'll profit 4-500. my only problem is i only have about 20 clean ups maybe. that's probably stretching it, but my bagger system paid for itself pretty quick still just doing clean ups with it. something like the new cheetah i bought which actually cost me 7300 because i traded in my 05 tiger cub towards it will take a little longer to pay for itself but still relatively quickly otherwise, It wasn't worth buying and it didn't need it.

I charge by the job for clean ups. usually if I price it right and things go smooth i'll end up at 140 hour, with myself and 2 other guys. the reality is if I charged 50/hr 60/hr per man per hour i would make more but i think my customers would have trouble with that. even if told 30 or 40 per man per hour they would think i'm crazy, so i just give them a price for the whole job start to finish, i'm usually pretty accurate on clean ups

I would make the same 1000-1200 dollars with the old smaller blower... only it may have taken longer,,, so that's not the point of the question... the example of upscaling my blower size and charging more for its usage is the point...

Sometimes we pay extra for something that doesn't benefit the business at all,,, so you can't say that the 'extras' are paying for themselves... what you are saying is the you can afford them...

When a machine/tool brings in extra money/time into the business, that amount of extra money/time is paying for the machine/tool... that is the business principle I'm addressing... sorry for the confusion...

[RSK Property Maintenance]

Originally Posted by Smallaxe

I would make the same 1000-1200 dollars with the old smaller blower... only it may have taken longer,,, so that's not the point of the question... the example of upscaling my blower size and charging more for its usage is the point...

Sometimes we pay extra for something that doesn't benefit the business at all,,, so you can't say that the 'extras' are paying for themselves... what you are saying is the you can afford them...

When a machine/tool brings in extra money/time into the business, that amount of extra money/time is paying for the machine/tool... that is the business principle I'm addressing... sorry for the confusion...

oh yah i see in that case then the mower/ bagger system i bought, the new back pack, and anything else i bought don't pay for themselves that quick at all, but they do save a decent amount of time and make life a lot easier.

[Smallaxe]

Time is Money... and at my age "making it easir and better" is money...

Anything that increases efficiency is worth money... Just a matter of 'quantifying' its value when doing the books...

[andyslawncare]

A $25 shovel can make several thousand in a year.
A $16,000 skid steer can make more money with less work.

I buy mowers used; usually with under 250 hrs.
I buy trimmers, edgers, chain saws, hedge clippers, and blowers new.
I buy used trucks and trailers. If I were to buy one this year, I would buy 2008 or newer with less than 75,000 miles.

All top grade equipment. We use Echo, and have multiples of each of their largest machines. Use Exmark mowers, drive 3/4 ton trucks, etc.

Maintenance crew is equiped with a back up power head and attachments and a minimum of 2 back pack blowers and mowers.

Some things you just can't break down into a direct pay off period until its worthless, for example: I bought an edger 7 years ago, and it crapped out last month...it cost me $3.57 per month to own that thing and now I have it for parts--the carb and shaft are both still good.

[cpllawncare]

If you watch the billy goat commercial on you tube you will see what a difference stepping up to bigger blowers will make as for effiencency(sp).

[RSK Property Maintenance]

Originally Posted by andyslawncare

A $25 shovel can make several thousand in a year.
A $16,000 skid steer can make more money with less work.

I buy mowers used; usually with under 250 hrs.
I buy trimmers, edgers, chain saws, hedge clippers, and blowers new.
I buy used trucks and trailers. If I were to buy one this year, I would buy 2008 or newer with less than 75,000 miles.

All top grade equipment. We use Echo, and have multiples of each of their largest machines. Use Exmark mowers, drive 3/4 ton trucks, etc.

Maintenance crew is equiped with a back up power head and attachments and a minimum of 2 back pack blowers and mowers.

Some things you just can't break down into a direct pay off period until its worthless, for example: I bought an edger 7 years ago, and it crapped out last month...it cost me $3.57 per month to own that thing and now I have it for parts--the carb and shaft are both still good.

good deal, I buy all the above new except trucks and trailers, because the mowers don't depreciate very much unless you really run them into the ground, I would know because I bought my 2005 scag tiger cub brand new spring of 2005 when I first got my drivers license, and traded it in summer 2012 with 985 hours on it in excellent condition for about 2300 less then what I originally paid for it, so at that point buying another new machine this time with the 61" deck and 34hp motor i wanted the first time wasn't really a bad choice. knowing it will hold its value for a long time, especially since my stuff is garage kept, and the trucks get bought used because they take a huge hit, and i'm not making enough money where I need the big tax write off of a new truck, a used truck works just fine and looks just fine for now, although a newer truck has crossed my mind many times and will hopefully come this year, but still probably be an 05-10 with under 100,000 miles and diesel. so it should hold its value pretty well even after 200,000 if i keep something that long.

[elbow300]

I think about equipment cost versus labor costs. You said you do not have any employees to worry about, but if you can buy a piece of equipment that makes you 20% more efficient, you can either finish your work day 20% earlier, or get that much more work done. I imagine that you, like most professionals, intend for your business to grow with time. When you have labor hours to consider, you can not afford down time created by breakdowns. The benefits of highly productive reliable equipment goes much farther than the time it takes to make each dollar you spent on it. Buying quality equipment is almost always the way to go in my opinion, provided you are frugal enough to pay cash and not finance.
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[GARRETTWOOD]

Originally Posted by Smallaxe

The reason I thought this might be a good subject to think about is becuz there are so many people buying cheap garbage to do a business with... I see LCOs cutting corners with tools and machines becuz they think 'A dollar save, is a dollar earned'...
That may have work for Ben Franklin in his private life, but it is cheesy in the business world...

Of course I don't have employees to wreck the stuff either, so I wondered if those that have employees,,, buy quality or buy cheap...

Always try to buy the best quality when it comes to machinery, most of the time new over used. Better to make payment then have something in for repair all the time. Hand tools buy cheaper ones and replace when they break.
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[cpllawncare]

Originally Posted by GARRETTWOOD

Always try to buy the best quality when it comes to machinery, most of the time new over used. Better to make payment then have something in for repair all the time. Hand tools buy cheaper ones and replace when they break.
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I was thinking about this the other day when I was in a harbor freight and saw prices on rakes and shovels and told myself instead of buying Kobalt brand I should just buy HF brand for wayyy less and just replace when they break, I haven't had any of my Kobalt stuff break yet so it might be a while before I get to test that theory.