What do you think of these two trucks?

[mike lane lawn care]

good job, i see you have found a nice looking truck to suit your needs. congrats!
I'm not a big fan of that body style, but it's just appearances andjust my opinion
Be easy on her and she will last a long time.

Best of Luck

[Scag48]

I'm just trying to help the kid out, my old man and I got in too deep with our excavation business and luckily we were able to sell the equipment and get out without losing our shirts. I've been there boys, don't tell me I haven't. I've taken advice from guys on here, looked at my options, and realized keeping the excavation division going at this point in my life would be a sanity killer. We decided to streamline our landscaping division and not get ourselves stretched out. So, I'l state again, I've been overextended and know what it's about. You'll know when you get there, not a good feeling. I never said don't take a risk, but don't go out and blow a wad on trucks, dump inserts, and dump trailers before you have the business to support. I never told the kid not to give the landscaping deal a shot, it's a real wild card for a 16 year old kid, no hard feelings man but I wouldn't hire a 16 year old kid to do any serious landscaping on my house, but if you can get the business go for it. But buy equipment as you need it, not before you have the work to justify. THat's all my original advice to you is. If you can make it work, do it, but buying all your equipment before you have the work and at 16 no less is just absolutely crazy.

Don't get me wrong, I wish you the best of luck man, truly I do. But if you aren't careful about your purchases you will get sunk. We had a brand new Cat 312 and a 277B that were busy making money every day and we had to let them go just because the logistics of running the business didn't make sense for us at this point. We were turning a good profit, had business coming down the wire, and we still had to let it go. Lesson? Just because you're making money doesn't mean what you're doing makes sense. Some times you have to step back, take a look at what you're doing, and ask yourself if this is the right route to go. It isn't always about the money, your sanity is worth something as well. That's all I'm trying to say. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you take a little of what I've said to heart because I've struggled through this business for years and have had first hand success and failure in lawn maintenance, landscaping, hardscaping, excavation, general construction, a bunch of different walks of the business.

[J&R Landscaping]

The tan truck looks nice. I have heard so many bad reports about the gm 6.5 it aint even funny. I look right past them! Good luck with the new truck! I would definitly invest in some timbrens if you plan on plowing and having a dump insert.

[South Florida Lawns]

Wow you should have gotten an s10 or ranger those are the real trucks.

3/4 ton, thats too many tons there, what were you thinking?

BTW get a dump insert and a dump trailer, with a dump insert in the dump trailer. Then you will be cool but not quite as "kewl" as me and my 6 cylinder 1/2 ton Chevy on dubs .

[ALarsh]

Originally Posted by Scag48

Don't get me wrong, I wish you the best of luck man, truly I do. But if you aren't careful about your purchases you will get sunk. We had a brand new Cat 312 and a 277B that were busy making money every day and we had to let them go just because the logistics of running the business didn't make sense for us at this point. We were turning a good profit, had business coming down the wire, and we still had to let it go. Lesson? Just because you're making money doesn't mean what you're doing makes sense. Some times you have to step back, take a look at what you're doing, and ask yourself if this is the right route to go. It isn't always about the money, your sanity is worth something as well. That's all I'm trying to say. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you take a little of what I've said to heart because I've struggled through this business for years and have had first hand success and failure in lawn maintenance, landscaping, hardscaping, excavation, general construction, a bunch of different walks of the business.

Good post but wasn't it because of dads mistake in buying a $750,000 house?

[Scag48]

ALarsh, the house didn't help things at all, but we realized that me going to college trying to run the business come next spring would be a nightmare as my old man didn't want to get his CDL or pony up for a dump truck. I need to wait until I'm done with school and tackle it on my own. I didn't see it before but the picture is crystal clear now. Honestly, probably my fault for thinking it would work instead of taking a stand since the beginning and talking some reason into my old man, but he had this crazy idea and I didn't want to let him down so I jumped into the mess. We made it work short term, but long term it just wouldn't be the way to go. The last 2 good weeks I was having fun, but it started to get a little stressful. Just as easy to call it off for now, then I can give it hell when I'm out of school.

[mrusk]

"Supply yards can't always cater to you"

Yes they can. If one yard does not give you the attention you deserve find another. I get all my supplies delivered when i want. Sometimes it might take alittle planning (like 5 minutes on the cell phone) but i always get my material when i need it.

Unless your running 5 crews, it does not make any sense to do your own deliveries.

Matt