Lawn service questions

[32vld]

Originally Posted by Ray_Lawns

I am with you man, I made just about 60k last year and cleared nearly 35k. Costs are low with me (its mainly ins, fuel, and upkeep) and I had a few bigger jobs I paid for help on. I worked about 80hrs or so each week on average and I would love to have a helper but I just can't justify one and lose all the profit I am raking in. I generally pay help $100 a day when I need the with exception to my best friend and he makes more due to his skill set. I prefer to work Alon all I can since I know what I expect and I don't want to trust some meth head to do it right and not have to go behind him. I am in both country btw so good cheap labor us really hard to find.

Gross $60,000

80 hr per week x 30 weeks = 2,400

$60,000 / 2,400 hrs = $25 hr gross.

No wonder you can not afford help.

[djlunchbox]

Originally Posted by 32vld

Gross $60,000

80 hr per week x 30 weeks = 2,400

$60,000 / 2,400 hrs = $25 hr gross.

No wonder you can not afford help.

ditto. You need to know your exact cost to do business in order to even start to figure out how to price work to make money. it took us a few years of collecting data to even get a ballpark on a budget. Running a business 100% legal is much much different than how most of us start out.

[vcoop70]

Thank you everyone! When I say I made 50k that means net profit not gross profit. But yes I have been thinking I am kind of making a mistake to not have some room for new good customers who wouldn't cheap out on me. I guess I just needed some encouragement from some other people. Another question I have is about lawnmowing and cleanup. I hate mowing somebodys yard quick and leaving leaves and sticks laying around. How do others decide how to price this? It can vary from week to week. A big part of being successful in this current market is giving people a good bang for their buck. I find myself taking 5 or 10 minutes at every lawn doing a little extra cleanup while my help does the easy stuff. Makes my customers happy, but makes my week harder. I am a detail freak, hence the 80 lawns.