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Bruce's

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey, quick question.

How many of you are mow only operations?
By mow only I mean Mow, Trim, Blow & Go. With some mulching here and there or shrub trimming.
No Landscaping or Installs

The reason I'm asking this is I've been in business for almost 8 years (4 of them were college years) and we were mainly a mow and go operation at first. Over the years our landscaping has grown and gotten bigger. Unfortunately it seems to me I can make more money with less stress from scaling back on landscaping and just focus on mowing grass.

By the way we have one mowing crew (2 guys) and one landscape crew (2 guys). My good friend who has been with me since the beginning runs the mowing and I run landscaping.

I miss the days of just jumping on the mowers and going at it. Easy money and easy work.

Now days its call nursery for plants, estimate, schedule rock or dirt deliver, etc.

Just wanted to get some thoughts on the matter from others that maybe or may have been in the position before. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
We used to do more installs and plantings years ago but with the economy and the addition of all the illegal's doing walls and installs for half the price we switched over to all maintenance and am doing very well.

If you do it right and pick up a good number of accounts you can make a very good living just doing maintenance.
 
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#3 ·
I've built countless decks, fences, barns, walls, paver patios, pergolas over the last 10+ years. My father (who works a full time other job) told me about a month ago he was sick of it and he wanted more time to himself as he got up in years. I, obviously, cannot blame him for that. And you know what? GOOD! I'm sick of all that too. It's back breaking work. I'm 32 years old and I feel like I'm 52. Now, I wish he woulda told me in February mind you....but I'll make it by this season on the mowing accounts I currently have and get to the number I wanna be at next year and be done with it. Mow, blow, go. Good. And it's very good money and it's very easy work. You can make a fine living doing just that.
 
#4 ·
I've been at both ends, mow, blow and go and installs only. I now keep one day a week open for SMALL installs, and I charge a LOT for them. I look at mowing as hitting singles, doubles, and triples, and when I get the installs I hit home runs. Now I do keep them really small and quick, but no full time installs anymore.
 
#5 ·
My 2 cents, Mow Blow and go is the bread and Butter of our business. If you have landscape and construction then you can make some real money. Just bid it that way. We too focused more on mowing. It pays the bills, covers overhead and such.

I do not think I would eliminate it but perhaps change the business model some.

Find some of those guys doing the work cheap.... they can become good subs for you so you do not break your back or your crews back on larger jobs.
 
#6 ·
Just being a mowing business can be good, but I don't like the idea of someone else talking to my clients every time they need something done. Eventually they may get swayed by a smooth talker saying, "ya know, we could do everything for you".
 
#7 ·
Bruce's said:
Hey, quick question.

How many of you are mow only operations?
By mow only I mean Mow, Trim, Blow & Go. With some mulching here and there or shrub trimming.
No Landscaping or Installs

The reason I'm asking this is I've been in business for almost 8 years (4 of them were college years) and we were mainly a mow and go operation at first. Over the years our landscaping has grown and gotten bigger. Unfortunately it seems to me I can make more money with less stress from scaling back on landscaping and just focus on mowing grass.

By the way we have one mowing crew (2 guys) and one landscape crew (2 guys). My good friend who has been with me since the beginning runs the mowing and I run landscaping.

I miss the days of just jumping on the mowers and going at it. Easy money and easy work.

Now days its call nursery for plants, estimate, schedule rock or dirt deliver, etc.

Just wanted to get some thoughts on the matter from others that maybe or may have been in the position before. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I hear you. I only do landscaping work for my mowing customers. I am jammed up with various jobs that I need to get to. I am so busy mowing that I can't get to them. My brother who is a school teacher loves landscaping and will do better work than most companies. I hire him out to do most of my jobs. I pay him top dollar, but I do not have to do much but coordinate the job. But with just 2 of us we can only do so much. There is money made to be made for sure, but I just do not have time to deal with the bidding, scheduling and phone calls to the supply yards. I cringe now when I am asked to anything extra, as we are scheduling so far out. I would rather just hop on and off my Grandstand for 8-10 hrs and call it day.
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#8 ·
I just did mow, blow and go type work for over 25 years. I offered landscaping, rock walls, tree work, fertilizing, shrub trimming, and a bunch of other landscape related services. HOWEVER, I never did these myself. I refered ALL of this work to friends who specialized in one of these types of work, and, none of them did mowing. On larger jobs, they would give me a "finders fee". It was a good source of extra income, it let me take care of any landscape related needs my customers had, and it kept the competition from stealing away my mowing accounts.
The key is to have contractors available that you can trust to do top quality work and treat your customers right.
 
#12 ·
diamondlandscaping said:
Wow, I wouldn't be caught dead being a mow only in Florida. You'll make peanuts doing that here.
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Same thing here. I've got two full days of mowing and 3-4days of landscape maintenance, installs and picking up more bushhogging/bobcat work. I couldn't be just mow/blow, I get bored and like to be diversified. Plus why would I want to allow other contractors on my customers properties.
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#15 ·
Bruce's said:
Hey, quick question.

How many of you are mow only operations?
By mow only I mean Mow, Trim, Blow & Go. With some mulching here and there or shrub trimming.
No Landscaping or Installs

The reason I'm asking this is I've been in business for almost 8 years (4 of them were college years) and we were mainly a mow and go operation at first. Over the years our landscaping has grown and gotten bigger. Unfortunately it seems to me I can make more money with less stress from scaling back on landscaping and just focus on mowing grass.

By the way we have one mowing crew (2 guys) and one landscape crew (2 guys). My good friend who has been with me since the beginning runs the mowing and I run landscaping.

I miss the days of just jumping on the mowers and going at it. Easy money and easy work.

Now days its call nursery for plants, estimate, schedule rock or dirt deliver, etc.

Just wanted to get some thoughts on the matter from others that maybe or may have been in the position before. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I hear you loud and clear. From my experience, I can tell you this. It really doesnt matter what jobs you do or don't do. What matters most is that you find your niche. If you can rock the world with mowing service only, then theres nothing wrong with that at all. If the money is keeping you happy, and the stress level in your life is under control, then you're doing just fine. I have learned to say "no" to lots of jobs that i used to accept. It's OKAY to "cherry pick" the jobs you want to have. Good luck!
 
#16 ·
Gene $immons said:
I hear you loud and clear. From my experience, I can tell you this. It really doesnt matter what jobs you do or don't do. What matters most is that you find your niche. If you can rock the world with mowing service only, then theres nothing wrong with that at all. If the money is keeping you happy, and the stress level in your life is under control, then you're doing just fine. I have learned to say "no" to lots of jobs that i used to accept. It's OKAY to "cherry pick" the jobs you want to have. Good luck!
Click to expand...
One of the better responses I read on this site. I know guys who only do landscaping and guys that only mow. They both make money. I try to keep my mowing customers happy by offering landscaping services. There is not enough hours in a day, so I turn down all landscaping jobs that are not mowing customers. As a solo operator there simply is not enough time to do these jobs. I also do alot of brushmowing jobs that eats into my time, but it is very profitable. I mow some days from light until dark, there is barely enough daylight for mowing let alone taking on landscaping jobs.
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#17 ·
easy-lift guy said:
what part is complete and utter nonsence?, unless you actually mow year round in Ohio??
easy-lift guy
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Mow from April thru October give or take a few weeks depending on weather. Sit on butt til Dec/Jan and do a snow dance. My sbow dance did not work last season as it didn't snow once.

When it actually does snow here (usually around 5 events a season) I make $5000 an event.

I suspect y'all need more money than I do. I make plenty. I work til noon every day. I want for nothing. If I want something I buy it. I keep things simple.

Yes, If a mow client wants a wall or a patio or a deck I'll find a way to get 'er done. Landscaping? Got a co. that does landscaping only and they're a lot better than I am at it. I refer the work to them. Simple.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
I want to thank everyone for their input.

And after reading ProCut's thread on business failure I feel much better about my decision to scale back and stick to mowing only.

We still plan on mulching, trimming, and installs for our customers but I've been turning away customers calling for estimates on everything besides mowing.
And we also have maintenance contracts with some commercial properties so I plan on keeping all of those.

I also agree that every business should be diversified but to me that doesn't mean you should offer every service under the sun to keep the phone ringing.
My plan for staying diversified is keeping a good mix of commercial, industrial (factories or warehouses) and government mowing contracts (which many of our local municipalities around here are now contracting out). With some good paying residential mixed in. Relying on residential only customers scares me a little.

Again I want to thank everyone for the thoughts. Its good to know i have a place to come to get ideas and advice.
 
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