Where have you been!?!

 

I'm still at it just haven't taken the time to update on here. I'll try to make some time tomorrow.

 

Little late but whatever. End of year 2020 I grossed right at 50k. Had a decent amount of money in the bank from business and the never ending amount of money the government wants to give you. So I bought a ditch witch SK800 with a log grapple, forks, tooth bucket, and a mulch bucket. Love this thing so far. Nothing changed in my personal life by the end of 2020. Family is doing great.

 

Mid season 2021 update. Worst year far as mowing goes. It’s been hot and dry all season. I think we got 2 tenths in July. I doubt I’ll gross what I did last year but I’m ok with that. The little one started preschool this year for a few half days but we ended up pulling her from that one because the school called and offered my wife a job that we couldn’t really turn down. So the little one will be going 5 full days a week and my wife will be teaching preschool across the hall from all my girls. Our goal is to pay the house off before I leave my full time job in 1 1/2 years. Only new equipment plans are a new to me 3/4-1 ton pickup and a dump trailer for the mini skid.

 

Are you going to go full time with your business after you leave the full time job?

 

This point in life I really don't know. It will be my main source of income but I might still do something else part time for insurance. Honestly the goal is to not work near as much and enjoy my family more. Keeping it as simple as possible.

 

End of the year 2021 update. Some how I grossed the most ever at 52k while having the worst year of mowing ever. I also did the most leaves I’ve ever done as well (16k). I even turned some down due to me and the wife being burned out with our busy lives right now. Really don’t see me making it till next December working at the FT job. I’m going to try to talk them into 30 hours with benefits come spring. I think they might do it just because everyone is hard up for good workers these days. I think the only equipment I bought this year was a Stihl br800. Almost everything I own needs work of some kind but I’ll see what I can get done this winter. With the wife back to work it’s been super easy to save money from the business. I think I’ll be around 27k before I payoff my sk800 (10k left). Guy I work with is going to sell me his 2000 gmc 2500 4x4 crew cab for $1500-2000. It needs some work but he drives it every day and it doesn’t appear to have any rust and it was never a work truck. I’ve been wanting a 3/4-1 ton for awhile now but truck prices are just crazy high. So to find a crew cab was just icing on the cake for me since we only have one vehicle that we can all fit in as of now. Still need a dump trailer for the mini skid but kinda put that off till I had a truck to be able to pull it. That’s about it I guess. One day I’ll post some pics of new to me equipment since I haven’t for quite a few years.

 

Leaf work, 800, and getting the girls started early.

 

Sk800

 

One of my favorite threads on lawn site because your business is so much like mine! I'm solo, working a full-time job and never seem to have enough time for the part time job. I'm a firefighter so I don't want to leave my career because I have a decent benefits package and retirement, but sometimes I think about it lol.
How do you like that Hurricane blower? I bought the Ferris Z3 last year and couldn't believe how coupling that with my leaf plow makes me that much more efficient. It's literally like having another guy helping me.

 

Thank you! It's a very hard balance isn't it? Love the blower! Love leaf season so much that I've thought about find some help and getting another plow and a windstorm and cut out a lot of summer mowing. Sometimes I feel expensive and sometimes I feel like the customer is getting a hell of a deal. It's weird. Maybe I'm cheap on bigger jobs and expensive on smaller ones either way I make at least $125 ph.

 

Casey good to hear from you glad all is well. We've been so busy and blessed with work i haven't been posting up here like I use too. We upgraded our dump trailer (as far as purchases) this year and paid off almost all the business debt. Glad things are going well for you.

Brandon

 

Well I quit the full time job a few weeks ago! Picked up a few more mowing accounts and plenty of landscaping jobs. Honestly it didn’t take much more to fill my schedule. I was already doing 5-6 hours a day 4-5 days a week before. Still a hard balance with getting the kids right after school some days. Didn’t end up getting the truck from a guy at work. He decided to fix it and keep it. I don’t blame him. Just bought a very nice used 10k trailer for my mini. Need to get a brake control put on my dump soon. Paid the mini off but some how somebody messed up and never took the money out of my account. I called and told them but the guy said I don’t know what to tell you it says paid in full 0 balance. So that was 14k not the 10k I thought earlier.

 

Finally got my truck wired up for trailer brakes. A few pics from my phone I had. I never take pictures anymore but the wife usually asks for them if it’s something other than mowing so I take a few here and there. LOVE only working one job!

 

16x6 10k way over built!

 

Added some racks.

 

Added one of these for next year. Had 60 hours on it for $7800.

 

Good to see you posting again 👍👍