Lets see......everybody will probobly have their own opinion on this one...but heres my $.02:<p>Lawn Maintenance: Regular income (monthly,weekly, etc.)<br>Landscaping: Paid by the Job....you have to have them lined up.<p>Lawn Maintenance: High overhead, especially if you our fulltime and have the "right" equipment.<p>Landscaping : You can rent most of any equipment untill you think you'll use it enough to buy one. (skid steers, trenchers, edgers, sod cutter, etc.) I know people will argue about that one but think of this.....yes it costs $ to rent them, but How much does it cost you on maintenance for equipment.....$0. You can't even imagine the money you can make with just a small 1 ton or so dump truck and your basic hand tools (and a rental shop): Snow removal/sanding, hauling mulch,stone,firewood,topsoil, garbage to the dumb, etc., General landscaping, paving stones, interlocking walls, small concrete jobs, ponds, waterfalls, watregardens, fence and gate installation/repairs, underground dog fences, tree and brush clearing/removal, gutter cleaning and repair, asphalt sealing, parking lot striping, hedge and shrub pruning, landscape lighting, man I can go on forever so I'll just stop. Hopefully you get the point!<p>I'm not FOR one or the other, I like to offer both. I'd like to have enough Lawn Maintenance contracts to keep me a float and then leave time for the stuff I listed above to put me over the top (hopefully way over!) Something anyone with experience in any service industry will tell you is this: Your customer wants lets say 20 different services (trades) a year, Just think how easy for him/her it would be to call you for everything. Say you could handle 15 out of the 20, sub-contract the other 5 out!! Your gold in their eyes. It also keeps competition away, and the carpenter you just subbed for that job, (hopefully) will remember you when one of his customers mentiones she/he was looking for some landscaping work, etc. It keeps the competition away in this sense, If you maintain a lawn but can't offer fertilizing/pesticide, Mr. or Mrs. customer will have to call a company that does, and chance are they mow lawns too. Now all of our customers are not as loyal as we want to believe, so eventually there is a chance that this guy brought in to fertilize will pitch his mowing price and might take that account next spring, or whatever.<p>I guess the poin to all this rambling is to diversify ( I DinK Dats Da Ward!!) The more bases you can cover, the more income and customer satisfaction you'll see! Hope this stirs up some good discussions around here!!<p>----------<br>"guido"<br>David M. Famiglietti