One man operation questions.......

I'm Tommy III, My brother Tom Jr. (or II as some people state) is into power equipment as you stated. He does mobile repair of mostly homeowner type of equipment.

I bought his truck last year, for he needed a cube van to do his job properly.

We both live in the same town and always get each others mail!!!!

His E-MAIL is an AOL account mine is a COMCAST one.

We look almost the same (I'm a little on the husky side), we dress the same and pretty much led the same type of lifestyle all our lifes!

This is something I'm serois about ( my brother wasn't really "INTO" it all that much), and who knows...maybe in a couple of years I'll also be into power equipment!!!

I didn't relize that he was a member on here from days gone by( he did mention a lawm forum, but never paid attention).

Hope this clarifies the "CONFUSION".

Hi AMERICAN LAWNCARE,

" I'm planning on being a solo operator (at least for the get-go), and what..if any income (take home salary) can I expect for the first, second and third years in business?"

average salary

"How many properties can ONE person do in a 5 day work week (I know this depends on property size, but a ballpark answer will do based on 1/2 to 1 acre of lawn)?"

Jobs Per Day

"HOw many SOLO operators PLOW in the winter?"

offseason jobs

These threads should be helpful to learn more form.

If you're really considering getting into the business and you're undecided, but taking the proper step of developing/writing a business plan - Congratulations. You're doing more than what most ever consider doing for their businesses. I might suggest the following:

Purchase Frank Ross's "Pricing for the Green Industry"
Then purchase ALCA's Operating study for the latest year.

Many of your financial questions will be answered using this information. The dollar numbers do not matter. What one person charges or makes in one market is not relative to the next. Percentages are since prices are inflated or deflated relative to one another across the board. There are certain dollar bench marks that each business has to achieve. These mile stones may be similar - such as $100,000 or $350,000 or $750,000, etc. Each stage of the business requires a different level of management to grow.

If you're just starting out, buy the available studies from ALCA. You're asking for answers to questions that aren't really relevant for you to start up and nor can they be answered in two paragraphs. Your business plan alone could be 50 pages long, and this would be condensed data from lots of research.

Your plan will cover:
Marketing
Operations
Finances

More people should write a business plan, they might last more than one or two seasons in the industry.