I'm going to keep this as short as possible, but please feel free to critique or add to my plan, even talk sh*t if it's funny! .

Background:
Started mowing lawns at age 9
Motorsports industry for 15 years (motorcycle shops to corporate and back)
Lawn maintenance form 2006 - 2009 (keeping bank owned properties looking good for resale). I made so many mistakes!
Border Patrol Agent for the last 13 years (southwestern border)
Moved from San Diego to Boise, ID late last year

We purchased a house before moving to Boise and called 5 companies to maintain the yard before moving. The three that answered/responded told me they were too busy to take new clients. That's when I decided to start a business.

I have a working business plan, it changes daily. I won't list all of it yet because this is my first post and I don't expect you guys to read all of my BS.

I don't know what equipment to buy to start out as I don't have any customers yet, so it's hard to figure out what equipment is appropriate. I like the idea of the standing units and I'm leaning towards a 36" and 52" Ferris. I've been researching different areas, demographics (50+ years old, above avg income, 12k sq ft lots +, home values, etc), driving around neighborhoods, etc. I've listened to countless hours of YT channels like Mike Andes, Keith Kalfas, Brian's Lawn Maintenance, Florida Turf Pro, Zachary Junier, etc... All good info and perspectives, but I need to get my plan solidified now while there's snow on the ground. When spring hits, I need to be able to secure clients.

I have visited every shop in the surrounding area, to be honest most of them aren't the type of places I see myself doing business with. The one I did find and like carries Ferris and Gravely and they are going to be my "go to" shop. I feel that the relationship you have with your local shop can make or break your experience.

I'm in a different place than I was 14 years ago, my wife makes enough to pay the house nut and basic expenses, nothing extra. So I feel I'm at a good spot to start and grow a business the right way this time around. My initial budget is $12k to get started. I figure I'm going to cash out as much equipment as I'm comfortable and finance the big mowers as needed. I currently have a Stihl BG 86 handheld blower, FS70 String trimmer, MS250 Chainsaw and Honda HRX 217 21" mower. I'm considering grabbing a Ferris FW15 and good set of hedge trimmers to have in the lineup to start while I get my marketing program going. I feel that these basic tools can handle most jobs while I figure out my target customer and the equipment needs to service them. I plan on saturating my target area with door hangers, EDDM mailings, yard signs, etc. My focus will be route density, $100/hr rate, a branded logo on an enclosed trailer/rolling billboard with a professional uniform. I know it's a ton of work and it's easy to get lost in the day-to-day, but I've been away from it for a while and I actually miss it. Let the journey begin! Thank you all for reading this far!

Sounds like a plan! Will your primary focus be mowing? Are you planning to add any staff or will you be working solo?

Also, Welcome to Lawnsite 👋 🇺🇸

 

Sounds like a plan! Will your primary focus be mowing? Are you planning to add any staff or will you be working solo?

Also, Welcome to Lawnsite 👋 🇺🇸

Hi Mark, thanks for the warm welcome! My primary will be mowing, trimming, edging, etc. I enjoy doing mulch jobs and basic cleanups too. I plan on mostly being solo at first. I feel with the coming economic collapse, staying small and focusing on the right customers and doing good solid work with be key. I have two teenage kids that are interested in power equipment and are willing to work at a decent wage. I've made it clear that there are no "handouts" in life and working for what you have provides the most satisfaction. I'm still healthy and have good stamina/strength, but I'm not going kill myself like I was doing in 2008 - where I took every job regardless of my experience level. I made so many mistakes, flew without insurance or license, but learned so much. This is about making a decent living, but I understand that it might take a few years to establish myself and leave something for my kids if they are interested.

 

Well I have to say your introductory post was one of the most interesting ones I've read in quite some time.

Welcome sir

 

Well I have to say your introductory post was one of the most interesting ones I've read in quite some time.

Welcome sir

Thanks man, I've been reading peoples posts on here for a while and have really learned a lot from you guys already. I need a lot of help, especially with mindset and strategy, so I'll keep reading.

 

I am intrigued by your wife making the monthly expenses. I would be living a life of leisure. Keep the house clean, have wife dinner ready and the bed made when she comes home. Iron some shirts. Sally Jesse Rafael. The works.

 

LOL, I worked 60 hour weeks for many years to put her through dental hygiene school, that ended up being a good move! . Luckily we were able to walk with some equity from our home sale to put down on our current house, so the payment is affordable. Idaho wages have not caught up to match the current cost of living here, but all of the basics (food, gas, medical, rent, any services) are the same price or higher than San Diego was.

 

Good plan.
Also consider getting your spray license, more equipment and knowledge--but it pays better.
Leaves in fall? Lots of people need it, but it is hard work. Good equipment is a help.

 

Good plan.
Also consider getting your spray license, more equipment and knowledge--but it pays better.
Leaves in fall? Lots of people need it, but it is hard work. Good equipment is a help.

This fall was crazy with leaves. I was driving around looking at yards and trying to gauge how long and what strategy I would use to clean up the mess. Honestly, I have no idea how to handle all of that, but for my own yard I just blew them all into a pile, raked the pile on to a tarp and funneled the tarp into those tall paper bags. I don't think I could do that more than a few yards a day though.

 

It sounds like you have a good plan and realistic expectations.

How about buying just one 52" mower to start? Use the Honda 21 until you need more productivity. Paying cash for the small stuff makes sense. But there is no need to buy power equipment until you get the work...idle equipment is better off sitting on the dealer's shelf instead of on yours. It only takes a few minutes to swing by the dealer and buy hedge trimmers or a new blower when you need them.

Buying stuff is easy, and it is tempting to collect nice stuff. But in my opinion a new company needs to focus primarily on lining up customers. Marketing and sales is the part you can't predict. You may need to try several different approaches to get the results needed.

Until you have customers, equipment is pointless.

 

Buying stuff is easy, and it is tempting to collect nice stuff. But in my opinion a new company needs to focus primarily on lining up customers. Marketing and sales is the part you can't predict. You may need to try several different approaches to get the results needed.

Until you have customers, equipment is pointless.

Good advice!

 

Most likely customers will be hard to come by in the 1st year. You have a main source of income which is not your service. GREAT! You can survive for a year or two while you build a customer base.

• What service(s) do you want to advertise?
• Target area? By all means, keep it dense- don't drive all over the place.
• Target lawn size?
• Marketing.

I see you mention 4 different mower sizes: 21", 32", 36", 52". 21, 32, 36 seem to close to each other in size. Sounds like you already own the 21", so figure out 32" or 36".

Marketing- doorhangers, yard signs are great when starting out, but by all means get yourself on the web!

• Google for Business
• Local Facebook Community

Both of the above are free. It's how many people now find businesses. You are not chasing customers with lots of leg work (door hangers, lawn signs, etc).

Sounds like you want to focus on mowing, but will do other yard service jobs as needed in order to keep busy/afloat. Good idea. Mulching, shrub trimming, bed edging, etc
helped me keep busy as I started out. Just make sure to keep such service equipment prices low, since this is NOT your business focus.

Summer 2022 lawn mowers were in short supply. Check with your dealer NOW to find out what he can get you. Since you currently have 0 customers, I would lean towards
a 36" stander as your 1st mower purchase. Why? You can get it into smaller gated yards AND it can easily handle a 1/2 to 1 acre if needed.

 

a 36" stander as your 1st mower purchase. Why? You can get it into smaller gated yards AND it can easily handle a 1/2 to 1 acre if needed.

Good point. This should be a strong consideration.

 

You mentioned Ferris. Look at the z1 or z2 for standers. Isx800 for ztr

 

my wife makes enough to pay the house nut and basic expenses, nothing extra. So I feel I'm at a good spot to start and grow a business the right way this time around. . . . EDDM mailings, . . . a branded logo on an enclosed trailer/rolling billboard with a professional uniform.

You are fortunate to have the financial safety net provided by your wife's income. That should reduce the pressure to take on jobs that are best turned away.

I agree that a website is essential, but for me perhaps the greatest waste of money has been that spent on google and facebook advertising. Your mention of EDDM shows that you have done research -- I think that can be a very cost effective method to reach a targeted area.

And I think the rolling billboard and professional uniform can be very effective, especially when one frequents box stores when and where homeowners are likely to be shopping when one projects a friendly and approachable demeanor. A smile and a "hi" are likely to get frequent questions. Consider mounting on sides and back of the trailer weatherproof flyer boxes such as https://www.amazon.com/Brochure-Outdoor-Realtor-Supplies-Marketing/dp/B00BTMZ4KY.

I rarely am optimistic by the posts of guys dreaming of making a fortune by starting a lawn care business. As long as you do not go overboard on your startup expenses, I think you may proved to be the exception.

 

I agree that a website is essential, but for me perhaps the greatest waste of money has been that spent on google and facebook advertising. Your mention of EDDM shows that you have done research -- I think that can be a very cost effective method to reach a targeted area.

I wanted to add...
I have built several web sites over the years, all my own, most for fun...
I worked that way as a hobby for seven years, and I really got into it to the point I learned pretty much all aspects of and around this subject; of course your mileage may differ but it's not easy and hiring someone to do it isn't necessarily better. On that note advertising in general is pretty wild west, which is why today I'm all word of mouth.
Got tired of it, why pay someone else (because no matter how much DIY I did I always ended up paying anyway) when the results can't be predicted?

Starting out however, I think door hangers are a good idea, also post in local facebook trading groups.
I would keep that up for the first 2-5 years, you will most likely see as I did that advertising works best at first and then less and less with the passing of time. Around the 5 year mark I found advertising had lost a lot of its initial lustre, at some point I had to make a choice: Pay just to keep my name on something, or just go word of mouth only.

One more thing, when advertising I might suggest "testing" a method first... I've spent hundreds and I've spent thousands, simply spending it doesn't mean results will happen so I have found it is always best to start with a small ad just to see how well it works and let me tell you: If you get lackluster response from a small ad, buying a larger one isn't likely to improve your results much. Most advertisers look out for themselves, they want to get paid, usually more is a better deal for you but it still costs more. Again I would start either using a small ad, or if it's pay per click start with a small budget, or for a short period of time (even if it costs more than it would by buying the larger block(s)) because that will give you a test bench to gauge results against so you can decide just how much you're willing to spend.

 

Getting going is the easy part. Making real profit is the hard part. Gotta be ready to work a good 3 years maybe 4 before seeing some tangible results and any real $ coming in. You have a support system which is gonna be a huge help during the rough years. Really need to map out your goal $ per hour. Figure out what your overhead will be after getting all your equipment insurance etc. How much $ you need to make per hour to be profitable once your schedule is full. (Calculate yearly expenses and divide by : 40 man hours per week x weeks in your season). Many just figure a truck and mower payment are always gonna be there kinda like a fixed expense. But imo as a solo you should get about 6 years out of each truck and mower unless you prefer to trade in and stay w newer equipment under warranty. the first year or 2 you make very little profit it’s mostly recovering your startup expenses and filtering out crappy customers. Good thing about low profit and startup costs = low taxes. Around year 3-4 should start making a little $ just be ready to pay the tax man. I think it was the year I grew from around $40k to around $70k …all of a sudden I had some decent profit but I owed $10k in taxes I wasn’t ready for. ended up having to do a payment plan w the IRS.
One thing to Consider if you are starting w a 36”…. you will have to accept bringing in less per hour to stay competitive against the guys w a 52” that can get the same lawn done faster @ the same price . Also get a billing and payment procedure ready. W new customers I go over a few things when I lock in the account : pretty much just explaining how I bill and accept payments & what day we will usually be mowing. I’ll maybe ask if any hidden obstacles or anything else I need to be aware of.

 

Getting going is the easy part. Making real profit is the hard part. Gotta be ready to work a good 3 years maybe 4 before seeing some tangible results and any real $ coming in. You have a support system which is gonna be a huge help during the rough years. Really need to map out your goal $ per hour. Figure out what your overhead will be after getting all your equipment insurance etc. How much $ you need to make per hour to be profitable once your schedule is full. (Calculate yearly expenses and divide by : 40 man hours per week x weeks in your season). Many just figure a truck and mower payment are always gonna be there kinda like a fixed expense. But imo as a solo you should get about 6 years out of each truck and mower unless you prefer to trade in and stay w newer equipment under warranty. the first year or 2 you make very little profit it’s mostly recovering your startup expenses and filtering out crappy customers. Good thing about low profit and startup costs = low taxes. Around year 3-4 should start making a little $ just be ready to pay the tax man. I think it was the year I grew from around $40k to around $70k …all of a sudden I had some decent profit but I owed $10k in taxes I wasn’t ready for. ended up having to do a payment plan w the IRS.
One thing to Consider if you are starting w a 36”…. you will have to accept bringing in less per hour to stay competitive against the guys w a 52” that can get the same lawn done faster @ the same price . Also get a billing and payment procedure ready. W new customers I go over a few things when I lock in the account : pretty much just explaining how I bill and accept payments & what day we will usually be mowing. I’ll maybe ask if any hidden obstacles or anything else I need to be aware of.

My current truck is a 2005 Duramax 4x4 crew short bed with 225k miles and it runs great, but who knows for how long? I'm hoping to start with what I have the first season and purchase a business truck down the road.

The mower size is one of the things I keep going back and forth on and you make a valid point regarding hourly rate to stay competitive. Everyone says "size doesn't matter" except you Lawnsite guys

Do you bill your customers right after services are rendered with a card on file? I'll definitely use a CRM like Jobber, Yardbook, etc. to stay organized and take some load off of my plate.

I just wanted to thank all of you for the detailed replies and positive feedback. Info like this is very helpful because I'm having a hard time staying on track. It seems like my business plan changes almost daily and it's not always an improvement. Sometimes I think I need to stop thinking and "wing it" a little bit to find out what equipment and ideal client is before spending a bunch of money on things I don't need. As mentioned, I have some of the basics (21" mower, line trimmer, blower and a Kombi hedge trimmer that fits on my FS70 trimmer, chainsaw, wheelbarrow, hand tools, etc). I've always had issue with "want vs. need" when it comes to power tools.

Currently it's 20 degrees out and there's snow on the ground, so right now I'm working on finding neighborhoods close to me and the setting up the marketing material campaign to saturate those areas.

 

You can also contact other operators that advertise leaf cleanups with vac trucks. Tell them you're solo and ask if they'd want to partner doing cleanups with you. Whether that means you sub them to do the entire cleanup, or you blow everything to the curb and they do curbside pickup for you. Your customer pays you, and you pay them for their part. I lucked out and partnered with a guy 3 years ago. He's done some big cleanups for me, and I've done some other stuff for him. Now I contacted 3 or 4 before I found a guy willing to work together. But it turned out to be a great partnership for me being solo.

If your locality has municipal cleanup at the curb, you can just blow to the curb and let the municipality suck them up. Where I'm at, 2 out of the 4 municipalities offer loose leaf pickup. The others require paper bags at the curb.

 

You can also contact other operators that advertise leaf cleanups with vac trucks. Tell them you're solo and ask if they'd want to partner doing cleanups with you. Whether that means you sub them to do the entire cleanup, or you blow everything to the curb and they do curbside pickup for you. Your customer pays you, and you pay them for their part. I lucked out and partnered with a guy 3 years ago. He's done some big cleanups for me, and I've done some other stuff for him. Now I contacted 3 or 4 before I found a guy willing to work together. But it turned out to be a great partnership for me being solo.

If your locality has municipal cleanup at the curb, you can just blow to the curb and let the municipality suck them up. Where I'm at, 2 out of the 4 municipalities offer loose leaf pickup. The others require paper bags at the curb.

That's a great point regarding working with other local operators. I haven't seen a leaf vacuum truck here yet other than the city's setup to clean up the local parks. They also had the first stand on blower I've seen here.

The local household procedure for leaves is in paper bags at the curb and the weekly green recycling truck picks them up. Man it's a PITA to put yards of leaves in those narrow bags.

 

Wish you good luck.

I took a similar approach back in 2008, and made it this far.

I will say at 58 its getting harder, but you are likley much tougher than me.

 

Wish you good luck.

I took a similar approach back in 2008, and made it this far.

I was doing this in 2008 as well, but it sounds like you have a solid business plan and I didn't.

I will say at 58 its getting harder, but you are likley much tougher than me.

I doubt that sir, I'm just too dumb to stop! What part of Bama are you in? I've been all over LA.

 

Get some door cards made if you're going to go scout neighborhoods and yards. Cherry pick the low hanging fruit for sure. Minimal obstacles, gates, yard clutter. Put your estimate on the door card for that yard. What calls you do receive from them should be easy to close since they know the price you left on it.

I'd get your social media going now if possible to let your friends and their friends know you're starting up and will be running in springtime. I think you said you didn't like FB much, nows the time to grow your friends list. Get as many people you personally know on it. Then start to branch out and send their friends a friend request. Many people tend to accept requests from someone they have a mutual friend with. For a long time I wouldn't and didn't even have friends of friends allowed, until I started my biz. The more potential eyeballs that see your work the better. Once you get the friends list built up, send them invites to like and follow your biz page. Make regular posts there. Take and post pics of everything. Any super close friends you have, get them to share your biz page posts. My close circle of people all have something going on FB, so we all share each other's stuff. Get your Google listing started ASAP. Once it's verified, post pictures and updates to the Google listing, similar to FB. Ask people you complete work for to leave a 5 star review. If it's a mowing client, I tend to wait a few weeks to make sure their expectations are exceeded. If it's a project job, like mulch or whatever, then ask them once completed, send them the link to fill out the review. They don't have to have a Gmail or Google account to leave it. There is a button to make an account, but then there's a button to use their current email without setting up a Gmail.

That's all for now. I'm killing time trying to let it warm up above 32 before I go do a final leaf mulching pass for someone. I'm part time lawn jockey with 23.5 years into my career. Right now I work Tues-Sat, so Mondays off isn't terrible. For now.🤣

 

In reading your posts. You have not really touched on what your doing in the off season?

im a pragmatic, tough love guy and will mention a few things. While you’re grateful for all the positive, well wishing comments, what’s your plan when people don’t pay? You mentioned several plans, here’s my take and explanation. New guys think “ I’ll invoice , and wait for my money”, we’ll go to a dentist/doctor, the sign at the reception area” payment will be rendered at time of service”. You sir, are a service provider, you need to be paid. We had air conditioner replaced and garage door work done, $21k for the air con from one of the big companies in Tulsa.They expected payment at the end of installation, same with garage door. So don’t think “ well only hacks want payment when work is done”.

you have got to watch, and by your own admission, “ I like shiny new things”, buy what you need when you need it! The post about leaving the shiny new stuff on the dealer floor is spot on.

your making a plan and adjusting as needed, that’s a positive start. Just remember, nobody really cares what you have for equipment, they just want dependable , reliable work. Every color of equipment breaks down.

 

My cable, natural gas, and electricity are all providing a service to me and I only get billed monthly from them.

I bill monthly because personally I dont want the headache of doing paperwork for 150+ people on a weekly basis. It would consume me.

 

Why would it take 3 to 4 years to make any profit?

 

In general yeah 3-4 years to start making any “real” profit : as in actually making enough to cover costs - pay yourself a good salary - and still have $ in the bank at the end of the year.

 

To be clear, op you do you. I’ll just say that the “ how do I bid this” runs neck/ neck to “ how do I get paid” and “ how do I get customers”.

funny observation. When Mike Donovan was honchoing lawnsite there was a “ how do I get customers” thread. Right underneath was a thread “ how do I get rid of customers” don’t know if it was by design but it was funny!

 

Just to be clear our mowing is invoiced monthly. If we do a project for a mowing customer of ours (mulch, cleanups, irrigation work, etc) it's put on the same monthly invoice.

With that said if we do a job for a customer that isnt FT for us its due at time of service.

Some of my customers I have had for 15-20 years. I have zero problem trusting them to pay their bills.

 

I have a whole thread about this. Let's get back to the OP.

 

What do you plan on doing in the off season? Snow?

 

Another option for equipment is to buy used. Your initial investment can be FAR lower. Take the time to shop and look for older equipment (it's cheaper) but with LOW hours (still has a great deal of life left). Doing payments cost more than doing cash and if a crunch comes you don't have to worry about repossession of the tools you use to make money.

 

many ways to get at or dang near zero net interest on new equipment. Just saying. But I do not know op credit situation. As stated ad nauseum I use “other people’s money” all the time to make me more money. Some people don’t like to do that and that’s fine. You do you as many have said. But I’ve got zero issue taking a loan/credit at low rates to get equipment that will make my business more profitable while also being able to deduct interest and potentially the whole dang purchase year one if I wanted to. I usually don’t do it that way but starting out might see a way that could come in handy. But need good credit.

 

I plan on saturating my target area with door hangers, EDDM mailings, yard signs, etc.

We have a different take on marketing. Never printed anything other than business cards. All are google business profile(used to be called google my business). Set up a free profile and add some description. Let google rank you for all local listings. Ours is always on the 1st page. It's from google and will artificially be higher than other platforms. We have a website that takes online booking and have done 50k services in the past 7 years. We kept some blog posts on marketing lawn care businesses. Feel free to check it out. There are some free price calculators there too. House of Yards Help Center | Blog

 

We have a different take on marketing. Never printed anything other than business cards. All are google business profile(used to be called google my business). Set up a free profile and add some description. Let google rank you for all local listings. Ours is always on the 1st page. It's from google and will artificially be higher than other platforms. We have a website that takes online booking and have done 50k services in the past 7 years. We kept some blog posts on marketing lawn care businesses. Feel free to check it out. There are some free price calculators there too. House of Yards Help Center | Blog

Great advice.

We do door hangers occasionally because my google listing wont reach into the other cities around me in the Kansas City metro, just the one we are based in. Mostly we are word of mouth and the fact our trucks are lettered. We have even gotten business off our guys standing in line at a gas station with their work shirts on.

 

Right now in my rather large city there are so many people looking for good lawn guys and gals it’s stupid. We turn down jobs all the time and this has been going on since the Covid scam. And I see it continuing. Any outside work. From mowing to landscape. But the things that do require licensing are still competitive very competitive. Entry you could absolutely clean up here just saying.

 

Keep bumping your prices up buddy sounds like theres elastic in the market.

 

I’d wait till first of the year for any major purchase for lawn care if you are starting next year for the tax write off. Edit… and one used to be able to get better mower deals in the winter but from what I’ve seen lack of supply has pretty much thrown that out the window but I’d still look around.

 

I’m trying to get out of everything but chem apps but I still have my mow guy that I’m going to keep employed as long as he wants to work. He’s 60 but yes we are going to raise pricing again people here are darn near begging for lawn guys that can do work for them problem is no company large or small can find workers. Not “all” but relatively speaking.

 

I've been tempted to go to deliberately high pricing (total switcharound from my usual lowballer stuff). Like $50+ minimum for new business.

 

We have yet to “mandate” card on file however we highly recommend it with an assumed agreement until they say hang on a moment or something like that. We just get the customer and ask for card information to keep on file because that’s how we bill. Works greater than 50% of the time.

 

On services that are just not our regular stuff like one off shrub trimming we bid very high like very high. And lately well end of year when we are doing it we’ve been getting the jobs on the spot… guess I need to increase it more.