[grass man 11]

Probably getting paid, and believe me I’ve tried card on file, invoice, Venmo,PayPal, check etc. I’m not sure if you can find one that is 100% all the time.

I think in any service business this is a struggle. I always tell people that owning a business, you find out how people really are

This is probably the easiest problem to solve. Auto charge a card on file daily. Even better is to charge a monthly fee on the first of the month befriended service is rendered.

ever since we went to this , .0015%. Is all we had to eat last year. And that’s on 7 figures plus. 0.0015%

 

[MILLC]

Fleet Maintenace. trucks, tractor units, walk behinds, trimmers, blowers, trailers, handhelds... everything should or at least could have a consistent schedule. in the past i had "mental notes" to grease wheel bearing once a month and stuff like that but ive started to make actual maintenance lists this spring as more of my mental space gets handed over to my little.

 

[FLC2000]

Fleet Maintenace. trucks, tractor units, walk behinds, trimmers, blowers, trailers, handhelds... everything should or at least could have a consistent schedule. in the past i had "mental notes" to grease wheel bearing once a month and stuff like that but ive started to make actual maintenance lists this spring as more of my mental space gets handed over to my little.

Have you tried dry erase boards?

We use them and they are visible to everyone. Piece of equipment or truck, date serviced, what was done, date of next service. All written down.

 

[Stihl4lyfe]

what do you cut with? When i was young before I had my license I had a DynaMark 10 hp 36 in cut tractor and a trailer I put my push mower rake and broom. I would go to a few lawns in the neighborhood and on Saturdays I would go to a neighborhood about 2 miles away driving down the side roads on sidewalks and cut 6 lawns.

I have a 21” Honda, pulled by a JD. My clients are on my street, (3 weekly service properties). I recently moved here about 3 years ago so most everyone already had some sort of service

 

[Mitty87]

Almost everyone here wants a quote but won’t give enough details, but they don’t want to pay for design work.

 

[MILLC]

Have you tried dry erase boards?

We use them and they are visible to everyone. Piece of equipment or truck, date serviced, what was done, date of next service. All written down.

I haven’t previously but absolutely will add this to my shop. Ive always envied those guys that have them - time to step it up lol

 

[GRANTSKI]

Staying motivated. It comes in waves. The way we get taxed is more discouraging then anything else .
Just found out wifey is pregnant so that should keep my motivation up.

 

[Jashley73]

That might be the problem...

Pretty large difference between an "estimate" and an "exact" number.

Yep. One of the best tactics that I learned from time in industrial sales, that I use now in the landscaping...

"Do you have a budget in mind?"

"I think the service/project will cost around $-this-$ much. Does that fit in your budget?"

Right then and there, you begin to separate the serious buyers from the tire kickers. Pay very specific attention, not to the words they speak, but their body language, the tone they use, and the speed & clarity of their response. If they are frank & deliberate in their response, the more genuine. (Unless they're pathological liars.) The more vague & lingering their responses, the less genuine or interested.

If they are not serious after hearing your response, then this is when you softly, but confidently double down in your authority on the matter. Maybe offer an alternative that would work for both of you. But if that too doesn't work, then you politely thank them for the opportunity, and then quickly move on to other, more productive uses of your time.

 

[FLC2000]

Staying motivated. It comes in waves. The way we get taxed is more discouraging then anything else .
Just found out wifey is pregnant so that should keep my motivation up.

First one?

 

[RSG]

Staying motivated. It comes in waves. The way we get taxed is more discouraging then anything else .
Just found out wifey is pregnant so that should keep my motivation up.

When we found out about our first boy I got far more aggressive in making money and making moves in my career.

 

[gardiner]

Staying motivated. It comes in waves. The way we get taxed is more discouraging then anything else .

Yes, I'm feeling the same pain,
Clearing out all my business debt,
Not having the write offs,
Tighten the route, Less bus mileage,
Bump up prices 7% across,
Cost me a extra 1868.00 on my fed taxes 80.00 on the local tax,
Equipment prices are out of control,
My VR2 is 780 hours, averages 5 hours a week, The trailer is a 2020
So I'm not in need of any equipment,
I have to buy something or work less,

 

[sjessen]

Yep. One of the best tactics that I learned from time in industrial sales, that I use now in the landscaping...

"Do you have a budget in mind?"

"I think the service/project will cost around $-this-$ much. Does that fit in your budget?"

Right then and there, you begin to separate the serious buyers from the tire kickers. Pay very specific attention, not to the words they speak, but their body language, the tone they use, and the speed & clarity of their response. If they are frank & deliberate in their response, the more genuine. (Unless they're pathological liars.) The more vague & lingering their responses, the less genuine or interested.

If they are not serious after hearing your response, then this is when you softly, but confidently double down in your authority on the matter. Maybe offer an alternative that would work for both of you. But if that too doesn't work, then you politely thank them for the opportunity, and then quickly move on to other, more productive uses of your time.

Good sized local company has a $2500 minimum for any landscaping related service. They are backed up for months.

 

[Mitty87]

Good sized local company has a $2500 minimum for any landscaping related service. They are backed up for months.

we do about the same. We will do jobs less but I tell them hourly rate and won’t look at the job, time and material for 2 person crew from shop to shop.

 

[Mitty87]

we do about the same. We will do jobs less but I tell them hourly rate and won’t look at the job, time and material for 2 person crew from shop to shop.

in this case I get some pictures or measurement but it’s usually just one small area like a 250’ square front lawn or putting down gravel or rock in 50x5 section maybe. Just dinky jobs

 

[FLC2000]

Growth.

We mow about 160 properties now with 2 trucks. Anywhere from 5000 sq ft to 6 acres. Mostly residential but 6-8 commercials and 2 HOAs.

Ive always been a little scared to grow and thats normally been from labor issues. Which leads me to never wanting to take on too much. I would rather under promise and over deliver than the opposite.

Now we are getting into irrigation repair and one of my guys really wants to get into applications.

Probably need another truck this year.

Right now I have 2 FTers and another 4 PTers come summer. Keeping up after school starts can be tough thought. Id love to find another FT guy.

It might be time to look into the H2B visa program which from what I have seen can be a total PITA. Either that or start looking at Puerto Rico workers which would be much easier.

Theres always a headache somewhere. Somehow Ive managed to make it 23 years but at the end of the day I should be much bigger at this point IMO.

 

[RSG]

Growth.

We mow about 160 properties now with 2 trucks. Anywhere from 5000 sq ft to 6 acres. Mostly residential but 6-8 commercials and 2 HOAs.

Ive always been a little scared to grow and thats normally been from labor issues. Which leads me to never wanting to take on too much. I would rather under promise and over deliver than the opposite.

Now we are getting into irrigation repair and one of my guys really wants to get into applications.

Probably need another truck this year.

Right now I have 2 FTers and another 4 PTers come summer. Keeping up after school starts can be tough thought. Id love to find another FT guy.

It might be time to look into the H2B visa program which from what I have seen can be a total PITA. Either that or start looking at Puerto Rico workers which would be much easier.

Theres always a headache somewhere. Somehow Ive managed to make it 23 years but at the end of the day I should be much bigger at this point IMO.

What’s the range of your compensation?

 

[FLC2000]

What’s the range of your compensation?

For employees?

 

[RSG]

For employees?

Yes. I’m not sure if I should expect to keep my new hires, everything is in flux, and we’re now offering $20 an hour starting which is a stretch for us but seems on par for larger, more established companies.

 

[FLC2000]

Yes. I’m not sure if I should expect to keep my new hires, everything is in flux, and we’re now offering $20 an hour starting which is a stretch for us but seems on par for larger, more established companies.

I start out at 15 for zero experience. My 2 drivers make 18. One of them will get a raise this year and frankly he deserves it. The other one has issues following directions but is getting better.

Thats on par for most companies around here that concentrate on mowing. The most I have ever heard anyone paying a mowing crew chief is around 24 per hour.

I do offer paid vacations, monthly bonuses, a phone, and will start offering matching (up to 100 a month) 401ks this year. I also pay OT which a lot of companies around here skirt.

I think as we get bigger and expand into different things I will offer more of a salary to certain guys like the applicator and irrigation tech instead of hourly. Ill have to do some research on how much that field pays around here before I jump into anything.

 

[Tn Turf]

Estimates.
They take forever.
Everyone wants one.
Everyone wants an EXACT one, not a “ballpark figure”.
After you do all the work to come up with the number, plan the scope of the project, draw it out, get material prices….. it’s too expensive.

I’m sure part of the issue is the demographics of my area. Lots of people living paycheck to paycheck but like to keep up appearances. The people with the money haven’t heard of us yet, or hire big time contractors from literally hundreds of miles away to come in. Hopefully that will get better with time and advertising.

I seriously don’t know how some of you guys work in the field with the size of businesses you claim to run. Running the business is a full time job. Keeping the pipeline full of work takes up a huge chunk of time.

Can you gauge the customer before spending time drawing up the exact estimate?

You can say something like: "oh, I did a project like this about 3 months ago. It was roughly $16,750.00. I'll have to check material prices as it's always changing. I can get you an exact estimate on that if that falls within your budget."

That also gives you an opportunity to sell them a happy medium that falls within their budget.