Lawn Care Forum banner
121 - 140 of 748 Posts
Discussion starter · #121 · (Edited)
nice work
Thanks Stihl Guy and anyone else with the positive remarks,Thumbs Up

It's been one of those years where I wonder what the heck I'm doing. Having some positive reinforcement helps to keep me looking forward instead of quitting all together.

Lots of competition around here, hopefully I'll be able to get a better foothold in the biz next year.
 
Discussion starter · #123 ·
the pictures with the fountain, thats on hanson drive in normal right? i do tree work with the town of normal and we were working in that area today and i saw your sign. nice work man.
Hey, nice to see the local appreciation.Thumbs Up. Were you one of the guys driving the truck with the clam/claw picking up brush piles ???

I'm eventually going to do the rest of the landscaping around the house by the end of next summer.
 
Discussion starter · #125 ·
Can't say that It stuck out in my mind if I ever seen it. I'm sure I have though.

I'm doing a booth out at Danvers Days this weekend. You are more than welcome to swing by if you want to. They have some decent music at night so it might be interesting.

Right now I'm getting my photos and poster-board together for the display.

Yes, I will be in the cheesy small town parade. :hammerhead: But it's good to do things in the community I live in.
 
Discussion starter · #130 ·
Nice shady spot, good choice!
Yes it is. Shade all day and some large Ash trees next to me.

Here's a couple more pics, luckily I'm right next to the sidewalk, right across the street from the fire station where they have the dinners every night.

I'll be able to grab the attention of the people who just come up and eat, but not necessarily stick around for the carnival.

Good news, picked up one small job that will pay for the booth and pics. :clapping:

Plant Wheel Vehicle registration plate Car Tire


Sky Building Tree Asphalt Door


Plant Wheel Vehicle registration plate Car Tire


Sky Building Tree Asphalt Door
 
Discussion starter · #131 ·
Late evening pics.

I'm bored. Luckily I've had a couple more people interested in work done. It's some previous customers, but, the booth helps me get out there in public an line these jobs up.

Overall for the second year I've done this, not too bad. I think next year I'm going to have to go to some bigger events and set up shop.

So the trees aren't ash, they are Hackberries. You don't see them very often, and these have got to be at least 150 years old.

Plant Tree Green Leaf Trunk


Plant Dog Wheel Infrastructure Asphalt


Plant Tree Road surface Asphalt Leisure
 
Discussion starter · #132 ·
I had a gentleman at my booth last night inquiring about a fire-pit. He said he wanted a concrete patio with the pit in the center.

So I tried to steer him into thinking about pavers. His questions were, " It needs a retaining wall, will it hold back a patio ?", and, " Won't I eventually get weeds in between the pavers."

So I started to explain to him the correct way to build a retaining wall and how to use parametric or poly sand on pavers to keep weeds growing.

He still wasn't sold.

So I busted out the laptop, hit the pic and vid forum on lawnsite and pulled up a couple of threads on jobs done by other people.

Thanks to the diligence and excellent photo work from other members, I was able to show him how well a retaining wall will work, and how patios are down.

Thanks Lawnsite and all it's members. There is no I in team. (but there is a me:laugh:)
 
Discussion starter · #133 ·
So here is a couple of shots of the morning. There was a local community auction up here, and that helped bring in the crowd.

I've taken a lot of names and numbers from potential customers, things are looking better all the time. Luckily the spot I got this year has helped to draw more people in, instead of me going fishing to bring people in.

Sky Plant Tree Chair Shade


Shirt Sky Shorts Crowd Shade


Sky Plant Tree Chair Shade


Shirt Sky Shorts Crowd Shade
 
Discussion starter · #134 ·
Ya, 60% chance of rain, just what I want to deal with.

Hopefully my stand will stay dry. I've even contimplated not setting up today. My only fear is missing out on a couple of potential customers.

All in all, it has been a good couple of days. Even when business slows down, it makes me feel better that I am pro-active about trying to drum up business.

From what I've gathered from other people in the community is that there is a few "larger" landscaping companies that have been struggling in the area. I've had a couple of laborers come up to me saying that they have had their hours cut at the landscaping companies that they work for. I take their name and numbers, just in case I need a few extra hands the rest of this season.

With the sidewalk/patio/landscaping project I've been working on the last month or so, and with interest from a few other people, I just might need them.

I'm not set up to hire anyone, so I think I might send them to a local Temp agency and try to hire them on through them. That will help keep me from having to change around my tax info and I'll let the temp agency pay the workmans' comp, taxes, etc....

I know I can pay employees up to 600 dollars cash before I have to take out taxes, but I don't want to take the risk of someone getting injured on my job-site.
 
... I take their name and numbers, just in case I need a few extra hands the rest of this season.

With the sidewalk/patio/landscaping project I've been working on the last month or so, and with interest from a few other people, I just might need them.

I'm not set up to hire anyone, so I think I might send them to a local Temp agency and try to hire them on through them. That will help keep me from having to change around my tax info and I'll let the temp agency pay the workmans' comp, taxes, etc....

I know I can pay employees up to 600 dollars cash before I have to take out taxes, but I don't want to take the risk of someone getting injured on my job-site.
They should be considered independant contractors and recieve 1099-MISC forms after $600.00. They are not considered employees when they get hired on irregularily for a project now and then.
 
Discussion starter · #136 ·
They should be considered independant contractors and recieve 1099-MISC forms after $600.00. They are not considered employees when they get hired on irregularily for a project now and then.
Thanks for the clarification Axe. I wondered about that if they needed a 1099 or not.

I think I'm going to have to make some phone calls to some professional tax consultants to make sure I'm on the up-and-up with hiring people.

I still think the Temp agency might be the way to go though, even if I only use these people sparingly. I'm afraid that a helper might injure themselves, or some other issue arises and I'd rather have the temp agency cover those aspects rather than trying to start a whole payroll system.
 
Discussion starter · #137 ·
So we got through Sunday. I ended up shutting down early as the skies opened up, right when the parade started.

I was hoping the wife was going to take some pics, but she ended up getting the booth tore down and protected my poster boards and such. The kids along the parade route were soaked, and were running up to vehicles to grab candy instead of picking it off the ground and puddles.

Surprisingly, there were tons of people along the route even though it was raining pretty hard.

Later, I went back up and collected my tent and tables. After that I decided to do my civic duty and used my picker-upper for mowing, and walked around for a little over an hour picking up candy wrappers, garbage and cigarette butts.

Everything was a success, now I just need the rain to go away so I can get some work done, and especially get away from Lawn-site for a while. :laugh:
 
Discussion starter · #138 ·
So, since the one inch of rain last Sunday, another storm that dumped 3 inches in an hour the day before yesterday, and 3, 2 tenth showers, I haven't gotten much work done. Just some piddly maintenance.

I tell you what though, with all the rain this year, I should have tilled/graded/ and re-seeded the lawn. I would have had great results without watering.

What a frustrating year. I'm still on track to have an O.K. year, but not as much growth as the last two seasons.

If it's not the economy, it's the weather.

But regardless, I'm still working lots of small jobs. That's enough to keep me going.

Here is some pics of the most recent design. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery ????

Plant Building Window Property Wheel


Plant Property Sky Building Window


Plant Building Window Wheel Tire


Plant Building Property Window Sky


Plant Building Window Property Wheel


Plant Property Sky Building Window


Plant Building Window Wheel Tire


Plant Building Property Window Sky
 
I would put a small patio tree in place of the gold mop, something taller... just below the roof line with colored foliage. Here it would be a purple leaf plum or maybe a jap maple. Some vines on the columns like clematis or honeysuckle. Thats all I could add looks good.

Maybe some hanging baskets on the beam of the patio cover. Not the cheezy plastic ones, the bigger wire baskets you do with the spahgum (sp) moss.
 
121 - 140 of 748 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top