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  • Next level??

    Hi...
    I'm really hoping Phil Nillson might log on and respond to this! I love your advice, Phil, and would love to get your thoughts on my particular situation. My husband and I own a landscape business south of Boston. We were previously in a community west of Boston, where business was no problem and we made money quite easily. Obviously, with the move, we had to start from scratch - been here 2 1/2 years now - but we seem "stuck" at the 80-90k range, each year. We can't take on more employees, or buy more equipment...we just make all household and business payments as it is currently. I would love some advice on how to "get past" this position and take our business to the next level.
    My husband likes to be a "niche" businessman. He prides himself on being on almost every job, is a STICKLER for quality and is also upfront about the fact that "he's not the most expensive guy around, but definitely not the cheapest". We currently have three guys working for us, two trucks and quite a bit of equipment. I do ALL admin. work including all of the marketing and advertising. I feel a sense of responsibilty in helping to get us to the next level but am unsure how to get there. What comes first...more employees...more work...more equipment?? My husband is firm about the fact that he never wants to have 15 employees (feels that he'll lose control and no longer be able to offer the top notch quality he does today) but we both want to see the business grow. Any suggestions? I would LOVE any thoughts on steps that worked for others.
    Oh...we currently advertise in the yellow pages, a small local phone book and have done some coupon stuff too. I've also sent some direct mail letters, with little response. We are mostly residential, although my husband would love some small commercial accounts. We have two trucks, two 52" mowers, back pack blowers, 8 horse blowers, an aerator, dethatcher, trimmers, a Dingo and various other small things. What can we do differently????
    Thank you so much for any thoughts!

  • #2
    Originally posted by staciab
    My husband likes to be a "niche" businessman. He prides himself on being on almost every job, is a STICKLER for quality and is also upfront about the fact that "he's not the most expensive guy around, but definitely not the cheapest".

    We currently have three guys working for us, two trucks and quite a bit of equipment.
    Is that $80k-$90k gross income, or is that actual profit?


    Please do not take any of the following in a bad way, I don't mean it to be.


    Problem #1 would be your husband wanting to be on almost every job. That ties him up from doing other things inside the business.

    Problem #2 is that your rates are too low. How can I tell? You say you have 3 guys working for you, but only bring in about $90k. The average national rates say at least $50,000 per employee in this biz. If you aren't close to that, you need to go back and reevaluate your rates, or production hours. If you are doing landscaping, it should be even higher per man, per year.

    And there are many ways to get that up much higher than $50k per employee.

    Problem #3 kind of goes back to #2. You have too many employees doing too little (or too cheap) of work.

    If you have 3 guys, and your husband out working, you should be at least around the $200k mark. And you almost need to be.



    You asked
    What comes first...more employees...more work...more equipment??
    None of it. The first thing is to evaluate how much money is going out per hour and how much is coming in, and how much is profit. You do NOT want to add anything to a system that may be flawed or problematic. More work won't help if it is priced too low, or the employees can handle good production.
    a.k.a.---> Erich

    www.avalawnlandscaping.com


    Build a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.
    Set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks so much for your reply, Erich. I really appreciate your thoughts. OK, so...I'm still learning here...how do I go back and evaluate our production hours? You mentioned $50k per employee - we pay two of these guys $12/hr. and my husband charges $35 for every job they are on. I guess I'm seeing (from reading alot of these posts) that we may be missing the boat on some of these calculations. Is there a good "system", so to speak? Is there a place I can get some thoughts with regard to that? Like you said, we don't want to add anything to a flawed system - so I'm trying to do this right for once! Thanks again!

      Comment


      • #4
        Is your husband charging $35 per hour for both of them? Or is he charging $70 per hour when they are both on site?
        a.k.a.---> Erich

        www.avalawnlandscaping.com


        Build a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.
        Set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

        Comment


        • #5
          Hmmm...I believe he charges $35 per man hr (this is how he estimates for the most part too - figures # of hours to complete job x $35 per man hr.)
          What's the difference...$35 per hour or $70 per hour when bpth are there?

          Comment


          • #6
            You said your husband charges $35 per hour for every job they are on.

            Well, if they are both there, charging $35 for that hour is $17.50 per man hour. If he charges $35 per man hour, then it would be $70 per hour when they are both there.

            In an 8 hour day with both of those guys, does he charge $280 or does he charge $560?
            a.k.a.---> Erich

            www.avalawnlandscaping.com


            Build a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.
            Set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

            Comment

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