Looking at the Feasability of LawnCare Business Long Term

[smullen]

How old are you?

How long have you been in the Lawn Care Industry???

Just Weekends, Part Time or Full Time???

What do you do in the winter months when the Phone stops ringing and there is no Grass to cut??? (If you live in states with Winter type Months)

One of the advantages of working for a bigger company full time are Benifits and 401K, when you own your own business, its all on you;

What are you doing for Health Benifits and Retirement???

[smullen]

18 readers.... Anything????

[RRS]

28

4 1/2 years in biz

Fulltime with three employees

Most of my maintenance accounts pay on 12 month annual contracts. We work fulltime until Dec 22. January is a little slow. February we are pretty busy with dormant season pruning and cleanups.

I pay out of pocket for health insurance for myself and one employee that has worked with me for 3 years. Next year he's going on salary.

I started my business after being layed off from a large contractor that built cell sites. When I got out of high school I didn't go to college and went to work with this company about a year after graduating. I worked my way up from tower hand to project manager.

The experience I got working for a large contractor has really helped me keep my business going. I already understood how to calculate overhead, job costs, and bid jobs which is something it seems a lot of people have a difficult time with. After my first year in biz I went to community college and got my Associates Degree in Horticulture.

I live well below my means so I'm able to save amd invest a lot of money toward early retirement. Living below my means also keeps me from busting my hump or my employee's too hard because we all make decent money without having to kill ourselves. In the spring and fall I work long hours, but in the winter and middle of summer I take a lot of time to do things I want.

If I did it all over again I'd keep a fulltime job with benefits, go to school, and not quit until I had all the work I could handle by myself with my business.

I jumped in feet first with nothing and the first year was TOUGH!

[Scott]

How old are you?

5 years your senior

How long have you been in the Lawn(landscaping) Care Industry???

Worked for some yahoo previously and then on my own since 97

Just Weekends, Part Time or Full Time???

Working w/e's only as the exception and not the rule. Is 30-40hours still considered P/T?

What do you do in the winter months when the Phone stops ringing and there is no Grass to cut??? (If you live in states with Winter type Months)

My phone never stops ringing

One of the advantages of working for a bigger company full time are Benifits and 401K, when you own your own business, its all on you;

What are you doing for Health Benifits and Retirement???

Uncle Sam's covers the health issues/retirement but additional retirement is $500 a month in various mutual funds.
BUTT I'm hoping, someday, to become a great lawnscaping consultant and rite sum buks, evaluate sum utters biznesses, and then maybe spawnnsir a website to help utters git along in dis bizness.

what about yourself?

[ECS]

52 yrs old.
Been doing lawn care for 7 years, 6 of them for someone else.
My employer & I parted ways, started my own business the end of last August. Best thing I ever did.

[smullen]

what about yourself?

I'm 32 Yrs old.

Currently a Network Engineer for an ISP... I've been in the Computer/Network Industry in one for or another for the last 10 years...

Previous to that I worked for a lawn and landscape company for 4 years... I really enjoyed it, but needed to make a bit more money and thought an office job was what I wanted to do forever...

10 Years later, I am worried about downsizing and other corp politics and really want to work for myself....

I think I want to get back into Lawn Service... Lately, I been researching it and looking at start up costs and the opperating costs as well as trying to look at all the +s and -s of it....

Its looking better than some of the other small businesses I have been looking at....

[HemiSize]

I'm 21. Been in the industry for 3 years. Started this spring on my own. Had to jump into thin air and am fasting through my first year. At some point I'll have some sort of health insurance in place for my self and any potential employies I hire. At the moment I'm uninsured ( Health) and have no retirement plan no investments. That'll all change some day soon.

I work insane hours. Either out in the dirt or at a computer keeping my books, paying quarterly sales tax and puttin out bids. Usually start at about 7 or 8 and finish about 4-5 some times work till 8:30. Then start on paper work. I figured it wasnt going to be easy when I started this I just hope I can make it though this first year.

[John Galt]

34 years old, just quit my FT job this past May. My motivation is my wife and son, and NEVER going to work for anyone else again. My skills,talent, and hard work will now profit us, and no one else.

Health Ins. paid by us (a tax deduction BTW), retirement paid by us (getting or keeping out of debt is your biggest asset), and life couldn't be better. There's always a way to make things happen, you just need to decide what you're willing to sacrifice to make them happen. In my case, I wanted total control of my life with the ability to make as much income as I would ever be comfortable with. I can now say "Screw you" to every company I've ever worked for.

Priceless.