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Not going to get complicated but if you can sell full service programs..ie shrub trimming, mowing, fert apps, cleanups, I am not afraid of pricing a lawn a few dollars short, as I charge top dollar for other services. Per hour I think mowing is lowest for me, however its steady and provides good cashflow. I think the key is once you are on someones yard, they will use you for all services. What do you guys think?
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><b>Originally posted by Dmk</b>
<i>... What do you guys think?</i><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">That grounds care is the mundane tasks we must do to have access to each accounts money makers.
If you are only talking about $40-50/season off the lawn portion of your bids it shouldnt be so hard to re-coup your moneys. Anything more than this and your selling yourself short. -
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If mowing is priced a little lower to gain "access" to other services, maybe offer that "lower price" in a <b>package deal </b>to make sure customers understand in advance that the lower mowing price is only available if they buy the other services you mentioned.
P.S. Full service residential programs offer much more than what's on your list ... for the truly upscale clients ... sell them repeat interior maintenance items in addition to the outside services, and you'll double or triple your total gross sales on a per customer basis. Look for low skill items to add that require little if any additional investment other than labor.
Send me a private email and I'll forward a website link to see some of the possibilities ... anybody wants to be emailed that same link just email me ... <b>subject line just say "Phil" </b>... sent to you on a for your eyes only basis ... thanks.Comment
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Phil is right about "Full service" being so much more. But we all understand what you mean.
When I say full service I think of not only mowing/trimming/edgeing, I think of pesticide control, pond installation, landscape lighting, landscaping, paver installation, landscape wall construction, sodding/hydroseeding, patio installing, sprinkler system installs, etc...Comment
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The tough part here is to keep people busy during the winter. I am going to send out flyers in late December/early November indicating other services offered such as tree trimming, border extension of trees around property, junk removal etc. I am hoping within 2 years a big enough customer base abounds where I can keep people busy year round, that way employee retension would be better, cashflow would be continous year round and then I could truly be full service.Comment
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Mr. Dmk,
Consider that in your sales/service scenario that to make money in this bizz (low cost) labor is a must and to think in terms of including a lot of low tech, low skill work in the mix because talented, trained, skilled folks are very hard to find. Using a hispanic workforce only needs supervision by one crew leader, he leads, they labor, customer gets low price because of low cost labor and reduces selling resistence to price. Finding .. keeping foreman types is very hard .. leave you to go start their own bizz after a while.Comment
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Phil
Would you advise advertising for workers in a more hispanically populated areas? I have some small cities about 20 minutes away, where spanish is not always a second language.Comment
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Mr. Dmk,
Give me a pinpoint town located in MA so I can do a mapquest and look at your market?Comment
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Anyone try the H2B program?Comment
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I would absolutely focus on hiring hispanics for several reasons ...
1. They can afford to work at lower wages and this keeps you much more competitive with your pricing.
2. They want to work, they "need" to work and they "have" to work.
3. Low wage rates for imported labor coverts to a market where your services remain "affordable" to a greater number of customers. If you had to pay <b>regular labor rates </b>of let's say $12.00 to $15.00 an hour, how many customers would you lose, or how much profit would you have to give up to higher wages?
To me the "game" comes down to low wage rates since this is your biggest expense. Any company that's paying around $7.50 or $8.50 an hour shouldn't have any trouble finding a demand for services at those wage rates along with profitability. Go out, find the largest properties to bid that require large amounts of labor. Quality wise your work will will be just as good as anybody since the labor is being supplied from the same source. Imported, low cost, moderately motivated. What else is there?
P.S. Get into the commercial maintenance game ASAP. You'd be surprised how competitive you can be up against major companies in that market. Run lean and mean. Many of the majors are out there carrying overheads for several layers of "managers" and you are not?
Go getum!Comment
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thanks again for the great advice Phil!Comment
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