Starting a New Lawn Care Business

[chaz]

I would like to start a new lawn care business in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm thinking it will take three years to develop to the point where I can make the kind of money I'm looking for. With that in mind, does the following plan make sense?

1. Pay cash for all start up cost. Or, is it best that I finance the equipment for tax purposes?

2. The first year, I would like to perform the services after 4:00 during the week or on Sat. and Sun. Is there a problem with this - do most customers want there work completed during the weekday?

That's it for now. Thanks for your responses.

[GrassMaster]

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Hello Chaz:

<b>Waring Mile Longer!</b> []

Me Personally, I believe in paying Cash whenever possible, some will disagree, But I try to be debt Free as Possible. I don't like anything hanging over my head & that way when the Money comes in or not, I'm not Sweating Payments!

I always tried to finish my Work by 5:00, Yes I had to Work til 6:00pm & later. But Experience Taught me that I have Hassle Free Experiences if I could get in & out of the Job with no Customer Interaction. &gt;&gt;More Profit! $$$$$&lt;&lt;

Most do not mind you working on Saturdays, but again you have the Customer there sometimes.

<b>I'm A Time Freak, anyway I can Reduce Time, the More Money I Make per Hour.</b>

Under Estimations Below!

Say only 12 weekly Customers in this Scenario?

I wait on each Customer 5 Minutes to pay me.
Ok I now Start Billing my Regular Customers, once a Month instead of Every Weekly Visit. Ok I'm Now Saving a Minimum of 4 to 5 hours a Month.

Ok, I'm a Smart Guy & I bill my Regulars once a Month.
Now I'm Still running in to them & each one is holding me up 5 minutes talking to me about the Price of Eggs in China & those Stupid Square Watermellons? Give me a Break!

I go to their Home when they are not there.
I'm now Saving another 4 to 5 hours a Month.

Again This is only Figuring 5 minutes per customer each Week. This is a Real Low Figure.

You have Learned that the Cat Lady you cut every Thursday goes, to the Ymca on Thursdays from 3:00 to 5:00pm, Your last Visit she Held you up Talking about her Son Biff in College for 20 Minutes. You almost Went Bankrupt & Passed out Listening to Her Rant about this Joker. It's almost as Bad as Reading one of my Mile Longer Post Like this one?

You have Better things to do, in that 20 Minute Listening about The Biff the Grandson Rant you could have Cut The Pinecone Ladies Lawn around the corner & Made an Extra $25 Bucks? Get the Picture!

With the 2 Scenarios above you are Saving a Very Minimum of 8 to 10 hours a Month, Ok Hopfully You can Make about $350 in that amount of Time, With a Small Down Payment that's a 2 or 3 year old Truck Loaded with about 25,000 miles or less on it. Which do you want, Rapping with Cat Lady or The Truck? It's a Draw, If You talk to Cat Lady Enough she might leave you in her Will, But The Truck is a Sure Thing? Right?

As far as Sunday Work, I wouldn't Work Residential unless they were going to be Gone. Yes, I had to Work Sundays when I first Started, but it was for Commercial Properties that were Closed or the Residential Customers were gone out of Town, Nobody is Being Bothered Now?

Want Quick Money, Hit some of the Real Estate Offices, Shoot hit a Lot of Them, Good Money in Clean Ups?

[GrassBustersLawn]

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CHAZ - Just working after 4pm you will be in "Rush Hour" traffic wherever you go. Can't make any money sitting behind the wheel at a stop light.

Dittoes to what ADMIN says about being on the site when customer isn't. He has "Cat Lady" - seems we all have a cat lady, mine is "Carpet Lady" (wants her lawn to look like a carpet). The old people don't have anyone to talk to and will take any chance to talk to you until your leg falls off. I quickly and politely (as possible) tell them I've got to get going as I have alot more jobs to do.

Finally, I too am a proponent of paying cash for equipment. I've gone to auctions every spring for last 5 years where lawn services have grown too fast on credit only to have the "house of cards" collapse on them and the bank taking everything out from under them.
Plan on reinvesting any capital you earn your first couple of years back into the business. Start off with a decent walk-behind and add riders as money and jobs permit.

Good Luck. It's a dog-eat-dog world in lawn care. There is always some 12 year old using daddy's mower and daddy's gas that will cut a yard for $10 when we need to charge $30 or more to pay for the truck/mowers/insurance/gas etc......

[CCLS]

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Definately pay cash when possible. Don't however spend all of your money to purchase equipment, you need to have some capital in case something happens that you need cash right away. Those 8% and 10% interest rates really eat you up quick though. Personally, I started small and worked my way up when I got the money to purchase larger pieces of equipment. Sometimes it is impossible to pay cash for everything, sometimes you have to get in debt to get ahead. Whatever you decide to do, DON'T GET IN OVER YOUR HEAD. Make sure you have the customers and income to make those payments. I have seen several local lawn businesses fail because they could not make equipment payments in the winter months because it didn't snow. Come spring, the banks started repossessing equipment, so the companys had to downsize their business in order handle the customers. Eventually the businesses failed because they could not keep up because the bank had repossessed all of their equipment.