Does it make sense part-time?

[JeffM]

I was wondering if anyone would care to share their thoughts about doing this part-time... I sit on my butt all day at work for 7 hours a day and make a great living. Some might ask why I would want to do anything else since I do have it pretty good. BUT I would prefer to be outdoors, so I thought lawn care as a part time gig (to start) would be a good move. I already take care of my own property as well as my wife's day care center property and am going to upgrade some of my residential equipment to commercial - I thought if I could pick up several actual jobs it would at least pay for the equipment. What do you all think? By the way this is a great forum. Thanks for any input...

[Lawnshark]

I dont see where u can go wrong. Esp if you already have some basic equipment. Research the market for your area. You say u aready have a good job anything you pick up from doing lawn service is just the icing on the cake! Go for it jeff!

[Phil Nilsson]

I think the first step in deciding is to ask yourself given the time frames of your availability, can you serve the customers on a timely basis because your regular job would seem to have top priority. First things first, but there are plenty of part time people who do okay working around weather, holidays, weekend schedules ... taking on the amount of work they can handle and keeping customers happy by being flexible.

Phil

[roger white]

Part time.

Thats what I'm going to do. I work for the gov. Going to try to retire in about 3 years. If I do, then I will need more money than I will make in retirement. Sooo--bought me a 6.5x12, 4ft high sides,32in Toro w/b. Already had a 10hp snapper rider and aToro super-pro push. Got about $5000.00 in it all. So for the next 3 years I'll find out if Ican make it. If not, guess Iwill keep the job I have a little longer. Just like to have about 20 accounts. Going to give my best shot.

[jrservices]

Sounds like a good idea to me. We all started somewhere, read all the posts you can, learn, then go out and make the $$$. Welcome to the forum, I live around 60 miles north of you.

[Easy Way Lawn Care]

I do part time now while working a full time job. If you have some steady hours (which I dont) its a snap. I did about 10 customers last year and grossed a little over 8000 thats for about eights to nine hours of work a week. for 25 weeks. Its a great way to get started in the biz. But do the industry and yourself a big favor, just because your parttime and can afford to undercut the market don't do it, you will only be hurting yourself, charge market rates.

[JeffM]

Thanks for all the feedback... I do plan on doing a lot of reading/research to make sure I can make it work. I will not be underbidding the market as I will be in it to make $$$. My goal is not for volume at low price but good profit and manageable workload. I've read several posts about the negative effects of doing that. Kinda like shooting yourself in the foot, as well as others in the area. I'll keep checking back and you will all probably see many more posts to come... I consider myself an intelligent person but you all have so much knowledge that I'll certainly return to pose questions. In return anything I can contribute I will - I'm a computer guy so I might be able to help someone in that area until I gain enough experience to contribute otherwise.

[glassjoe]

thats how i started out, but not my choice. i was a bricklayer and saved up some money to go buy my commercial 2 cycle equipment (blower, trimmer, edger) and then i financed a commercial walk behind mower. i picked up a few lawns and any money i made from lawns went rigth back into the business, a lot of advertising, more equipment. soon i go to the point where i couldnt lay brick for 8 hours a day and then go maintain my lawns. luckily i had a little money saved to get me through this transition period. i quit laying brick, watched how i spent my money and treated mowing as a full time job. no matter if i had lawns to cut that day or not i would get up in the morning and do something business realted, putting flyers on mailboxes, asking my customers if they needed extra work done (hedging, palm tree trimming, weed pulling) and i made it.
i now have 100 upscale properties and one employee, i am in the process of getting another truck going just to do the extra work (mulching, clean-up, landscaping)
i learned a lot from this site and i mean a lot, almost all the information i gave you i learned here.
the most important thing is to do quality work and stick to your prices.
one thing i learned on my own that is very important is this......
if someone calls you to give an estimate on thier yard and they already have someone doing it, this means they are not happy with that service. DO NOT BID LOWER THAN WHAT THEY ARE ALREADY PAYING.

9 times out of ten people volunteer the information you want (how much they are getting charged now) then you just say.
i cant cut your lawn for $100 a month but i can do it for $120 and do a lot better job.

works almost everytime if you deliver a better job of course. trust me on this one.