Brand new business. Need much advice....

[timm5544]

My friend and I are starting a new lawn service business in Ohio. we have some decent used equipment and are going to do mostly residential properties at first. We plan to mow, edge, trim and blow. We also plan to try to up sell mulching, weeding and gutter cleaning. The equipment belongs to my partner and we agree that the equipment he comes in with will be his and anything I come in with will be mine. And any profit and equipment we acquire together will belong to us both 50/50.

I have several questions about getting started. Please advise if you can.

1. How much should we pay ourselves and keep for service/repair of equipment and keep for purchase of newer/better equipment? If you could put it into percentages that would be great. (we talked to a local equipment dealer who also owns a lawn service business who states that he splits it into 1/3 labor 1/3 equipment upkeep and 1/3 profit.)

2. Is there a rule of thumb on how much to charge to mow based on sq footage? Or based on man hours (both of us working on the project)

3. Do we charge extra (how much $)for the first mow if there is edging to do that has never been done before or is very overgrown?

4.How often would we upgrade equipment?

5. How often would we "service riding mower, trimmer, trim mower, and blower ? (oil change, plugs, filters, blade sharpening)?

6. What is the best way to market our business in the beginning?

7. How much to charge for mulching?

8. Would " Quicken Home and Business" be adequate to keep track of our various expenses and upkeep and upgrades. and be able to keep track of each of our customer accounts, including keeping track of income from each account and accumulative income all together and keep track of unpaid customer accounts ??

9. How much discount to offer if the customer will sign a monthly/yearly contract? Is there a cancellation fee assessd to the customer for cancellation of a contract? i was told that in Ohio, one would expect to mow a lawn 25 times a year on average. Does 25 sound like a reasonable number for Middle/Southern Ohio??

Sorry for so many questions at once. Any advice would be welcomed and appreciated.

Thank You and God bless you.


Tim

[steve-o]

Disaster In The Making...............

do yourself and your buddy a favor and go your separate ways. it won't work....... you can thank me later..........

steve-o

[clclawn]

partnership almost never work. and you are not the exception to the rule.

with that said, 25 mowings seems low, 28-30 is more likely unless you get a drought. last year we had some that normally get 30-32 only get 22.

you need to offer more then what you are so start learning the landscape end of things, the internet can be a good start for that.

equipment gets serviced based on manufactures recommendations so read the manual.

direct mail and flyers are the only advertising you should be doing. but remember for every thousand you send, you might get 2 or 3 accounts or you might send out 5000 and get nothing. expect to get nothing cause that is more likley with the knowledge you have.

dont charge extra for first cut unless its extreme

and dont go into debt

[safari lawn]

All that said I personally shoot for 1.00 per minute mowing with a single person, if you can get more thats better not knocking it.

Here around DC Mulching is between 86 a yard to 100 a yard of mulch.

How are you going to split the customers if you split? I would recommend you each own a piece of equipment and service/replace it so if you go your own way you can part ways easily and have good equip to do that with.

You could split the Jobs 50/50 and work as a team, but unless your really good friends and want to maintain that you might do well enough to just operate seperate buisnesses and just work together? I paid someone to mow my yards when I took a vacation, but his 1 person operation was not in the area that I operated in, so I had no fear of his stealing my customers, I included him in on other large jobs I got when I needed help and paid him 1/2. I know it helps to have someone when it comes to doing Mulching, and when I look for help its either leaves or Mulching, Mowing I can do solo or with my son who is going to take it over, But this is not my Only income.

Charge Man hour (what you both require $25 or $30 an hour or more) for mulch and leaves or Labor jobs

Mowing could be around $60.00 an hour per person

Insurance (check with your insurance I pay 450 a year for 2 million to erie for 5 star contractors policy me + 1/2 time employee) it covers mowing and other jobs.