thinking of starting lawn care business in east tn

[curtis]

[?]any info anyone can provide on anything is greatly appricated i am leaveing the military after 8 years of service due to any injury and want to start a company in lawn service but have no clue where to start about anything.

[CCLS]

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What specific questions do you have reguarding the lawn care industry. This is too broad of question, break it down a little so we can help you.

[Scott]

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well the first thing you have to do is fill out your profile so we can better assist you for your area or the area you'll be calling home.

Now I hope you have some cash saved up because it's gonna cost ya if you're going to jump into this field and make it your livelihood.

Read this forum and look past the personal issues that we all tend to put into our comments. There's a lot of well educated people on this forum that could help you get ahead very fast.

Contact your licensing department and find out what's required of you to get your business going. Get insurance.

Look at your area of service. What are the average size yards and gates. Look at the other LCO's, what are they using and find out where they're getting their equipment. If you're really brave go talk to some of them and find out who services their equipment and why they bought what they bought.

Get some customers lined up prior to buying anything.

Then you'll need some equipment and here's a few ideas.

- truck w/hitch
- trailer 5x10 is acceptable but you'll want/need a larger one soon (under a grand)
- W/B 36in-48 mower ($2000 - $4000), you could also go used
- weedeater ($400+/-)
- stick edger ($400+/-)
- backpack blower ($400+/-)
- hedge trimmer ($150+)
- a variety of shovels, rakes, lopers, etc... ($200+/-)
- couple gas cans, large one for reg, smaller one for mixed
- vehicle signs ($50+/-)

so for under 10k, minus the cost of a truck, you could be set for equipment now all you have to do is advertise and get you some customers.
Read Scraper-2k's post on how to advertise
http://www.lawnservicing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2081

Goodluck and let us know how things are going.

[grassmoneymaker]

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Hello Curtis and welcome! I'm 17 years old and am planning on entering the Army next year when I graduate. What branch were you in? What was your job? What do you suggest I might want to get into that pays good and is reliable when I get out? I love to be outside and do things with my hands. Any info about the service would be awesome!!
As far as lawncare...I started last year with basically 7 accounts. I got all these accounts thru friends..I knew these people. I hope to get a good 20+ accounts this year...I have flyers out and my ad in the paper. The first thing you should do is get the word out before you purchase any equipment. You have to know how many customers you have so you know what kind of equipment to buy. I have a 21" Sears Craftsman self propelling walk behind. I do most of my work with this, but some with the rider if I get bigger accounts. You can get a decent walk behind for around $300. Start with getting the word out!!! Hope this helps somewhat!!

[tasser]

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hey curtis i have a lawn service in east tenn near chattanooga bussiness is boom give me a shout if i can help you good lucky

[curtis]

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Thanks everyone for the info it is all very usefull.you'll have a great site here.

[blindarrow]

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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tasser</i>
<br />hey curtis i have a lawn service in east tenn near chattanooga bussiness is boom give me a shout if i can help you good lucky

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

South Pittsburg area eh? Sounds nice. I'm in Chattanooga, and you're right, business is booming here. The main problem is the fact that there is alot of underbidding going on in the city. However, quality service & word of mouth take care of that.