Scrubs

[Yard Dog]

What can you do about people low balling you espcially in AL. we have People from Mexico coming in here and under bidding us.

Yard Dog

[bama26]

were are you in al, I am in tuscaloosa and it is happening here to

[Yard Dog]

Huntsville, AL

[liquidforcedude7]

Thats when you need to sell your quality not your prices. Except if they have better quality then you (dbout it) then your screwed I guess.

[ahlgrenlandscaping]

Wait out the storm they'll go out of business, find ways to streamline your business to make you more productive and efficient without harming your quality.

[CK-1]

Wait out the storm they'll go out of business, find ways to streamline your business to make you more productive and efficient without harming your quality.

I doubt it. Some learn the trade, get equipment and head back over the border. The thing is, they can work there azz's off for cheap labor, learn the business in the process and start their own. The only weakness is the language barrier that I can see.

[grassguy]

4 out of every 5 lowballers will fail. The problem is, next year 7 will take the place of those 4. Offer referral incentives to your customers. I offer 1 free cut for every referral I get from a customer that signs on with me. 1/2 price if they have a large yard. It has worked great for me so far.

[GrassMaster]

There's nothing much you can do about it.

I lived in an area of 100,000 Pop. In a matter of a year or so several large companies went under & about 1,500 people lost their jobs besides the Firestone plant I worked at & their were over 2,000 that lost their jobs there.

I was cutting 10,000 sq.ft. properties for $145 to $185 a month for every 10 day service back in mid 80's & there were guys that would work all day long for $20 bill, a free sandwich & drink at lunch, maybe if they lucky they got a pair of old shoes or something & a ride home at quitting time. We both made money & if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had a job. Think about it? He created a demand for me & I was grateful for him.

Find other profit centers, most pay far more than cutting grass. Pressure Washing, Aerating, Fertilizing, Pine Straw - Mulch beds, replace dead plants, clean roofs, gutters, fix fences, gates, minor irrigation repairs remove small trees & etc... Hell I've taken patio furniture to the car wash & cleaned it. Anything to make a dollar!

Do what ever it takes to keep other business's off your properties. The more you can do, the more convenient you become, you will create more of a demand for you because of all the things you can do! Be a 1 stop shop for all.

If you don't do it, somebody else will & they will take money you should be getting!

[cjm2783]

What can you do about people low balling you espcially in AL. we have People from Mexico coming in here and under bidding us.

Yard Dog

we have several hispanic lawn services here in birmingham also. i'm not sure if there is anything you can do, but continue to advertise, work hard, and hope for the best.
it happened to me the other day too. i gave an estimate for cleaning off a hill, cutting down 5 very small trees, and 4 bales of straw for 150.00. supper low becasue it's my girlfriends neighbor, also 250 if she wanted to take the fence down which was about 30ft long.

well yesterday i go by there and there's about 4 mexican men getting it done... they worked there about 7 hours.. i'm guessing they did it for under 250.00.

it's going to happen. they dont need alot of money to operate. most have about 8 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment, rent about 750per month.

here in hoover the police are arresting day workers that stand on the street. 300.00 to get out of jail. that might help.

cjm

[hobbes]

Hi,

Just as a thought the availability of cheap lawn services does I suppose mean less business for you. However the availability of cheap supply, in this case lawn services also means greater demand. I.E. home owners will perhaps decide to use a lawn service rather than doing it themselves. Over time the market will expand. I agree though that the intial change of lots of cheap landscaping services into an area will change the market dynamics for a while. But in the long run I guess the laws of Economics will sort things out.

On the flip side, if lawn services were very expensive say. The home owners would either do more mowing themselves, and or have smaller lawns. The demand for lawn services will contract.

Just my two cents.

Warmest regards, Mike.

[GeeVee]

Land Mines?

Sterilization?

Communism?

Get over it and find a niche.