SCRUBS!! and what to do about them.

[tulsa lawn guy]

Here’s an update for you guys…


My advertising has been rather rough, to put it lightly. I’m simply not getting anywhere close to the number of calls that I got last year, perhaps it’s still early.

I have devised a system that calculates how much time I will be spending at a specific property and apply this number to my hourly rate to come up with the clients bid.


Here’s the problem: There are SO MANY “SCRUBS” running around bidding jobs at a FRACTION of the price that I quote, that I can hardly land a job! This is immensely frustrating!

I’m sticking to my guns, but it sure it tough!


What to your pro’s recommend?

[JeffM]

Hey I'm new to the lawn care biz but I'm already running up against it, too. When asking a potential client what prices they've been getting they have been pretty honest - I'm assuming. I've come in right at most quotes but there is often at least one that is crazy low.

Now having said that I've been told on more than one occassion already that they are leary of those that quote so low... we'll see. If I don't get calls then I guess they aren't leary enough and maybe after a few bad visits I'll get the call.

I've had pretty good results from my postcard mailing so I'm not going to sweat it yet. It is still pretty early in the N.E. so I don't think people are thinking about their lawns yet. Now landscaping maintenance has been a whole other story alltogether - they want it done, and soon and they're willing to pay....

[Scott]

can't beat em? join em...

lol!!! :p

Go where they can't or won't dare. I just hooked a nice contract in a upscale snooty gated community. I started with 39 yards and now I'm up to 45. The last company didn't do squat so now anything I do that looks good gets rave reviews. I trimmed 30 palms today and ppl just kept coming by to see what I did. PPL are too funny sometimes. The best part about this contract is that the owners are only here 1-2 weeks a year. What I need now is about 6 workers so I can pickup the other two upscale snooty gated communities next to it along with the common areas.

[Maddog]

Scott,

Sounds like you have got into a good area.

I have had a problem with just one customer this year not requiring our service. It is an older lady and her daughter hired someone else that is just starting in the business this year. When I talked to her she said she was a little leery of this but her daughter already made the arrangements so she will try it and if she doesn't like it she is keeping my info so she can get me back. We will see.

[Scott]

Yeah it's a great area. There's probably over 200 houses in the community and about 1/3 are used as seasonal rentals. They're very small postage size yards and very little grass. I tend to do more gardener's work than anything else. The company that was doing it is still lurking around but he still slowly getting the boot. I really hate it for him because he's a great guy but his employees are scrubs.
I was also asked to bid on the common area and was told my bid would be given special attention. I think it runs in the neighborhood of 70 per year and then the other two communities go for about 80-110. I would love to dive in but,,, since I'm still a pt'er and I have 3 to go in the military, so I'll just keep what I got going on for right now.

I've also let go of some residentials on the other side of town. It's kinda funny. I started with all my bizness solely on one side of town then I slowly watched it move to the other side of town. Kinda tuff driving across town to mow a few yards. I try to schedule them on a single day then spend the rest of the week in the snooty areas. Guess that's part of the growing pains involved in biz.

[MSL, INC.]

Yup, friggin' lowballers! Just got done going thru a bid for 9 Condos. (maint) Mine was the highest! The guy that was doing it "just didn't semm interested in continuing" I bid accurately, took all measurements wasted a Saturday writing a very prfessional proposal, copying pics to show what kind of comoany they where getting for their money....
Just so the guy could tell me they went w/ a different contractor who was about 1/4 the cost of me!!!!
I added it up and his lawncare AND snowplowing was less than my snowplowing alone!!!! It was seasonal bid so I could lump sum add it together.
Place would have been a PITA too. 4 small drivesw/ walkways that had to be snowblown! ...not plowed. A couple of private road w/ limited areas to push snow and the rest of the drives and walks where "cramped" too.
I didn't burn bridges. just informed them that when their selection did not perform I would still be around.
I just don't get it; they had service issues w/ the guy at the current price so they think they're gonna get acceptable service from someone who's even cheaper than that? WTF?

[Phil Nilsson]

Tulsa says ... "What to your pro’s recommend?"

Tell the customer they usually get what they pay for ... low price followed by low quality, quick and dirty labor inputs when the underpriced LCO discovers he/she can't make money at the price.

[tulsa lawn guy]

Tulsa says ... "What to your pro’s recommend?"

Oops.. should read: "What do you pro's recommend?"

To think I was complaining about other folk's grammar...

I'm such a hypocritical ass!

[Jack D.]

Jack D. inc. has driven the scrubs from many subdivisions by lowballing. The lower prices have been easily compensated by the density of the accounts, better production & various add on services & sub-contract fees.

[Stephen M.]

Jack D. inc. has driven the scrubs from many subdivisions by lowballing. The lower prices have been easily compensated by the density of the accounts, better production & various add on services & sub-contract fees.

Lowballing the Lowballer? I never thought of that!!! A loss leader to add on services; what a novel idea.

I don't know if that would work for me; I hate losing money on anything.

[Seascape]

Go commercial and upscale residential. Scrubs cant hang in either.

Like Phil said,,, "Who do you want to compete with?"

[Phil Nilsson]

Take the path of "most" resistence. If you can get a customer with as little advertising as a door hanger, and assets consisting of a truck & trailer and a few mowers ... you will find yourself in a field of "anybody can do that" market. Aim much higher ... even if you have to partner with others on the big gigs ... at least you'll be making survival rates. Go after big accounts ... the bigger the better. Get rid of some of that comp but know you'll have to sell a ton of hours, invest in payroll & working cap & equip ... it's a numbers game and you'll have to know the numbers to play it ... BUT ... it leads to well over 6 figures in your pocket if you have the stomach for it. At the upper end the labor returns per hour go down so to make it you must absolutely know and control labor. You'd be surprised how many big gigs are only producing in the $30.00 to $35.00 per hour plus range and many, many are at around that magic number of $32.00 per hour produced. Labor Sales divided by man hours.

How low can you go?

Hours sold per season = ? ... X ... $ (aeisad*) = my take home check

If I sold 50,000 production hours and had only $5 bucks left per each hour sold for myself that's ... 50,000 X five bucks = $250,000 and you are probably doing 1.5 million in sales (roughly)

*After everything is said and done

[tulsa lawn guy]

Go commercial and upscale residential. Scrubs cant hang in either.

Sounds like a novel idea to me!

If I may ask, how do you market to these “upscale” clients??


At this point I’m getting rather desperate to drum-up some new business. I’m considering putting on my Polo shirt, complete with company logo, and going into small businesses to inquire about maintaining their property. Do you see a problem with this approach?

Of course, I wouldn’t solicit in such a “crude” fashion to the higher end residential customers. Perhaps direct mail would do the trick…

Thoughts?

[HicksGroundMgt]

tulsa it sounds like you should look into bni. Business Networking International, the idea behind it is to have people that are in business also to make money for you by selling your company before you even talk to the actual customer. i'm a firm believer in this approach seeing as its dividends have added another truck, another Z, and two more men and thats just to keep up. all that since august of last year. how'd you like to add $10, $20k,or more to your bottom line. look on line www.bni.com find a group near you and check it out.

[sharp]

you have to meet a lot of people.

they have to like you.

sales is a big part of the game, really the most important not the mowing.