Hi everyone and welcome to my Daily Lawn Blog.
Here, I will post daily on my experiences growing and developing the business.
Feel free to comment and I will always respond. Alternatively, feel free to and I will get back to you in form of a new blog post.
The most recent post appears directly below. Thanks for reading!
Q: I really love this website. I’m 19 yrs old and wanting to start up my own landscaping and lawncare business. You’ve answered all my questions but I’m just wondering what your spreadsheets look like for estimates, scheduling, etc.? If you would post something and let me know I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much.
A: Hey hows it going Trent? I am glad you like the site.
I do have one page, lawn mowing spreadsheet, that has a downloadable spreadsheet and gives more details on how I run the management end of the business. It is a few years dated now, I have much more advanced systems that I plan to update there is just so much information I need to put on this site and only so much time. Check back next spring and I will have added a lot more content over the window. Hope that link helps though.
Q: When you say that your service is close to $33.00 per customer…does that include both front lawn and back lawn. Or is this price just for the front? So for a standard lawn size with edging and let’s say they want both the back and the front done….what would be the average cost for this service…with no weeding. Thanks.
A: Hi Beverly. Yes $33.00 is what I calculated to be my average cost to mow the front and back lawn, trim the edges, and blow off the driveway and sidewalks.
Q: Is it illegal to put my name and my number on a magnetic sign on the side of my truck to try to get lawns to mow for the summer. I am in highschool
A: Not that I am aware of and I don’t see why it would be. I see many vehicles like that, our vehicles have our name and phone numbers on the side. It is a very good way to get started and get your name out there. Keep it up and try other lawn care business marketing ideas!
Q: Yes ive been really interested in starting my own lawn care business and am really interested in learing what all i really need 2 do to get this started? Heck i even came up with a catchy name as well. Was wondering if you could give me sum input or advice at what i need to do? Thanks Sean
A: Sean, please read my website. Start lawn mowing business.
Q: Where can I get (preferably download directly to my Mac) templates for (1) a lawn care service agreement and (2) a “construction” type contract for landscape work? Thanks.
A: I know this lawn care ebook has some templates outside of that I am not sure you’ll have to google it.
Q: Hi Justin,
A: Hi Lei
I actually saw this before briefly, but when you sent me the link I started looking into it a lot more.
I was ready to send out my pre-season letters and was already late on the ball, when I started looking into this.
It stressed me out a lot, for like 3 days because I couldn’t decide what to do. This was so much cheaper and the fact that you pointed out you could do direct debit made it an even harder decision.
I did extensive research on customers preferred payment channels etc, and I finally decided to stay with credit card even though it is much more expensive.
I found it was easier to set up and easier to use and more convenient for everyone, even though it will end up costing me thousands of dollars more. If I had not been in such a rush I might have made a different decision.
The credit card processing I have also works better with the software I have, but I am still on the edge about my decision but I am going to leave it be. I still may use electronic check since I signed up for this service to process checks instead of manually depositing them in the bank for customers who elect not to use credit card.
So thank you very much for your suggestion even though it drove me crazy!
Q: hi justin my name is rick im planning on starting my lawn care business this spring i am currently laidoff and collecting unemployment. im trying to decide whether to form a LLC or to do cash under the table the first year which i wouldnt be able to do tax writeoffs but i still want to collect unemployment do u have any knowledge in this area.
A: Hi Rick
Well first off, if you go legit and form an LLC, you are going to have to show some sort of income so you will have to report some of it. Also, if you form an LLC, you will not be able to collect unemployment because you will have a job. So I’m not sure exactly what you are looking to do but I guess I would need more information.
Q: Hey. Love your website. Me and a friend are running a crew down here in Dallas, Texas with about 65 yards right now. It was a small high school weekend business turned into a full time gig when we both realized we didn’t want to sit in an office building 40 hours a week. Anyways, last summer was our first real test of going full time, setting up the payroll, advertising, getting all the tax information straightened out etc, and I feel like you described everything we went through step by step. Right now we are still getting more yards, expanding and also entering new territory (installing sprinkler systems, and other projects). I feel like there are projects out there that are definitely worth doing (irrigation install etc) and stuff that isn’t worth doing (putting in fences). Did you ever try to expand past lawns? I don’t want to spread to thin with too many projects. And I was wondering if you have done any other projects that are definitely not worth doing. Right now lawns are our bread and butter. Also, where do you keep all of your equipment? We have a truck, trailer and lots of toro commercial mowers and equipment that we store at a local storage unit. This last winter we actually had warm enough weather to keep mowing a lot of yards. However there were a ton of leaves that we had to bag, with some yards taking us longer than an hour to clean up. Did you up your price past 5-10 dollars above the usual charge? Some of our 35 dollar yards we had to charge 70+ dollars just so we aren’t losing money with all the man hours worked. But like you said, you definitely need to have a feel for the owners personality before you start whipping out big numbers. Thanks!
A: Hey man. Glad you like the website and glad to hear things are going well for you.
I started out the same way, in high school, and only mowing lawns. I remember one customer asking me “really? that’s all you do? mow lawns??” and it was all I did. But as I am sure you have noticed people start requesting other services, so you end up taking them on.
And I kept doing that. People would request something, I would figure out how to do it, then offer that as an additional service. I have done a little bit of everything (not any irrigation yet) although I wanted to look into that this year. How did you learn irrigation? I am thinking about hiring a sub that knows how to do it and working in with him.
We have been very successful with fertilizing and are focusing on that which directly relates to irrigation. I think we have found our “niche” and I think you will too. I think you are right about not wanting to spread yourself too thin; you should find something you do best and make that what you are known for that differentiates you from your competition.
I have all enclosed trailers for that reason, storing equipment. I think it looks nicer, you can lock it up, and it keeps it protected from the elements. Right now to save $ I keep the equipment at my house during the winters. During the summers I try to encourage my employees to keep the trucks at their houses. They like it too because it is convenient for them.
Regarding the up charge for bagging, yes I charge more for leaves. A lot more. I was just talking about weekly mows with bagging.
Good luck!
Q: Hi, You can try Intuit’s online payment service to address the problem that you mentioned in your post collections of late payments. It cost you $20/month and $0.23/transaction for eCheck. Not a bad deal. (By the way, I am not affiliated with Intuit anyway.)
A: Hi Lei,
Thank you for the suggestion, I did actually look into this previously. It seems like a convenient service that keeps you from having to go to the bank, but in the end it doesn’t solve any collection issues. You still have to rely on the customer to mail in the check, so you still have to chase them for money. I elected to use credit card processing, so for new customers I mandate they put a credit card on file in order to commence service. This way I invoice the first of each month and I know I will get paid, and the next day. I am hoping this solves my cash flow issues.
Q: hi! thanks for all of your info. it has been so helpful. i am in the beginning stages of deciding to start a lawn mowing business. i have 2 questions. 1. how many lawns per day do you think a 2 person crew could cut per day? average residential lawns. 2. Can we be successful just offering lawn mowing? not mulching,fertilization ect. thanks so much for your input. Lisa
A: Hi Lisa, I am glad the website has been helpful for you.
To answer your question, we can do about $700 of lawns per day. Depending on the size, this equates to about 15-20 lawns per day (8 hours with 2 people). And yes, that is how I started, just lawn mowing! But customers will ask you to do more, and you can just tell them you don’t do that. The only problem is that they might search elsewhere to get this service done, and that other company they hire might also mow lawns. They may select to leave you and hire that person that can do their lawn and whatever else they are looking for. Some customers may only want their lawns cut and thats it (about 30% of our customers only want that). Good luck!
