[narrowhead]

I owned my own landscaping company for about 2 years. We have offered basic yard cleanups along with patios and walkways. This year, we have decided to venture into mowing. What is the best way to do this if I am going to hire workers to mow for me.

[PSUscaper]

I would think a good start would be to target any of your past and all of your future construction clients. It seems logical that people who hired you once would be willing to hire you again, or in the future. Plus, they paid your price before, so they would be more willing to do it again.

I often think about the idea of adding mowing only because it seems like half the customers I have worked for ask if I know anyone who mows.

But, then I remember the number of times I am working on a project, talking with the client, and in the distance another company is mowing their lawn. Its amazing how many of my clients say 'do you know these guys are only charging me x dollars for the lawn!', and then they also say, 'they asked if they could do the landscaping, but we would rather have someone more qualified for that job'......is almost like a little joke going on. I usually say somethig like I wouldn't mow it for twice that price, and they agree I shouldn't either!

I just don't know what my feelings are. I know a few of my clients would probably pay the price I would want, but not sure if I could find enough of them to make it worth my while and be worth taking away from construction time.

If anything, maybe it would be worth starting it up very slowly. Just take on accounts that I did the install work at. People that are adjusted to my pricing and people that want the same quality. Then, over time, I would develop a very nice mowing route, with good customers. Maybe only a few a year, but over say 5 years, it could turn into a very nice maintenance business.

I would say the key is to either start with high quality, low volume, or go all out and max volume, low quality....but that wouldn't work for me.

[Pelican]

My maintenance side does just slightly better than breaking even. Around here, there are a lot of guys who come home from their regular job and go mowing part time. No insurance, no sales tax, no worker's comp. Tough to compete with and make a buck.

I strive to do better work than these guys can and provide full service. Even so, there's not a lot of money to be had. I look as my maintenance crew as a marketing tool, it gets my lettered truck out in neighborhoods on a regular basis plus we get landscape work from regular accounts. The grounds crew brings in higher quality work.

[mrusk]

PSU nailed it. I am out doing working on million dollar homes. I can not belive the rates people are paying for lawns. 45 bucks for what i'd charge 80 for. Guee what? They do a GREAT job for 45 bucks.

I was out in another devlopment last week. A flyer was sticking off the mail box flag with 35 bucks written on it!


The only reason to get into mowing is for steady income. But if i was looking for guranteed work, i'd most likely look into doing pesicde applications.

It would be nice to have like 2/ 2.5 days of mowing. So then you could have 2 guys taking care of that, and then bring them in at the parts of the construction jobs, where extra hands are needed.

Whats funny is, that i got 6 lawns still. I think i will fire them all except the one i can ride my mower down the street to. I hate mowing and have my hands filled with so much other stuff,

[4seasons]

I work with a buddy of mine who does mowing, he seems to do really well. I get any leads on mowing and pass them on to him. He'll get a lead on landscaping and usually pass it on if he doesn't think he can handle it. Or he'll sub me out. Sometimes one or the other wants a big subdivision or something-- He'll mow I'll take care of the landscape so we don't have to max ourselves out.

[GLAN]

Today........there is no money in cutting grass........the profit margin for that particular service has tanked....and I don't see much recovery in the future...

What makes up for grass cutting is doing other maintenence services along with cutting........As in.........spring/fall cleanups, shrub trimming, chemical apps, etc.......

Consider grass cutting as your loss leader.

I can only speak for my market area..........other parts of the country might fair better with lawn cutting.

people around me advertise weekly maintenance at prices I charged 15 years ago..........and it hasn't gone up much since.....not enough considering overhead and cost of living.

[Greensmith]

I have to echo the sentiments, I know I bash grass cutters a lot here but there is just no money. Like Mrusk said to much competition and very little chance of bringing in money. People charge 40$ for half acre lots around me. Sheit, It would take a good crew just that in labor costs to get it done right.

Forget it.

[Nebraska]

There IS money to be made mowing lawns.

[mrusk]

I just don't think a 3 man mowing crew will ever generate as much money as a 3 man hardscape crew.

[dan deutekom]

I think there is money to be made in mowing but the only way it can be done is to be super efficient. It is kind of like McDonalds. Their food items are cheap but they pump a heck of a lot of them efficiently. You either have to be a one man show working part time with no overhead or you have to put everything into it with truck, trailer and good equipment. Tight routing, and no mucking about. Still in our area I think it is hard to make a living in a 20 week season.

[TrickyDick]

As far as I can tell there are two ways people make money in maintenance.

1. Mow a lot of stuff fast. Low prices but lot's of work. Quantity over quality for customers who care less about how well it's done then the fact that they don't have to do it themselves.

2. Full service, high quality work. Mowing, pesticides apps, gardening, tree work, etc. Focus on clients who appreciate superior service and are willing to pay for it. Fewer clients, high margins and minimum job sizes so you don't lose time driving around all day. That is what we TRY to do and it is nice to go into spring with 30-40% of your target revenue covered by long time clients.

Everything in between seems like a waste of time to me. Too much competition.

I just don't think a 3 man mowing crew will ever generate as much money as a 3 man hardscape crew.

Maybe...maybe not, but there is something to be said for having those three guys scheduled everyday from April through November without you having to worry about selling more work for them to do. Maintenance has its share of headaches but compared to construction once you are set up with some decent equipment and a decent foreman a maintenance crew can almost run on autopilot when you need it to.

[mrusk]

The real money in mowing is made by the guys who just do it part time illegally!


But if your doing high end full service clients, on yearly contracts, it CAN be a a decent business. I just hate mowing. When all i did was mow, all i would do was think only 8 more, only 7 more, etc. Like it was a rat race.

Now i just want to do like 4 construction jobs a year!

[prapoza]

There is money in anything and everything. We do the high-end residential full service route. We have 2.5 full time (2 man) mow crews that produced slightly over $200K last year; thats $45/man hour. The nice thing about mowing is once you set it up and have a quality monitoring system in place it's the same every week. Those crews do not need a lot of attention. They know where they are going and what they are doing every day.
I love construction, it where my passion for this business is but it has to be sold anew every year. Mowing and maintenance is renewed every year. That is why maintenance companies sell for so much more than construction companies do.
___________
Paul

[TrickyDick]

I just hate mowing

Me too. But I like other people mowing and me getting money for it.

[narrowhead]

I like what I am hearing with mowing. I am going to take it slow. Work with my past customers. Last year, when I was not offering mowing, I turned down about 200 mowing calls (just calls), I hope that I can group my mowing (location), find cheap labor, and make some money. Thanks for the info.