[bricknblock]

recently I have been thinking about contacting larger landscape companies to check into the possibility of sub-contracting under them, I think this may be an avenue to help me expand my business as well as stay busier during the slow seasons....anyone have any experience with this concept, or opinion if this is something that may be worthwhile? Any responses would be appreciated, thanks

[Stonehenge]

I did hear of a company doing this locally for pond installs when they were newer. Seems every customer was claiming there were leaks (which almost always turned out to be evaporation), so they were farming it out.

Now that water features are pretty standard fare, you might consider following a similar format for something like erosion control, prairie installs, or some other area that's on the newer side, that other companies might not have mastered yet.

Also, just hitting them up to throw you a bone once in awhile wouldn't hurt, either.

[familyguy]

This is a long long story and I'm not very good with the fast typing so I'm going to condense it.

3 years ago we were subs for a guy who is a really good designer who had some really good commercial accounts. he had developed cancer and needed a buncha hard working younger guys to provide the maintenance for his three season flower installs on these large accounts.

figured a great learning experience + help to grow our business. this guy won many awards and really had these great clients eating out of his hand. or so we thought.

he really wasn't a very good business man so even though he was really good at the designs, he really pissed off the owners and us by not being accountable for his promises. He was so arrogant he felt he didn't need to do certain things that were in his contracts. For example he was to be on site 3 times each week for one of the jobs.

at one point he owed us 10k dollars and was 90 days overdue.

Here is the condensed part. He didn't share the right scope of work with us. We performed the scope we bid to him. 1x a week visit on that account for example. The clients began to wonder how it was that he could afford to hire another company to perform the work they were paying him to do. Also he was trying make money (way too much) off these cash cows as he put it. So, time goes on and the clients started to get pissed.

We bailed at the end of the season. He lost two of the 6 accounts to lower bidders.

Thing is, you really have to have well defined terms with the general contractor if you are going to be their sub.

That is the lesson we learned. When we use subs, for asphault driveways and irrigation systems for example, we are very clear what the terms are and we mark up the price according to industry standards. 18% was last years average according to Landscape Management magazine so we used 15-20% depending on the job.

Just make sure you get everything on paper. Are clear on all the terms. Have a mutually agreed upon scope of work. have terms of payment clearly defined.

IT IS REALLY EASY TO GET INTO THE GOOD BUDDY NOTHING ON PAPER ROUTINE! NOT A GOOD PATH TO GO DOWN!

That is my advice. Good luck.

[bricknblock]

appreciate the advice and point of views....something I'm willing to think about and check into a bit more before I move forward with it