[NC Lawnscapes]

TRUE Glan but I use an Installer who has no desire to do maintene and In fact he is also my nurseryman and He sends me more maintence work than I could ever send him Install jobs.

I am a one or 2 man op depending on the time of year and weather or not My help has quit (like last week) and I have enough sense not to take on a job that I cant handle so For me it works out Great but for a maintenance crew that has 5 or more employees it may not be in there best intrest to Sub out anything short of a parking lot

[MIKE MC]

I would use a half ton truck(5000.00) and a light trailer(1500.00) for better fuel mileage. But i would spended a little more and buy a zero turn mower maybe a 52 with a 20 hp for (7500.00) to start with because you will end up with one anyway because one will out mow two walk behinds by the end of the day,one small belt walkbehind, (2500), blowers(300), trimmers (600), hedge trimmer(350), edger(350) , a bagger (300) to pick grass up when needed, cheap push mower hopefully not used much (250). Around 19,000. Most people who have there lawn mowed also have someone do the fert. I would also do that will you are there. stay in as small of an area as you can to reduce drive time which will be hard because of the reason that you are expanding into this , but if you get another hardscape job out of it I think it may be worth it.

[Bill Schwab]

Unless people in your area value maintenance services so you can get the price your service is worth to support a well trained, conscientious crew, no amount of money would get me to begin maintenance.

In our area, many talk the talk, they are all sick of the service they get from Juan Valdez and his illegal alien workers, and, in the same breathe, when you bid what it costs to do the job right, they all gasp. So, the question has to be asked "Do people value the services we provide?" and Will they pay what that service is worth without major time invested selling them on that service?

Until we put a wall along the gulf of Mexico to our western shore, it will never be worth going into maintenance in our area, at least in my opinion..

[Lanelle]

One way to expand is to do the 'gardening' part of the maintenance, if you don't want to mow. This is a hort. service that can be sold with the new install. Tell the customer what your standard plant warranty is and then tell them that you'll extend it another year or two if they sign up for your maintenance service. Only problem is that its hard to keep a crew busy without doing the mowing. Here, there are companies that just do estate gardening. In fact there is a company that operates a gardener referral service, matching up estate owners with small gardening companies.

[Lanelle]

To answer your original question: I would expect a two-man crew to generate $120K revenue in mowing and related maintenance for the first year or two.

[spiderlily]

We only do lawn if there are gardens to take care of, too. We used to just do just the gardens, but it's nice to be able to offer a whole maintenance package.

We charge the same hourly rates for maintenance that we charge for install. I know you couldn't get away with that in some markets, but I am sure glad we can.

[GLAN]

Bill

Your post just above is a true fact......What you describe is exactly what I have been facing the last couple years. It has become more difficult acquiring new customers...........not impossible, just not at a growing rate I was accustomed to.


The area I am in has become saturated with LCO's. On any given street that may have 30 homes. There can be as many as 10 - 15 different LCO's. Of that there are only 2 or 3 realy reputable landscapers and from one year to the next you can see the change over of fly by night companies.

But yet..........the legit, reputable company is not gaining all the much.

Pricing has stagnated..........Weekly charges are devalued by about 25%. However...........some of that can be made up on other services. Provided you are doing full service......Spring - fall cleanup. Lawn applications, shrub trimming. Enhancements via annuals, perennials and so on.


As bad a picture I am portraying......Name recognition, reputation and logevity is in my favor and is the only thing that allows me to maintain a pricing level that is above most. And I can maintain consitent customer base and some growth

[GroundKprs]

GLAN has important point above in the stability of maintanance work in lean economic times. But many of the landscapers now in maintanance do it grudgingly because they feel they are forced into it by this reality. Maintanance section of most full svs biz's is the grunt division, the entry level job. Can be a good thing and a bad. Expect high turnover, but a finding good person could be a welcome addition to a growing landscape branch.

Unless you really work at high end of clientelle, expect lesser ROI on maintenance division. Avg ROI on maint is 10%, landscape is usually 15%, with high end companies going up to 20%+.

I made a conscious decision to be in maintenance only 25 years ago when I started in the trade. The basic reason was the stability of work. Plants don't care what the economy is doing, they grow and need care. But that $1K or $100K install or modification can wait if cash flow is down at home or at the office.

If you are already in high end, and they are asking for maintenance services, with a good plan you can make an easy go of it. It took me 10 years of being just in maintenance to achieve the reputation, but since then I have signed maintenance contracts of double the fees of the previous contractor, simply because the client had observed that the appearance of my properties matched his perceptions for his property.

Another big plus for maintenance is the exposure of company name. A 2-man landscape crew tied up on a big install for a month only gets exposure on one block, and their work might not even be visible to the passerby. A 2-man maint crew would have continuing exposure on 20-60 locations each week. And because of the regular contact, my clients often ask my recommendation on other landscape services. Your crew would of course recommend their sister branch.

[Dale Wiley]

Market conditions often determine how your business will be structured.

A local company has done an excellent job of providing very high quality services at competitive prices. Very structured and organized. Profitable.

We bid maintenance jobs at the same rate as construction jobs, as that is our dollar cost / income averaging model we use. The clients have no idea how it is based or cacaluated. With a very scripted and repititious system, we average over $ 43 per man hour, or more than 30%. This will include our residential, commercial and municipal work.

Being very organized is key to being profitable in maintenance. Estimating is a no brainer, its all about the square feet.

We have about 20% total maintenance work right now, and thats fine with me.

[eboo57]

STICK TO THE HIGH END HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS. MOST OF THESE CUSTOMERS WANT NOTHING BUT THE BEST. THEY ARE NOT LOOKING FOR THE CHEAPEST BID.
QUALITY, PROFESSIONAL SERVICE. WHEN SOMETHING NEEDS DONE, NO PHONE CALL SHOULD HAVE TO BE MADE BY THE CLIENT.
CUTTING TURF IS A NECESSARY EVIL TO GET MOST MAINT. CONTRACTS.
BID WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR % OF PROFIT AND IF YOU GET IT GREAT, IF NOT YOU WON'T BE SPINNING YOUR WHEELS FOR NOTHING

[NeedCoffee]

This is a great thread. It should be copied to the "Starting a LC biz" forum.
Anyway, does anybody have a sample Full Maintenance Contract I can look at (not just mowing/edging)? You can PM me with it.
Thanks in advance,
ET

[Dale Wiley]

The key to successfull maintenance is consistency of service and repetition of the service the same way every time.

Maintenance should be so scripited that you arrive at the same spot, the same day every week of the year.

We have specification sheets that describe the service, we have frequency sheets that list the frequency of the service, we have consistent paper work, billing.

Extras are added on and performed by a special works team at our schedule.

[Rob Shauger]

How many things can you have the guys do when they drop the gate? How about adding applications in there too. This will bump upi your margins a great deal. Now add Tree/Shrub Spraying and then perimeter pest control. You talking an extra 30 minutes per stop and a whole lot of extra revenue.

Just a thought.