[JROD]

Hello,
I have been browsing the forums for a while but this is my 1st post on the forums. I'm currently a student majoring in horticulture/landscape design. I'm in the process of business planning at the moment. I'm currently taking a small business management class and have an assignment that I need some help on.

Here is my assignment.

Your task is to interview a small business owner or manager. At a minimum, ask them what it's like running a small business, the biggest problems they have encountered, how they deal with red tape and government regulations, and at least one other question of your choice.

As far as my question, I'm really interested in the most profitable services and am also interested in workers comp/insurance issues.

Thanks for the help and I would appreciate any comments.

[MAXX]

i'm sure someone here with more experience will help you.

[Matt Kulp]

As far as your question about the most profitable service, I think you will get different answers from everyone. Meaning, what is very profitable for one company may be a dog for others. Commercial or residential, maintenance or construction, what part of the country, what size company, are just a few questions you have to define before I think you will get the answers your looking for. For the second question, here are some of the main issues we deal with when it comes to Work comp/insurance issues:
-Sufficient coverage for our company
-Employee training to prevent on the job injuries
-Cost of the insurance itself
-Support given from your agent

[johnkeegan]

Depends on how you want to define "profitable."
Most profitable per man hour is design/install. But it's harder to grow beyond a certain size with design/install due to a limited number of "craftsman" and the personal, detail-oriented work those customers demand gets harder to control as you grow and lose "control."
Wereas, the maintenance end is more (though not totally) cost sensitive and impersonal, especially on the commercial level, and the sheer volume of work will get you more gross sales if you're willing to properly train an army of workers (i.e. Hispanics workers) and arm them with mowers, weedeaters and hedge trimmers. And, that way, you can get a greater profit through sheer volume.
Also, initially the maintenance end may be more profitable because creating a truly efficent, high-profit, design/build team requires a larger investment, with $40K skidsteers, excavators and larger trucks. At first it's a little tight but once the equipment is paid off and the better jobs begin rolling in, you can begin to see the long term benefit.
I don't know if it is easier or harder to attain that maximum profitability with design/install or maintenance (probably a mix). It probably depends on your personality and what you want to pursue as your "dream company."

[Mac]

I dare say that my most profitable service is snow and ice management. However, that is highly volatile and may not even happen in a given year.

[martinjohn]

Snow is a big profit center for us also if it happens like you said

[johnkeegan]

He's in zone 8. My guess is snow removal would definately be a unique "niche" market there.

[JROD]

Thanks guys! I appreciate all of the help. I was able to use the information to complete my assignment. I know that some of the questions I asked were going to different in certain areas and such but I was just curious as to what was the most profitable in your market. I don't have anything left on my assignment but there are other aspects I would like your opinion on.

For some background info about me. I'm a senior majoring in Landscape Design/Ornamental Horticulture w/ a minor in business. I have worked at nurseries, landscaping companies, and now the construction of a golf course. I'm a member of IA and ALCA. I'm an IA certified auditor and plan on getting certified in irrigation design though IA next year. I also plan on taking the ISA exam next year to become a certified arborist.

I have a wide range of interest in the business as you can probably tell. My main interest are design, construction, irrigation, nursery, and tree care(small scale). This is kind of a problem because I am not sure which would be the best way to begin as a business or if they would be best ran as a single business.

For example, Would it be best to run an irrigation company as a single service or merge the service with a design/build company? I know everybody is going to have a different opinion but that is what I would like to hear.


I know many businesses where I am from are often design/build with a retail nursery. What are your opinions on this type of setup?

I know that overhead is a huge expense, so I'm also interested to hear how many of you work out of home? Or do you have a store-front? I read the book by Entrepreneur magazine called, "How to start a lawn care or landscaping business" or something like that. They highly recommended keeping the business home based but it also seemed like most of the companies interviewed in the book were very small businesses with the owner being the only worker or having only a few employees. While I understand I will be working on the job-site, I also plan on hiring employees to do the majority of the back-breaking work and for me to focus on the design and business side of the business. I understand where the book was coming from but I believe it would be difficult to run the business out of the home for certain reasons. Feel free to give me your opinions.

Thanks again!