jhinton
09-22-2012, 10:05 PM
Hello,
My name is Joseph. I have been lurking here for a few weeks reading the forums. I plan on starting a property care company in southern AL in the next month or so. My goal is to be a one stop shop for property management, upkeep, and repairs. My targeted customers are out of state owners, and investors/landlords, while also offering my serves to local owner occupied customers. My initial focus will be solely on the lawn care section of the business as I believe it will be easier to get my foot in the door through that route. The management part will take longer to build a presence and establish cliental.
I have very little experience doing lawn care except for mowing, trimming and edging my own lawn and what I have read and watched on youtube :) I also have no experience managing rental property except for one rental that I own in the same area, but I have also read extensively on that as well. I grew up doing construction with family, so the small demolition/rehab work and repairs I will be fine with. My father is now on disability, so he has offered me full use of all of his larger equipment (Dump truck, trailers, tractors etc.) I will need to buy a mower or two as well as trimers, a s blower and an edger.
I have enough capital to purchase all the needed equipment and provide overhead and living expenses for the next 6 months, which leaves about 4K for marketing and advertising. Any advise or insight into what I plan would be very much appreciated! I also have some questions.
1. When the county or city condemns a building, is there a way to find out who has received a notice? I had an older mobile home condemned a few years back (I was deployed to Iraq and already planning to have it taken down) and was in a rush to find someone to demolish it for me. If I could get a list of who all in my area has received similar notices, I could follow that up with direct mail offering my demolition and debris removal services.
2. With the direct mail response rate so low (.02%-.2%), I could very well be averaging $45-$50 spent in marketing per customer. With that in mind, what would you think about offering a free cut so the potential customer can see your work first hand as an advertising ploy? Or maybe even a half off cut? I am also thinking about working out a trade with a local bank or smaller office to do their grounds in exchange for the ability to put a sign on the property. Something similar to "This property maintained by (my company name) and include a phone number.
I have more questions but I will wait to post them so this post does not get any longer.
My name is Joseph. I have been lurking here for a few weeks reading the forums. I plan on starting a property care company in southern AL in the next month or so. My goal is to be a one stop shop for property management, upkeep, and repairs. My targeted customers are out of state owners, and investors/landlords, while also offering my serves to local owner occupied customers. My initial focus will be solely on the lawn care section of the business as I believe it will be easier to get my foot in the door through that route. The management part will take longer to build a presence and establish cliental.
I have very little experience doing lawn care except for mowing, trimming and edging my own lawn and what I have read and watched on youtube :) I also have no experience managing rental property except for one rental that I own in the same area, but I have also read extensively on that as well. I grew up doing construction with family, so the small demolition/rehab work and repairs I will be fine with. My father is now on disability, so he has offered me full use of all of his larger equipment (Dump truck, trailers, tractors etc.) I will need to buy a mower or two as well as trimers, a s blower and an edger.
I have enough capital to purchase all the needed equipment and provide overhead and living expenses for the next 6 months, which leaves about 4K for marketing and advertising. Any advise or insight into what I plan would be very much appreciated! I also have some questions.
1. When the county or city condemns a building, is there a way to find out who has received a notice? I had an older mobile home condemned a few years back (I was deployed to Iraq and already planning to have it taken down) and was in a rush to find someone to demolish it for me. If I could get a list of who all in my area has received similar notices, I could follow that up with direct mail offering my demolition and debris removal services.
2. With the direct mail response rate so low (.02%-.2%), I could very well be averaging $45-$50 spent in marketing per customer. With that in mind, what would you think about offering a free cut so the potential customer can see your work first hand as an advertising ploy? Or maybe even a half off cut? I am also thinking about working out a trade with a local bank or smaller office to do their grounds in exchange for the ability to put a sign on the property. Something similar to "This property maintained by (my company name) and include a phone number.
I have more questions but I will wait to post them so this post does not get any longer.