Missouri

[YoungInnovations]

We are a company called Young Innovations. None of us have any business experience, well not none but little. We are simply a few rednecks that were hard up for money, posted an add on the craigs list to mow lawns with our junk mowers, and some how got a 60 plus yard a week contract in St. Louis. We had to register a business name, provide insurance, and get a workmans comp plan. We did it pullin it out of our buts off of 50 dollars in our packet to start and bad credit all around.

We are honest, were country, and we work our butss off. My buddy Brad has every thing in his name. I run everything else as for i am the only one who has any computer or sad but true knows how to spell simple words. I handle all emails, hiring, etc etc etc. You name it I am doing it. Brad just keeps tryin top get us work, and I make sure it is getting done.

I have lawn care experience from mowing to lawn and turf care. Can anyone just give us a little advice as to how to bid, and let alone look professional in and area were we got a contract that i found out yesterday every lawn care company in STL turned down cause of the area it is in. Since we have been on these yards we have incountered armed gangs and much more. I personally have a carry and conceal licence, so i carry each day we are there. Further one of our guys has had to have his dog tied to the truck to keep it from being stripped of all our POS tools we own. We actually went as far as hiring a UFC fighter to work with us due to the problems we are incountering. Fact of the matter is we need this contract to make it right now. But how can we go out and get better contracts and do things right???????????

Any information, advice or help is greatly appreciated.

[Steve]

Welcome to our forum.

It sounds like you have a lot going on over there!

When you are talking about contracts, what kind of contracts are you looking to get? Residential or commercial? What is the next step you would like to take your business to?

[arthur712]

Welcome to the Forum!

I just love the dog tied to the truck....

Thanx!
Artie

[YoungInnovations]

Ya the dog has helped keep away the gangs from our truck and our tools walking off. The last company worked this contract for a week and quit after they were robbed and stripped of all their tools. The black and tan coon hound that would not hurt a fly has saved us trouble the last few days.

To the other responce. Like I said we are new. We dont know much other than how to do a good job. We would like to get commercial and residentual contracts. I have experiance in both fields doing the labor as well as doing fert and weed control. That which i applied for a MO licence today. We just want advice on how to do things right, be honest and fair, but still make money. The contract we have now is holding us togeather. How can we go about getting contracts that will make us money, let us show what we have the ability to do, and make people say...hey call these guys they are awesome.

We just want to succeed, and we want to do this right.

[Steve]

Well the basics of it is, you need to figure out what your operating expenses are per hour. You need to then tack on a profit to that so your company can grow.

Play around with the free business calculators here (http://www.gopherforum.com/showthread.php?p=43299#post43299) and they should help you get an hourly rate you should be charging.

Once you know that, you then start to learn more about how long different jobs will take you. You break down a property into, how long will it take to cut, then trim and then whatever else you need to do.

There are a bunch of contract samples here (http://www.gopherforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34).

But ultimately how you get them is by getting to know people. Say for instance you want to start getting commercial fast food restaurants. Go in there and ask the manager who is in charge of property maintenance and contact them. Tell them you want to give them a bid to maintain their property. Same with apartment complexes. Find the manager and tell them you want to present them with a bid. Put something together and offer them your services.

How do you show them you can do the job? Take pictures of some of your current properties. Maybe show some before and after pics. Create a list of referrals new customers can call if they want to be reassured.

Does this help?

[YoungInnovations]

Yes that has helped. I have been on this site all day just reading and learning. Thanks for your time and this site.

[Steve]

If you have more questions feel free to ask. You can also use the search feature at top and check out my blog at http://www.lawnchat.com there is a ton of content on there too.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.