New Customer - Gettting Big!

[acrajchel]

So I just picked up a new customer. This one is exciting to me, and I wanted to brag, I mean share. Hahaha

I will doing the site cleanup, finish grading, sod installation, tree installation, and landscape installation for a high-end home builder. The houses go for $400k-$800k and are located in the nicest area in town.

The builder said he has been so impressed with my work, that he isn't going to have his workers do any of this and just let me do it all. Previously, his workers would do as many houses as they could and I would pick up what they couldn't get to. Now I am going to do them all. He generally builds 12-20 houses a year, but recently won Builder of the Year and expects to get a lot busier now.

On top of this, some houses will have additional work done, such as retaining walls, irrigation systems, drainage systems, etc. And I get to attend the final walk through with the home buyer and present them with upsells for after the sale of the house. I am going to offer them things like lawn maintenance, chemical applications, irrigation system if they didn't get one in the build, upgrade their landscaping (the builder just puts in a standard builder pack of 10 shrubs and 2 trees), and landscape maintenance.

I have talked to several contractor friends in the home building industry and everyone says this builder always pays and pays well.

Wish me luck, I'm going to be busy!

[Steve]

That is fantastic news!

Have you ever considered getting into building homes as well or would that not be something that would interest you?

[acrajchel]

That is fantastic news!

Have you ever considered getting into building homes as well or would that not be something that would interest you?

No not my thing. I like what I do now, just want to grow this part of it.

[Steve]

What is your view now on the current state of the economy? Do you feel we will see more new homes being built this year and more landscape work out there on these properties?

[acrajchel]

What is your view now on the current state of the economy? Do you feel we will see more new homes being built this year and more landscape work out there on these properties?

The neighborhood this builder is developing in was partially developed about 10 years ago, and then work stopped. In the last year it has started back up. He is not the original developer, but bought the lots of the original.

So I guess they are seeing an upswing in the economy, as these are high end, luxury homes. This builder also won the Builder of the Year award for the area and placed 1st in 8 categories for the competition. The weekend after they won, they had almost 1000 people come through their model home. So they are expecting to start building even more at a faster pace. They don't build a house and then have it sit for 6 months, they wait until they have a buyer lined up, so with more potential buyers interested in them, that means more houses going up.

It seems that at least in my area (Central KY), people are starting to relax a little more with their money and are starting to want additional services beyond basic mowing. They are increasing mowing frequency (2 weeks to 1 week), adding landscaping, and chemical apps, so the economy appears to be heading the right way, at least in this region.