Hello

[baglady]

Hello all. My husband and I have been in the business for about six years. We have really only done stuff for friends, co-workers, etc. Last year we actually advertised and gained 30 residential customers. My husband is excellent at this landscaping business and would one day like to do it full time. We are trying to establish business credit which has been very difficult. Also how does one get on a bidding list for commercial contracts. All the residiential contracts are great but we would like to land two major business contracts for now. We are located in Maryland. We have gotten an EIN number but no license as of yet. I guess we need to know exactly how to legally set up the company and get commercial contracts. I am loving helping my husband out it is so much fun and very relaxing. It gives us time to spend together. Any suggestions are welcome. Is there a place to find used equipment?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Hello, Welcome to our forum. If you are looking to get on commercial bid lists we have some free letters you can use to send out check out the link here. What got you interested in starting your own lawn care business? Have you ever run any other kind of business before?

__________________
- Subscribe to my Lawn Care Marketing Blog Feed and get daily tips sent to you. Free!
Download your Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software.

Hello welcome aboard.

If there is anything feel free to ask. Check out our skypecast. 1 coming up on april 9th

[baglady]

Not sure how to reply to each one seprate. Thanks for your support. How did we get started. My husband has always worked in the lawn growing up. He was really good at flowerbeds and mowing. As an adult by trade he is a Correctional Officer and for the first 6 years he was responsible for the landscaping at the institution he worked at. He has always done landscaping on the side (mowing, flowerbed, mulching, cutting down trees etc). We just really realized that we could do this full time if we put the right efforts into and do it right. I just started really working with him last season and I really enjoy. We would like for him to be able to leave his 9-5 and do the landscaping full time. We just have to have all our ducks in a row. We also own 5 acres in Maryland so we are going to get a portion of that fixed up really nice so we can invite folks to see our yard as advertising. I also want to take some classes so that I am knowledgable of all the things I need to know. I have an MBA so I have some business sense just really need to put it into to practice. This is an excellent website. I also may have a really good resource. One of my girlfriends just got a job with a Landscaping Company in sales. This company will not even look at contracts that are less than $10,000.00 with that said any that they turn down she is going to route them to us.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]One of my girlfriends just got a job with a Landscaping Company in sales. This company will not even look at contracts that are less than $10,000.00 with that said any that they turn down she is going to route them to us.

I bet she will be a great resource. Has she given you any hints or pointers on reaching out to potential customers? Or closing the deal? Or even lawn care business advice?

It is good to have an 'in' with a larger landscape company...so good job. Also eBay is an option when looking for used equipment.

We have done a lot of talking about acquiring commercial/condo clients. About a year or so ago Steve put together a large post about everyones comments on how they get commercial clients and what to do. Steve, can you link to that?

[baglady]

Thanks for your responses. She has not given me any pointers as of yet. She has only been on the job for a week. I am trying to develop a list of questions that she needs to ask and things she needs to be on the look out for.

I am really excited. I do often check e-bay as well.