turfscapes

[turfscapes]

Hello, been in buisness for 10 plus years. Not new to lawn care but have been in a 3-4 year transition from larger contracts. (ex parks, public housing) I am now just seeking small commercial and residental clients. I did some work for this type of customer all a long but consentrated on the larger contracts, so it was almost like starting over with just a few. I have slowly been adding new clients and currently have 25- 30 and hope to be around 40 by the end of next season. Thanks and good luck to all this year!

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome to our forum! This is very fascinating. It seems usually most new lawn care business owners try to get where you are. Can you give us some insight into why you are trying to get out of offering services to such clients and want to scale it down? What have you found to be the pros and cons of working for such clients?

__________________
- 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.

[turfscapes]

Good question Steve. The reason for the switch to smaller contracts is the stresses of bidding on those larger contracts. The costs are always rising yet you would see companies coming in with very low bids. I no longer wanted to compete with them. I have no regrets going in a different direction! The public sector is all about the costs.The clients that I work for now want quality as well as fair pricing.

[Steve]

Very interesting!

What's your view on why it seems so many lawn care business owner want so badly to get such large customers when the reality of it is, they just aren't that good to have?

Why is there such a misconception?

[turfscapes]

I am not saying that large contracts are not good. I as a small buisness just could not or did not want to keep playing with numbers when bidding season starts to get these contracts. It seems their is always an eager company trying to land the big jobs and coming in with low numbers. Some so low that you know there is no profit there. I have found that with residential and small commercial clients i can better forecast my next season. I do make less money but their is also much less overhead.

[Steve]

I do wonder if each geographic area is different on this and in each area there is a sweet spot where you can get the most profit out of servicing a certain sized property.