Anyone pack up and move shop?

[LawnBoy0311]

This year may be my last year where we live. I REALLY hope it is....I hate this area!!!!! So anyway, here is my question....any input would be great. Has anyone packed up and moved...starting from scratch again? How did it work for you? Did you save up some cash to start fresh full time or did you ease into it part time while rebuilding? I know the 2 areas are a lot different, but I'll be fine with pricing and all that. A mower with a bigger deck will be needed too. My main worry is starting from scratch and saving enough cash to live off of and afford a hefty amount of advertising to get my name out there as quickly as I can. The move won't happen till probably some time next year, but I NEED to get a gameplan in place and get everything lined up to make it as easy as it can be...(not like it will be easy at all!) Any advice or input would be awesome!

[smallstripeslawncare]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by LawnBoy0311 This year may be my last year where we live. I REALLY hope it is....I hate this area!!!!! So anyway, here is my question....any input would be great. Has anyone packed up and moved...starting from scratch again? How did it work for you? Did you save up some cash to start fresh full time or did you ease into it part time while rebuilding? I know the 2 areas are a lot different, but I'll be fine with pricing and all that. A mower with a bigger deck will be needed too. My main worry is starting from scratch and saving enough cash to live off of and afford a hefty amount of advertising to get my name out there as quickly as I can. The move won't happen till probably some time next year, but I NEED to get a gameplan in place and get everything lined up to make it as easy as it can be...(not like it will be easy at all!) Any advice or input would be awesome! I'm currently in Charlotte, NC and was very close to pulling the trigger to move myself and my family (wife and two kids) to the coast of NC. I'm a surfer at heart and love the beach and have always wanted to move to the coast since I was very little. I had enough saved up for about one years worth of rent/bills and enough advertisement to get my name somewhat out there. I did tons of research on the area and the market for lawn care, common grass types, pricing, etc...At the time I was hauling a 36in walk behind and a 4X7 trailer with a 1983 BMW 320I car and it needed a clutch bad and a few others things. I pretty much had to choose to buy a truck and not move (I wouldn't have enough for one years rent/bills/advertisement) or fixing my car and still not having quite as much as we needed and trying to work with faith that I would get enough lawns to make up for it and be okay. I knew it looked pretty bad hauling with my car and it was really straining the car (car was like a third child to me) and so I bought the truck and decided we wouldn't be moving this year. I still want to move but my wife owns a photography business and she's very successful in Charlotte and I'm decently successful in Charlotte so we would be moving starting over and taking a big risk of it not working out just because I want to move to the beach and live my dreams which is a little selfish when I have kids in the equation. Now if I was single I'd already be at the beach. I'd live in my truck until I had work lol.

[willshome]

If I was thinking about moving I would 4 to 6 months before moving I would setup a phone number "local" and a website. I would then list them all over the web this would give them time to raise in rank. If any one does call just say your booked up for the next few months

[LawnBoy0311]

Smallstripes- I'm moving to eastern NC from MD. So the climate change isn't too bad, just a few degrees warmer and more rain in the summer months.

Will thats a dang good idea. We have some time before the house will be built. We just bought the land last July. The 7 acres we have will be enough for a house and equipment....which will make things MUCH easier! I think its an awesome idea to set up a website and get my name out there. Also enough time to get a good website developed....this I have no idea how to do!!

[smallstripeslawncare]

Originally Posted by LawnBoy0311

Smallstripes- I'm moving to eastern NC from MD. So the climate change isn't too bad, just a few degrees warmer and more rain in the summer months.

Will thats a dang good idea. We have some time before the house will be built. We just bought the land last July. The 7 acres we have will be enough for a house and equipment....which will make things MUCH easier! I think its an awesome idea to set up a website and get my name out there. Also enough time to get a good website developed....this I have no idea how to do!!

Where in eastern NC are you moving to? I'm pretty familiar with the coastal area's since I'm a surfer. Your biggest change will be the grass type. In MD I guarantee your cutting a cool season grass (fescue, etc...). The coastal areas of NC are warm season grasses and there's a lot of centipede, bahia, and most golf courses have zoysia or bermuda grass and some high end communities have zoysia (probably emerald variety). Research all you can about the types of grass you will be cutting. Centipede is a slow growing grass and is very low maintenance so a lot of people may only want it cut bi-weekly and you won't be able to sell a lot of turf applications.

Also its a hard market to get into being right near the coast because a lot of homes are vacation homes for people and it may be hard to get a hold of the home owners to set up taking care of their property. Also rentals are big at the coast and they're usually managed by one lawn company if they're with a realty that rents them out for the home owner. If your farther inland then it may be a little different. Wilmington is a college town (UNCW) and a lot are college kids that rent a house and split the rent and you may be able to market to them if your going to move near wilmington but keep in mind they may not want weekly service since either the grass doesn't grow that fast (centipede) but also they probably don't care that much about the lawn.

Either way though you'll be fine just have plenty saved up and learn about the grass types.

[Sprinkler Buddy]

Originally Posted by willshome

If I was thinking about moving I would 4 to 6 months before moving I would setup a phone number "local" and a website. I would then list them all over the web this would give them time to raise in rank. If any one does call just say your booked up for the next few months

Take their name and # and tell them you'll call them when an opening becomes available. If they would like.

[LawnBoy0311]

Originally Posted by smallstripeslawncare

Where in eastern NC are you moving to? I'm pretty familiar with the coastal area's since I'm a surfer. Your biggest change will be the grass type. In MD I guarantee your cutting a cool season grass (fescue, etc...). The coastal areas of NC are warm season grasses and there's a lot of centipede, bahia, and most golf courses have zoysia or bermuda grass and some high end communities have zoysia (probably emerald variety). Research all you can about the types of grass you will be cutting. Centipede is a slow growing grass and is very low maintenance so a lot of people may only want it cut bi-weekly and you won't be able to sell a lot of turf applications.

Also its a hard market to get into being right near the coast because a lot of homes are vacation homes for people and it may be hard to get a hold of the home owners to set up taking care of their property. Also rentals are big at the coast and they're usually managed by one lawn company if they're with a realty that rents them out for the home owner. If your farther inland then it may be a little different. Wilmington is a college town (UNCW) and a lot are college kids that rent a house and split the rent and you may be able to market to them if your going to move near wilmington but keep in mind they may not want weekly service since either the grass doesn't grow that fast (centipede) but also they probably don't care that much about the lawn.

Either way though you'll be fine just have plenty saved up and learn about the grass types.

Ya I'm pretty familiar with NC. I was stationed in Jacksonville, we used to hang out at Surf City and Wilmington. Thats actually the reason my wife and I want to go back. I swore I would never go back to NC, but I really miss it! We bought land in Beaufort County, so I'll be staying in that area. Jacksonville wouldn't even be close to my service area, let alone wilmington!!! There's plenty of houses around, but my service area would be spread out further. I'd have to cut a bunch of small commercial accounts too, so a good game plan should set me up (hence the reason for the thread).

MD is pretty much all fescue, my town has some zoysia here and there...how is it cutting bahia?

[smallstripeslawncare]

Originally Posted by LawnBoy0311

Ya I'm pretty familiar with NC. I was stationed in Jacksonville, we used to hang out at Surf City and Wilmington. Thats actually the reason my wife and I want to go back. I swore I would never go back to NC, but I really miss it! We bought land in Beaufort County, so I'll be staying in that area. Jacksonville wouldn't even be close to my service area, let alone wilmington!!! There's plenty of houses around, but my service area would be spread out further. I'd have to cut a bunch of small commercial accounts too, so a good game plan should set me up (hence the reason for the thread).

MD is pretty much all fescue, my town has some zoysia here and there...how is it cutting bahia?

I'm a little familiar with Beaufort county but more with the coastal areas. New bern isn't too far from beaufort. I'm in Charlotte and we have mainly fescue and bermuda grass for the most part so I'm not familiar with bahia but from the research I did when we were planning to move its not that bad. I really wish we would of been able to move.

[LawnBoy0311]

Originally Posted by smallstripeslawncare

I'm a little familiar with Beaufort county but more with the coastal areas. New bern isn't too far from beaufort. I'm in Charlotte and we have mainly fescue and bermuda grass for the most part so I'm not familiar with bahia but from the research I did when we were planning to move its not that bad. I really wish we would of been able to move.

The main reason we're trying so fast is because of the economy. The prices are great....always worth looking!!! I want to get a condo in FL next...hopefully the housing market will stay low for a while.

Try talking to an agent and see what they can dig up for you! You'd be surprised whats out there. Even short sales....

A guy I know up here put an offer in for a house. Appraisal was at $1.2Mil, he offered $500K and got it!!