A $25 Shovel vs a $25 lawn cut

[DDavoni]

whats gonna be more profitable within 30days based on residential contracts??..

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[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I don't understand your question. What do you mean?

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[DDavoni]

Originally Posted by Steve

I don't understand your question. What do you mean?

A guy several years back asked me this question,i was like huh?.....he invested in a zero turn mower,big money ect.but he was closing these $25 lawn cuts in subdivisions...he started taking calls for landscape service,he went to home depot bought a shovel for $25.and did some dirtwork for $300 which only took about 2.5hrs..he ended up going into hardscapes and selling his zero turn..myself ive been in the landscape construction end of things since 1988...i never cared for mowing,ive seen my share of guys thinking there gonna get rich by mowing lawns for $15,lol....its impossible to under bid others when infact your cutting your own throat..

[Steve]

You bring up a very good point.

A business owner could go out and spend a small fortune on a mower and not have it return as much money on your investment as a shovel.

Many factors play into this.

How is the market for what services you plan on offering? What is the level of competition?

A guy several years back asked me this question,i was like huh?.

What led up to him saying that? Was it a discussion on the industry?

.i never cared for mowing,ive seen my share of guys thinking there gonna get rich by mowing lawns for $15

What's your view on the importance of offering mowing to keep the gears of business turning and to keep your people and trucks out on the road in order to keep your feelers out there to get those landscape construction jobs?

True, there is more money in landscaping, but mowing is a guaranteed pay check, week to week month to month.
You need to stay on the hunt more for landscaping to stay up on your bills.
There is big money equipment in landscaping too you know.

Having a large lawn customer base for lawn care, you can get all their landscaping work as well.

I think it is good to do both, but I lean more to mowing for it's steady pay check.

As far as a $15 cut goes I don't do it period.
I charge what I feel I'm worth and not a penny less, if it means not winning all the bids than so be it. If you're winning them all you're not charging enough.


John

[Steve]

Having a large lawn customer base for lawn care, you can get all their landscaping work as well.

What % of landscape jobs do you think you get from, mowing customers versus from the general public?

How important is it took look to them for additional work?

The majority of my landscape work comes from my existing lawn customers.
I have a few that have me do mulch and replace dead plants every year.
This is a nice income boost over my normal pay.

Plus with a customer base, I know that if I need extra money, I can send out an e-mail offering services. This will almost a 100% of the time result in side work.

Most of my customers come to me first for anything they need around their property, I even painted a house one year.

[Steve]

Plus with a customer base, I know that if I need extra money, I can send out an e-mail offering services. This will almost a 100% of the time result in side work.

Most of my customers come to me first for anything they need around their property, I even painted a house one year.

This sounds like the old saying is true that it is easier to sell to a current customer than it is to try and find a new customer to sell too.

What kinds of email offerings would you suggest others experiment with? Have some you tried worked better than others?