Starting Small

Originally Posted by sg1fresh Hello Steve, I want to start small with my lawn care mowing company. I would like about 10 customers at the most with lawns between 5,000-10,000 sq ft. They would be all hand mows and would be done after my full time job that ends at 3.30. So this means spreading them out during the week and working on Saturday or Sundays. I want to charge $25.00 for up to 5,000 and $35.00 5,000-10,000. per cut. The national average is about $36.00 and the large lawn companies charge between $ 35.00-55.00 for up to 5,000 an more for lawns up to 10,000 sqft. I have worked for a major lawn care company in my area and got burnt out with the productivity and application goals. I think my goal of 10 customers to start is reasonable and my price is also reasonable. I would like to offer as a incentive to sign up for my seasonal mowing package a free spring application of slow release fertilizer with Pre-emergent weed control. I am a State of Wisconsin licensed applicator and feel that this would be a good incentive to sign up. I also did estimates for for tree and shrub pruning and can provide other services as requested. My basic goal is to start slow with residential customers and to provide quality service and avoid the customer service mistakes that I have seen with the big companies in my area. It really frustrated me when I had to do things for the company that I was working for that was just not right (things like spraying in the rain,mowing in the rain or when the grass is dry as a bone and rusing through a estimate with a customer). So do you think my price for mowing is good? What about offering the free application for signing up as a seasonal mowing customer? Also when is the best time to put out fliers because we still have snow on the ground ?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome to our forum! WOW You got a lot of great thoughts there. If you are trying to hit 10 customers initially, that should be no problem for you at all. You should be able to fill that number with people you know, neighbors, friends or family! Have you gotten business cards printed up yet? Are you letting all your friends and family know you are in business? What about your neighbors? How much were you involved with the marketing end of things at your previous business? What kinds of things did they do that you can use now for your own operations?

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