Going full time

[Steve]

Great stuff! You gotta keep us posted on how all this turns out once you get there and start doing it. Also if you are able to land their different properties as well.

__________________
- 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.

[MAKLawnCutter]

Lawn care business tips

Definitely will! Steve, you asked about an "estimate" of how long it will take to care for the property. I have it to take me about 7hours weekly. I am allowing 10hrs a week just for the fact i am including palms and mulch instillation in the contract. Once i get all the palms trimmer (which arent many) and the mulch put out, I should be around 6hours weekly to maintain it once i get a hold of it. Total Grass to cut - 5acres (front of the neighborhood will be diagonal cross hatch cutting so it looks pretty, interior between buildings will be straight lined with a double edging pass to reduce throw back onto billings and sidewalks) Total Edging - 1hour (basic angle) Total Weed-Eating - 30min (minimal all over) Total Clean-Up/Blow - 1Hour max (all into street away from buildings then pushed back to wooded area) The other neighbor hoods are about the same. I am starting my billing at 100$ a door per month for any new commercial accounts i pick up. Most people charge 110$ in the area, i run lower cost and nearly NO overhead so, my cost are dramatically LOWER than anyone else. I will include Hedges and fall clean-up, installs at spring and summer and a 5% - 10% amount of free foliage each year based off how payment will be arranged. Matt

[Steve]

Take some pictures of the property and show us when you are done working on it. Also, it will be interesting to hear how the actual time compares with your estimated time to service it.

[MAKLawnCutter]

So, since my last post, the "Done Deal" wasnt completed until TODAY (Wednesday at 12:07pm).

I have been waiting since i talked to the District Maintenance Manager to get a call that 'corporate' gave the go-ahead for the agreement to finish out, they had to give their current lawn company a 30day notice of cancellation of service -blah blah blah- (understood tho, i want a notice also!).

I had a hell of an evening this morning, got woke up by the daughter caughing and weezing like she was dying at 435am... i woke up the wife and headed with the daughter to the bathroom, she was crying and caughing saying she couldnt breath, i cranked up the hot water and told her to cry, she wouldnt so i screamed till she cried (being an *** has it advantages). As she cried she started gasping and the humidity of the steam calmed her throat down, she stopped "I can breath Dadddy"... No kidding...
The wife comes in "is she okay? Why is she crying?" - Was the only way i could get her to gasp for air, get dressed were going to the ER...
Done deal, she had Crupie Caugh... All better!

I took a nap and woke up at 12:06pm, from a dead sleep, sat up grabbed my phone and called the complex manager... "Matthew Kneer, do you have ESP or something?" -"no, why?"- "Give it a second..." She rang in on my business line... CREEPY! She was calling to tell me she got corporates go ahead (that had been done and sitting on someones desk since Oct 31st).

FINALLY! I AM MOVING! This weekend ...

I am going up tomorrow to sign the contract and take before pictures for my records. Ill update.

Matt

[Steve]

Great job Matt! You are making it happen! I look forwards to your pictures.

I also hope your daughter is feeling better!

[MAKLawnCutter]

Finally, in Daytona Beach.

We moved in on Monday afternoon (430pm) and got the beds set up, on the way back to Orlando for her nephews birthday party we blew a tire in the van, was awesome.

Friday - I finally got to complete a map and take pictures this morning. I have a lot of DETAIL work to do, the current landscaper is doing a shat job due to the fact December1st is his last day. I have to move mulch to their destined locations by the end of this month, which wont be hard, i have a wheel barrel and shovel. I will be doing a lot of pre-detail work before hand tho, cleaning beds and edging the beds for a clean line install.

Comes out to 6.85$ a door right now, in 60days they are going to be covering all of my utilities also which will bring it to just about 10$ a door. I usually price 15 - 22 dollars a door for commercial stuff.

I plan on getting the neighborhood back onto the "Beautification" list this year in the spring or summer. Has not happened in here since 1996. I am also calling the city of Daytona Beach to get into one of the meetings they have to get a jump on the "Security Specifications" the city has for home owner associations and apartment complexes.

Pics and a map are attached. (actually, they wouldnt upload due to a "Database Error")

Thanks to everyone on here for the awesome words of inspiration and thanks to STEVE for this idea of Bartering for an apartment.

[Steve]

I am so glad to hear things are working out well!

Try making the image size a little smaller and then uploading. Usually that error only appears when the image size is too big.

I am also calling the city of Daytona Beach to get into one of the meetings they have to get a jump on the "Security Specifications" the city has

Tell us more about this too as you learn more. I don't hear of this often and I think it would be beneficial to everyone who is maintaining a commercial or residential property.

[MAKLawnCutter]

OKAY!

SO! "Trials and Tribulations"

I have been burglarized since i arrived - SUCKED but, could turn out to be extremely beneficial!

I just dropped three BIG bids today one for a Mulching job with a bed cleaning - should be about 480$ when its completed. Should be done before the end of the year. The second and third were to two other apartment complexes that are owned by managment company that owns the complex i live in. Total income would be 2100$ income monthly. The third was a dualing condominium complex beach side for 1000$ a month, it is mostly beds but included 500$ a year in free installs and foliage so, i should win that also.

The condo buildings are SHABBY looking outside, lots of growth on the sidewalk and the beds dont look like they havent been serviced in months. The lady seemed really happy with my bid and pricing. WE SHALL SEE!

This Daytona Beach area is going to be the BOMB this spring. I hope to have a second truck and trailer by fall of next year.

Matt

[Steve]

Matt,

That is fantastic! You are on fire!

It would be great to see some pictures of the properties you are working on as you go. I know many of the new readers are learning a lot from you now so any advise you have on bidding or examples of it is greatly appreciated.

[MAKLawnCutter]

SO, i woke up today to a call from a guy i gave a card to while i was out and about doing stuff for Artie... I gave him a card and he had mentioned he needed work of a "clean-out" in the near future. I gave him my card and he called today at about 830am "Hey Matt, you gave me your card a few weeks ago, can you give me a price on that clean out?"
I went to his job and got a few bits of information on what he wanted done -
Clean out both beds near door front - Broke down into he wants to put in rock and marble... Which would in tale me creating beds from nothing.
I went and took pictures today of the property, did measurements. 102sq.ft on one bed and 112sq.ft. on the other, i needed to dig out atleast 3inches of top soil so it was a flat flush look to his lot (its FLAT), if the house sat up more, i would allow the bed to rise more, but, ITS FLAT!
I came home and got a bid together for 290$ for the beds and all of the trimming needed. I also put an "optional" section for an additional pair of King Palms they had in the landscape that would look really nice with a figure-8 footer. Put it on the bid for 100$...

I took 15% off of the 290$ since the beds were pre-existing and he is a new customer. Came out to 246.50$. I gave him the bid and he said he wanted the Palms done also. Ending price is 346.5$ out the door, i started it late this afternoon before the sun started to drop and the temp followed, i got two hours in and most of the trimming completed. The beds will turn out to be about 10hours total labor and i didnt use any fuel for this job so, it was ALL LABOR intensive. By the end of it, Hourly rate comes out at 346.5 / 11hrs = 31.5$ per hour... I CAN HANDLE THAT!

I also replaced my MIA wheel barrel today, same one at walmart was 30$... DOPE!

Matt


PIcture of my Awesome Tree with a STIHL ORNAMENT!
My awesomely new and cheaper wheel barrel!