"whats good?" from Better Days Landscaping & Lawn Care

[BetterDaysLandscaping]

Hey everyone, My name is Chuck Nash, owner and operator of Better Days Landscaping & Lawn Care located in Grasonville, MD. Which is on the Eastern Shore side of Maryland. I am 28 years old and honestly have had better days. LOL Thats where the business name comes from. Hopefully being my own boss will open some doors for me. I used to cut grass when i was 13 but gave it up when i got a lil older.(Girls and Cars distracted me!) I have worked many different jobs since then and late this spring I decided I wanted to be my own boss. So I started Better Days Landscaping & Lawn Care. I printed a few flyers at home and started a small website hosted by go daddy www.betterdayslandscaping.com . Then I decided to put a free ad on craigslist. Not two days later I recieved a call from a contractor out of Virginia. They sub contract preservation work on foreclosed homes for banks and real estate companies. ( Grass Cuts, Lock Changes, Winterization, etc.) I didn't know what I was getting myself into at the time. I had no commercial equipment basically a push mower, a rake and a strong back! The first property i went to had waist high grass and i was overwhelmed. Not expecting this I had no one to turn to.I knew I needed some equipment. Unfortunately I have bad credit. I had to turn to good ol mom and ask her to co sign. Thank god she did..... and I was the proud new owner of a 60" Commercial Kubota. Long story short..The contractor has kept me very busy all summer but I'm not getting paid a premium for my work since I'm subbing. I have come across some disasters but my Kubota will go threw anything. I have no complaints. Shes a beast! Now fall is approaching very fast and I only have a few clients of my own. I decided that its time to buckle down and make this thing pop off! I have been watching the Gopher Haul videos, studying every possible article and even enrolled in the Gopher Haul Lawn School. I have learned alot but have so much more to learn. I'm new to this industry and want to learn from the veterans and their mistakes. But all in all I just wanted to introduce myself and extend my hand to anyone and everyone. If your ever in Maryland or have the need for a contractor in MD. You can count on me. You can contact me anytime. 443-510-5556 BetterDaysLandscaping@Gmail.com www.betterdayslandscaping.com I love Gopher Haul! Keep up the good work! Its an amazing site for newbies like me

[Ducke]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome aboard Chuck

[Steve]

Hi Chuck,

With some of these earlier jobs, how long did you think they would take you and how long did they actually take you?

Do you have any advice for others looking to become sub-contractors for such businesses? Any do's or don'ts they should follow?

Would you start up the same way again if you could redo it all or would you do something differently?

[BetterDaysLandscaping]

Thanks Ducke.

[BetterDaysLandscaping]

Well steve... I didn't know what to expect. And it still seems to be that way today. Like yesterday i get to a property and the grass is waist high. Thats the down fall of sub work they send me an address of the foreclosed property and a due date. Nothing else so you never know what your going to find. But once you cut the property they are on a bi weekly schedule so it its only usually a pain the first few cuts. Also they are spread out all over the place so alot of fuel is wasted and since i'm the sub i'm probably only making half of what I should be. For instance I only get $45 for an acre. The plus side of doing this is I have alot of properties and there is no homeowner there breathing down my neck. The other downfall is there are a few hours spent every night sending in the pictures of the jobs............. I guess all in all i'm getting bye but I would like to get some more clients of my own, get some more equipment and a helper. Two people are better than one.

[nickeckes]

if you dont mind me asking i was wondering how much do you get paid "per lawn" of the forclosed houses?? I do forclosed propertys and i get a paid a flat rate. . every house pays the same. if its a 10min job or 45min job the house pays the same. . Its not to bad, because all the houses are within a few blocks and usully 2-5miles apart at the most. . My partner and I can knock out 4 houses in a hr. thats what we have been averaging this year. . The picture taking is BullS***, but if you dont give the pictures to the banks your not getting paid. . . How many pictures do they require you to have per house??

[BetterDaysLandscaping]

I don't mind talking bout anything thats what the forum is for. The contractor i sub for has a price for different sized properties and the different tasks involved. Most of my yards range from $25-$45 depending on the size and hieght of the grass. I'm sure they are making just as much as i am for picking up the phone and sending me the work. What are you averaging per lawn? Also they require pictures of the street sign, the house number, all four sides of the property from every angle, yard stick shot showing the height, and action shot showing the mower in front of the house, before and after shots....... How bout you? The same for you?

[bruces]

they forgot to have you send them a letter from your mom ! sounds like you might spend as much time proving you did the work as actually doing the damned work .

[Steve]

sounds like you might spend as much time proving you did the work as actually doing the damned work .

It would be interesting to figure out after each day and end of the week, how much time was spent on doing that. It seems like it is a silent profit killer.

[GrantELC]

I do the same foreclosed work, it is not bad I can easily do about 16 to 20 lawns in a day depending on the areas I am given. The pictures for me take a little bit of time but once you get into the routine it is quite easy. I upload the pictures on my computer, organize them by address/file and put them into a zip. After that I just upload them onto the ftp site.

Say you ask for 40 lawns every time they call you and they are at $25.00 per lawn, that is an easy $1,000 in two days if you can handle them in two days.

Now the question is sure it is great working with them but you start to think how much do they make? If they can afford to have you do it for $25.00 and take the pictures, ect. do they get charge $50.00? Just something to ponder.