Sub Contracting Work

[FourSeasons]

Yesterday I got a call from a landscaping company from the next county south of me. They have a couple customers in the area that I service though. So he asked me if I wanted to maintain the properties up here for him. Sub contracted to me. He sent me a non-compete that I have to sign and send back to him. Then I can go check out the properties to be serviced and decide if I want to proceed with it. Has anyone else done this. Whether you have or not can you guys give me some suggestions on things I need to know about sub contracting or what to watch out for. It would be my first time. He wants me to start right away. He said there is only two for now and they are both very small. The guy that has been doing it for him has been getting kind of flakey and thats why they are looking for a new person to do it. They get paid net 15 and I would be paid net 30. By the way they found me thru my site that Richard finished for me! Never thought how useful having a site could be! This is the other guys site- www.greenpointlandscaping.com check it out. Very nicely laid out.

__________________
Rob
Green Image Lawn & Landscape

\"If you don't feel the same way about Friday nights as you do Sunday nights, then you are not doing the right thing.\"

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Hi Rob, This is a very good question. One of my initial thoughts on this topic was to keep it simple. Do you have a couple of customers in his area that you could trade him for or maybe refer people who contact you from that area to him? If it were possible to have a mutual referral situation here, you both could keep your routes tighter and profits higher and it could help you both out. Any thoughts on this?

__________________
- 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.

[FourSeasons]

No I don't even work down where he's located. Thats a good idea though.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]If it were possible to have a mutual referral situation here, you both could keep your routes tighter and profits higher and it could help you both out.

I know what you mean by this but I'm kind of confused why you said it though. If that makes sense. Because thats what he is doing. I'm sure he is making something above what he would pay me.

[Steve]

Well,

Maybe I need to explain it better. Could the situation work where he subcontracts you out to do this work for him? Yes it could. Is it a little more complicated? Yes.

What I was saying is if you offered to give him clients in his area and he referred customers in your area to you, then you wouldn't need contracts or work as subcontractors for each other. Just have some type of verbal agreement followed up by action, where you in deed refer clients to him and he to you.

Would you like to do this? Would this be better for you? Would he like to do this? Would it be better for him?

If it would, then maybe roll with that idea. If not, then do it as a sub contractor.

I just think a lot of these situations tend to not work because there are too many levels added too it. There are now two lawn care businesses involved with servicing one client and I think it is a potential for a problem. Like for instance, why isn't this working for him now with the other lco?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]The guy that has been doing it for him has been getting kind of flakey and thats why they are looking for a new person to do it.

With something like this, you never know where the real problem is.

And I am just looking out for you in this situation. The more complex a situation gets, the more potential problems there are going to be with it.

Can you imagine having some lawn care business you didn't really know, be a subcontractor for you? Would that idea cause you to have some worries? How would this effect your company name? How would you maintain your level of quality? Would you still have to go to that property to inspect to see if they were doing the job you wanted?

Ask yourself what's the easiest way to deal with this? Present that way and then just roll with what's best for you.

Maybe being a subcontractor is going to be best for you, if so, try it out. But I did want to point out other options.

What's your view on this?

[FourSeasons]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]What I was saying is if you offered to give him clients in his area and he referred customers in your area to you, then you wouldn't need contracts or work as subcontractors for each other. Just have some type of verbal agreement followed up by action, where you in deed refer clients to him and he to you.

This might work out for him but not me. Because he seems to be a bigger company that covers alot of area.
I don't advertise in his area though. It would be a waste of money. He is about 40 min away from me with no traffic.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]There are now two lawn care businesses involved with servicing one client and I think it is a potential for a problem. Like for instance, why isn't this working for him now with the other lco?

It does seem like it could be kind of a pain. Why wouldn't they just tell the people they don't service this far north? But I guess maybe they are good accounts?
But also we all here about the guy that used to cut the lawn and how he only shows up whenever or no one has seem him in a month, etc. So flaky lco's are not uncommon.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Maybe being a subcontractor is going to be best for you, if so, try it out. But I did want to point out other options.

You know I am just talking about just this specific situation right? I'm not just going to be a sub contractor for all of my work. I have my own customers and plan on doubling them for this year.

[Steve]

I am kinda surprised no one else jumped in on this one yet!

Rob,

If the money is right, try it out and let us know how it works for you.