Tis the season.... New Start Up ;p

[CheapNEasy]

So here we are, that time of year again. I missed start-up season last year, but bought up some nice equipment over the winter. Went by a yard sale and seems this guy bought out his competition and sold off the gained equipment. I acquired a decent startup set I think.... How about you? Snapper Mower 40" Deck (One I had for home use) 2 Stihl BR420 C Back Pack Blowers 2 Echo PE-2601 Edgers 2 Echo SRM-210 Trimmers 1 Troy Bilt 22" 6HP String Trimmer Honda 22" Self Propelled Bagger Touch up Mower Preasure Washer *Not sure on PSI* (No Tank Yet) Misc hand tools, shovels, rakes and such Trailer to haul it all on, with ramp that folds up and locks into back I have welded all mounts and such to the trailer, *Ill put pics up later * Picked everything up aside from the trailer and mower for around $600, everything is in prime shape and no smoke or other noises to be heard. Anything else you guys can think of that I need? Me and my buddy going to work it all, his mother runs a house cleaning business so we are advertiseing through her right now. Going to pass out some Flyers and so forth after I get them printed. *Attached Below, comments appreciated! Flyer is template from VistaPrint I edited text, card full design and logo by me* Any advice and comments will be appreciated!!! I am laid off right now and looking into other sources of income, been laid off since September and my little nest egg is running rather thin now......

Attached Images

	CNEFlyer.jpg (223.9 KB, 19 views)
	CNE.jpg (18.6 KB, 13 views)

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Last edited by CheapNEasy; 03-31-2009 at 06:59 PM. Reason: Errr noticed I posted in wrong part.... Move to introduce, please :)

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

That is all fantastic! Good for you! I think you are off to a great start so far. Your friends mom runs a cleaning service and I am guessing will tell her clients about your new business. What else will you be doing to get the word out?

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[CheapNEasy]

Well on day 2 already have a call, going out today to give an estimate. The customer wants their flowerbeds redone. Old borders taken out (plastic) and new borders installed (Stone type) and then refilled with fresh soil and planted.

As far as advertising, I plan to visit some of the new developments in the area and place door hangers with bids for each house on the hangers.

[Steve]

That is great! Keep us posted on how the estimate goes.

[CheapNEasy]

Well I went and walked out an measured the property today, the customer is wanting 2 retaining walls built with flowerbeds on top. The larger wall is 65ft long and needs built up 3ft high, the blocks he is wanting are 12" long, 6" Deep and 4" High, so I am going to have to reinforce it part of the way up. I got a few sample blocks and taking them today to see exactally what style block he wishes to be used. the second wall is on a grade, 16ft L Shaped the first 10 foot drops about 4 inches every foot, the last 6 ft is dead even and ends and 4ft tall..... Still working the figures as I need to find out which style of stone he wants. As there is about an 80 cent difference in price per stone..... I have to remove some shrubbery in order to start the project, 5 to be exact.

Any questions comments and concerns would be appreciated!!

One heck of a first job order

Also have 3 yards to quote out in the next 4 days for regular maintenece

Nice start I think!

[Steve]

Oh yea that is one heck of a start. Have you ever constructed retaining walls before?

[CheapNEasy]

I have here at home and my partner has on a handfull of occassions, he worked with a commercial landscape company before we started up together. Mine has been standing for about 10 years now with no faults to be seen, other than a MINOR settlement on the edge of the wall where it meets the bank...

As far as the project costs... I am looking around $1200 in Materials.
Leaving room for some extras, just in case.

And around 25hrs. to get the job done.....

We have assumed between the two of us a grand total of $2950, $35 hr. each..... Does this sound reasonable? I feel like we are lowballing ourselves, but just starting up and the customer is a friend of his mothers. What do you think? I dont want to cut ourselves too much but I am unsure as to what the average charge for this sort of job is....

He was a paid helper when he did these sort of jobs and he never seen the full project cost and return, and I myself have only done these sort of jobs for myself and family at no charge.....

Your input and thoughts are VERY MUCH appreciated!

Steve, your awesome man

[Steve]

Oh thank you so much!

What kind of equipment will you need to get this job done? What will you have to rent? How will you cut the stones? How will you dig the foundation? How will you get the material to the site? How will you move the materials once you have them there?

What materials will you need?

The more you think this through now and allow others to think it through, the less shocks you will run into when you get this started.

[CheapNEasy]

I have all the tools needed to complete the job, mainly shovels and rakes and such needed, have all trowels and wheel barrow's, masonary saw for cutting the stones if needed.... Not sure that I will need to cut to many stones though... most of the materials will be delivered on purchase and distributed to locations where they will be needed. I have ordered some extra stones as I need 3.75 pallets and will order 4 just incase there are a few stones broken in the pallets 126 stones per pallet.

Have tiller and such for helping to distribute the topsoil consistantly.

I have extra cash added to the material costs to compensate for delivery charges, gas for tiller, truck, chainsaw and such.

Also added an extra hour to the labor per person for misc run in's

Calculated in all sales taxes...... See anything I might have missed?


*Edit* Oh yeah I have a compacting unit also......

[Steve]

It seems that you have thought this pretty well through. Being that it is a friend of your partners mother and your first time doing this professionally I think you are going to do alright.

Have you thought about what kind of guarantee you will be offering with this project or will there be none?

You should consider posting the amount of time you are figuring each part of this job is going to take you. Then after you get the job, track your times and let us know the real time that was spent on each section. It would be fascinating to see how those two times may differ.