Can you actually make a living with a LandScaping Buinsess?

[swick1]

You will get lots of callers from craigslist, but not very high quality leads usually. People search for work on there because it's cheap and it's hard to get paid sometimes dealing with those type of people. Getting started is the hardest part, so you may have to post on craigslist and literally work for beer money for a few months. Try to get your own website going and make up a temporary sign for your truck so the DOT doesn't mess with you. See if your customers will let you put up a small sign while you are working and consider leaving a note on their neighbor's door saying that you've been working for their neighbors and if they need anything to give you a call. You have to create a value proposition.

Insurance is going to be necessary at some point, but I suggest you just work in remote areas at first to see if you can make any money doing it. When you start to see business pick up you've got to get it. Choose your customers and projects wisely to avoid having a major lawsuit. The first french drain I dug for a guy hit a gas line 6" deep! I thought i was totally screwed but learned later it had been replaced by another one 6 months ago that was buried properly. Had I been six months earlier I could have lost a few thousand dollars. Those kinds of things happen all the time. Good luck!

It's always best to save up some money before you start to get the insurance and start your business. I didn't plan on making enough all year to cover the $5.5k premium my insurance company wanted to charge me to do underground work, so I just limit myself to french drains and surface work. At some point I will upgrade. General liability insurance isn't that much per year.

 

[RobertBrown]

Post this question and more detailed ones here.

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/search.php?searchid=355447
This is Muhammad's other site
There's lots of people trying to make money cutting grass. Very competitive in Fl.

 

[300UGUY]

Cutting grass is very competitive here in Michigan. I was going to do the mowing at my wife's shop, but the guy that does the place next door made me a offer I couldn't refuse - $35 per week, mowing, trimming, blowing a acre of lawn. 2 guys show up, Exmark ztr, Exmark walk behind, mow everything, trim everything, blow eveything off. It took me 3+ hours. It takes them about 30 minutes.

 

[SLHawkins]

Dave,
Yes, it can be done and you can make a living. The question is are you willing to work hard enough to maintain or raise your current standard of living. Or, are you willing to settle for a lower standard of living (at least initially) Getting started is the hardest part. My experience has been either it is too little work to justify walking away from my full-time gig, or it is too much work and I can't get away from my full-time gig long enough. Definitely get the liability insurance and you will need a crew of at least one or two. The advantage for you is you are halfway between Richmond and DC. You can split your work week, or month, between the two. Construction is a whole other level. Not only is the equipment expensive to buy, let alone maintain, transporting it back and forth will eat up time and money. You also will need to be skilled. Just being able to drive a machine aint going to cut it. There is a whole lot more to digging a hole, tearing down a building, and grading than moving dirt from one spot to another. I am probably a couple steps further along this path than you. And, I have been going down this path for a couple of years now. Although I am able to keep my equipment paid for and maintained, it is not enough to make a living yet. It can be done though. And, I am here for ya every step of the way. It will take patience, a good head, and determination. I can remember when GDC just had couple of dump trucks and a gas station in Bailey's Crossroads. Opportunities will come, the key is to be ready...

 

[Randy44]

I have a few friends that own their own landscaping businesses in Utah. Seems to be a competitive business, but they both just purchased beautiful new homes, so they must be doing alright. If you are willing to work hard to keep your clients happy, then your business will grow rapidly.

 

[namesray]

i have been giving this one some thought since my first reply. not sure about your area or your situation, but in my case of working a full time job and doing my firewood/landscaping/mowing bisiness on the side, i could just dropp my full time job and do my own business full time and make a ok living on it, BUT one thing to consider is retirement and medical benefits. can you make enough do supplement in those? in my area i don't think i could, so i keep my full time regular job for those benefits. a contractor i know has worked for himself most all his life and has liked what he does, but know he is getting older and the work is getting hard on him and he is in a bad situation when it comes to him retiring. just something to keep in mind. like i say i don't know your job situation or what benefits if any there are. as far as hiring people to work for you, that will be something to do later on. that insurance and the pay out to an employee or two will put you under. just work by yourself for a while. i thought long and hard about hiring on some help, but no no. i have "sub contracted" out help though through other people who do the samething i do and are friends who carry their own insurance. don't make as much money, but will help you out in a pinch. and be ready to work for it. most of my days are atleast 10 hours and lately 14 hours per day, 5-7 days a week. mostly 7 days per week. of course that counts my regular full time job in there, but lately i have been bushogging remote fields in the dark under headlights and getting home pretty late. (obstacles and hazards pre marked) how ever i did hit a well pipe head with the side if the bush hog in bright daylight on another property just recently. didn't do any damage to my equipment or their well (there were wires on the outside in a conduit casing that i hit along with the pipe)=got lucky. i was happy i had my insurance to cover it if it did do damage though. i thought to myself that's why you get the insurance. as for some of my lawn mowing customers, they requested a certificate of insurance from me before they would give me the job. so give the insurance thing a look. you never know.

don't let me deter you from trying though. i believe it can be done for you if you go about it cautiously and propperly. keep you job you have for now and just start out small. ads in grocery stores have been some of my best advertisements. word of mouth works out too. maybe face book as i am going to have my wife start advertising on there for me. i am not too familiar with criags list, but just be careful. i wish you luck.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

BUT one thing to consider is retirement and medical benefits... i wish you luck.

Namesray,

Well I've was self employed from June 08 to June 11, so I know how to do the SEP IRA and medical benefits.

But candidly, and this is a whole different can of worms, in general I am terribly disillusioned with the "retirement industry". My retirement account for Intel corp, which I left in 2002, was STILL worth less that was put into it when I closed that account and rolled it into my own controled SEP IRA account. My current employer has limited options for me to put my investments in, and I'm only using it for the 5% match and hoping that it has not lost everything when I can roll it into my own control.

I firmly believe SS is bankrupt and I will never see a dime, and I have believed that since Reagan was POTUS and I was graduating HS. I now believe I will never actually be able to "retire" Like many have been able to do in the past. I will always need some kind of income...

But the real issue for me with landscaping, or any other related idea, is I cannot overcome the fact I have 30 years in my field and really that is where my value is. I need to TRY to make enough to be able to retire, even if the deck is stacked against me because world leaders are all driving the globe into economic disaster...

Sorry I'm all grumpy and negative here... I just don't see a lot of good outcomes from most of the stuff happening in our world today.

But all I can do is the best job I can as a Husband, and Father, and hope and pray that is enough.

Be well,
David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Dave,
Yes, it can be done and you can make a living.

I am probably a couple steps further along this path than you. And, I have been going down this path for a couple of years now. Although I am able to keep my equipment paid for and maintained, it is not enough to make a living yet. It can be done though. And, I am here for ya every step of the way. It will take patience, a good head, and determination. I can remember when GDC just had couple of dump trucks and a gas station in Bailey's Crossroads. Opportunities will come, the key is to be ready...

Hawk,

I love your positive attitude and enthusiasm. You are the best man. When you bringing the wife and baby over for a BBQ?

We need to sit and :drink: and bs our big dreams together sir.

Be well,
David

 

[tungularafishcamp]

David I agree with you whole heartedly about social security and retirement. Fortunately I have a job I never want to retire from and when my health wont let me do it, I can hire more crew and be a "consultant". Seems like landscaping could be similar deal and if you could make your "real" job part time until things were going along smoothly. Who knows you might find you enjoy your real job more doing it part time. You are a savvy guy and I have no doubt you'll figure out how to make it work just remember life is so very short and we owe our family as well as ourselves to make it sweet as possible.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

...just remember life is so very short and we owe our family as well as ourselves to make it sweet as possible.

Rick,

You are awesome brother.
Your closing statement says it all...

Be well sir.
David